en to the height of life. We
eulogize the principle of following the paths of own true interest and
mean by that too often paths of least resistance. Study becomes play,
the child learns a hundred things but does not learn the most important
one, to do his duty and to do it accurately and with submission to a
general purpose. The power of attention thus never becomes trained, the
energy to concentrate on that which is not interesting by its own
appeal is slowly lost, a flabby superficiality must set in which is
moved by nothing but the personal advantage and the zigzag impulses of
the chance surroundings. He who has never learned obedience can never
become his own master, and whoever is not his own master through all his
life lacks the mental soundness and mental balance which a harmonious
life demands. Flippancy and carelessness, haphazard interests and
recklessness must result, mediocrity wins the day, cheap aims pervade
the social life, hasty judgments, superficial emotions, trivial
problems, sensational excitements, and vulgar pleasures appeal to the
masses. Yellow papers and vaudeville shows--vaudeville shows on the
stage, in the courtroom, on the political platform, in the pulpit of the
church--are welcome, and of all the results, one is the most immediate,
the disorganization of the brain energies.

A sound mind is a well-organized mind in which a controlling idea is
able to inhibit the opposites and is in no danger of being overrun by
any chance intrusion into the mind. This power is the act of attention.
An attention which is trained and disciplined can hold its ideas against
chance impulses. An untrained attention is attracted by everything which
is loud and shining, big and amusing. The trouble is not with the rush
and hurry of the impressions which demand our attention; the trouble is
with our attention which seeks a quick change of new and ever new
impressions because it is not disciplined to hold firmly to one
important interest. We want the hundred short-cut superficial magazines
because we lack the energy to study one large volume; we want the
thousand engagements because we are not concentrated enough to devote
ourselves fully to one ideal task. The strong mind may find its sound
adjustment even without such training for concentrated attention through
obedience and discipline but the weak mind has to pay the penalty. For
not a few it will mean social disaster. Yet our society is sufficiently
adapted to