nk you will find in it many of the elements of the touchstone for which
we are looking.

I know the thought will have occurred to you that you do not know what you
will take up, and are in no position to tell what things will go to make
up the right sort of an edge; yet you will observe that you are, of
course, in the same position as other pieces of unshaped wood and steel,
and for your first ten years nothing is done except to shape you up
gradually, teaching you to speak and read, and generally getting house
broken. During your teens you are going to college, learning how to meet
with and talk to men, to be a gentleman and develop your muscles.
Incidentally, you pick up a little knowledge of what the world has been
doing.

Most of this you will forget; but, if you are wise, you will have drawn a
few conclusions and made some observations, one of which is that it was
mighty good of those old chaps who have been workers in the past to have
cleared such good roads for us in every direction, so that a fellow could
almost begin where they left off, when his handle is polished and he
starts cutting.

An important thing at this period is to get the handle evenly
balanced,--turned correct on centres, as they say; that is, not to get too
far out of the normal in any particular, such as dress, promptness,
profanity, or length of hair.

So much for the rounding of the handle; and now about the tool. At first,
by watching, handling, and careful work, you must begin to show the
quality and amount of metal you possess. Find out, as it were, by
tentative trials whether it is capable of good edge or not. In other
words, you want to find your bent and your abilities. To this end, if you
are naturally good at mathematics and have a scientific and inquiring turn
of mind, as you have, it is well to give it vent. Do not fear, for
instance, to spend your time and earnings on electrical apparatus or
studies and experiments in physical science. If you have a fondness and
desire for teaching or philosophy or accounting or trade, try to find out
the essential requisites of the particular one which interests you, and
follow up and acquire all the attainments which may be found useful. If
you wish to enter politics or the lecture field, learn to speak and
collect and classify your ideas when you are speaking and before people.

Let me summarize briefly the points that I have just covered.

You are now working for a definite object. You ha