PREFACE 5 



to think of plain statements of elementary truths. He has heard 

 from a number of the men since, who told him that the work he 

 did was an inspiration to them. The work was not undertaken 

 for the small amount the schools could afford to pay, but was 

 done principally because he liked the service. The great regret 

 of his life has been that he could never secure financial inducement 

 to enable him to make teaching his life work. 



The book is written to reach the men who cannot attend even- 

 ing classes in mechanics of materials and structural design. It is 

 written also to be used as a text book in such classes. The articles 

 in Building Age were mimeographed by a number of teachers for 

 use in manual training and high schools and it is hoped these 

 teachers will use the book as a text. The author has done his 

 best to make the subject matter plain. The book is peculiarly 

 adapted for the use of self-tutored men and the author would like 

 to hear from such readers, so that explanations and statements 

 they fail to grasp may be ironed out in future editions. 



There is no royal road to learning. In addition to listening to 

 lectures or reading books the student must do a certain amount 

 of thinking and reasoning. It is not enough to accept a statement 

 as true. The reason why it is true must be understood. The bur- 

 den on memory is lessened as reasons are grasped. For a man 

 studying alone the mistake should never be made of putting an 

 entire evening on the work. Study one hour each evening, rain 

 or shine, and study hard. A rest of an hour is good and then 

 another hour, or even half an hour, of study will be found to clear 

 matters up wonderfully. Early in the game start teaching the 

 office boy, for to teach is one of the best ways to learn. If the office 

 boy cannot be interested then the studying is not being done right, 

 for a man who is studying in the proper spirit becomes some- 

 what enthusiastic over his progress. The most commonplace 

 facts are wonderful. That is why the newly found knowledge 

 should be passed on to the office boy, for men who know will not 

 care to have things they know placed before them as fresh 

 discoveries. 



One considerable difficulty in the path of the self-tutored man 

 is eliminated when he finds a ready listener and pupil. The 

 tiresomeness of studying alone is hard to describe and accounts 

 for so many quitting early in the work. The writer usually or- 

 ganized a class of some sort when he had to bone in a hurry and 



