ning--and to be possessed of it
is to get more out of life than otherwise is possible. Which possibly
accounts for the fact that engineers as a group seem to have a
common-sense viewpoint of things, one that is frankly acknowledged and
drawn upon when needed by men in other walks of life. Engineers are
extremely practical-minded, and this makes for a certain outlook that
will not permit of visionary scaring away from the common sense and the
practical on the part of its possessor. Engineers know why things occur
without having witnessed even the occurrence itself. Their powers of
reasoning are developed to degrees beyond the average--or they seem to
be--and out of this comes one of the sources of gratification on the
personal side to the man who pursues engineering as a profession.

The thing spreads out as I contemplate it. I would make so bold as to
say that the man of engineering training will see more at a glance when
first viewing the Grand Canyon, say, than will any other professionally
trained man. Should the Canyon collapse, he would know instantly why it
collapsed. He could give an opinion on the wonderful color effects that
would interest the artist, and he would know without hesitation how best
to descend to the bottom and wherein to seek the easiest trail. All
this, without his being a civil or a mining engineer, understand; merely
a man trained in constructive mechanics. On the other hand, the mining
or the civil man would view the wreckage of a locomotive accident and
see in the debris, select from the snarl of tangled wheels and
driving-arms and axles a ready picture of the nature of the accident and
how much of the wreckage offered possibilities for repair. Again, the
engineer sees in a tree, with its tapering trunk, the symbol of all
tower construction, just as he sees in the shape of a man's arm the
pattern to follow when devising a cast-iron lever for an automatic
machine. He sees things, does the engineer; sees objectively; follows
nature throughout.

All this being true, the engineer has a rather interesting life of it.
For not only does he see a little more clearly than otherwise would be
possible to him without his education and training, but also he does
things with his hands that come easy to him without previously having
undertaken them. The engineer can do much around his own home, if he so
choose, that of itself is a source of great satisfaction. Engineers can
swing doors, build fireplaces,