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Data Visualization
Exploring and Explaining with Data

Jeffrey D. Camm James J. Cochran


Wake Forest University University of Alabama

Michael J. Fry Jeffrey W. Ohlmann


University of Cincinnati University of Iowa

Australia ● Brazil ● Canada ● Mexico ● Singapore ● United Kingdom ● United States


This is an electronic version of the print textbook. Due to electronic rights restrictions,
some third party content may be suppressed. Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed
content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. The publisher reserves the right
to remove content from this title at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. For
valuable information on pricing, previous editions, changes to current editions, and alternate
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Data Visualization: Exploring and © 2022 Cengage Learning, Inc.
Explaining with Data, WCN: 02-300
First Edition
Unless otherwise noted, all content is © Cengage.
Jeffrey D. Camm, James J. Cochran,
Michael J. Fry, Jeffrey W. Ohlmann
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright
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Printed in the United States of America


Print Number: 01 Print Year: 2021
Brief Contents
ABOUT THE AUTHORS xi
PREFACE xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction 2
Chapter 2 Selecting a Chart Type 26
Chapter 3 Data Visualization and Design 76
Chapter 4 Purposeful Use of Color 128
Chapter 5 Visualizing Variability 174
Chapter 6 Exploring Data Visually 226
Chapter 7 Explaining Visually to Influence with Data 284
Chapter 8 Data Dashboards 322
Chapter 9 Telling the Truth with Data Visualization 360

References 397
Index 399
Contents
ABOUT THE AUTHORS xi
PREFACE xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction 2
1.1 Analytics 3
1.2 Why Visualize Data? 4
Data Visualization for Exploration 4
Data Visualization for Explanation 7
1.3 Types of Data 8
Quantitative and Categorical Data 8
Cross-Sectional and Time Series Data 9
Big Data 10
1.4 Data Visualization in Practice 11
Accounting 11
Finance 12
Human Resource Management 13
Marketing 14
Operations 14
Engineering 16
Sciences 16
Sports 17
Summary 18
Glossary 19
Problems 20

Chapter 2 Selecting a Chart Type 26


2.1 Defining the Goal of Your Data Visualization 28
Selecting an Appropriate Chart 28
2.2 Creating and Editing Charts in Excel 29
Creating a Chart in Excel 30
Editing a Chart in Excel 30
2.3 Scatter Charts and Bubble Charts 32
Scatter Charts 32
Bubble Charts 33
2.4 Line Charts, Column Charts, and Bar Charts 35
Line Charts 35
Column Charts 39
Bar Charts 41
2.5 Maps 42
Geographic Maps 42
Heat Maps 44
Treemaps 45
vi Contents

2.6 When to Use Tables 47


Tables versus Charts 47
2.7 Other Specialized Charts 49
Waterfall Charts 49
Stock Charts 51
Funnel Charts 52
2.8 A Summary Guide to Chart Selection 54
Guidelines for Selecting a Chart 54
Some Charts to Avoid 55
Excel’s Recommended Charts Tool 57
Summary 59
Glossary 60
Problems 61

Chapter 3 Data Visualization and Design 76


3.1 Preattentive Attributes 78
Color 81
Form 81
Length and Width 84
Spatial Positioning 87
Movement 87
3.2 Gestalt Principles 88
Similarity 88
Proximity 88
Enclosure 89
Connection 89
3.3 Data-Ink Ratio 91
3.4 Other Data Visualization Design Issues 98
Minimizing Eye Travel 98
Choosing a Font for Text 100
3.5 Common Mistakes in Data Visualization Design 102
Wrong Type of Visualization 102
Trying to Display Too Much Information 104
Using Excel Default Settings for Charts 106
Too Many Attributes 108
Unnecessary Use of 3D 109
Summary 111
Glossary 111
Problems 112

Chapter 4 Purposeful Use of Color 128


4.1 Color and Perception 130
Attributes of Color: Hue, Saturation, and Luminance 130
Contents vii

Color Psychology and Color Symbolism 132


Perceived Color 132
4.2 Color Schemes and Types of Data 135
Categorical Color Schemes 135
Sequential Color Schemes 137
Diverging Color Schemes 139
4.3 Custom Color Using the HSL Color System 141
4.4  Common Mistakes in the Use of Color in Data
Visualization 146
Unnecessary Color 146
Excessive Color 148
Insufficient Contrast 151
Inconsistency Across Related Charts 153
Neglecting Colorblindness 153
Not Considering the Mode of Delivery 156
Summary 156
Glossary 157
Problems 157

Chapter 5 Visualizing Variability 174


5.1 Creating Distributions from Data 176
Frequency Distributions for Categorical Data 176
Relative Frequency and Percent Frequency 179
Visualizing Distributions of Quantitative Data 181
5.2  Statistical Analysis of Distributions of Quantitative
Variables 193
Measures of Location 193
Measures of Variability 194
Box and Whisker Charts 197
5.3 Uncertainty in Sample Statistics 200
Displaying a Confidence Interval on a Mean 201
Displaying a Confidence Interval on a Proportion 203
5.4 Uncertainty in Predictive Models 205
Illustrating Prediction Intervals for a Simple Linear
Regression Model 205
Illustrating Prediction Intervals for a Time Series Model 208
Summary 211
Glossary 211
Problems 213

Chapter 6 Exploring Data Visually 226


6.1 Introduction to Exploratory Data Analysis 228
Espléndido Jugo y Batido, Inc. Example 229
Organizing Data to Facilitate Exploration 230
viii Contents

