The Idaho recorder. [volume] (Salmon City, Idaho) 1886-1927, 1915-04-01
Habit-The Servant,
The Master
b. ORRIsoN SWEET MARDEN


IN every hand We hear the discus
sion II eugenies but early train
ing in habit forming is Just as inn
portant as 10 be well born
When shall / begin to train my
ehildg" asked young mother Of a
prominent physician
How old Is the child7" inquired the
doctor
Two years. sir
Then you have lost Just two years"
replied be, grayely
You must begin with the grand
mother" said oliver Wendell Holmes,
when asked a similar question,
we SOW an act we reap a habit:
we SOW habit, we reap a character"
While correct habits depend largely
on self-discipline, aud often Gn self.
denial. bad habits, like weeds, spring
| up, unaided and unframed 10 choke
the plans of virtue and, as With Cana
da thistles. allowed 70 go TO seed in
raIr meadow, We mas have one days
/ seeding, ten years wedding"
We seldom see much change In peo-
/ pfc after they get to be twenty-five or
| thirty years OF age. except Ia going
| farther In the way they have started;
but Il is a great comfort TO think that,
| when one is young Il is almost as easy
to acquire a good habit as II bad one,
and that It is possible 10 be hardened
Ia goodness as we'll as IN evil
Take good care Of the first twenty
years OF your life, and YOU may hope
that the last twenty Will take good
care OF you
How unfortunate that the science OF
hatit-forming IL not more generally
known by parents and taught In our
schools, colleges and universities. II
is science compared with which
other departments OF education sink
into insiguihcance,
Mans life work is q masterpiece or
botch according as each little habit
has been perfectly or carelessly
formed
II is said that II you invite one Of
the devils children 10 your home the
whole family viii follow So one bad
habit seems TO have a relationship
with all the others For instance the
one habit OF negligence, .sloyenliness,
makes II easier 10 form others equally
bad. until the entire character Is honey.
combed by the invasion OF family OF
bad habits
A man is often shocked when he
suddenly discovers that he Il consid
cred q liar lie never dreamed OF
forming such habit, but the little
misrepresentation 10 gain some tenn
porary end bad before he WAS aware
OF il. made beaten track lu the nerve
and brain tissue. untll lying has be-
come almost physical necessity. He
thinks he can easily overcome this
habit. but he viii not He Is bound to
his habit with cords OF steel and only
by painful, watehful aud careful repeti.
don OF the exact truth, with a special
effort OF the viii power az each act,
can he form a counter trunk line In
the nerve and brain tissue
Society rs often shocked by the cri m
lnal act Of man who has always been
considered upright and true. But II
they could examine the habit map Ia
bis nervous mechanism aud brain
they would find the beginnings Of q
path leading directly TO his deed, IN
the tiny repetitions OF what he regard
I'D as trivial acts All expert and tech
uical education ia built upon the theory
that these trunk lines 81 habit becoma
more and more sensitive 10 their 40
customed stimuli and respond more
and more readily
We are apt 20 overlook the physical
Va..gt FtFs 9
act makes us more likely 70 perform
that act and discovers Ia our wonder
full mechanism tendency TO perpetual
repetition, whose facility increases Ia
exact proportion to the repetition
Finally the original act becomes vol
untAry from natural reaction,
All through our lives the brain u
constantly educating different parts d
the body TO form habits which VII
work automatically from reflex action
and thus Is delegated 70 the neTvou'
system large part u HES duties
This II natures wonderful economy e
release the brain from the drudgery o
Individual acts. and leave n free e
command an it, forces Tor higher aeTv
ice
Men carelessly or playhllly yet Int
habits OF speech or act which becom'
% natural that they speak or act a.
they do not intend, 10 their diBcom
hture-
Beware Of small sins" and whit
lies"
Leave Her Lay"