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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10417-0.txt b/10417-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3df3b1f --- /dev/null +++ b/10417-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3094 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10417 *** + +LOVE LIFE & WORK + +BEING A BOOK OF OPINIONS REASONABLY GOOD-NATURED CONCERNING HOW TO +ATTAIN THE HIGHEST HAPPINESS FOR ONE'S SELF WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE +HARM TO OTHERS + +1906 + +By ELBERT HUBBARD + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTERS + +1. A Prayer + +2. Life and Expression + +3. Time and Chance + +4. Psychology of a Religious Revival + +5. One-Man Power + +6. Mental Attitude + +7. The Outsider + +8. Get Out or Get in Line + +9. The Week-Day, Keep it Holy + +10. Exclusive Friendships + +11. The Folly of Living in the Future + +12. The Spirit of Man + +13. Art and Religion + +14. Initiative + +15. The Disagreeable Girl + +16. The Neutral + +17. Reflections on Progress + +18. Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise + +19. Love and Faith + +20. Giving Something for Nothing + +21. Work and Waste + +22. The Law of Obedience + +23. Society's Saviors + +24. Preparing for Old Age + +25. An Alliance With Nature + +26. The Ex. Question + +27. The Sergeant + +28. The Spirit of the Age + +29. The Grammarian + +30. The Best Religion + + + +A Prayer + +The supreme prayer of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, +powerful, or "good," but simply to be radiant. I desire to radiate +health, cheerfulness, calm courage and good will. I wish to live without +hate, whim, jealousy, envy, fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, +natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected--ready to say "I do +not know," if it be so, and to meet all men on an absolute equality--to +face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid. + +I wish others to live their lives, too--up to their highest, fullest and +best. To that end I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate, +give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not +needed. If I can help people, I'll do it by giving them a chance to help +themselves; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, +inference, and suggestion, rather than by injunction and dictation. That +is to say, I desire to be radiant--to radiate life. + + + +Life and Expression + +By exercise of its faculties the spirit grows, just as a muscle grows +strong thru continued use. Expression is necessary. Life is expression, +and repression is stagnation--death. + +Yet, there can be right and wrong expression. If a man permits his life +to run riot and only the animal side of his nature is allowed to express +itself, he is repressing his highest and best, and the qualities not +used atrophy and die. + +Men are punished by their sins, not for them. Sensuality, gluttony, and +the life of license repress the life of the spirit, and the soul never +blossoms; and this is what it is to lose one's soul. All adown the +centuries thinking men have noted these truths, and again and again we +find individuals forsaking in horror the life of the senses and devoting +themselves to the life of the spirit. This question of expression +through the spirit, or through the senses--through soul or body--has +been the pivotal point of all philosophy and the inspiration of +all religion. + +Every religion is made up of two elements that never mix any more than +oil and water mix. A religion is a mechanical mixture, not a chemical +combination, of morality and dogma. Dogma is the science of the unseen: +the doctrine of the unknown and unknowable. And in order to give this +science plausibility, its promulgators have always fastened upon it +morality. Morality can and does exist entirely separate and apart from +dogma, but dogma is ever a parasite on morality, and the business of the +priest is to confuse the two. + +But morality and religion never saponify. Morality is simply the +question of expressing your life forces--how to use them? You have so +much energy; and what will you do with it? And from out the multitude +there have always been men to step forward and give you advice for a +consideration. Without their supposed influence with the unseen we might +not accept their interpretation of what is right and wrong. But with the +assurance that their advice is backed up by Deity, followed with an +offer of reward if we believe it, and a threat of dire punishment if we +do not, the Self-appointed Superior Class has driven men wheresoever it +willed. The evolution of formal religions is not a complex process, and +the fact that they embody these two unmixable things, dogma and +morality, is a very plain and simple truth, easily seen, undisputed by +all reasonable men. And be it said that the morality of most religions +is good. Love, truth, charity, justice and gentleness are taught in them +all. But, like a rule in Greek grammar, there are many exceptions. And +so in the morality of religions there are exceptional instances that +constantly arise where love, truth, charity, gentleness and justice are +waived on suggestion of the Superior Class, that good may follow. Were +it not for these exceptions there would be no wars between +Christian nations. + +The question of how to express your life will probably never down, for +the reason that men vary in temperament and inclination. Some men have +no capacity for certain sins of the flesh; others there be, who, having +lost their inclination for sensuality through too much indulgence, turn +ascetics. Yet all sermons have but one theme: how shall life be +expressed? Between asceticism and indulgence men and races swing. + +Asceticism in our day finds an interesting manifestation in the +Trappists, who live on a mountain top, nearly inaccessible, and deprive +themselves of almost every vestige of bodily comfort, going without food +for days, wearing uncomfortable garments, suffering severe cold; and +should one of this community look upon the face of a woman he would +think he was in instant danger of damnation. So here we find the extreme +instance of men repressing the faculties of the body in order that the +spirit may find ample time and opportunity for exercise. + +Somewhere between this extreme repression of the monk and the license of +the sensualist lies the truth. But just where is the great question; and +the desire of one person, who thinks he has discovered the norm, to +compel all other men to stop there, has led to war and strife untold. +All law centers around this point--what shall men be allowed to do? And +so we find statutes to punish "strolling play actors," "players on +fiddles," "disturbers of the public conscience," "persons who dance +wantonly," "blasphemers," and in England there were, in the year 1800, +thirty-seven offenses that were legally punishable by death. What +expression is right and what is not, is simply a matter of opinion. One +religious denomination that now exists does not allow singing; +instrumental music has been to some a rock of offense, exciting the +spirit through the sense of hearing, to improper thoughts--"through the +lascivious pleasing of the lute"; others think dancing wicked, while a +few allow pipe-organ music, but draw the line at the violin; while still +others use a whole orchestra in their religious service. Some there be +who regard pictures as implements of idolatry; while the Hook-and-Eye +Baptists look upon buttons as immoral. + +Strange evolutions are often witnessed within the life of one +individual. For instance, Leo Tolstoy, a great and good man, at one time +a sensualist, has now turned ascetic; a common evolution in the lives of +the saints. But excellent as this man is, there is yet a grave +imperfection in his cosmos which to a degree vitiates the truth he +desires to teach: he leaves the element of beauty out of