If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once. The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown up people say, "I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so", and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.