The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1909-06-06
WHY NOT SPELL IN FI6UREss

I could earn BY painting ptctures.'
WHY NOT SPELL IN FIGURESi
The Bookkeeper Expeunds . 1heery q
the Girl at the Switchboard.
"Therei' said the bookkeeper, anc
slammed the ledger shut.
The meaning Of this wss clear 70 The
girl at the switchboard.
Gee. but I'm glad you're 6nhhst
posting she said, sEverything 10 dsac
slow this afternoon and IN lust psrist
Y 7 SssS't go 10 .ousv one.1
AN those bills checked or he t-
quired-
She nodded.
,, Nc interesting oea'es'sa' on 'A'
She shook her bead. Nothing bat
some poor guy kicking about bio lass
order and Q Dutohman slinsing German
at the shipping olerk.'
The bookkeeper pulled the daybook
toward him. .Then you'll have 70 ring
up that fly friend OF yours at ESQ Wall.
I must foot up this book yet
you fresh thing!' abe exclaimed.
sFor that I'm just going TO help you
She mounted on the rubgs a. the back
OF his high stool and with both elbows
resting on his shoulders proceeded to
count rapidly into his ear two. nine.
twenty-seven, fifty. forty-three, thirty
eight and 30 on; but tho bookkeerer
continued his task imperturbably, footed
up, carried forward. footed up and bal
anced.
Il often think. he remarked, wiping his
pen carefully, of what some old geezer
once said about the way people make
O fuss over grit and courage and all that
while the one really great virtue In q
man Is PATIENCE
I'm awfully sorry II ] queered you
said tho girl. Il was doing my level
bestest to help you
Queer mel. he retorted. my dear
young lady. you couldn't get my mind
out OF those columns with a crowbar. 1t
would take an earthquake or q cyclone or,
or-or the boss to interrupt me In those
calculations.
.@It's strange" he continued, arranging
the order slips ready for entry. aor maybe
I'm being paid on account now for some
Of the comeback that's due mt In the next
world, but anyway it's strange that ]
should have to do this kind Of work now.
Now, when l was a boy arithmetic was my
abomination.
But look at me now! Why. II my old
teacher could sec me here he'd throw q
At. I think figures, l talk figures. I eat
figures. I sleep figures. In my dreams
I'm still posting or footing UP or some
thing. The only Nightmares I ever have
are when I dream that my balance doen't
gee, or that I've found . mistake Of Ss.ss
In It four months back. I tell you thnt's
o terrible dream.
you see, our brains are just like any
of our muscles; by plugging etsEnally a.
II We get tho habit. It's the same With
mo "a with the man swinging q sledge-
hammer or anything like that. When be
first begins he's bound 10 miss tie dhL
once or twice. but when hs continues to
use It day after day he gets 20 that hA
can make connections every time With
his eyes shut.
that's exactly the form ten years Of
this hard labor has left me in. You don't
think, do you. hat when I'm running up
and down these columns I'm thinking
that one and one make two or that four
and eight make twelve or that seven and
six and four make seventeenf
Il don't think anything a. all about It.
no more than you think Of the do. re. mi
when you're running nn and down the
purely mechanical.
Talking Of this reminds me OF a
very plausible old soa l met some time
ago. He had a particularly alluring
method Of lightning calculation. He got
a strangle hold on me one day and slung
n N 4 ma thio uvnu.
what is the difference between figures
and the letters OF the alphabetf No dr.
ference at all, my boy. Both are merely
characters used to denote an idea. Now,
he asked, shaking his finger at me impres-
s siv91IIy;. oa xha sas S0 ssd s simele s ssansb Cat
swell, what makes you 90 unhesitatingly
certain that It spells cat? Training,
my boy. merely training.
"Our minds heve been taught to recog-
nize that that combination OF letters
represents that word. and 80 we say at
value OF zach separate letter, c-a-t spells
cat"
aDo you followi' inquired the book
keeper, I'm handing 1t TO- you just the
proceed something like this:
seven, three. four. write them in q row,
the same as cat. and what do they spellf
The average man must stop and think
before he can say ~sfourtsen'; but
why should IT be harder for him TO tell
what those three figures spell than in the
ca oas si s on to oshs sef sss. .si issssr. y had before
"A question Of training. merely and
simply training. In the Same way take
words Of four, five, six or q dozen let
ters: do we have TO pause to figure out
the sound value Of each letter. or sven
OF each syllablei No. va recognise the
complete word at Q glance.
.'Then why not With four. five, six or
q dozen figures, or . column full. for that
matteri Should II not be - easy TO
read them up and down In . column -
on a liner The Asiatioa prefer TO read
In that way
He offered to put me WISE continued
the bookkeeper, TO give mo . thorough
course and send me forth . complete
lightning calculator for Atty pllnks,
In advance; but I deoliued,S
'Were you just out Of small ohangsf'
the girl at the switchboard; sor
couldn't he make his own system dope
outy'
Sure, he could work It all right, all
replied the bookkeeper sbut
I've known n or two fellows who
could do that without n system 1t all,
! told him, there's q certain kind OF
TOOL born every hour. and . lightning
calculator now and then, but a. long as
wasn't born the one I'm not trying to
become the other. Now. my friend Jones,
II, the boss!'