know where to find him, or what he will do in any particular position or
relation of life. All we can anticipate of him is, that he will probably
do something bad, or silly, or improper; accordingly as the act may
bear upon morality, sense, or manners.

Before going further, let it be understood that a thoughtless person
is not one without Thought. A human being without Thought is an
impossibility. Most, if not all, idiots think. It is the lack of
coherency, purpose, and effort in Thought that induces the habit of mind
commonly known as thoughtlessness. Without Thought, Imagination, and
Affection, one could not be a human being. Mankind differ from each
other, not in kind, but in degree. It is the low degree of activity in
either of these great divisions of the human mind that causes one to
seem thoughtless, unimaginative, or without affection. The end of all
training should be to develop each one of these faculties so that it
shall cooeperate with the others, and all as fully as possible. A just
balance of power is the first requisite, and constant increase of it
the second; just as in the physical frame we ask, first, for just
proportion, and, as the product of this, for strength.

It is often said that no kind of sense is so rare as common sense; and
this is true, simply because common sense is attainable by all far more,
and is a natural gift far less, than most other traits of character.
Common sense is the application of Thought to common things, and it is
rare because most persons will not exercise Thought about common things.
If some important affair occurs, people try then to think, but to
very little purpose; because, not having exercised their powers on small
things, their powers lack the development necessary for great ones.
Hence, thoughtless people, when forced to act in an affair of
importance, blunder through it with no more chance of doing as they