The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-05-21
TWO MINDS
-
IN ONE.

! " do UIdllu IlCW 10 IllCA
was invited by the principal of a
well-known commercial school to see
a young man from the Remington
/ Typewriter Office give dcmonstra-
tion on the Visible Model 10 Rem
ington.
A demonstration on the type
writer? What is new in that?" l
wondered. can see scores of such
demonstrations every day in any busi-
ness Office"
Nevertheless, I had feeling that
it must be something out of the ordi-
nary, so | went.
| watched the young man for some
minutes copying from manuscript. Of
course, he was very fast operator
and very accurate operator, and all
that. He fairly made his Remington
hum. But what of its" thought.
The woods are full of fast and ac-
curatc operators" )"
! Presently the school principal took
me up and introduced me to the
young man. He acknowledged nv
salutation but continued his writing.
| asked him few questions about
himself and his work. He answered
them, still writing.
Then it dawncd upon me that here
indeed was something out of The ordi-
nary.
All the while that this young man
was talking to me, he never ceased to
copy from his manuscript. He was
doing what psychologists have grave
ly told us is impossible. He was per
forming tao separate mental opera
tionS at one and the same time.
But this was not all. 1t was only
the beginning.
DO you speak German? asked
our host.
confessed my ignorance Of that
language. But German happened |
to be present, and he took up the
conversation. The operator answered
HMM German; while he still con-
tlnued to write-in English.
Then man was found in the
audience who spoke French, and the
same test was repeated in that Ian
guage, for the operator was not only
a proficient typist but also an accom-
plished linguist.
There was no stumping that opcr-
ator IN his remarkable feat of two
simultaneous mental operations. He
could converse huently in French or
German while at the same time copy
ing from English manuscript, and he
showed us later that he could just as
easily reverse the process. 1t was all
new to me and to everyone present
as new as it was extraordinary,
'SBut of what practical use is it?"
l thought on my way home.
Then my mind began to stray back
over the earlier days of the writing
machine, | remembered another mar
vel of 20 years ago, when Frank Nc
Gurrin, the pioneer touch " oper-
ator, the first typist who ever operated
the machine without looking at the
keys, was giving his exhibitions on the
Remington Typewriter in all the
cities of North America.
l remembered how they called Nc
Gurrin a freak, a sort of magician,
who did what no other operator could
ever do. Today the whole business
world knows that all the best oper-
ators are " touch " operators.
The wonder of yesterday is always
the commonplace of to-day.
1t is not the two in one"
stunts that this young man does that
matter in themselves. 1t is the fact
that he is able to do them, for this
fact proves what perfect mechanical
proficiency an operator may attain
with practice.
The lesson this latest marvel teaches
is that the typist becomes proficient
by becoming mechanical-a human
automaton. And only when typing
becomes as mechanical and uncon-
scious as walking, is the typist truly
a master of his craft. i
Twenty years ago the Remington
Typewriter Company brought out
Frank MCGurrln as an example to the
operators OF his day Now they have
brought out this new marvel as an
example to the operators of the pres
cnt. Thus the Remington Type
writer fulfilis It's role as the perpetual