Commander Robert E. Peary was asked what training was necessary for
arctic exploration work. This was his reply:
One can train for arctic exploration as one would train for a
prize-fight. The training consists of good habits, with sound,
healthy body as a basis to work on. One must be sound of wind
and limb, to use the horseman’s phrase, and he must not be a
quitter. That’s the kind of training that finds the pole. (Text.)
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* * * * *
There is little room, or only inferior positions in the world for men
who are not trained, at least in some respects.
Look at the well-trained blacksmith; he goes across the shop,
picks up the horse’s foot, takes a squint, returns to his anvil,
forges the shoe, and it exactly fits the foot. Contrast him with
the bungler who looks at the foot, then forges a shoe, then fits
the foot to it, often to the ruin of a fine horse. Now, the
fault lies in ever allowing himself to put a shoe on that is
not in proper shape for the foot; he should determine to make
the shoe fit the foot in place of the foot fitting the shoe,
and he should follow it up until the object is accomplished.
A very good way to discipline the mechanical eye is to first
measure an inch with the eye, and then prove it with the rule,
then measure a half inch, then an eighth, and so on, and you
will soon be able to discover at a glance the difference between
a twelfth and a sixteenth of an inch; then go to three inches,
six, twelve, and so on. Some call this guessing; there is no
guesswork about it. It is measuring with the eye and the mind.
If you can not see things mechanically, do not blame the eye
for it; it is no more to blame than the mouth is because we
can not read, or the fingers because we can not write. Every
occupation in life requires a mechanically-trained eye, and we
should realize more than we do the great importance of properly
training that organ.--_Mining and Scientific Press._
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* * * * *
Training counts, culture adds strength. Sixty per cent of our
Congressmen have been college men; 79 per cent of our Senators
have been college men; 90 per cent of our supreme judges have
been college men; 92 per cent of our presidents have been
college men. Training counts; training makes leadership.--N.
MCGEE WATERS.
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See PRACTISE, GRADUATED.