They contain the combustible material upon which an
abiding interest in any subject is to be kindled. There are indeed
other and perhaps higher sources of interest, but they are largely
dependent upon these original springs that flow from the concrete
beginnings.
In the second place, object lessons supply a stock of _primary ideas_
which form the foundation of all later progress in knowledge. This is
not a question of interest merely, but of _understanding_, of capacity
to get at the meaning of an idea. Concepts are not the raw materials
with which the mind works, but they are elaborated out of the raw
products furnished by the senses and other forms of intuition. As
cloth is manufactured out of the raw cotton and wool produced on the
farm or in southern fields, so concepts are a manufactured article,
into whose texture materials previously gathered enter. Concepts do
not grow up directly from the soil of the mind any more than ready-made
clothing grows on bushes or on the backs of the wearers. Concepts must
be made out of stuff that is already in the mind, as woolen blankets
are spun and woven out of fleeces. Our present contention is that the
mind shall be filled up with the best quality of raw stuff, otherwise
there will be defect and deficiency in its later products.
Pages:
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212