Volume 1 Number 35
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, FOUR DOLLARS. SINGLE COPIES TWENTY CENTS, FOREIGN POSTAGE, 75 CENTS EXTRA. CANADIAN POSTAGE, 50 CENTS EXTRA ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y., AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC., PRESIDENT AND TREASURER, R. M. DONALDSON; VICE-PRESIDENT, W. M. SANFORD; SECRETARY, L. D. GARDNER.
Editorial
When the plan of The Mentor Association was in its formative state a prominent educator said, “Your principle, ‘Learn One Thing Every Day,’ is good. Stick to it. Don’t give too much in a single number. There are four things that I regard essential to the success of your plan. They are: Make your matter simple, make it interesting, be sure that it is correct and authoritative, and last, don’t give too much at a time. The mental fare that you serve to your many readers should be frugal. If not, mental indigestion will follow.”
We have had that good advice in mind in all of our work. Some of our readers have asked us why we do not exhaust a subject in one number of The Mentor. Our answer is that, in no case, could we exhaust a subject in a single number, and, in most cases we would exhaust the reader. We give as much on any subject as will interest the reader, and as much as he can conveniently retain in mind.
Just in the way of illustration: In the issue of September 29th, “Beautiful Buildings of the World,” Professor Clarence Ward describes the Alhambra. Mr. Dwight L. Elmendorf also tells about this celebrated Moorish palace in the issue of September 15th. A large volume could be written on the Alhambra without exhausting all that is interesting in it. But a large volume would be more than most people would care to read. The bare facts about the Alhambra could be told in a brief encyclopedic article. But that would be dry and, to many, uninteresting. In The Mentor Mr. Elmendorf describes the Alhambra as an experienced traveler and observer sees it. Professor Ward, with the cultivated eye of a student of architecture, appraises the Alhambra as a beautiful building. Two well-informed men tell about the same subject, each from his own point of view. The result is a fuller and more satisfying impression. And later on, in considering the historic palaces of the world, the Alhambra may again be considered from another point of view.
In this way the light of information is brought to bear on a subject from various sides, and the reader is brought with fresh interest to the subject several times, and can view it in its different aspects. We want all the members of The Mentor Association to appreciate the breadth of this plan, for it will make clear to them the reason why some important subjects are at present merely touched upon in The Mentor. We want our members to know the plan that we are building up in a simple, constructive way, under the advice of the wisest educators. And we want our members to feel a share in this constructive work.