6.2 Analyzing Variables One at a Time 234


Exploring a Categorical Variable 234
Exploring a Quantitative Variable 237
6.3 Relationships between Variables 242
Crosstabulation 242
Association between Two Quantitative Variables 247
6.4 Analysis of Missing Data 256
Types of Missing Data 256
Exploring Patterns Associated with Missing Data 258
6.5 Visualizing Time-Series Data 260
Viewing Data at Different Temporal Frequencies 260
Highlighting Patterns in Time Series Data 262
Rearranging Data for Visualization 266
6.6 Visualizing Geospatial Data 269
Choropleth Maps 269
Cartograms 272
Summary 273
Glossary 274
Problems 275

Chapter 7 Explaining Visually to Influence with Data 284


7.1 Know Your Audience 287
Audience Member Needs 287
Audience Member Analytical Comfort Levels 289
7.2 Know Your Message 292
What Helps the Decision Maker? 293
Empathizing with Data 294
7.3 Storytelling with Charts 300
Choosing the Correct Chart to Tell Your Story 300
Using Preattentive Attributes to Tell Your Story 304
7.4  Bringing It All Together: Storytelling
and Presentation Design 306
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle 307
Freytag’s Pyramid 308
Storyboarding 311
Summary 313
Glossary 313
Problems 314

Chapter 8 Data Dashboards 322


8.1 What Is a Data Dashboard? 324
Principles of Effective Data Dashboards 325
Applications of Data Dashboards 325
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Contents ix

8.2 Data Dashboards Taxonomies 327


Data Updates 327
User Interaction 327
Organizational Function 328
8.3 Data Dashboard Design 328
Understanding the Purpose of the Data Dashboard 329
Considering the Needs of the Data Dashboard’s Users 329
Data Dashboard Engineering 330
8.4 Using Excel Tools to Build a Data Dashboard 331
Espléndido Jugo y Batido, Inc. 331
Using PivotTables, PivotCharts, and Slicers to Build
a Data Dashboard 332
Linking Slicers to Multiple PivotTables 343
Protecting a Data Dashboard 346
Final Review of a Data Dashboard 347
8.5  Common Mistakes in Data Dashboard Design 348
Summary 349
Glossary 349
Problems 350

Chapter 9 Telling the Truth with Data Visualization 360


9.1 Missing Data and Data Errors 363
Identifying Missing Data 363
Identifying Data Errors 366
9.2 Biased Data 369
Selection Bias 369
Survivor Bias 372
9.3 Adjusting for Inflation 374
9.4 Deceptive Design 377
Design of Chart Axes 377
Dual-Axis Charts 381
Data Selection and Temporal Frequency 382
Issues Related to Geographic Maps 386
Summary 388
Glossary 389
Problems 389

References  397

Index 399
About the Authors
Jeffrey D. Camm is Inmar Presidential Chair and Senior Associate Dean of Business
Analytics in the School of Business at Wake Forest University. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio,
he holds a B.S. from Xavier University (Ohio) and a Ph.D. from Clemson University. Prior
to joining the faculty at Wake Forest, he was on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati.
He has also been a visiting scholar at Stanford University and a visiting professor of business
administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Dr. Camm has published more than 45 papers in the general area of optimization applied
to problems in operations management and marketing. He has published his research in
Science, Management Science, Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Applied
Analytics, and other professional journals. Dr. Camm was named the Dornoff Fellow of
Teaching Excellence at the University of Cincinnati, and he was the 2006 recipient of the
INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of Operations Research Practice. A firm believer in prac-
ticing what he preaches, he has served as an operations research consultant to numerous
companies and government agencies. From 2005 to 2010 he served as editor-in-chief of the
INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces). In 2016, Professor Camm
received the George E. Kimball Medal for service to the operations research profession, and
in 2017 he was named an INFORMS Fellow.

James J. Cochran is Associate Dean for Research, Professor of Applied Statistics, and
the Rogers-Spivey Faculty Fellow at The University of Alabama. Born in Dayton, Ohio, he
earned his B.S., M.S., and M.B.A. from Wright State University and his Ph.D. from the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati. He has been at The University of Alabama since 2014 and has been a
visiting scholar at Stanford University, Universidad de Talca, the University of South Africa,
and Pole Universitaire Leonard de Vinci.
Dr. Cochran has published more than 50 papers in the development and application of
operations research and statistical methods. He has published in several journals, including
Management Science, The American Statistician, Communications in Statistics—Theory and
Methods, Annals of Operations Research, European Journal of Operational Research, Jour-
nal of Combinatorial Optimization, INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, and Statistics
and Probability Letters. He received the 2008 INFORMS Prize for the Teaching of Opera-
tions Research Practice, 2010 Mu Sigma Rho Statistical Education Award, and 2016 Waller
Distinguished Teaching Career Award from the American Statistical Association. Dr. Cochran
was elected to the International Statistics Institute in 2005, named a Fellow of the American
Statistical Association in 2011, and named a Fellow of INFORMS in 2017. He also received
the Founders Award in 2014 and the Karl E. Peace Award in 2015 from the American Statis-
tical Association, and he received the INFORMS President’s Award in 2019.
A strong advocate for effective operations research and statistics education as a means
of improving the quality of applications to real problems, Dr. Cochran has chaired teaching
effectiveness workshops around the globe. He has served as an operations research consul-
tant to numerous companies and not-for-profit organizations. He served as editor-in-chief of
INFORMS Transactions on Education and is on the editorial board of INFORMS Journal on
Applied Analytics, International Transactions in Operational Research, and Significance.

