LITTLE THINGS BY Charles Robert Morrison

said Socrates, "is no life at all." Follow up the answer with other
questions. Compare, form a judgment. Keep the mind on the subject;
whether it be a statement of history, a question of science, a problem in
mathematics, or a lesson in morals--ask questions--not to cavil, but to
know, and to bring all other truth into harmony with the one at hand,
and to fix the mind attentively upon the truth stated.
If the will has brought the mind to seek knowledge and possess power,
and the habit of attention is formed. The second little thing that makes for
education, is that of
2. Discipline.
By constant repetition we soon make truth our own by daily training; the
mind is mastered, ceases to wander, and becomes an obedient servant.
By discipline, the inert and nerveless fingers become active and
responsive to the wish of the mind; then the power of self-mastery is
attained. This makes the difference between the man of civilization and
the barbarian; namely, the power of self-mastery, ability to understand,
and to reason, and to execute.
It is not an altogether easy or delightful task, this of discipline. Most of us
would rather pass carelessly and quickly from one thought to another,
from one truth to another, staying just so long here or there, as the
thought or truth gave us temporary pleasure; then leaving it when its
greater depths were opened up, or dismissing it altogether when it gave
signs of serious study required, or became, as we say, "too deep."
The failure to master, step by step, the lesson in hand, thinking that
"this can be omitted; it will be more interesting farther along, and
perhaps a little easier," has been the cause of much trouble and
65 of 102