his formula. +Not caring for harmony as set forth in color, form and sweet sounds, he +is quite willing to deny all others these things which minister to +their well-being. There is in most souls a hunger for beauty, just as +there is physical hunger. Beauty speaks to their spirits through the +senses; but Tolstoy would have your house barren to the verge of +hardship. My veneration for Count Tolstoy is profound, yet I mention him +here to show the grave danger that lies in allowing any man, even one of +the wisest of men, to dictate to us what is best. We ourselves are the +better judges. Most of the frightful cruelties inflicted on men during +the past have arisen simply out of a difference of opinion that arose +through a difference in temperament. The question is as alive to-day as +it was two thousand years ago--what expression is best? That is, what +shall we do to be saved? And concrete absurdity consists in saying that +we must all do the same thing. Whether the race will ever grow to a +point where men will be willing to leave the matter of life-expression +to the individual is a question; but the millennium will never arrive +until men cease trying to compel all other men to live after +one pattern. + +Most people are anxious to do what is best for themselves and least +harmful for others. The average man now has intelligence enough: Utopia +is not far off, if the self-appointed folk who rule us, and teach us for +a consideration, would only be willing to do unto others as they would +be done by, that is to say, mind their own business and cease coveting +things that belong to other people. War among nations and strife among +individuals is a result of the covetous spirit to possess. + +A little more patience, a little more charity for all, a little more +love; with less bowing down to the past, and the silent ignoring of +pretended authority; a brave looking forward to the future, with more +self-confidence and more faith in our fellow men, and the race will be +ripe for a great burst of life and light. + +[Illustration] + + + +Time and Chance + +As the subject is somewhat complex, I will have to explain it to you. +The first point is that there is not so very much difference in the +intelligence of people after all. The great man is not so great as folks +think, and the dull man is not quite so stupid as he seems. The +difference in our estimates of men lies in the fact that one individual +is able to get his goods into the show-window, and the other is not +aware that he has any show-window or any goods. + +"The soul knows all things, and knowledge is only a remembering," says +Emerson. + +This seems a very broad statement; and yet the fact remains that the +vast majority of men know a thousand times as much as they are aware of. +Far down in the silent depths of subconsciousness lie myriads of truths, +each awaiting a time when its owner shall call it forth. To utilize +these stored-up thoughts, you must express them to others; and to be +able to express them well your soul has to soar into this subconscious +realm where you have cached these net results of experience. In other +words, you must "come out"--get out of self--away from +self-consciousness, into the region of partial oblivion--away from the +boundaries of time and the limitations of space. The great painter +forgets all in the presence of his canvas; the writer is oblivious to +his surroundings; the singer floats away on the wings of melody (and +carries the audience with her); the orator pours out his soul for an +hour, and it seems to him as if barely five minutes had passed, so rapt +is he in his exalted theme. When you reach the heights of sublimity and +are expressing your highest and best, you are in a partial trance +condition. And all men who enter this condition surprise themselves by +the quantity of knowledge and the extent of insight they possess. And +some going a little deeper than others into this trance condition, and +having no knowledge of the miraculous storing up of truth in the +subconscious cells, jump to the conclusion that their intelligence is +guided by a spirit not theirs. When one reaches this conclusion he +begins to wither at the top, for he relies on the dead, and ceases to +feed the well-springs of his subconscious self. + +The mind is a dual affair--objective and subjective. The objective mind +sees all, hears all, reasons things out. The subjective mind stores up +and only gives out when the objective mind sleeps. And as few men ever +cultivate the absorbed, reflective or semi-trance state, where the +objective mind rests, they never really call on their subconscious +treasury for its stores. They are always self-conscious. + +A man in commerce, where men prey on their kind, must be alive and alert +to what is going on, or while he dreams, his competitor will seize upon +his birthright. And so you see why poets are poor and artists often beg. + +And the summing up of this sermonette is that all men are equally rich, +only some thru fate are able to muster their mental legions on the +plains of their being and count them, while others are never able to +do so. + +But what think you is necessary before a person can come into full +possession of his subconscious treasures? Well, I'll tell you: It is not +ease, nor prosperity, nor requited love, nor worldly security--not +these. + +"You sing well," said the master, impatiently, to his best pupil, "but +you will never sing divinely until you have given your all for love, +and then been neglected and rejected, and scorned and beaten, and left +for dead. Then, if you do not exactly die, you will come back, and when +the world hears your voice it will mistake you for an angel and fall at +your feet." + +And the moral is, that as long as you are satisfied and comfortable, you +use only the objective mind and live in the world of sense. But let love +be torn from your grasp and flee as a shadow--living only as a memory in +a haunting sense of loss; let death come and the sky shut down over less +worth in the world; or stupid misunderstanding and crushing defeat grind +you into the dust, then you may arise, forgetting time and space and +self, and take refuge in mansions not made with hands; and find a +certain sad, sweet satisfaction in the contemplation of treasures stored +up where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break +through and steal. + +And thus looking out into the Eternal, you entirely forget the present +and go forth into the Land of Subconsciousness--the Land of Spirit, +where yet dwell the gods of ancient and innocent days? Is it worth +the cost? + + + +Psychology of a Religious Revival + +Traveling to and fro over the land and up and down in it are men who +manage street-fairs. + +Let it be known that a street-fair or Mardi Gras is never a spontaneous +expression of the carnival spirit on the part of the townspeople. These +festivals are a business--carefully planned, well advertised and carried +out with much astuteness. + +The men who manage street-fairs send advance agents, to make +arrangements with the local merchants of the place--these secure the +legal permits that are necessary. + +A week is set apart for the carnival, much advertising is done, the +newspapers, reflecting the will of the many, devote pages to the +wonderful things that will happen. The shows arrive--the touters, the +spielers, the clowns, the tumblers, the girls in tights, the singers! +The bands play--the carnival is on! The object of the fair is to boom +the business of the town. The object of the professional managers of the +fair is to make money for themselves, and this they do thru the +guaranty of the merchants, or a percentage on concessions, or both. + +I am told that no town whose business is on an absolutely safe and +secure footing ever resorts to a street-fair. The street-fair comes in +when a rival town seems to be getting more than its share of the trade. +When the business of Skaneateles is drifting to