The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-06-13
[OOKIAc AND SEEING
There ls a Marked Difference Be-
tween These Two Acts.

lWSSO uUSSS tWO NClSs
THE POWER OF OBSERVATION
@ Should es Cultivated Even In IT,
Most Ordinary Thinss-A Faculty
That 10 Possessed BY All, but Thae
10 Developed BY the Fss.
1t is the hope and desire Of all par
ents tina, their children shall mako
they grow up. They DO not IN the ma
5orify Of cases expect that their CO.
spring will become famous and makD
names that VIII live foe ases. but they
cherish the thought that they will -
successful men and women In soOe
profession or business. That u the
success shall be their
portion
Yet il is q fact that most pare1eB
neglect or pay very little attention 10
one part Of the child's education which
10 Of the highest importance. They Do
not train the perceptive faculties.
Power Of observation will help you
more than anything else In your strUG-
gle for existence. aud yet there are
few people who are
keen observers. One small fact viii
prove this latter statement. The man
who observes everything. he who sess
everything he looks af. b singled out
either as an inQuisitive person or q
clever one. and this shows that he b
an exception.
lack Of perception even In the ordinary
things Of life. Some years ago au art
list engaged IN a London firm Of print.
ers had to draw an advertisement u
which the central. figure was . cock In
the act OF Growing. Nothing seemed
easier. hut when he set to work the
artist found himself contracted by q
difiiculty-dOes the cock show its tongue
prominently when II crows? Every
one o: the hundred men employed BY
the firm had seen n cock crow scores
OF times. yet not one OF them could
answer the question. The artist bad
to SO To friend who kept fowls and
chase the poor rooster round and round
the yard until II crowed.
A schoolmaster. wishing to test The
perception OF his boys. asked them
how many times they had seen a COW
or pictures Of that animal and found.
AZ he had expected. that oil the boys
had seen the creature more times than
they could remembes. Then b offered
to give small prizes to The boys who
could correctly answer this question:
''Are a cows ears above. below. In
front Of or behind it's horns? Only
two boys gained prizes. and their an
swers were guesswork.
Now sit down and test yourself n
some such simple manner. You have
all seen a horse down" Can you de-
scribe how 1t rises: Does 1t get mp on
its fore feet nrst and then on its hind
feet. OF does 1t kneea 0rot, then get On
its hind feet and finally on its fore
feet?
However. you need not conllne your.
self to the animal kingdom u testing
your perceptive faculties. Many sub
jects viii sugeest themselves to you
AS an excuse for this want Of obser-
walton It - often urged that - man
can't know everything" but the excuse
Is bad one. There II q great differ.
ence between knowing little or nothing
and knowing everything. When the
faculty has been trained Il requires no
more effort to note the points Of the
object looked at than 1t does to glance
at that same object and come away
none the wiser.
The chances OF success In life are o.
the side OF the man who knows Ger.
tain things because be has learned
about them BY using his senses instead
of having to so to q book for all that
pensable. as there are 20 many things
which cannot come within the range Of
our observation, but wherever possible
We should use our senses to acquire
knowledge at nrst hand.
This will explain why men who cam
not read or write have buflt Mp sub
stantial Businesses. They have made
use of the power possessed By I'll. but
cultivated by very few.
The perceptive faculty must be train
ed during childhood and youth. After
the completion Of the twentieth year
very little progress can be made. 4
grown man n unable to develop his
powers OF observation to any satis6Ac-
tory degree. Youth II full Of energy.
and that n the time 70 inculcate thu
lesson that we should zee al that or
eyes rest upon.
It should BE- the object Of every par.
ent to teach his child to note every OBJ
ject that comes In his way. When ont
for . walk In park the child should
be told to observe the shapes Of The,
leaves on che different trees. the PAL
Ing Of the color Of animals toward the
under part OF the body. and % On. and
should be told that when asked . Ques-
ton on the subject he must Be prepar-
ed to say that II II %. not that he
thinks IL n.
All children have inquiring minds.
and after q walk or two. coupled with
a,Irh laafYuef;o0 A re have VnN0ta0N.