Michael J. Fry is Professor of Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems


(OBAIS) and Academic Director of the Center for Business Analytics in the Carl H. Lindner
College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. Born in Killeen, Texas, he earned a B.S.
from Texas A&M University and M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan.
He has been at the University of Cincinnati since 2002, where he served as Department Head
from 2014 to 2018 and has been named a Lindner Research Fellow. He has also been a visit-
ing professor at Cornell University and at the University of British Columbia.
xii About the Authors

Professor Fry has published more than 25 research papers in journals such as Opera-
tions Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Transportation Sci-
ence, Naval Research Logistics, IIE Transactions, Critical Care Medicine, and Interfaces.
He serves on editorial boards for journals such as Production and Operations Management,
INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (formerly Interfaces), and Journal of Quantitative
Analysis in Sports. His research interests are in applying analytics to the areas of supply chain
management, sports, and public-policy operations. He has worked with many different orga-
nizations for his research, including Dell, Inc., Starbucks Coffee Company, Great American
Insurance Group, the Cincinnati Fire Department, the State of Ohio Election Commission, the
Cincinnati Bengals, and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. In 2008, he was named a
finalist for the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice, and
he has been recognized for both his research and teaching excellence at the University of
Cincinnati. In 2019, he led the team that was awarded the INFORMS UPS George D. Smith
Prize on behalf of the OBAIS Department at the University of Cincinnati.

Jeffrey W. Ohlmann is Associate Professor of Business Analytics and Huneke Research


Fellow in the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. Born in Valentine,
Nebraska, he earned a B.S. from the University of Nebraska and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees
from the University of Michigan. He has been at the University of Iowa since 2003.
Professor Ohlmann’s research on the modeling and solution of decision-making prob-
lems has produced more than two dozen research papers in journals such as Operations
Research, Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Trans-
portation Science, and European Journal of Operational Research. He has collaborated with
organizations such as Transfreight, LeanCor, Cargill, the Hamilton County Board of Elec-
tions, and three National Football League franchises. Because of the relevance of his work
to industry, he was bestowed the George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award and was recognized
as a finalist for the Daniel H. Wagner Prize for Excellence in Operations Research Practice.
Preface
D ata Visualization: Exploring and Explaining with Data is designed to introduce best
practices in data visualization to undergraduate and graduate students. This is one
of the first books on data visualization designed for college courses. The book contains
material on effective design, choice of chart type, effective use of color, how to explore
data visually, how to build data dashboards, and how to explain concepts and results
visually in a compelling way with data. In an increasingly data-driven economy, these
concepts are becoming more important for analysts, natural scientists, social scientists,
engineers, medical professionals, business professionals, and virtually everyone who
needs to interact with data. Indeed, the skills developed in this book will be helpful to
all who want to influence with data or be accurately informed by data.
The book is designed for a semester-long course at either the undergraduate or graduate
level. The examples used in this book are drawn from a variety of functional areas in the
business world including accounting, finance, operations, and human resources as well as
from sports, politics, science, medicine, and economics. The intention is that this book will
be relevant to students at either the undergraduate or graduate level in a business school as
well as to students studying in other academic areas.
Data Visualization: Exploring and Explaining with Data is written in a style that does
not require advanced knowledge of mathematics or statistics. The first five chapters cover
foundational issues important to constructing good charts. Chapter 1 introduces data visual-
ization and how it fits into the broader area of analytics. A brief history of data visualization
is provided as well as a discussion of the different types of data and examples of a variety of
charts. Chapter 2 provides guidance on selecting an appropriate type of chart based on the
goals of the visualization and the type of data to be visualized. Best practices in chart design,
including discussions of preattentive attributes, Gestalt principles, and the data-ink ratio, are
covered in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 discusses the attributes of color, how to use color effectively,
and some common mistakes in the use of color in data visualization. Chapter 5 covers the im-
portant topic of visualizing and describing variability that occurs in observed values. Chapter
5 introduces the visualization of frequency distributions for categorical and quantitative vari-
ables, measures of location and variability, and confidence intervals and prediction intervals.
Chapters 6 and 7 cover how to explore and explain with data visualization in detail with
examples. Chapter 6 discusses the use of visualization in exploratory data analysis. The ex-
ploration of individual variables as well as the relationship between pairs of variables is con-
sidered. The organization of data to facilitate exploration is discussed as well as the effect of
missing data. The special considerations of visualizing time series data and geospatial data
are also presented. Chapter 7 provides important coverage of how to explain and influence
with data visualization, including knowing your message, understanding the needs of your
audience, and using preattentive attributes to better convey your message. Chapter 8 is a
discussion of how to design and construct data dashboards, collections of data visualizations
used for decision making. Finally, Chapter 9 covers the responsible use of data visualization
to avoid confusing or misleading your audience. Chapter 9 addresses the importance of
understanding your data in order to best convey insights accurately and also discusses how
design choices in a data visualization affect the insights conveyed to the audience.
This textbook can be used by students who have previously taken a basic statistics course
as well as by students who have not had a prior course in statistics. The two most techni-
cal chapters, Chapters 5 (Visualizing Variability) and 6 (Exploring Data Visually), do not
assume a previous course in statistics. All technical concepts are gently introduced. For
students who have had a previous statistics class, the statistical coverage in these chapters
provides a good review within a treatment where the focus is on visualization. The book of-
fers complete coverage for a full course in data visualization, but it can also support a basic
statistics or analytics course. The following table gives our recommendations for chapters to
use to support a variety of courses.
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Magazine, Vol. XXX, No. 2, February 1847
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
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included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXX, No. 2, February 1847

Author: Various

Editor: George R. Graham

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S


MAGAZINE, VOL. XXX, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1847 ***
GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.
Vol. XXX. January, 1847. No. 1.