Waterloo, then +Skaneateles succumbs to a street-fair. + +Sanitation, sewerage, good water supply, and schoolhouses and paved +streets are not the result of throwing confetti, tooting tin horns and +waiving the curfew law. + +Whether commerce is effectually helped by the street-fair, or a town +assisted to get on a firm financial basis through the ministry of the +tom-tom, is a problem. I leave the question with students of political +economy and pass on to a local condition which is not a theory. The +religious revivals that have recently been conducted in various parts of +the country were most carefully planned business schemes. One F. Wilbur +Chapman and his corps of well-trained associates may be taken as a type +of the individuals who work up local religious excitement for a +consideration. + +Religious revivals are managed very much as are street-fairs. If +religion is getting at a low ebb in your town, you can hire Chapman, the +revivalist, just as you can secure the services of Farley, the +strike-breaker. Chapman and his helpers go from town to town and from +city to city and work up this excitation as a business. They are paid +for their services a thousand dollars a week, or down to what they can +get from collections. Sometimes they work on a guaranty, and at other +times on a percentage or contingent fee, or both. + +Towns especially in need of Mr. Chapman's assistance will please send +for circulars, terms and testimonials. No souls saved--no pay. + +The basic element of the revival is hypnotism. The scheme of bringing +about the hypnosis, or the obfuscation of the intellect, has taken +generations to carefully perfect. The plan is first to depress the +spirit to a point where the subject is incapable of independent thought. +Mournful music, a monotonous voice of woe, tearful appeals to God, +dreary groans, the whole mingled with pious ejaculations, all tend to +produce a terrifying effect upon the auditor. The thought of God's +displeasure is constantly dwelt upon--the idea of guilt, death and +eternal torment. If the victims can be made to indulge in hysterical +laughter occasionally, the control is better brought about. No chance is +allowed for repose, poise or sane consideration. When the time seems +ripe a general promise of joy is made and the music takes an adagio +turn. The speaker's voice now tells of triumph--offers of forgiveness +are tendered, and then the promise of eternal life. + +The final intent is to get the victim on his feet and make him come +forward and acknowledge the fetich. This once done the convert finds +himself among pleasant companions. His social station is +improved--people shake hands with him and solicitously ask after his +welfare. His approbativeness is appealed to--his position is now one of +importance. And moreover, he is given to understand in many subtile ways +that as he will be damned in another world if he does not acquiesce in +the fetich, so also will he be damned financially and socially here if +he does not join the church. The intent in every Christian community is +to boycott and make a social outcast of the independent thinker. The +fetich furnishes excuse for the hypnotic processes. Without assuming a +personal God who can be appeased, eternal damnation and the proposition +that you can win eternal life by believing a myth, there is no sane +reason for the absurd hypnotic formulas. + +We are heirs to the past, its good and ill, and we all have a touch of +superstition, like a syphilitic taint. To eradicate this tyranny of fear +and get the cringe and crawl out of our natures, seems the one desirable +thing to lofty minds. But the revivalist, knowing human nature, as all +confidence men do, banks on our superstitious fears and makes his appeal +to our acquisitiveness, offering us absolution and life eternal for a +consideration--to cover expenses. As long as men are paid honors and +money, can wear good clothes, and be immune from work for preaching +superstition, they will preach it. The hope of the world lies in +withholding supplies from the pious mendicants who seek to hold our +minds in thrall. + +This idea of a divine bankrupt court where you can get forgiveness by +paying ten cents on the dollar, with the guaranty of becoming a winged +pauper of the skies, is not alluring excepting to a man who has been +well scared. Advance agents pave the way for revivalists by arranging +details with the local orthodox clergy. Universalists, Unitarians, +Christian Scientists and Befaymillites are all studiously avoided. The +object is to fill depleted pews of orthodox Protestant churches--these +pay the freight, and to the victor belong the spoils. The plot and plan +is to stampede into the pen of orthodoxy the intellectual +unwary--children and neurotic grown-ups. The cap-and-bells element is +largely represented in Chapman's select company of German-American +talent: the confetti of foolishness is thrown at us--we dodge, laugh, +listen and no one has time to think, weigh, sift or analyze. There are +the boom of rhetoric, the crack of confession, the interspersed +rebel-yell of triumph, the groans of despair, the cries of victory. Then +come songs by paid singers, the pealing of the organ--rise and sing, +kneel and pray, entreaty, condemnation, misery, tears, threats, promise, +joy, happiness, heaven, eternal bliss, decide now--not a moment is to be +lost, whoop-la you'll be a long time in hell! + +All this whirl is a carefully prepared plan, worked out by expert +flim-flammers to addle the reason, scramble intellect and make of men +drooling derelicts. + +What for? + +I'll tell you--that Doctor Chapman and his professional rooters may roll +in cheap honors, be immune from all useful labor and wax fat on the pay +of those who work. Second, that the orthodox churches may not advance +into workshops and schoolhouses, but may remain forever the home of a +superstition. One would think that the promise of making a person exempt +from the results of his own misdeeds, would turn the man of brains from +these religious shell-men in disgust. But under their hypnotic spell, +the minds of many seem to suffer an obsession, and they are caught in +the swirl of foolish feeling, like a grocer's clerk in the hands of a +mesmerist. + +At Northfield, Massachusetts, is a college at which men are taught and +trained, just as men are drilled at a Tonsorial College, in every phase +of this pleasing episcopopography. + +There is a good fellow by the suggestive name of Sunday who works the +religious graft. Sunday is the whirling dervish up to date. He and +Chapman and their cappers purposely avoid any trace of the ecclesiastic +in their attire. They dress like drummers--trousers carefully creased, +two watch-chains and a warm vest. Their manner is free and easy, their +attitude familiar. The way they address the Almighty reveals that their +reverence for Him springs out of the supposition that He is very much +like themselves. + +The indelicacy of the revivalists who recently called meetings to pray +for Fay Mills, was shown in their ardent supplications to God that He +should make Mills to be like them. Fay Mills tells of the best way to +use this life here and now. He does not prophesy what will become of you +if you do not accept his belief, neither does he promise everlasting +life as a reward for thinking as he does. He realizes that he has not +the agency of everlasting life. Fay Mills is more interested in having a +soul that is worth saving than in saving a soul that isn't. Chapman +talks about lost souls as he might about collar buttons lost under a +bureau, just as if God ever misplaced anything, or that all souls were +not God's souls, and therefore forever in His keeping. + +Doctor Chapman wants all men to act alike and believe alike, not +realizing that progress is the result of individuality, and so long as a +man thinks, whether he is right or wrong, he is making head. Neither +does he realize that wrong thinking is better than no