The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1911-01-26
MENTAL THOROUGHNESS.

MIN 1 AL lhOkOUOnNESS.
1t was not only yesterday that the world
began to recognize the value of mental
thoroughness. Long ago the saying 81
fear the man of one book" had taken its
place among the near axioms of the Latin
tongue. True, the saying admits of more
than one meaning, and it is sometimes
claimed that it's author feared the man of
one book because he is likely to be also
one sided and narrow. But this is rather
the exception than the rule; it is due to a
kink in the brain rather than in the meth
DDS employed. For, while the specialist
makes his chosen branch of knowledge
the beginning and end of his labors, yet
his speciality carries him into other fields
bordering upon his own. The obvious
meaning of the man who coined the phrase
seems to be that he feared to encounter
the specialist because of his greater pro-
ficiency, or experiences, in his own particu-
lar line of thought. And to bolster up our
Interpretation we have the other famous old
Latin saw "Not many things, but much''-
not mere surface knowledge of great
variety of subjects, but deep and thorough
knowledge of a few, or even one. In short,
with the ancients it was not quantity, but
quality, that counted; not numbers, but
thoroughness. Of course, the wider our
range of information, the better equipped
we are for life's struggle: but as we have
only limited supply Of brain force, we
cannot hope to master all, and the next
best thing is to get thorough grasp of
some one at least. In this connection we
may apply the words of Emerson: 1.-THE
one prudence of life is concentration"
1t is precisely this lack of mental thor
oughness that gives rise to so many un-
necessary and utter useless controversies,
which serve only to embitter the opposing
parties and leave the hearers as badly mud
died at the finish as they were at the start,
if not more so. Cardinal Newman writes
How many disputes we have listened to
that were interminable simply because the
disputants understood neither themselves
nor each other" 1t is not at all rare to
find men contending fiercely over subjects
upon which they are at bottom agreed.
Their difference is in reality but matter Of
words, arising from the use of different and
apparently opposite terms to express the
same idea, or the same term for things en-
tirely different Such a thing is not likely
to occur in discussions between men Of
thorough mental tIaining; they are toe
logical, exact and accurate for that sort oil
thing. 1t was this consideration that led
Socrates of old to say that if he could find
man able to define and divide accurately
he would gladly follow him to the ends Of
the earth.
1t follows from this that educational sys.
TENS which aim at "cramming" rather
than thoroughness are radically wrong. L
is not the purpose of education to cover the
whole field of human thought and endeavor
but to instil sound principles of though
and action and to supply methods. 1t will
not take the shrewd observer long to note
the difference between the products of thu
two systems-the wrong and the right
between the shallow and the thorough man
The jack all trades and master of none
the walking encyclopedia, may be a shining
meteor for brief space, but pin him dowr
to logic and accuracy and he founders
hopelessly. The thorough man may no
be very brilliant on the surface, he may
even be somewhat slow, but he is steady
safe and sure to pan out better in the Ions
run. He is the type that men feel they
can trust.
While the value of thoroughness is not
recent discovery, it is true that now, more
than ever, it has become an indispensable,
condition of success. Those who aim a
distinction, or even moderate success, mus
know how to do some one thing we'll; ant
to do that they must direct all their re.
searches to the end they have in view. I
must be to them the alpha and the omega
the center to which all lines converge
Desultory study and reading may be goot
enough as a form of recreation or amuse.
ment, but is not likely to prove of any grea
practical benefit. What Carlyle says O
life in general we may we'll say of the in.
tellectual life in particular: "The mar
without purpose is like ship without {
rudder-a waif, nothing, no man,
Burke: When bad men combine, the