The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-06-10
,ir,ted and the possibilities OF the


training of the mind are infinite.
.Some time ago." he said, II saw
, iuggIer on the stage keepswhirliny
and catching heavy, keen-edgsd knives
in the air, three, four, five, Sax, keep
ing them spinning in beJildering
revolution, never once missing the
catch of the handles. 1t wass mar
Vicious performance OF manual dex'
terity. But somewhere, don't know
where, but somewhere, there is
limit to the number of knives that
he. or any man, can spin. For all
nossible dexterity there can be one
knife too many.
~ have seen the fingers of the ex-
merit typist fly and twinkle over the
keyboard, while the metal type-bars
ratified in a very hail storm Of speed.
don't know how many words a
minute are possible. but somewhere
there is limit; there is number
reached that neither the machine nor
the most skillful hand can carry.
"There is limit to the f1neness Of
the exquisite hand craft of the en-
grayer. There is limit to the manual
dexterity that can direct any edged
tool. There is limit to the distance
that the keenest eye can scan. There
is a limit to the shrillest sound that
the human ear can hear. There is
limit beyond which no physical sense
or member can be trained. There
has been no new experience in physi-
cal sensation in all the centuries.
There was progress, to be sure,
from the rude tom-tom of the savage
to the more complete instruments of
music. but long before the piano and
the violin the limit of nicely of finish
had been reached. There is probably
no excellence of finish in The modern
harp that was not found in the
Grecian heptachord. The work of
the Chinese artificer who was con-
temporary with Confucius is as curl
ously fine as the work OF the best
craftsman of the twentieth century.
There was architectural progress
from the rude homes of the cave
and the monuments of Greece; but
the limit of architectural perfection
was reached in the AthenIan Parthc
nom In point of beauty and proper
ZION nothing has been added to it in
all the years. When the consummate
touch has been given to the manual
masterpiece; when the last exquisite
act of joining and rivet'ng and cary
ing and chiseling has been perform
ed, there is nothing left but to re-
peat and recombine. We lave reached
the manual limit. We make things
differently, but we do not make them
more stilfully.
The New Discoveries.
tut the works of the mind have
gone on from new to newer and from
high to higher. Archimedes discov-
cred the principle of the lever; Copper
nicus, the sphericity of the earth;
Newton, the law of gravitation; Mar
conf, the principle of wireless trans
mission. The man unknown today
will give us the new discovery to-
morrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.
The facts of nature are awful by
virtue of their very boundlessness AMI
power Mountains, continents, seas,
the air, the mighty. all.pervading
power of electricity. Set against
them how feeble is the hand; alone
how inefficient, how helpless! A rain
drop in the ocean, snowflake on
the mountain. a leaf in the win1.
But the hand guided by the mind
subdues and masters them all. The
power of electricity! AS I was look
ing one morning from my window l
saw a workman on roof below clear.
ing away the melting snow. He seizad
with his hand an electric wire to
move it from his path. Life was
b. Gifted out on the instan. His body
stiffened and strained with a horrible
galyanism, and then collapsed in the
slush of the melting snow.
again, / have seen the hand of q
tiny girl press a button, and in in
slant response to the fairy touch that
e,r,a piort fnrpo 0have6 and the
thousand lights of city, all at once.
dubbed into brilliancy. The deadly
power was under the control of mind
The work Of the mind carries i'm
measurably beyond the work of the
hand"
Mr.. Eastman here expressed the
belief that we are likely to carry the
practical idea too far in the education
of the mind as well as in that of the
hand. To be informed in principles,
not to gain fund of facts, nor to
learn how to perform particular
things, is the fundamental in educa-
ton. In our revolt from the old
formal system we must not overwork
that word do" He said that VIZ
commonly hear the statement that
mathematics and sciences are pra:
teal, and for this reason only are
worth while. He showed that this is
far from true in the sense in which.
the word practical is commonly used.
We call the higher mathematics and
the sciences practical" but in point
of fact we do not put them to prac-
teal use in selling goods or keeping
books or building houses.
We say that German IS practical
There is large German element in
this country and we can use their
language in our business. Therefore
let's have German il our schools and
let's have the children study German
The young man takes the course IN
German In the high school or the col
lege and then gets a position to sell
goods for some business house in n
German speaking community. Mr..
Eastman here drew an amusing cart
cature of the frantic efforts of the
graduate to hold conversation with
German customer. In three minutes
thew are both speakinr English with