88 Materials and Their Handling 



it, because the work holds no interest for us and 

 no thought is expended on it. After we have 

 ceased to notice it, we cannot, of course, ask why 

 it is done or determine how it should be done 

 better. We think we know why and how, but our 

 curiosity is not excited; our interest is dead and, 

 consequently, our development of that particular 

 thing has stopped. 



It has been a difficult matter at all times for 

 men to answer the questions how and why, and 

 it has been possible to develop the answers only 

 step by step and in one small detail at a time. 

 That is why all improvements come so slowly. 

 And it is also the reason why man has progressed 

 so rapidly since he really began to use his think- 

 ing powers and to utilize the experiences of other 

 men. 



You Develop Yourself by Interest in Your 

 Work. It is not only that your work depends 

 upon retaining an interest in it, so that your ob- 

 servation will be keen and alert and your curiosity 

 active in regard to it, but you can develop your- 

 self only in the same way. It is the preservation 

 of keen interest and accurate observation, it is 

 the constant questioning of your work and its 

 possibilities which enlarge your mind and develop 

 your skillfulness so that you increase your capacity 

 for service both in quality and quantity. 



A very keen business man, who has studied busi- 

 ness and its developments very thoroughly, re- 

 cently said that a man at forty either begins to de- 

 velop more rapidly in his capacity, because of the 