thinking at all, +and that the only damnation consists in ceasing to think, and accepting +the conclusions of another. Final truths and final conclusions are +wholly unthinkable to sensible people in their sane moments, but these +revivalists wish to sum up truth for all time and put their leaden +seal upon it. + +In Los Angeles is a preacher by the name of McIntyre, a type of the +blatant Bellarmine who exiled Galileo--a man who never doubts his own +infallibility, who talks like an oracle and continually tells of +perdition for all who disagree with him. + +Needless to say that McIntyre lacks humor. Personally, I prefer the +McGregors, but in Los Angeles the McIntyres are popular. It was McIntyre +who called a meeting to pray for Fay Mills, and in proposing the meeting +McIntyre made the unblushing announcement that he had never met Mills +nor heard him speak, nor had he read one of his books. + +Chapman and McIntyre represent the modern types of +Phariseeism--spielers and spouters for churchianity, and such are the +men who make superstition of so long life. Superstition is the one +Infamy--Voltaire was right. To pretend to believe a thing at which your +reason revolts--to stultify your intellect--this, if it exists at all, +is the unpardonable sin. These muftis preach "the blood of Jesus," the +dogma that man without a belief in miracles is eternally lost, that +everlasting life depends upon acknowledging this, that or the other. +Self-reliance, self-control and self-respect are the three things that +make a man a man. + +But man has so recently taken on this ability to think, that he has not +yet gotten used to handling it. The tool is cumbrous in his hands. He is +afraid of it--this one characteristic that differentiates him from the +lower animals--so he abdicates and turns his divine birthright over to a +syndicate. This combination called a church agrees to take care of his +doubts and fears and do his thinking for him, and to help matters along +he is assured that he is not fit to think for himself, and to do so +would be a sin. Man, in his present crude state, holds somewhat the +same attitude toward reason that an Apache Indian holds toward a +camera--the Indian thinks that to have his picture taken means that he +will shrivel up and blow away in a month. And Stanley relates that a +watch with its constant ticking sent the bravest of Congo chiefs into a +cold sweat of agonizing fear; on discovering which, the explorer had but +to draw his Waterbury and threaten to turn the whole bunch into +crocodiles, and at once they got busy and did his bidding. Stanley +exhibited the true Northfield-revival quality in banking on the +superstition of his wavering and frightened followers. + +The revival meetin' is an orgie of the soul, a spiritual debauch--a +dropping from sane and sensible control into eroticism. No person of +normal intelligence can afford to throw the reins of reason on the neck +of emotion and ride a Tam O'Shanter race to Bedlam. This hysteria of the +uncurbed feelings is the only blasphemy, and if there were a personal +God, He surely would be grieved to see that we have so absurd an idea of +Him, as to imagine He would be pleased with our deporting the divine +gift of reason into the hell-box. + +Revivalism works up the voltage, then makes no use of the current--the +wire is grounded. Let any one of these revivalists write out his sermons +and print them in a book, and no sane man could read them without danger +of paresis. The book would lack synthesis, defy analysis, puzzle the +brain and paralyze the will. There would not be enough attic salt in it +to save it. It would be the supernaculum of the commonplace, and prove +the author to be the lobscouse of literature, the loblolly of letters. +The churches want to enroll members, and so desperate is the situation +that they are willing to get them at the price of self-respect. Hence +come Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Chapman, and play Svengali to our +Trilby. These gentlemen use the methods and the tricks of the +auctioneer--the blandishments of the bookmaker--the sleek, smooth ways +of the professional spieler. + +With this troupe of Christian clowns is one Chaeffer, who is a +specialist with children. He has meetings for boys and girls only, where +he plays tricks, grimaces, tells stories and gets his little hearers +laughing, and thus having found an entrance into their hearts, he +suddenly reverses the lever, and has them crying. He talks to these +little innocents about sin, the wrath of God, the death of Christ, and +offers them a choice between everlasting life and eternal death. To the +person who knows and loves children--who has studied the gentle ways of +Froebel--this excitement is vicious, concrete cruelty. Weakened vitality +follows close upon overwrought nerves, and every excess has its +penalty--the pendulum swings as far this way as it does that. + +These reverend gentlemen bray it into the ears of innocent little +children that they were born in iniquity, and in sin did their mothers +conceive them; that the souls of all children over nine years (why +nine?) are lost, and the only way they can hope for heaven is through a +belief in a barbaric blood bamboozle, that men of intelligence have long +since discarded. And all this in the name of the gentle Christ, who took +little children in his arms and said, "Of such is the Kingdom +of Heaven." + +This pagan proposition of being born in sin is pollution to the mind of +a child, and causes misery, unrest and heartache incomputable. A few +years ago we were congratulating ourselves that the devil at last was +dead, and that the tears of pity had put out the fires of hell, but the +serpent of superstition was only slightly scotched, not killed. + +The intent of the religious revival is dual: first, the claim is that +conversion makes men lead better lives; second, it saves their souls +from endless death or everlasting hell. + +To make men lead beautiful lives is excellent, but the Reverend Doctor +Chapman, nor any of his colleagues, nor the denominations that they +represent, will for an instant admit that the fact of a man living a +beautiful life will save his soul alive In fact, Doctor Chapman, Doctor +Torrey and Doctor Sunday, backed by the Reverend Doctor McIntyre, +repeatedly warn their hearers of the danger of a morality that is not +accompanied by a belief in the "blood of Jesus." + +So the beautiful life they talk of is the bait that covers the hook for +gudgeons. You have to accept the superstition, or your beautiful life to +them is a byword and a hissing. + +Hence, to them, superstition, and not conduct, is the vital thing. + +If such a belief is not fanaticism then have I read Webster's +Unabridged Dictionary in vain. Belief in superstition makes no man +kinder, gentler, more useful to himself or society. He can have all the +virtues without the fetich, and he may have the fetich and all the vices +beside. Morality is really not controlled at all by religion--if +statistics of reform schools and prisons are to be believed. + +Fay Mills, according to Reverend Doctor McIntyre has all the virtues--he +is forgiving, kind, gentle, modest, helpful. But Fay has abandoned the +fetich--hence McIntyre and Chapman call upon the public to pray for Fay +Mills. Mills had the virtues when he believed in the fetich--and now +that he has disavowed the fetich, he still has the virtues, and in a +degree he never before had. Even those who oppose him admit this, but +still they declare that he is forever "lost." + +Reverend Doctor Chaeffer says there are two kinds of habits--good and +bad. + +There are also two kinds of religion, good and bad. The religion of +kindness, good cheer, helpfulness and useful effort is good. And on this +point there is no dispute--it is admitted everywhere by every grade of +intellect. But any form of religion that incorporates a belief in +miracles and other barbaric superstitions, as a necessity to