No. 33
Volume I
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION, FOUR DOLLARS. SINGLE COPIES TWENTY CENTS. FOREIGN POSTAGE, SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS EXTRA. CANADIAN POSTAGE, FIFTY CENTS EXTRA. ENTERED AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y., AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER. COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC. PRESIDENT, THOMAS H. BECK; VICE-PRESIDENT, WALTER P. TEN EYCK; SECRETARY, W. D. MOFFAT; TREASURER, J. S. CAMPBELL; ASST. TREASURER AND ASST. SECRETARY, H. A. CROWE.
Editorial
A man much occupied in his business was asked how he came to know so much on so many different subjects. His answer was: "Not by study—I have had no time for that—I have got my knowledge from the men who could give it to me, and from the reading that they have suggested to me. When several of my friends who know a subject have told me about it, I have got it in a way that I could not get in study. I have got it from different points of view."
* * *
These words were said in the course of a conversation about The Mentor. Someone had referred to the variety of subjects offered in the schedule of The Mentor Association, and had asked whether certain regular courses of reading could not be included with advantage. With the thought of that business man and others like him, we are aiming for something larger and more beneficial than a fixed set of reading courses. We have planned to give in The Mentor the broad, liberal knowledge that comes not from a strict course of study closely adhered to, but from contact with writers of authority in varied fields. The readers of The Mentor get the rich benefits afforded by many minds, and the year's reading is wide in its reach and well balanced.
So much for the general plan of The Mentor Association. But there is something to be said for the reader who wants to have a logical course of reading through the seasons. So while we offer variety from week to week, we plan to cover the larger subjects in groups of articles that are definitely related to each other.
* * *
If one wants to follow out a certain subject, whether it be travel, history, or art, he can take up the reading of his Mentors in groups. Look at the schedule of 1913. In the varied program of the year's reading you will detect numbers that naturally belong together. You can select a set of Mentors that will take you on a trip to interesting places, with Mr. Dwight L. Elmendorf as a companion. If literature is a subject of interest to you, you can select Mentors on literary matters prepared under the advice of, and some of them written by, Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie. Suppose that history is what you are after; Professor Albert Bushnell Hart gives you the "Story of America" in several numbers. It is hardly necessary to point out what Professor John C. Van Dyke has done for fine art in the numbers of The Mentor prepared under his direction. And so groups of Mentors on other subjects may be brought together out of the schedule.
* * *
In preparing the schedule for 1914 we have taken thought not only for the wide scope of the whole year's plan, but for the treatment of special subjects in a way that will form natural groups. We have found this condition has met with favor, and it seems worth while to assure ourselves that all the readers of The Mentor appreciate it. We are told that some are gathering the numbers relating to a single subject together so as to have a small library on each subject available for reference. Not a bad idea. Imagine what an attractive set of volumes could be made out of twenty or thirty Mentors on travel by Mr. Elmendorf! Think what a beautiful and valuable set of books could be had by binding up the art numbers! Keep your back numbers. They are just as valuable as the ones to come.