Houdin taught his son to develop Attention by a simple exercise which may be interesting and of value to you.  He would lay down a domino before the boy—­a five-four, for example.  He would require the boy to tell him the combined number at once, without allowing him to stop to count the spots, one by one.  “Nine” the boy would answer after a moment’s hesitation.  Then another domino, a three-four, would be added.  “That makes sixteen,” cried the boy.  Two dominoes at a time was the second day’s task.  The next day, three was the standard.  The next day, four, and so on, until the boy was able to handle twelve dominoes—­that is to say, give instantaneously the total number of spots on twelve dominoes, after a single glance.  This was Attention, in earnest, and shows what practice will do to develop a faculty.  The result was shown by the wonderful powers of observation, memory and attention, together with instantaneous mental action, that the boy developed.  Not only was he able to add dominoes instantaneously, but he had powers of observation, etc., that seemed little short of miraculous.  And yet it is related that he had poor attention, and deficient memory to begin with.

If this seems incredible, let us remember how old whist players note and remember every card in the pack, and can tell whether they have been played or not, and all the circumstances attending upon them.  The same is true of chess players, who observe every move and can relate the whole game in detail long after it has been played.  And remember, also, how one woman may pass another woman on the street, and without seeming to give her more than a careless glance, may be able to relate in detail every feature of the other woman’s apparel, including its color, texture, style of fashioning, probable price of the material, etc., etc.  And a mere man would have noticed scarcely anything about it—­because he would not have given it any attention.  But how soon would that man learn to equal his sister in attention and observation of women’s wearing apparel, if his business success depended upon it, or if his speculative instinct was called into play by a wager with some friend as to who could remember the most about a woman’s clothing, seen in a passing glance?  You see it is all a matter of Interest and Attention.

But we forget that the Attention may be developed and cultivated, and we complain that we “cannot remember things,” or that we do not seem to be able to “take notice.”  A little practice will do wonders in this direction.

Now, while the above exercises will develop your memory and powers of observation, still that is not the main reason that we have given them to you.  We have an ulterior object, that will appear in time.  We aim to develop your Will-power, and we know that Attention stands at the gate of Will-power.  In order to be able to use your Will, you must be able to focus the Attention forcibly and distinctly.