salvation, +is not only bad, but very bad. And all men, if left alone long enough to +think, know that salvation depends upon redemption from a belief in +miracles. But the intent of Doctor Chapman and his theological rough +riders is to stampede the herd and set it a milling. To rope the +mavericks and place upon them the McIntyre brand is then quite easy. + +As for the reaction and the cleaning up after the carnival, our +revivalists are not concerned. The confetti, collapsed balloons and +peanut shucks are the net assets of the revival--and these are left for +the local managers. + +Revivals are for the revivalists, and some fine morning these revival +towns will arise, rub their sleepy eyes, and Chapman will be but a bad +taste in the mouth, and Sunday, Chaeffer, Torrey, Biederwolf and +Company, a troubled dream. To preach hagiology to civilized people is a +lapse that Nemesis will not overlook. America stands for the Twentieth +Century, and if in a moment of weakness she slips back to the exuberant +folly of the frenzied piety of the Sixteenth, she must pay the penalty. +Two things man will have to do--get free from the bondage of other men; +and second, liberate himself from the phantoms of his own mind. On +neither of these points does the revivalist help or aid in any way. +Effervescence is not character and every debauch must be paid for in +vitality and self-respect. + +All formal organized religions through which the promoters and managers +thrive are bad, but some are worse than others. The more superstition a +religion has, the worse it is. Usually religions are made up of morality +and superstition. Pure superstition alone would be revolting--in our day +it would attract nobody--so the idea is introduced that morality and +religion are inseparable. I am against the men who pretend to believe +that ethics without a fetich is vain and useless. + +The preachers who preach the beauty of truth, honesty and a useful, +helpful life, I am with, head, heart and hand. + +The preachers who declare that there can be no such thing as a beautiful +life unless it will accept superstition, I am against, tooth, claw, +club, tongue and pen. Down with the Infamy! I prophesy a day when +business and education will be synonymous--when commerce and college +will join hands--when the preparation for life will be to go to work. + +As long as trade was trickery, business barter, commerce finesse, +government exploitation, slaughter honorable, and murder a fine art; +when religion was ignorant superstition, piety the worship of a fetich +and education a clutch for honors, there was small hope for the race. +Under these conditions everything tended towards division, dissipation, +disintegration, separation--darkness, death. + +But with the supremacy gained by science, the introduction of the +one-price system in business, and the gradually growing conviction that +honesty is man's most valuable asset, we behold light at the end of +the tunnel. + +It only remains now for the laity to drive conviction home upon the +clergy, and prove to them that pretence has its penalty, and to bring to +the mourners' bench that trinity of offenders, somewhat ironically +designated as the Three Learned Professions, and mankind will be well +out upon the broad highway, the towering domes of the Ideal City +in sight. + + + +One-Man Power + +Every successful concern is the result of a One-Man Power. Coƶperation, +technically, is an iridescent dream--things coƶperate because the man +makes them. He cements them by his will. + +But find this Man, and get his confidence, and his weary eyes will look +into yours and the cry of his heart shall echo in your ears. "O, for +some one to help me bear this burden!" + +Then he will tell you of his endless search for Ability, and of his +continual disappointments and thwartings in trying to get some one to +help himself by helping him. + +Ability is the one crying need of the hour. The banks are bulging with +money, and everywhere are men looking for work. The harvest is ripe. But +the Ability to captain the unemployed and utilize the capital, is +lacking--sadly lacking. In every city there are many five- and +ten-thousand-dollar-a-year positions to be filled, but the only +applicants are men who want jobs at fifteen dollars a week. Your man of +Ability has a place already. Yes, Ability is a rare article. + +But there is something that is much scarcer, something finer far, +something rarer than this quality of Ability. + +It is the ability to recognize Ability. + +The sternest comment that ever can be made against employers as a class, +lies in the fact that men of Ability usually succeed in showing their +worth in spite of their employer, and not with his assistance and +encouragement. + +If you know the lives of men of Ability, you know that they discovered +their power, almost without exception, thru chance or accident. Had the +accident not occurred that made the opportunity, the man would have +remained unknown and practically lost to the world. The experience of +Tom Potter, telegraph operator at an obscure little way station, is +truth painted large. That fearful night, when most of the wires were +down and a passenger train went through the bridge, gave Tom Potter the +opportunity of discovering himself. He took charge of the dead, cared +for the wounded, settled fifty claims--drawing drafts on the +company--burned the last vestige of the wreck, sunk the waste iron in +the river and repaired the bridge before the arrival of the +Superintendent on the spot. + +"Who gave you the authority to do all this?" demanded the +Superintendent. + +"Nobody," replied Tom, "I assumed the authority." + +The next month Tom Potter's salary was five thousand dollars a year, and +in three years he was making ten times this, simply because he could get +other men to do things. + +Why wait for an accident to discover Tom Potter? Let us set traps for +Tom Potter, and lie in wait for him. Perhaps Tom Potter is just around +the corner, across the street, in the next room, or at our elbow. +Myriads of embryonic Tom Potters await discovery and development if we +but look for them. + +I know a man who roamed the woods and fields for thirty years and never +found an Indian arrow. One day he began to think "arrow," and stepping +out of his doorway he picked one up. Since then he has collected a +bushel of them. + +Suppose we cease wailing about incompetence, sleepy indifference and +slipshod "help" that watches the clock. These things exist--let us +dispose of the subject by admitting it, and then emphasize the fact that +freckled farmer boys come out of the West and East and often go to the +front and do things in a masterly way. There is one name that stands out +in history like a beacon light after all these twenty-five hundred years +have passed, just because the man had the sublime genius of discovering +Ability. That man is Pericles. Pericles made Athens. + +And to-day the very dust of the streets of Athens is being sifted and +searched for relics and remnants of the things made by people who were +captained by men of Ability who were discovered by Pericles. + +There is very little competition in this line of discovering Ability. We +sit down and wail because Ability does not come our way. Let us think +"Ability," and possibly we can jostle Pericles there on his pedestal, +where he has stood for over a score of centuries--the man with a supreme +genius for recognizing Ability. Hail to thee, Pericles, and hail to +thee, Great Unknown, who shall be the first to successfully imitate this +captain of men. + + + +Mental Attitude + +Success is in the blood. There are men whom fate can never keep +down--they march forward in a jaunty manner, and take by divine right +the best of everything that the earth affords. But their success is not +attained by means of the Samuel Smiles-Connecticut policy. They do not +lie in wait, nor scheme, nor fawn, nor seek to adapt their sails to +catch the breeze of popular favor. Still, they are ever alert and alive +to any good that may come their way, and when it comes they simply +appropriate it, and tarrying not, move steadily on. + +Good health! Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the +crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the +sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every +hand-clasp. + +Do not fear being misunderstood; and never waste a moment thinking about +your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your own mind what you would like to +do, and then without violence of direction you will move straight to +the goal. + +Fear is the rock on which we split, and hate the shoal on which many a +barque is stranded. When we become fearful, the judgment is as +unreliable as the compass of a ship whose hold is full of iron ore; when +we hate, we have unshipped the rudder; and if ever we stop to meditate +on what the gossips say, we have allowed a hawser to foul the screw. + +Keep your mind on the great and splendid thing you would like to do; and +then, as the days go gliding by, you will find yourself unconsciously +seizing the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your +desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the +elements that it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful +person you desire to be, and the thought that you hold is hourly +transforming you into that particular individual you so admire. + +Thought is supreme, and to think is often better than to do. + +Preserve a right mental attitude--the attitude of courage, frankness and +good cheer. + +Darwin and Spencer have told us that this is the method of Creation. +Each animal has evolved the parts it needed and desired. The horse is +fleet because he wishes to be; the bird flies because it desires to; the +duck has a web foot because it wants to swim. All things come through +desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on +which our hearts are fixed. + +Many people know this, but they do not know it thoroughly enough so that +it shapes their lives. We want friends, so we scheme and chase 'cross +lots after strong people, and lie in wait for good folks--or alleged +good folks--hoping to be able to attach ourselves to them. The only way +to secure friends is to be one. And before you are fit for friendship +you must be able to do without it. That is to say, you must have +sufficient self-reliance to take care of yourself, and then out of the +surplus of your energy you can do for others. + +The individual who craves friendship, and yet desires a self-centered +spirit more, will never lack for friends. + +If you would have friends, cultivate solitude instead of society. Drink +in the ozone; bathe in the sunshine; and out in the silent night, under +the stars, say to yourself again and yet again, "I am a part of all my +eyes behold!" And the feeling then will come to you that you are no +mere interloper between earth and heaven; but you are a necessary part +of the whole. No harm can come to you that does not come to all, and if +you shall go down it can only be amid a wreck of worlds. + +Like old Job, that which we fear will surely come upon us. By a wrong +mental attitude we have set in motion a train of events that ends in +disaster. People who die in middle life from disease, almost without +exception, are those who have been preparing for death. The acute tragic +condition is simply the result of a chronic state of mind--a culmination +of a series of events. + +Character is the result of two things, mental attitude, and the way we +spend our time. It is what we think and what we do that make us what +we are. + +By laying hold on the forces of the universe, you are strong with them. +And when you realize this, all else is easy, for in your arteries will +course red corpuscles, and in your heart the determined resolution is +born to do and to be. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head +high. We are gods in the chrysalis. + + + +The Outsider + +When I was a farmer lad I noticed that whenever we bought a new cow, and +turned her into the pasture with the herd, there was a general +inclination on the part of the rest to make the new cow think she had +landed in the orthodox perdition. They would hook her away from the +salt, chase her from the water, and the long-horned ones, for several +weeks, would lose no opportunity to give her vigorous digs, pokes +and prods. + +With horses it was the same. And I remember one particular little black +mare that we boys used to transfer from one pasture to another, just to +see her back into a herd of horses and hear her hoofs play a resounding +solo on their ribs as they gathered round to do her mischief. + +Men are animals just as much as are cows, horses and pigs; and they +manifest similar proclivities. The introduction of a new man into an +institution always causes a small panic of resentment, especially if he +be a person of some power. Even in schools and colleges the new teacher +has to fight his way to overcome the opposition he is certain to meet. + +In a lumber camp, the newcomer would do well to take the initiative, +like that little black mare, and meet the first black look with a +short-arm jab. + +But in a bank, department store or railroad office this cannot be. So +the next best thing is to endure, and win out by an attention to +business to which the place is unaccustomed. In any event, the bigger +the man, unless he has the absolute power to overawe everything, the +more uncomfortable will be his position until gradually time smooths the +way and new issues come up for criticism, opposition and resentment, and +he is forgotten. + +The idea of Civil Service Reform--promotion for the good men in your +employ rather than hiring new ones for the big places--is a rule which +looks well on paper but is a fatal policy if carried out to the letter. + +The business that is not progressive is sowing the seeds of its own +dissolution. Life is a movement forward, and all things in nature that +are not evolving into something better are preparing to return into +their constituent elements. One general rule for progress in big +business concerns is the introduction of new blood. You must keep step +with the business world. If you lag behind, the outlaws that hang on the +flanks of commerce will cut you out and take you captive, just as the +wolves lie in wait for the sick cow of the plains. + +To keep your columns marching you must introduce new methods, new +inspiration and seize upon the best that others have invented or +discovered. + +The great railroads of America have evolved together. No one of them has +an appliance or a method that is much beyond the rest. If it were not +for this interchange of men and ideas some railroads would still be +using the link and pin, and snake-heads would be as common as in the +year 1869. + +The railroad manager who knows his business is ever on the lookout for +excellence among his men, and he promotes those who give an undivided +service. But besides this he hires a strong man occasionally from the +outside and promotes him over everybody. Then out come the hammers! + +But this makes but little difference to your competent manager--if a +place is to be filled and he has no one on his payroll big enough to +fill it, he hires an outsider. + +That is right and well for every one concerned. The new life of many a +firm dates from the day they hired a new man. + +Communities that intermarry raise a fine crop of scrubs, and the result +is the same in business ventures. Two of America's largest publishing +houses failed for a tidy sum of five millions or so each, a few years +ago, just thru a dogged policy, that extended over a period of fifty +years, of promoting cousins, uncles and aunts whose only claim of +efficiency was that they had been on the pension roll for a long time. +This way lies dry-rot. + +If you are a business man, and have a position of responsibility to be +filled, look carefully among your old helpers for a man to promote. But +if you haven't a man big enough to fill the place, do not put in a +little one for the sake of peace. Go outside and find a man and hire +him--never mind the salary if he can man the position--wages are always +relative to earning power. This will be the only way you can really man +your ship. + +As for Civil Service Rules--rules are made to be broken. And as for the +long-horned ones who will attempt to make life miserable for your new +employe, be patient with them. It is the privilege of everybody to do a +reasonable amount of kicking, especially if the person has been a long +time with one concern and has received many benefits. + +But if at the last, worst comes to worst, do not forget that you +yourself are at the head of the concern. If it fails you get the blame. +And should the anvil chorus become so persistent that there is danger of +discord taking the place of harmony, stand by your new man, even tho it +is necessary to give the blue envelope to every antediluvian. Precedence +in business is a matter of power, and years in one position may mean +that the man has been there so long that he needs a change. Let the +zephyrs of natural law play freely thru your whiskers. + +So here is the argument: promote your deserving men, but do not be +afraid to hire a keen outsider; he helps everybody, even the kickers, +for if you disintegrate and go down in defeat, the kickers will have to +skirmish around for new jobs anyway. Isn't that so? + + + +Get Out or Get in Line + +Abraham Lincoln's letter to Hooker! If all the letters, messages and +speeches of Lincoln were destroyed, except that one letter to Hooker, we +still would have an excellent index to the heart of the Rail-Splitter. + +In this letter we see that Lincoln ruled his own spirit; and we also +behold the fact that he could rule others. The letter shows wise +diplomacy, frankness, kindliness, wit, tact and infinite patience. +Hooker had harshly and unjustly criticised Lincoln, his commander in +chief. But Lincoln waives all this in deference to the virtues he +believes Hooker possesses, and promotes him to succeed Burnside. In +other words, the man who had been wronged promotes the man who had +wronged him, over the head of a man whom the promotee had wronged and +for whom the promoter had a warm personal friendship. + +But all personal considerations were sunk in view of the end desired. +Yet it was necessary that the man promoted should know the truth, and +Lincoln told it to him in a way that did not humiliate nor fire to +foolish anger; but which surely prevented the attack of cerebral +elephantiasis to which Hooker was liable. + +Perhaps we had better give the letter entire, and so here it is: + + +Executive Mansion, +Washington, January 26, 1863. + +Major-General Hooker: + +General:--I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of +course, I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient +reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some +things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. + +I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, which, of course, I +like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your position, in +which you are right. + +You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable if not an +indispensable quality. + +You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather +than harm; but I think that during General Burnside's command of the +army you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as +you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most +meritorious and honorable brother officer. + +I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying +that both the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course, it +was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. +Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now +ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The +government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is +neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I +much fear that the spirit you have aided to infuse into the army, of +criticising their commander and withholding confidence from him, will +now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. +Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out +of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. And now beware of +rashness, but with sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories. + +Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. + +One point in this letter is especially worth our consideration, for it +suggests a condition that springs up like deadly nightshade from a +poisonous soil. I refer to the habit of carping, sneering, grumbling and +criticising those who are above us. The man who is anybody and who does +anything is certainly going to be criticised, vilified and +misunderstood. This is a part of the penalty for greatness, and every +great man understands it; and understands, too, that it is no proof of +greatness. The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure +contumely without resentment. Lincoln did not resent criticism; he knew +that every life was its own excuse for being, but look how he calls +Hooker's attention to the fact that the dissension Hooker has sown is +going to return and plague him! "Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were +alive, could get any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in +it." Hooker's fault falls on Hooker--others suffer, but Hooker suffers +most of all. + +Not long ago I met a Yale student home on a vacation. I am sure he did +not represent the true Yale spirit, for he was full of criticism and +bitterness toward the institution. President Hadley came in for his +share, and I was given items, facts, data, with times and places, for a +"peach of a roast." + +Very soon I saw the trouble was not with Yale, the trouble was with the +young man. He had mentally dwelt on some trivial slights until he had +gotten so out of harmony with the place that he had lost the power to +derive any benefit from it. Yale college is not a perfect institution--a +fact, I suppose, that President Hadley and most Yale men are quite +willing to admit; but Yale does supply young men certain advantages, and +it depends upon the students whether they will avail themselves of +these advantages or not. If you are a student in college, seize upon +the good that is there. You receive good by giving it. You gain by +giving--so give sympathy and cheerful loyalty to the institution. Be +proud of it. Stand by your teachers--they are doing the best they can. +If the place is faulty, make it a better place by an example of +cheerfully doing your work every day the best you can. Mind your +own business. + +If the concern where you are employed is all wrong, and the Old Man is a +curmudgeon, it may be well for you to go to the Old Man and +confidentially, quietly and kindly tell him that his policy is absurd +and preposterous. Then show him how to reform his ways, and you might +offer to take charge of the concern and cleanse it of its secret faults. +Do this, or if for any reason you should prefer not, then take your +choice of these: Get Out, or Get in Line. You have got to do one or the +other--now make your choice. If you work for a man, in heaven's name +work for him. + +If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for +him--speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by +the institution that he represents. + +I think if I worked for a man, I would work for him. I would not work +for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I +would give an undivided service or none. If put to the pinch, an ounce +of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. + +If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage, why, resign your +position, and then when you are outside, damn to your heart's