The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-01-23
DIR. Marden's
Uplift Talks
BY oRlsoN SWEET MARDEN.
PICKING UP KNOWLEDGE BY THE
WAY.
Copyright BY Mcclure Newspaper syndicate

l often receive letters from young
people, complaining that it is impos-
sible for them to attend school oil
college because they have to work,
and therefore have no opportunity
to acquire an education.
Did you aver stop to think, my
your complaining friends, that a
great many of the most prominent
men of today have been self-educated?
l do not mean that they have worked
their way through school or college,
but hat they have actually gained
an education in it's widest and best
n by their own efforts, with little
OF no actual schooling.
Thomas A. Edison had only a few
months regular schooling for his
parents were poor, and at twelve
years Of age he had to earn his W
living. But he began reading solid
books" very early. When only ten
he was absorbed in Gibbons Rome"
and Hume's England" and had al
ready read the biographies Of many
great and noble men.
Andrew Carnegie had only an ele-
mentary school education, but by
reading and studying in his leisure
moments he acquired the culture that
has fruited in several books and many
magazine articles on topics of world
wide interest, to say nothing of his
business achievements.
Prof. William J.. MCGEE, who recent
ly left the United States bureau of
e~thnology after remarkable geologic
and chronological achievements, vas a
blacksmith in Iowa when he began to
study geology, the higher mathemat-
les and languages. He was chief of
the department of ethnology at the
Louisiana Purchase exposition. He is
now editor of the National Geographi-
cal Magazine.
You who complain that you have no
opportunity to get an education, read
the lives of men who have lifted them
selves into place and power by self
education, biographies like hat of
Franklin, of Lincoln, of Vice-Presi-
dent Marshall, men who from the
direst poverty, by sheer force of their
W will power, have lifted them
selves into the highest stations of
life.
Did it aver occur to you that you
are right now in the greatest of all
universities, the university of life,
where you are meeting people every
day from whom O can learn some
thing valuable, no matter how humble
they may be?
If you are ambitious you can alb.
sorb knowledge every moment of your
life; every piece of work you do, every
human being you meet is a study for
you.
If the young people who long for
knowledge and think they are de
prived of it because of their unfor.
tunate position as w-age-earners could
only realize what a marvellous oppor>
tunity is theirs to drink in wisdom
at every breath, to absorb invaluable
knowledge through their very pores
The results of all the schools, of all
the colleges and universities of the
past are spread out here before our
yes in the civilization that now is
L ucI0 ntNcE WdS buCu d llIuc IOI
gaining an education as the present.
To the busy worker our free public
libraries, art galleries and museums,
which are now opening their doors to
evening visitors, offer splendid ad
vantage for picking up knowledge.
The greatest characters in history
have been noted for their perpetual
self-improvement habits; they were
always absorbing knowledge, power
from their experiences and surround
ings. t%reasuring VI gems Of thought
valuable deductions.
1t does not matter what your oc
cupation may be, determine that
every day, no matter how busy you
may be. you will add a little some
thing to your general improvement
you will absorb something that will
make you a little larger, fuller
broader man or m Keep your
eyes and ears and your mind open
and you will be astonished at the mum
Der of useful things you will learn
every day.
II you want to improve yourself
form the habit of carrying a pad OF
notebook and pencil and jot down
things you would like to be able to
remember. You will be surprised IL
see how much you will gain in this
way in a single year.
1t is astonishing what the passion
for self-improvement, the determine
ton to get an education, will do for
one in the course of a few years.