Table of Contents

Fiction, Literature and Articles


Tribulation Trepid. A Man Without Hope
Glimpses of a Soul
The Oath of Marion. A Story of the Revolution
The Executioner
The Young Painter
Game-Birds of America.—No. IV.
The Islets of the Gulf
Starting Wrong
The Present Romantic School of French Literature.
Alexandre Dumas’ Hamlet
Review of New Books

Poetry, Music and Fashion


The Maid of Linden Lane
Ægeus
Lady Jane Grey
Sonnets. On Receiving a Crown of Ivy From John Keats
—by Leigh Hunt
“Oh! That a Little Cot Were Mine!”
Midnight Masses. No. I.
I’ve Been Upon the Briny Deep
The Gleaner

Transcriber’s Notes can be found at the end of this eBook.

Ch. Bodmer pinx. ad. Nat. Engd by Rawdon, Wright & Hatch

Herds of Bisons and Elks


ON THE UPPER MISSOURI.
LE FOLLET
Boulevart St. Martin, 61.
Robes et blousons de Mme. Thiery, boul. Montmartre, 65—Chapeaux
de Mme. Baudry, r. Richlieu 87;
Bonnet et lingeries de Mlle. Malteste, r. de la Paix, 20—Mouchoirs de
L. Chapron & Dubois, r. de la Paix, 7;
Essences et parfums de Guerlain, r. de la Paix, 11—Chaussures de
Bobin, r. Richlieu, 29.
Graham’s Magazine.

GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.

Vol. XXX. PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY, 1847.


No. 2.

TRIBULATION TREPID.
A MAN WITHOUT A HOPE.

(A PHRENOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATION.)

