oughts have
never been firmly welded together reproduces slowly, and in consequence
is wavering and undecided. His knowledge is not at his command and he
is therefore weak." (F. McMurry.) The greater then the number of
clear mental relations of a fact to other facts in the same and in
other studies the more likely it is to render instant _obedience_ to
the will when it is needed. Such ready mastery of one's past
experiences and accumulations promotes confidence and power in action.
Concentration is manifestly designed to give strength and decision to
character. But a careless education by neglecting this principle, by
scattering the mind's forces over broad fields and by neglecting the
connecting roads and paths that should bind together the separate
fields, can actually undermine force and decision of character.

In later years when we consider the _results of school methods_ upon
our own character we can see the weakness of a system of education
which lacks concentration, a weakness which shows itself in a lack of
_retentiveness_ and of ability to use acquired knowledge. We are only
too frequently reminded of the loose and scrappy state of our acquired
knowledge by the ease with which it eludes the memory when it is
needed. To escape from this disagreeable consciousness in after years,
we begin to spy out a few of the mountain peaks of memory which still
give evidence of submerged continents. Around these islands we begin
to collect the wreckage of the past and the accretions of later study
and experience. A thoughtful person naturally falls into the habit of
collecting ideas around a few centers, and of holding them in place by
links of association. In American history, for instance, it is
inevitable that our knowledge becomes congested in certain important
epochs, or around the character and life of a few typical persons. The
same seems to be true also of other studies, as geography and even
geometry. The failure to acquire proper _habits of thinking_ is also
exposed by the experience of practical life. In life we are compelled
to see and respect the causal relations between events. We must
calculate the influences of the stubborn forces and facts around us.
But in school we often have so many things to learn that we have no
time to think. At least half the meaning of things lies not in
themselves, but in their relations and effects. Therefore, to get
ideas without getting their significant relations