getting up on her feet or walking. The child seemed perfectly well, and her parents had become very anxious about her. Inquiry revealed the fact that when she was nine months old the little girl had been injured by a fall, and had been kept very closely confined for six months; at first in her crib, and later in a high chair, never being allowed to stand on her feet. When she was at last put upon the floor, she began her creeping just as she had been in the habit of doing six months before. Nor did she show any disposition to do otherwise than creep, even after her strength had been fully recovered. It required several months of careful attention on the part of the parents, in exercising her in standing and walking, to awaken any interest whatsoever in these activities. This law of atrophy through disuse undoubtedly operates throughout the entire range of human interests, not only in those interests more closely related to organic life, but also in the intellectual, moral, and religious interests. It is manifestly of great concern to parents and others who have the care of children that all normal interests be given a chance to function at the right time and in the right way. (Text.)
(164)
ATTACHMENT REWARDED
In order to secure some token by which
to remember a great-aunt to whom she had
been much attached, Mlle. Bertha Chevanne,
a young French woman, of Paris, attended a
sale of the old lady's effects. The girl was
poor and most of the articles were beyond
her purse. A shabby old book—a book of
devotions—was, however, put up. Nobody
bid for it except Mademoiselle Chevanne,
and she bought it for next to nothing. In
turning over the leaves she came across a
folded paper. It was a will bequeathing her
the whole of her great-aunt's estate, valued
at $80,000.
(165)
ATTACK, DISCRETION IN
As with a fortress, so with many fortified evils. It is often better to flank them than to exhaust strength by direct attack.
To let a fortress go, so far from being disgraceful,
is often one of the best things a
general can do. If MacMahon had let Metz
go, the Germans could not have got round
Paris without tremendous losses and months
of fighting. If Lee had abandoned Richmond
in 1862 the war might have been protracted
indefinitely. The greatest mistake Osman
Pasha made in 1877 was holding on to
Plevna too long. Napoleon let Genoa go
in spite of the fine defense of Massena, but
he soon recovered it after he had defeated
the Austrians in the field. In the American
civil war Burnside was compelled by the
press to advance, with the result of the
failure at Fredericksburg and the loss of
12,000 men. A field army should never be
risked for a fortress.—Dr. Miller Maguire,
London News.
(166)
See Aggression; Saloon, Fighting the.
Attainment by Abandonment—See
Higher, The.
ATTAINMENT, SUPERFICIAL
There are men who attempt to rise in the social scale without any apparent fitness for the larger place aspired to. Many start off on a course, but lack ability, patience and pluck to persevere and so fail of their goal, as the following somewhat humorous illustration suggests:
Attorney William S. Barnes, of San
Francisco, has a new office boy. The last
boy with whom he was associated resigned
a few days ago because the law
business did not suit his peculiar temperament.
"How long have you been here?" asked Barnes, when the small boy made known his intention to engage in a different vocation.
"Six months," replied the boy.
"And you don't like the law business?"
"Naw. It's no good, and I tell you straight, I'm mighty sorry I learned it."
(167)
Audience Attracted—See Providential Interposition.
AUDIENCE, INSPIRATION FROM
"When a singer is up before an audience,
he or she can tell whether the effect of the
voice is pleasing or not by watching the
countenances of the listeners," says Thomas
A. Edison in Popular Mechanics. "When,
however, one sings into a dead instrument
like the phonograph, without the slightest
recognition as to whether the voice is
properly tuned and pitched, the singer becomes
rather nervous. I know some very
capable singers who can sing splendidly be-
