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| Photo by F. Gutekunst, Phila. Fig. 1. Jacob A. Riis, Journalist,
Author and Philanthropist. A man of unusual intellectual power, observation,
reason, memory, logic, and analysis, with high ideals, great love for humanity,
especially the weak and helpless; good powers of expression, sense of humor,
courage, and determination. Note large development of upper part of head;
fairly well developed brows; high dome over temples; height and width of
forehead, especially across center; full lips; well developed nose; strong
chin; and alert, poised, kindly expression. |
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Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. New
York. Fig. 2. Dr. Booker T. Washington. Very ambitious,
practical, energetic, self-reliant, persistent, determined, capable of rule.
Note high head; high, sloping forehead, prominent at the brows; large nose,
high in the bridge; and long, straight upper lip.
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| Fig. 3. James H. Collins, Author. A splendid example
of intellectual type with good bone and muscle. Has excellent balance of
mechanical and commercial understanding, keen judgment of men, practical
sense, and fine determination, with sentiment, sympathy, friendliness, and
faith. Note high, medium-wide head, especially high in center above temples
and wide and full through center of forehead; prominence of brows; width
between eyes; full, cleanly modeled lips; strong nose and chin; and keen,
pleasant, friendly, spirited expression. |
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| Fig. 4. H.G. Wells, Novelist and Economist. A man of
physically frail type, with natural mechanical leanings. Inventive, creative,
industrious, humanitarian. Because of his mechanical ability, he uses his
creativeness for constructing novels dealing with mechanical invention.
Because of his humanitarian instincts, he writes of social and economic
world problems. Note large upper portion of head, especially from center
of forehead to sides of head; also prominence of brows; large nose, and
long head. |
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Copyright American Press Association. Fig. 5. Mr.
Henry Ford, Automobile Manufacturer and Philanthropist. Mr. Ford is of the physically
frail type, with a goodly admixture of the bony and muscular element. His natural
mechanical bent, therefore, took the intellectual form of invention and organization.
His sentiment, responsiveness, sympathy, and idealism are shown by high, rather
narrow head, fine texture, height of head just above temples, and gentle, kindly,
genial expression.
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| Fig. 6. Hugo de Vries, Botanist. An example of physically
frail type. Very careful, accurate, painstaking, and patient in mental work.
Also very thoughtful, mild in disposition, but determined and persistent.
Note large development of upper part of head; long, narrow face; long nose;
narrowness of head just above ears; slight squareness of chin, and serious,
thoughtful expression. |
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Copyright by B. F. McMann Fig. 7. Dr. Henry Van
Dyke, United States Minister to Holland, Author, Scholar, and Poet. A good
example of physically frail type, with slight tendency to bone and muscle.
Refined, intellectual, sensitive, responsive, optimistic, but
well-balanced, poised, and keenly discriminating. Dr. Van Dyke shows his
tendency to physical activity in his love for the out-of-doors. Note large
development of upper portion of head; slight squareness of jaw; height of
head above temples, especially in center; fine texture; excellent balance
of features, and calm, poised, thoughtful, but kindly expression.
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Photo by American Press Association. Fig. 8. Dr. Beverly
T. Galloway, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture. Physically frail, but mentally
very active. Said to be one of the greatest living authorities on plant culture.
Slight squareness of build indicates tendency to interest in out-of-door matters,
which, on account of large development of mental qualities, he expresses in
an intellectual way.
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NATURAL APTITUDE
The fifth criterion is natural aptitude. Everyone has observed that some people are naturally commercial. We have seen a boy take a penny to school, buy a slate pencil or a lead pencil with that penny, and trade that for an old pocket knife, the knife for something else, and keep on swapping until he had a gun, a set of chess, a bag of marbles, and several other important boys' acquisitions, all from that one penny. Another boy takes penny after penny to school and he never has anything to show for it You know such boys—and grown people, too. Every individual has some such aptitudes—either latent or developed, either mediocre or marked—and his aptitudes fit him better for some one vocation than for any other.
EXPERIENCE
The sixth point to be considered is experience. One might be fitted for a vocation with all of the five points that we have enumerated, and yet not have either the education or the training for it. What shall he do? Theoretically and ideally, every individual should be carefully and thoroughly trained, from his earliest childhood, for the vocation for which he is physically, mentally, and morally fitted. But this seldom happens—and can happen but seldom so long as parents and teachers remain ignorant of human nature and of work. A hard problem, then, confronts the young man or young woman past school days and not trained for the right calling. He or she
must decide whether to compromise upon work as nearly right as possible or to make the necessary sacrifices to obtain education, training, and experience. There is much evidence in favor of choosing either horn of the dilemma. A most successful manufacturer called upon us recently. We told him that, with proper training, he would have been even more successful and far better satisfied in the legal profession. "I know you are right," he said. "I have always regretted that circumstances prevented my taking a law course as a young man. However, I have an extensive law library, do practically all the legal work for my firm, and am often consulted on obscure legal points relative to the manufacturing business by lawyers of some renown."
Abraham Lincoln, the farmhand and flatboatman, began the study of grammar at twenty-two and of law still later. Elihu Burritt, "The Learned Blacksmith," who lectured in both England and America, taught himself languages and sciences while working eleven hours a day at the forge.
We enjoy the acquaintance of a woman physician of considerable prominence who did not enter medical college until she was more than fifty years of age. Henry George was a printer who studied economics after he was twenty-seven years old. Frederick Douglass was a slave until he was twenty-one, yet secured a liberal education, so that he became a noted speaker and writer. The following from "Up from Slavery,"[3] by the late Booker T. Washington, shows what can be done by even a poor black boy, without money or influence, to win an education:
[3] Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, New York.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S STORY