Concentration Of Mind

( Originally Published 1885 )

IT is snowing this morning, for the first time this fall. That is a reminder that winter, with its long evenings and keen, bracing air, is near at hand. This is the season for hard study. Now, I have something to suggest to you, this morning, boys. Of late I have often heard some of you say, "I cannot get my lessons ; they are too hard ; they take too much time ; I have to study three and four hours out of school." In these cases I have observed what these lessons were, and have generally been satisfied that they were not too long nor too difficult. In most instances the same lessons were well learned by some members of the class, without unusual or unreasonable hours of study. I wish to tell you, therefore, how you may get these lessons without spending too much time in studying them.

It is related of a distinguished man, one of the first scholars of America at the present day, that, when he was fitting for college, he found himself spending two hours a day in preparing his Latin lesson. He determined that he would get that lesson in an hour and fifty minutes. The next day, and subsequent days, when he sat down to learn his Latin, he bent every energy to accomplish it in the shortest possible time. He found by daily trials that he was getting it in an hour and forty-five minutes, and that the time required was growing daily a little less. Concentrating all his powers upon the task, day by day, he soon found himself spending only an hour and a half upon it, then fifteen minutes less, and soon mastering it in an hour ; and, continuing his efforts, within a few months the daily lesson could be learned in less than half an hour a thing absolutely impossible with his habits of study at the beginning of his efforts. But, meantime, he had done something more than to get his Latin lesson daily in a shorter period of time. He had acquired a different habit of study. He had learned something of the value of the power of concentration. His philosophical mind formulated it in this way : "The acquisition of power is of more value than the acquisition of knowledge."

Many years ago, in Northern Massachusetts, a young lad of about fifteen years had acquired such a habit of intense concentration of mind that he won a boyish wager with some of his school-fellows in this way. Seven long stanzas of poetry were given him to learn in twenty minutes, while the boys were permitted to use all their efforts to disturb and disconcert him, except that they were not to touch him. He began, and they kept up a most unearthly din about his ears ; but all to no purpose. He was totally oblivious to anything going on around him. His whole mind was concentrated upon the task of committing to memory those verses, and before the twenty minutes were up he had them so thoroughly fixed that he could recall them with ease years afterward. This lad was the Hon. George S. Boutwell, afterward governor of Massachusetts, secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, United States senator, and secretary of the United States treasury.

Horace Greeley was remarkable for his power of concentration of mind. It is stated that when an immense procession, with bands of music, was passing up Broadway, the streets lined with people to the number of many thousands, he would sit down upon the steps of the Astor House, and, using the top of his hat for a writing -table, he would write out in full one of those strong, terse, pungent editorials which rendered the Tribune so famous during his palmy days.

I have heard another incident in relation to his power of writing under disturbing circumstances. An article in the paper had given great offence to a certain gentleman, who immediately upon reading it went straight down the street, and calling at the office of the Tribune, inquired for the editor. He was shown into a little seven by nine sanctum, where Mr. Greeley sat, with his head down close to his paper, scribbling away at a two-forty rate. The angry man began by asking if this was Mr. Greeley.

"Yes, sir. What do you want?" said the editor, quickly, without once looking up from his paper. The irate visitor then began to use his tongue, with no reference to the rules of propriety, good breeding, or reason. Meantime, Mr. Greeley continued to write. Page after page was dashed off in the most impetuous style, with no change of features, and without paying the slightest attention to the visitor. Finally, after about twenty minutes of the most impassioned scolding ever poured out in an editor's office, the angry man became disgusted, and abruptly turned and walked out of the room. Then, for the first time, Mr. Greeley quickly looked up, rose from his chair, and slapping the gentleman familiarly on the shoulder, in a pleasant tone of voice said : "Don't go, friend ; sit down, sit down, and free your mind ; it will do you good, —you will feel better for it. Besides, it helps me to think what I am to write about. Don't go."

Sir Isaac Newton, near the close of his life, said to a friend, "If I have accomplished anything above the average of men, it has been by the power of patient work."

If your school proves of any value to you, boys, it will be, not by giving you an opportunity to acquire knowledge, but to acquire power by daily labor. And this will come to you mainly from your acquiring, by dint of dogged will and determination, the power of concentration. It will give you the power to do, —to bring it to pass, — which will be of more value to you than gold. It is an indispensable element of success.