Page Four 



beji;un with high h()i)es and ^reat promises. Tliirt}' years 

 a.a;o, when I l)egan my work in tlie Museum, I sought the 

 advice of one of the most effective men in our public life as to 

 how to get things (ione when tliere were so many interrup- 

 tions on every side. He gave me a motto which has been 

 priceless. It came from Samuel -J. Tilden, one of the great 

 governors of the State of New York, who was in the habit of 

 writing it on a small piece of paper and reading it over every 

 morning while he shaved. It was this: 



"Do the most important thing fir at.' ^ 



This I have found to be one of the secrets of an effective 

 year. Consider all the things before you and select the one 

 which is most important to do first. You will not thus follow 

 the line of least resistance, but often the line of greatest re- 

 sistance and the line which presents the most obstacles. I 

 have found it far easier to attend to mj^ correspondence and 

 clean up the details of my office, than to do a bit of hard re- 

 search work. I have no doubt it is easier for every curator to 

 arrange for a coming meeting or to dispatch all the many 

 details of daily administration, but suppose that in response 

 to this daily question the still small voice of conscience 

 dictates, — the most important thing in my department is to 

 write labels, or, the most important thing in my department is 

 to finish up a long-delayed piece of literary work, or, the most 

 important thing is to take the disorder out of certain exhibi- 

 tions. I believe that Samuel J. Tilden's motto repeated 

 ever}^ morning by every member of our staff, high and low, 

 would have wonderful results throughout the entire Museum. 

 Let the artists apply this rule no less than the painters; the 

 preparators no less than the masons; the high curators no 

 less than the youngest of their assistants. 



I'hus, two years hence, when tiie enlargement of the 

 building so long hoped for becomes a reality, we shall be 