———
BY JOSEPH C. NEAL.
———

It is inconvenient to have to bear with personal deficiencies—


troublesome and disheartening not to possess all the senses and the
faculties which are demanded to enable man to compete with his
fellows upon equal terms; and it requires philosophy that we do not
repine when we find ourselves in any respect, either physical or
mental, compelled to stand aside in the unpleasant attitude of being
an exception to the general rule. It is true that the march of science
is able, to a considerable extent, to obviate corporeal default. Eyes
are constructed so well as to deceive the eye, although the
constructed eye is not yet so perfect that we shall hope to see with
it far into the opacity of mill-stones. Legs are manufactured more
symmetrically beautiful than the majority of real legs; and the skillful
artist will, if you are only tall enough, modulate you into a figure
which might put an Apollo to the blush. But the steam leg, in its
swiftness of locomotion, is as yet no more than a dream of the
visionary; and we may pad ourselves into muscularity as much as we
please, without gaining a particle of power.
We are aware that by the aid of spectacles he who would
otherwise be always stumbling over the dog, and tripping in contact
with other people’s feet, periling his precious countenance by rude
collisions with every species of obstacle, may contrive to see his way
through the world in comparative clearness. But science has not
perhaps succeeded to the same extent in the work of metaphysical
regeneration; nor do we know that any man’s geese have as yet
been fully converted into swans, though he may think them
progressive creatures in the scale of ornithology, and likely to reach
a higher position than has been attained by former members of the
race. It is theoretical, we learn, with the phrenologists, and probably
practical also, to a greater extent than the world is willing to admit,
that there are processes whereby the neglects of dame nature may
at least be partially counteracted and repaired, so that “bumps” shall
be raised, where depressions exist, and some degree of potency be
secured in those “organs” which were originally faint and feeble; just
as the muscular fibre is strengthened by exercise, and as our agile
capabilities are increased by a judicious practice of the thews and
sinews on which activity depends.
Now, while we hope for the sake of humanity in general, that
these assumptions will fully bear the test of experiment, it must yet
be conceded that education fails somewhat in this regard; and that
in thinking, as in dancing, much depends upon the configuration of
mind and of body with which we were endowed from the outset.
The phrenologists are right in the belief that training has its
advantages; but there must be a basis on which that training is to
proceed, or the result will be such as cannot fail to lead to serious
disappointment.
For example, and in the way of parenthesis, it would be a parlous
difficulty to teach the innate craven to plunge valiantly onward at the
desperate head of a forlorn hope, or to hurl himself recklessly upon
the sharp and bristling array of a forest of hostile bayonets. You may
debate the question if you are so inclined, insisting on it vehemently
that, in honor’s view, there is no essential difference in a case like
this, between a glorious death and the triumph of a victory, and that
the most disastrous of the two is infinitely preferable to an age
without a name, yet, our life on it, it will prove that your friend of
the weak nerve, and of the nonchivalrous temperament, is not to be
talked, by the most persuasive, into any relish for cold steel, or into
any decided fancy for the reception into himself of certain intrusive
pellets of hot lead. Nay, Ciceronian eloquence would be wasted in
the endeavor to induce him to come to the conclusion that it is much
better for him to be extended face upward on the ensanguined plain,
after the fashion of the “grinning honor” of Sir Walter Blount, than to
find himself sound in body, but without a single sprig of laurel to his
name, snugly enfolded in the blankets awaiting a call to breakfast.
Nature, you will observe, has denied to him the perception of the
romantic and the poetical. He has no desire to be posthumous to his
own reputation. To such a one, the hard knock is simply a hard
knock, unmitigated by transcendental embellishment; and renown
has no part in the plain arithmetic of his calculations. He values life
by its admeasurements—according to the number and length of its
days. So give it up at once—there is no sun—of Austerlitz or of any
other place—that can ripen this man into a warrior, or tempt him to
enter into fierce competition for the wreath of glory.
And thus—musically—we find that people “without an ear,” do not
often take the lead in operatic performances; or, if they do
participate, that the operatic performances are not particularly
benefitted by their interference. The querulous and fretful—do they
acquire the resources of patient fortitude? Not often, so far as our
experience extends; and we do not know that the simpleton, school
him ever so much, is likely to obtain distinction for himself as a
philosopher—nay, he is often furthest from it at the very moment
when he imagines himself a great deal wiser than his neighbors.
Such as these, as well as others who might be mentioned, have
no foundation on which the deficient “bump” is to be elevated; and,
as a general rule, it is just as well to abandon as a “bad job” all
effort to render them distinguished in the display of those faculties
which form no part of their primary constitution. The superstructure
that may be raised on an insecure soil, must of necessity be weak
and “shackling;” and all the military education that can be bestowed
on the poltroon, will not avail to prevent an ill-timed manifestation of
that species of plumage which obtains ignoble renown under the
epithet of the “white feather.” It has been in him probably from his
birth, that he must locomote in a direction contrary to that in which
“the nettle danger” uprears its ugly front; and, under these
circumstances, the impulse to retrograde travel will burst all the
artificial and conventional bonds which have been devised to drive it
into the teeth of the battery. It was the design of nature that our
friend should run; and who will venture to stand antagonistical to
nature?
It is a mere flight of fancy, no doubt, into the illimitable regions
of hypothesis, but we should very much like to see the day when a
Bumpological art shall be matured, and a practical science of
Organology be brought into operation. Then there will be some use
in the knocks about the sconce, which are now so wofully wasted;
and when we shall be driven into frenzies, the manifestations of our
wrath will become really beneficial to those on whom they may
chance to be bestowed. Then we should find the rationale of
corporal punishment—a thing not to be whirled about in random
kicks and cuffings; but to be so applied as to develop that very
bump, a deficiency of which, in the offending party, has so raised
our vengeful ire. Such, perchance, is the latent reason why we are
so anxious to maltreat those who are not disposed to obey our
behests, as well as the true motive why it is an impulse of our
nature to chastise the enemy. Education would thus be
revolutionized, and the Art of War would be brought within the
range of the directly useful sciences.
But to descend at once to the facts that are before us, it is a
blessed thought to believe that by a wise system of tuition, the small
uncertain spark of a virtue may be breathed into a steady flame; and
if, infirm of purpose as so many are, they could be strengthened into
a surer aim by due attention to the feebler parts of character, none,
we are sure, could be found to regret it; and so we are, and we
intend to be, full of respect to this phrenological idea, which might,
we think, be somewhat more carefully engrafted upon systems of
educational improvement, so that the mere appeal to the memory
might leave room for the analysis and development of the moral
being.
We should go to school upon a different principle then; and
probably it may not be a useless waste of imagination to reflect a
little upon the novel scenes that would then be presented in the
halls of the academy.
“My son Bob, Mr. Professor—this is Bob, sir, trying to hide himself
behind the door—stand up, Bob, and behave like a man—Bob, Mr.
Professor, hasn’t got any pride, and has the smallest quantity of
dignity. He’s always letting himself down, and never tries to hyst
himself up—likes the raggedest boys the best, Mr. Professor, and
prefers the company of the sweeps to going to the nicest of tea-
parties. Bob always feels flat in genteel society, does Bob.”
“Ah—I comprehend—a very common case, indeed; but curable—
take Bob, Mr. Simpkins, and touch him up in the region of self-
esteem. Don’t be afraid—we’ll make Bob—you’ll have to call him
Master Robert then—as proud as Lucifer, in a week or two. When we
send him home, he will hardly speak to his own father, and he wont
own any of his relations.”
“And here is Peter, sir, and Sam—nice boys as ever was, only they
don’t care nothing for nobody, and will have it all their own way,
which is apt to be the wrong way, if not a bad way.”
“Ho! ho! knock up a bump in the region of approbativeness, so
that they may quit thinking for themselves, and always want
somebody to think for them.”
“Please, Mr. Professor, our Tom appropriates and conveys—sugar,
sir, or pennies convertible to sugar—he bones, sir, and he filches, sir,
whatever he can lay his blessed little hands upon, the darling; every
thing is fish that comes to Tom’s net.”
“Just so—Tom has not yet got beyond the first principle of human
nature, which impels us to help ourselves to whatever we want—the
application must be made to Tom, sharply, just where his conscience
ought to be. Bump up a conscience for Tommy.”
The disrespectful, who, in some way or other, are disposed to
make faces at their superiors, would require to be rapped rather
soundly in and about “veneration;” and we are not now to be told
that a smart blow on the eye is sure to awaken vociferous displays
of the faculty of “language.” For him who comes too late, which is
bad—or stays too late, which is worse—what could be better than a
forcible appeal to “time?” And if a boy—your boy, or any other body’s
boy—cannot be easily made to see the essential difference between
his own selfish will and your authoritative behest, you have only to
perform for him a tune upon his slumbering organ of “comparison,”
and you shall have music, you may depend upon it. If the same
rebellious individual is slow to discern why he should obey, lend him
a smart fillip upon his “casualty,” educive of the why, and provocative
of the wherefore; and if you yourself cannot discover the point of a
joke, taking the fact for granted that it is a joke which comes to a
point—some jokes, like some people, come to nothings—depend
upon it that your “wit” is beginning to lose its edge, and is getting to
be somewhat rusty in the method of its operation.
No one, we presume, will venture to deny that “cautiousness,”
well rubbed and roused, has a tendency to keep our fingers out of
the fire; or that an inflammation of our “combativeness” will give us
joy in the facing of our foe. But what, let us ask, what is to be done,
if, like the peculiar one who now comes under our special notice—
what is to be done, if in all the qualities which go to make up our
mentality, we have not one scintilla of self reliance and expectation,
and are like

TRIBULATION TREPID,
A MAN WITHOUT A HOPE!

