The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-09-03

ence of mind in any company or afS
circumstance, but for ordinary moftals
the env!able quality usually implies
habituntion. The troublesome fact is
that some relatively trivial novelty OF
environment. such AS crowded streets
or socini strife of tongues. may make
fool or a wise man!
The Essential Qualities
OF Presence of Mind
To gum up. presence OF mind means
"a readiness or effective response In
difficult situations: CD an all-round
imaginative anticipation OF probable
contingencies and CD an even less de-
Unable quality which might be de-
scribed as a selective control of atten-
ton so that irrelevant distractions are
not allowed to interfere.
We cannot make bricks without
straw, nor a silk purse out of sow's
ear; and there is little hope of culti-
waiting presence of mind in people who
have sluggish perceptions and very
long latent period, l. O., the interval
between stimulus and response. But
the fact that people who showed. to
begin with, little presence of mind in
quick games may eventually become
good players, proves that the quality
can be cultivated Our question is:
How?
We are inclined to think that the
cultivation of the quality demands
some humility-enough to take the
trouble to anticipate probable situa-
tons. If one goes to give a, debatable
address without anticipating probable
objections one is not likely to respond
very effectively to the discussion. II
one starts on an expedition without
imagining the probable contingencies
that may arise, one is certainly dimin-
ishing ones chance OF showing pres
ence of mind when things go aglee. n
1t is only common sense to say to
oneself: What shall / answer IL ]
am asked how this or that new dis
covery affects my thesis?' 1t is only
sense to say to oneself: What
shall do if provisions run short be-
fore I reach the end of my proposed
Journey" Successful debaters and ex-
plorers have always been humble
enough to anticipate.
Preparation Over Night
Smoothes Difficulties
For men of ordinary caliber who
have to live crowded hours with many
a risk of being hustled, there is un-
doubtedly wisdom in premeditating the
night before the tactics of the day. A
simple device this. but with surprising
smoothing out results. especially If one
can add to it an obedience to Ma
poleon's advice Of always being ready
the day before! 1t is in hurries and
scurries that men lose their presence
of mind most hopelessly. "Forewarned
is forearmed' and an imaginative an
ticipation of a concourse which will be
trying to temper as well as to wits is
bound to be steadying. We do not
need modern psychology to tell us that
1t may save a situation IL we decide the
day before that on no account will we
lose our temper with our visitor ex-
asperating as he may prove himself TO
be. The simple point is that morally
as we'll as intellectually we should an
ticipate our days game of chess
The second part of the recipe is. we
are afraid. rather too obvious to be
acceptable. But 1t Is sound. We must
not only anticipate situations. we must
experience them. A great German
philosopher of to-day once accom-
panied two golfers on their round and
showed an extraordinarily intelligent
interest in the significance of the vari-
GUS strokes, which he witnessed for
the first time. He put his big brain
into the business; he attended his
mind thereunto, as Sir Isaac Newton
said. Intellectually he mastered the
game and many of the Honorable
Company's rules. But we were a little
amused to hear him tell his wife In
the evening: YES. I can now play
golf" IL is needless to say that his
confidence would not survive many
holes when he began to play.
In a quick game. such as life il, in
tellectual anticipation will not suffice
70 engender presence OF mind. There
must be actual apprenticeship and a
discipline not without its patience. A
friend OF ours in student days began
to swim by jumping from n bathing
pier into the sea-and he swan But
in nine cases out of ten the expert
ment would have ended in drowning
or in an ignominious rescue. For or
binary mortals presence of mind in
difficult situations must be cngendered
by progressive discipline. We have
seen one of the wisest. of living men
miss entirely the opportunity of grip
ping q good audience-simply for lack
of humility in subjecting himself to
the discipline of platform speaking
A big man may be thrown Off his
bearings by relatively trivial environ
mental conditions, which short ex-
perience would have enabled him TO
transcend. The only remedy Is that
we should accustom ourselves, by ap-
premiership, to such situations as are
likely to recur with frequency in our
experience.
OF course we need not waste time
in learning to walk backward before
royalty. for the contingency Is not
likely TO arise often, II ever, In the.
life history or most OF us. But we
can and should discipline ourselves In
the presence OF mind required in sit
uations which are bound to occur over
and over again.
Presence OF mind implies elasticity
of intelligence and n power of rapidly
focusing the attention. It, cannot be
illustrated In conditions OF worry.
when some recollection or care IL al
ways intervening between the mind
and its immediate object Except in