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The Fifth Lesson: The Cultivation of Attention.567
total number of spots on twelve dominoes, after a single glance. This was
Attention, in earnest, and shows what practice will do to develop a faculty.
The result was shown by the wonderful powers of observation, memory
and attention, together with instantaneous mental action, that the boy
developed. Not only was he able to add dominoes instantaneously, but he
had powers of observation, etc., that seemed little short of miraculous. And
yet it is related that he had poor attention, and deficient memory to begin
with.
If this seems incredible, let us remember how old whist players note and
remember every card in the pack, and can tell whether they have been
played or not, and all the circumstances attending upon them. The same
is true of chess players, who observe every move and can relate the whole
game in detail long after it has been played. And remember, also, how one
woman may pass another woman on the street, and without seeming to
give her more than a careless glance, may be able to relate in detail every
feature of the other woman’s apparel, including its color, texture, style of
fashioning, probable price of the material, etc., etc. And a mere man would
have noticed scarcely anything about it—because he would not have given
it any attention. But how soon would that man learn to equal his sister in
attention and observation of women’s wearing apparel, if his business
success depended upon it, or if his speculative instinct was called into play
by a wager with some friend as to who could remember the most about
a woman’s clothing, seen in a passing glance? You see it is all a matter of
Interest and Attention.
But we forget that the Attention may be developed and cultivated, and
we complain that we “cannot remember things,” or that we do not seem to
be able to “take notice.” A little practice will do wonders in this direction.
Now, while the above exercises will develop your memory and powers of
observation, still that is not the main reason that we have given them to you.
We have an ulterior object, that will appear in time. We aim to develop your
Will-power, and we know that Attention stands at the gate of Will-power. In