You see, the case is in every way a hopeless one—for Tribulation


Trepid never had a hope. He has no more idea of what you mean by
a hope than a blind man can understand what you are talking about
when you speak of colors. Hope!—how do you go about it—how do
you begin when you want to hope? The first principle of hopefulness
is not resident within the confines of the craniology of Tribulation
Trepid; and, therefore, from the very moment of his birth, up and
down—but more down than up—poor Tribulation Trepid has been
lost in despond and in despair. Who ever called him “Young
Hopeful?” It would have been the very heartlessness of cold
derision.
If in the adventurousness of youth—for the earlier stages of
existence form a perpetual exploring expedition, and an unceasing
voyage of discovery into all sorts of holes and corners, to the
constant annoyance of those who do not appreciate the march of
mind in its primary manifestations—if then, at this interesting period,
Tribulation Trepid undertook to exercise his limbs, and to gratify his
curiosity by climbing up the chair, or ascending the table, that in this
way his knowledge of the laws of gravitation might be increased,
and his power of self-reliance extended, and if, thwartingly, at such
perilous moment, as too often happens to be the case, the usual
maternal caution fell upon his ear,
“Tribby, Tribby, what are you at? That child will fall and break its
good-for-nothing neck!”
Tribby, of course, did fall—he was sure to do it—only suggest the
worst of the alternatives to his mind, and, lacking hope to sustain his
trembling limbs, he dropped at once into the fell catastrophe. He
took it for granted that it must be so; and so it was. The great secret
of successful adventure is confidence—a fixed faith in the potency of
your star; and he who is deficient in this belief, will find it much
better to remain at home, or to “go ashore,” than to tempt the
chances of the storm. He, in truth, seeketh a shipwreck, who is not
assured of his own buoyancy; and that man marches to an
overthrow, whose mind is always dwelling on the probabilities of
being beaten. He alone triumphs, who disdains to entertain a doubt
of his own invincibility, and thus compels fortune to perch, whether
she will or no, upon his daring banner. But such was not our
Tribulation.
“Here, Tribby, take this pitcher down to Susan, and be sure you
don’t fall, or I’ll box your ears, you Tribby.”
Under the doctrine of pains and penalties, which until lately
formed the basis of all education—sound whipping and sound
teaching having heretofore been identical—one would have thought
that, with such a threatening over his head, Tribulation Trepid would
not have dared to treat himself to a luxury so expensive as the
species of tumble now referred to. To slip down stairs by himself is
wicked enough in any child, when we reflect upon the uproar which
every child is apt to create under these circumstances. But to slip
down stairs, including a best pitcher in the gymnastic operation, to
the exceeding detriment of the crockery, is an offence not to be
excused at the judgment-seat of the good housekeeper. It is a sin
which cannot be pardoned or overlooked.
“Now mind—don’t you fall and break that pitcher, Tribby, as you
always do,” was the pursuing admonition to our child of wo, as he
entered upon the labyrinthine convolutions of the dark stairway—but
just then—did you not expect it?—cr-a-a-sh!—bimble—bumble—rub-
dub!—Tribby has achieved his descent by a short hand process, and
lies vociferously prone upon his back at the landing-place, environed
by the fragments of the ware. We are not satisfied that it mended
the matter at all, and we are quite sure it did not mend the pitcher;
but we presume it was a satisfaction, if not to both, at least to one
of the parties involved; and a satisfaction is something in this
unsatisfactory state of existence; and so Tribulation Trepid received
his promised reward—“I’ll teach you,” and so forth—causing his
auricular appendages to reverberate for an hour or two, and likewise
to be comfortably warm for at least the same space of time,
affording him both his music and his caloric at the lowest possible
rate; though it can scarcely be said that his hope underwent any
considerable degree of augmentation by the process.
“Tribby Trepid doesn’t know his lesson, I am tolerably well
assured of that,” said the teacher, glancing significantly at his rattan
—for Tribulation Trepid underwent his share of schooling when
rattan was lord paramount in the academic groves, and served, as it
made the schoolboy “smart” in more senses than one, to counteract,
on the part of preceptors, the baneful influences of sedentary life, by
affording wholesome exercise in the “dusting of jackets.”
Now Tribby’s hope not being strong in the faith that he would
prove thoroughly conversant with his lesson, when brought up to the
test of actual experiment, though he was acquainted with it passing
well when he left home, the announcement of this foregone
conclusion in the teacher’s mind, coupled with certain tingling
remembrances connected with rattan, drove all other lessons from
his desponding brain; and he was executed accordingly, to the
infinite relief of Mr. Switchem’s dyspeptic symptoms, and to the
marvelous increase of the aforesaid Switchem’s appetite for dinner.
And so, reproof, condemnation and rattan being inevitable, why
should Tribulation Trepid annoy himself by the previous pain of
toilsome study? He did so no more.
“I shan’t know ’em if I do; and I shall be whipped whether I do
or not,” said Tribby, and he forthwith bowed himself down to that
which appeared to be the inevitable, allowing hope to be crushed
beneath the lumbering wheels of a Juggernaut of fear.

Hope on—hope ever. There is nothing in this world so valuable as


hope. The thing hoped for, precious though it be, is perhaps less of a
blessing in itself than the state of mind which convinces us that by
the proper effort we are able to obtain it. Better is it to be full of
hope than to have triumphed in the pursuit of all that man regards
as most desirable. Hope is richer than a diadem. Hopefulness is a
perpetual banquet—a feast that never cloys; and he who has around
him the glowing atmosphere which hope alone can bring, has no
need to envy the successes that others have achieved. His dreams
surpass reality.
But Tribulation Trepid has no hope. If there were a germ of it at
the outset of his career, it was, as it were, trampled down and buried
by a conviction steadfastly impressed, that, if others could succeed
he was sure to fail; and therefore, he did fail.
Did he mount a horse—oh! Tribulation Trepid will be thrown from
the saddle, as a matter of course—and he was thrown. Did he
undertake to leap the brook—the discouraging idea seemed to arrest
him midway that he could not do it; and Trepid emerged dripping
from the wave. And so it was, and so it has been, throughout the life
of Tribulation—such, it may be, is the secret why the lives of so
many of our kind present an unbroken series of disastrous failure.
They lack the inspiring voice of hope. They knew it would be so; and
so it is.

