How to Win and Fix Attention.
By Dr. Gregory
1. HE who would gain attention must give attention. A public speaker famous for his control over the attention of his audience, was asked for the secret of his power. He replied, "I do not know unless it is because I pay attention to myself." It was the truth. He was always intent upon his thoughts, and his attention was contagious. There is a fascination in the very tones of a man deeply absorbed in the thoughts he is uttering. Men gaze upon an earnest man as upon a spectacle, and soon they glide into the same earnestness. "Was not our teacher earnest to-day?" was the comment of a boy whose heart had been more than usually touched with the truth. The earnestness begat earnestness. Attention wins attention. But the teacher must have a double attention,—attention to the lesson and to the class. He must be at the same moment conscious of his own words and of their eyes and ears. But nothing in their actions must make him forget his theme. No tell-tale look or tone must betray that his mind wanders from its work. 2. A practical rule of great value is never to begin the lesson till all the class is stilled, and to pause as often as the quiet is broken. A child's power over its own thoughts is small, and the slightest noise or movement will often distract its attention. The teacher's pause and silence recall the mind, and tell the little wanderer that it is wanted and waited for. The silence is often more impressive and reproachful than any words could be. The most skillful teachers know this rule best and employ it most. They never teach but to a silent and watchful class. 3. The two precepts given are both based on the teacher's personal power and presence. There are deeper facts in the pupil's mind, which must be reached in order to rouse his whole power of attention. Of these, the first met is the mind's interest in the senses. The intellectual life of childhood resides mostly in the sensations. Where the eyes see, the thoughts follow. He who would command a child's thoughts, must control the child's senses. Give your little pupil nothing else to look at while you are teaching, and he will study your buttons or boots, and when you think he is listening to your words, he is only examining your watch-chain or spectacles.