Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Chapter III. THE LAW OF THE LEARNER. 1. Passing from the side of the teacher to the side of the pupil, our next inquiry is for the Law of the Learner. Here the search must be for that one characteristic, if there be such, which divides and differentiates the learner from other persons � for that essential element which makes the learner a learner. Let us place before us the successful scholar, and note carefully whatever is peculiar and essential in his action and attributes. His intent look, his absorbed manner, his face full of eager action or of profound study, � all these are but so many signs of deep interest and active attention. This interest and attention, the inseparable parts of one mental state, make up the essential attribute of every true learner. The very power to learn lies in this interested attention. It is the one essential condition on which all learning is possible. It constitutes, therefore, the natural law of the learner, and may be stated in preceptive form as follows : � The learner must attend with interest to the fact or truth to be learned. 2. The law thus stated will seem as trite as a common truism, but it is as really profound as it is seemingly simple. The plainest proof of its truth lies in the readiness with which every one will admit it. Its real depth can only be found by careful study. Attention Described. 3. Avoiding as much as possible all metaphysical discussion, we may describe attention as a mental attitude � the attitude in which the thought-power is actively bent toward, or fastened upon, some object of thought or perception. It is an attitude, not of ease and repose, but of effort and exertion. It means not merely position and direction, but action. It is the will-power marshaling all the faculties of the mind for some ...