It is a melancholy thing, moreover, to have to do with the family


of the Trepids. In the endeavor to encourage them, your own
hopefulness seems to fade away; and the more you labor to elevate
them and to push them forward, the more heavily, and inertly, and
listlessly do they fall back upon your hands. They are convinced that
it is of “no use doing nothing,” and they tamely suffer every
competitor to pass them in the race.
Just so it is with the lugubrious individual now before us, who
invariably puts the worst possible face upon every matter, for the
simple reason that, as in the reflection of a mirror, every matter
wears the worst possible face to him; and as he looks at matters
sadly, despondingly, just so do matters return the glance. He sighs
over matters, and groans over matters. He walks through the streets
with a longitude of visage and a mournful down-drawing of the
corners of the mouth that would be neat and appropriate at the
funeral of his best friend, but which are sadly out of time and place
at every other moment; and he feels assured always that it is going
to rain—if not to-day, certainly to-morrow—that is, in case a shower
is not wanted. Otherwise, it will never rain again—it has forgotten
how.
Beware, then, how your sympathizing nature induces you to
accost Tribulation Trepid in the highway, unless you are proof against
the contagious influences of sorrow, and are firmly fixed in the
confidence of your own hope; for it seems to afford a mournful
satisfaction to all the Trepids to bring others down to their own
melancholy level.
“You may try,” say they—“no objection to any body’s trying—but
it’s not often that trying comes to any thing. Whatever it may be, it
will never answer—we never knew things to answer. Things never
answer nowadays,” with various other assurances of a like enlivening
nature. Beware, then, of the effect of contact with the Trepids,
unless your nature is of that sanguine sort which bids defiance to
the chill, and has hardihood to sport itself safely in December’s
snow.
“How are you Trepid? How do you feel to-day, Mr. Trepid?”

“A great deal worse than I was, thank’ee—’most dead, I am


obliged to you—I’m always worse than I was, and I don’t think I was
ever any better. I’m very sure, any how, that I’m not going to be any
better; and, for the future, you may always know I’m worse without
asking any questions; for the questions make me worse, if nothing
else does.”
“Why, Trepid, what’s the matter with you?”
“Nothing, I tell you, in particular; but a great deal is the matter
with me in general; and that’s the danger, because we don’t know
what it is. That’s what kills people—when they can’t tell what it is—
that’s what’s killing me. My great grandfather died of it, he did, and
so will I. The doctor’s don’t know—they can’t tell—they say I’m well
enough, when I’m bad enough; and so there’s no help. I’m going off
some of these days, right after my great grandfather, dying of
nothing in particular, but of every thing in general. That’s what
finishes our folks.”
But as Tribulation Trepid has now got under way in reference to
his bodily health, it may be as well to suffer him to explain himself in
the matter of his pecuniary relations, which are in quite as bad a
condition.
“Well, but, Trepid, how do you come on otherwise? Why don’t
you go into some sort of business and keep a shop.”
“Keep a shop!—what’s the use of my keeping a shop? If I keep a
shop, nobody would ever come into it; and if they did come in, they
wouldn’t buy any thing. Didn’t I try once, and nobody came,
because they said I hadn’t enough of an assortment? Ketch me!
Why did they not buy what I had, instead of trying to coax me to get
things, which they would not have bought after all? Me keep a shop!
Yes, to be sold out by the sheriff—I’m always sold out—don’t I know
it beforehand?”
“Apply for a situation did you say? Nonsense! Aint they always
very sorry—if I had only come sooner, or if they had only know’d of
it before—isn’t that always the answer? Could I ever get anywhere
soon enough, or before somebody else had been there, and had
gathered up all the good things that were agoing? Don’t talk to me
about applying for a situation. It’s almost as bad as trotting about to
get an office. ‘Bring your recommendations,’ say they; and by the
time you’ve got your recommendations, oh, how sorry they are, for
such a nice man as you, only the place is filled already.
“I’ve a great mind never to try to go anywhere any more, after
situations—somebody must sleep there all night; for, however bright
and early I get up of a morning, there he is; and I might have had
the place if I had been in time, as if that was any comfort.
“And as for trying to borry money of people, which is a nice easy
way of getting a living as a gentleman could desire, if you’ve a pretty
good run of business in that line, I never could do much at it,
somehow or other. I never could take the moneyed people by
surprise. They seemed to know what I wanted as soon as I looked
at them, and they were always very sorry, too—everybody is very
sorry to me—but they had no cash to spare just now, and just now
is all the time when people don’t want to lend. No—nothing is to be
done in that line unless you can take them by surprise, like a steel
trap; and I’m not quick enough for that operation. There’s never any
money when I’m coming.
“I’ll give up—yes, if nobody will leave me a fortune, and no rich
widow will marry me, I’ve a great mind to give up, and see what will
become of me then. I suppose something must become of me:
though I hardly believe it will, for nothing ever become of me yet.
But of this I’m sure, there’s no use of my trying to get along by
myself; and I’ll just sit down by the side of life’s turnpike and wait till
something goes traveling by to get me along. But I guess I’ll have to
wait a good while; for the place will be occupied—they’ll be very
sorry, to be sure, and they’ll wish they had know’d it in time; but
there’s no room left.”

