Omaha daily bee., 1920-12-12
CONCENTRATING
BY lanes ]. Montague.

~Nditorials which tell you how to sue
ceed. The way to succeed, the edi- !
torial said, was to concentrate. II |
could shut all distractions out of my |
mind, and devote it. exclusively ito !
the thing | was doing, | should get |
It done. II | got everything done |
was trying NO do, provided they
were all good useful things, shouldI
succeed.
1t struck me that there was good
deal in that editorial. 1t stood to |
reason that distractions were dis
turbers o. smentals traffic.
Ii somebody had rushed in just as
Eli Whitney was cropping around for
the idea of the cotton gin and told
him he had>been summoned for jury
duty he probably would have lost
the idea, and the average suit of all
wool clothes would still be selling
Tor around $3.50.
Ii when Sir. Isaac Newton was sti,l
rubbing his0lead where the falling
apple had hit it, the bulldog belong
ing to the orchard had stepped out
and frowned at him, we should still
see nothing remarkable. in the fact
that balloons go up instead Of down.
II when James Watt-but l had
proved my own point. Concentrat
ton was great thing.
So thereafter I tried to concen-
trate. But it wasn't hah SO easy as
1t sounded. ! began to wonder how
the man who wrote theeditorial had
learned to do it. After | had prac-
ticed it for a week without getting
the swing, ! began to wonder if he
ever had learned it, and was about
to write and ask him. when another
Of his editorials on the same sub
ject came along.
This one Wass sort OF sequel TO
the first one--a second lesson so to
- speak. It admitted that concentra.
ton wasn't acquired without strug-
gle, and advised people who hadn't
any gilt for it to concentrate arti-
ficially, which is to say to shut out
distractions by doors and bolts for
while, until it began to Come natural.
That sounded to me like good
common sense. So | went home to
try it.
Cnance tor 1ryour.
Just at that particular time | was
trying to make the amounts on the
stubs of my check book agree with
the amount the bank said | had
checked out of my deposit account.
1t was hard work, for | am one of
those men who can add the same
column of figures three times and
get fresh and surprising answer
every time. probably would get
still more fresh and surprising
! answers after subsequent additions,
but / never had the patience to add
the column more than three times.
1t struck me that here was a
chance for a test of the concentra-
ton theory. II by concentration,
however induced. | could make my
own figures and those of the bank
agree, it would prove that could
concentrate. After that success
would be mine with practically no
trouble at all.
So, taking my check book, my
fountain pen, and a pad OF scratch
paper I retired to all attic room and
began to concentrate. !
I was getting along fine when
the telephone bell rang.
--s< Thinking of course somebody
down stairs would answer it. | con-
tinued to concentrate. But they
didn't answer it. 1T rang again
three short rings this time. There
was pause. | sat back and waited.
Perhaps central would give it up
and tell whoever was calling that
the party didn't answer, or that the
line was out of order.
But she didn't. She rang again
She rang for Is seconds, which is
a very long time. Still nobody
answered, although | could hear
them moving about downstairs.
Followed silence. | had long
ceased to concentrate by this time,
and had begun to wonder if the
telephone message might not be inn
portant. The more | wondered the
more | thought it might be. At last.
able to endure the suspense no long
er, slammed down the check book
and started down the stairs. When
l got to the telephone | found a
man there. He was from the tele-
phone Company. He was making
central ring the bell to see if it
worked all right. / could have told
him that, and wouldn't have
needed the aid of concentration to
help me work out the answer, either.
| went back upstairs and re-
suined my hbors. There was a
weeping and wailing and -gnashing
of teeth below stairs three minutes
after started. The baby had
Tommy's foot ball and wouldn't give
it up.
I got the foot ball. propitiated the
baby with lump of sugar, warned
both children that ! was concen.
trating, and went back upstairs.
Silence is Disturbing.
- 7 had hardly resumed my addition
Wren there came a knock on the
back door. 1t was gentle knock
at first Then it became bolder. No
body answered it. The head of the
house must have gone out. Tommy
and the baby were probably on the
front porch. where they couldn't
hear it.
If the knock had continued
could have kept on concentrating
perhaps, but it didn't 1t stopped.
And I began to fear that it was some
porch climber who had merely
knocked to assure himself that no.
body was in the house. Doubtless
now he was at work on one of the
back porch windows with jimmy.
went downstairs and found a
lady who wanted to know if we had
= a vacuum cleaner. | told her we had
and went back upstairs.
- Once more got out the pen, and
hau%~ oyer NV f,ct The, ,,,otnr