It will thus be seen that Tribulation Trepid adopts the expectant


method of treatment, as the course of practice best adapted to the
peculiarities of his case. He waits for something to “turn up” in his
favor, because he lacks force, faith and hope to urge him onward to
energetic effort—for, in the collapsed recesses of his trembling heart,
he does not really believe that any thing favorable will “turn up” for
him. Such turnings up never have occurred for his special benefit. All
his turnings have been turnings down; as the turnings of this world
generally prove to be, unless our own shoulder is so applied to the
turning as to induce it to turn in the proper direction. And this brings
us to the great query of all queries—the unsolved problem in our
social theory—what is to be done to help him who, by nature or by
education, proves to be unable to help himself—what measure of
relief is to be passed for the benefit of the sinking family of the
Trepids, as they stumble down the depths of disaster?—Gentle
reader, and most sagacious friend, if you should think of any, pray
announce it betimes; and in return receive a position among the
most distinguished of the benefactors of the human race. Cheer, if
thou canst,

THE MAN WITHOUT A HOPE.


GLIMPSES OF A SOUL.
———
BY FRANCES S. OSGOOD.
———

Kate Carol to Mary H——.

“I miss you, Mary mine, more than I can tell, with this cold pen
and sluggish ink. I own I love Right Angledom. After the bustle and
randomness of life in New York—its straight ways, its quiet and its
monotony, are refreshing. I love the Quakers too, with their delicious
repose of manner—their low, lulling, musical voices, and their simple
truthfulness of character and conversation. Their ‘ways are ways of
pleasantness, and all their paths are peace.’ But I must confess to,
now and then, a feeling, I cannot say of home-sickness—for I,
wanderer that I am, have no home, unless it be in your heart, and in
some few others, a precious few, indeed—but a feeling of regret, a
pining for the past; for the few true and pure spirits to whom I have
dared reveal myself, who know me thoroughly, faults and all, and
who love me the more for those faults; because love and pity come
together on their divine mission from the gate of heaven, and walk
hand-in-hand, twin children of God, ever tender, and beautiful, and
sad, through this clouded vale of tears.
“ ‘Thee knows,’ Mary, as a lovely Quaker maiden said to me in a
low lute-tone the other night, ‘Thee knows the gravel and the gold
run together in all characters.’ Sweet Lizzie L——, thee does not
know how much that simple Orphic saying consoled me. Well, there
is some gold in my character, but it requires the sunbeams of love
and sympathy to light it up, and so reveal it; and they might change
even the gravel to gold in a heart so docile as mine, if they only
knew it, and would only take the trouble.
“Thee knows, Mary dear, my invincible aversion to strangers. Gay,
careless, confiding, frank, indeed to a fault, among those who seem
to love me, I am shy, cold, dull—nay, worse, I am wretched, where I
am not sure of pleasing. This is a most unfortunate weakness of
mine, and has been the cause of many troubles to me. I recollect
once in New York going to a party, which I afterwards heard was
made for me—made expressly to introduce me to some
distinguished authors—and just see, Mary, how badly I behaved; see
what a wayward, naughty lion I was. Had I only known then, as I
afterward did, the kind interest that my host took in me, I should
have been so happy, so social, so delightful; but as it was, with my
usual want of self-confidence, finding myself among strangers, I felt
my heart, like the pimpernel on the approach of rain, coldly
shrinking and shutting up, leaf by leaf, until I became a statue of
lead; and on my introduction to those writers, whom I had all my life
been eager to see, and whom, if I had only been sure that they
would let me, I could have loved at once. I replied in monosyllables,
so coldly, so drily, that they left me, surprised and repelled; and my
dear, kind, disappointed host, afterward said, in reply to some
encomiums by a friend—‘Yes, I suppose she is all that, but you must
allow that she is very eccentric.’ Am I eccentric, Mary? Am I any
thing but foolish and timid, and sensitive to a ridiculous degree?
“Now it was this shrinking of the heart that I felt, when I first
took possession of a large, and at first, somewhat dreary room in a
Philadelphia boarding-house. The sister of a dear friend, then in
Washington, called upon me, and with a single magical sentence,
like a gleam from the lamp of Aladdin, warmed, and furnished, and
lighted up the chamber, till it seemed a home even to my lonely and
sorrowing heart. She simply said, ‘Oh! this is the room that Sophy
had!’ The following impromptu will show you how fervently I felt the
change.

THE ROOM THAT SOPHY HAD.


Though strange and chill at first the room,
How soon it seemed with comfort clad,
When some one said—and blessed the gloom⁠—
“It is the chamber Sophy had.”

With that sweet word the sunshine stole,


Around a spirit lone and sad,
A lingering ray from her true soul,
Still warmed “the room that Sophy had.”

And here has beat her happy heart;


And here have rung her accents glad;
And here the darling mused apart,⁠—
Oh, precious “room that Sophy had.”

And here, perhaps, my image stole,


When care unwonted made her sad,
And whispered love through all her soul,
And cheered “the room that Sophy had.”

No palace-hall a queen may pace,


With splendor lit—with beauty clad,
Would seem so filled with light and grace,
As this dear “room that Sophy had.”

“You bid me send you all the verses I write. You little dream of
the shower that would overwhelm you, were I to comply literally
with your request ‘Nulla die sine linea,’ is my motto as well as that of
the painter of old, and while I sew, or walk, or ride, or lounge, I am
forever singing to myself impromptu love-songs, from imaginary
damsels to imaginary youths, set to music by a score written in the
air, and invisible to all eyes but mine, while a band of aerial
musicians play the accompaniment, with my heart, for the leader,
beating time. You shall have one of them, dear, and that, I think, will
content you for the present⁠—

Should all who throng, with gift and song,


And for my favor bend the knee,
Forsake the shrine, they deem divine,
I would not stoop my soul to thee!
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