content. +But I pray you, as long as you are a part of an institution, do not +condemn it. Not that you will injure the institution--not that--but when +you disparage a concern of which you are a part, you disparage yourself. + +More than that, you are loosening the tendrils that hold you to the +institution, and the first high wind that happens along, you will be +uprooted and blown away in the blizzard's track--and probably you will +never know why. The letter only says, "Times are dull and we regret +there is not enough work," et cetera. + +Everywhere you will find these out-of-a-job fellows. Talk with them and +you will find that they are full of railing, bitterness, scorn and +condemnation. That was the trouble--thru a spirit of fault-finding they +got themselves swung around so they blocked the channel, and had to be +dynamited. They were out of harmony with the place, and no longer being +a help they had to be removed. Every employer is constantly looking for +people who can help him; naturally he is on the lookout among his +employees for those who do not help, and everything and everybody that +is a hindrance has to go. This is the law of trade--do not find fault +with it; it is founded on nature. The reward is only for the man who +helps, and in order to help you must have sympathy. + +You cannot help the Old Man so long as you are explaining in an +undertone and whisper, by gesture and suggestion, by thought and mental +attitude that he is a curmudgeon and that his system is dead wrong. You +are not necessarily menacing him by stirring up this cauldron of +discontent and warming envy into strife, but you are doing this: you are +getting yourself on a well-greased chute that will give you a quick ride +down and out. When you say to other employees that the Old Man is a +curmudgeon, you reveal the fact that you are one; and when you tell them +that the policy of the institution is "rotten," you certainly show +that yours is. + +This bad habit of fault-finding, criticising and complaining is a tool +that grows keener by constant use, and there is grave danger that he who +at first is only a moderate kicker may develop into a chronic knocker, +and the knife he has sharpened will sever his head. + +Hooker got his promotion even in spite of his many failings; but the +chances are that your employer does not have the love that Lincoln +had--the love that suffereth long and is kind. But even Lincoln could +not protect Hooker forever. Hooker failed to do the work, and Lincoln +had to try some one else. So there came a time when Hooker was +superseded by a Silent Man, who criticised no one, railed at nobody--not +even the enemy. + +And this Silent Man, who could rule his own spirit, took the cities. He +minded his own business, and did the work that no man can ever do unless +he constantly gives absolute loyalty, perfect confidence, unswerving +fidelity and untiring devotion. Let us mind our own business, and allow +others to mind theirs, thus working for self by working for the good +of all. + + + +The Week-Day, Keep it Holy + +Did it ever strike you that it is a most absurd and semi-barbaric thing +to set one day apart as "holy?" + +If you are a writer and a beautiful thought comes to you, you never +hesitate because it is Sunday, but you write it down. + +If you are a painter, and the picture appears before you, vivid and +clear, you make haste to materialize it ere the vision fades. + +If you are a musician, you sing a song, or play it on the piano, that it +may be etched upon your memory--and for the joy of it. + +But if you are a cabinet-maker, you may make a design, but you will have +to halt before you make the table, if the day happens to be the "Lord's +Day"; and if you are a blacksmith, you will not dare to lift a hammer, +for fear of conscience or the police. All of which is an admission that +we regard manual labor as a sort of necessary evil, and must be done +only at certain times and places. + +The orthodox reason for abstinence from all manual labor on Sunday is +that "God made the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh +He rested," therefore, man, created in the image of his Maker, should +hold this day sacred. How it can be possible for a supreme, omnipotent +and all-powerful being without "body, parts or passions" to become +wearied thru physical exertion is a question that is as yet unanswered. + +The idea of serving God on Sunday and then forgetting Him all the week +is a fallacy that is fostered by the Reverend Doctor Sayles and his +coadjutor, Deacon Buffum, who passes the Panama for the benefit of those +who would buy absolution. Or, if you prefer, salvation being free, what +we place in the Panama is an honorarium for Deity or his agent, just as +our noted authors never speak at banquets for pay, but accept the +honorarium that in some occult and mysterious manner is left on the +mantel. Sunday, with its immunity from work, was devised for slaves who +got out of all the work they could during the week. + +Then, to tickle the approbativeness of the slave, it was declared a +virtue not to work on Sunday, a most pleasing bit of Tom Sawyer +diplomacy. By following his inclinations and doing nothing, a +mysterious, skyey benefit accrues, which the lazy man hopes to have and +to hold for eternity. + +Then the slaves who do no work on Sunday, point out those who do as +beneath them in virtue, and deserving of contempt. Upon this theory all +laws which punish the person who works or plays on Sunday have been +passed. Does God cease work one day in seven, or is the work that He +does on Sunday especially different from that which He performs on +Tuesday? The Saturday half-holiday is not "sacred"--the Sunday holiday +is, and we have laws to punish those who "violate" it. No man can +violate the Sabbath; he can, however, violate his own nature, and this +he is more apt to do through enforced idleness than either work or play. +Only running water is pure, and stagnant nature of any sort is +dangerous--a breeding-place for disease. + +Change of occupation is necessary to mental and physical health. As it +is, most people get too much of one kind of work. All the week they are +chained to a task, a repugnant task because the dose is too big. They +have to do this particular job or starve. This is slavery, quite as +much as when man was bought and sold as a chattel. + +Will there not come a time when all men and women will work because it +is a blessed gift--a privilege? Then, if all worked, wasteful consuming +as a business would cease. As it is, there are many people who do not +work at all, and these pride themselves upon it and uphold the Sunday +laws. If the idlers would work, nobody would be overworked. If this time +ever comes shall we not cease to regard it as "wicked" to work at +certain times, just as much as we would count it absurd to pass a law +making it illegal for us to be happy on Wednesday? Isn't good work an +effort to produce a useful, necessary or beautiful thing? If so, good +work is a prayer, prompted by a loving heart--a prayer to benefit and +bless. If prayer is not a desire, backed up by a right human effort to +bring about its efficacy, then what is it? + +Work is a service performed for ourselves and others. If I love you I +will surely work for you--in this way I reveal my love. And to manifest +my love in this manner is a joy and gratification to me. Thus work is +for the worker alone and labor is its own reward. These things being +true, if it is wrong to work on Sunday, it is wrong to love on Sunday; +every smile is a sin, every caress a curse, and all tenderness a crime. + +Must there not come a time, if we grow in mentality and spirit, when we +shall cease to differentiate and quit calling some work secular and some +sacred? Isn't it as necessary for me to hoe corn and feed my loved ones +(and also the priest) as for the priest to preach and pray? Would any +priest ever preach and pray if somebody didn't hoe? If life is from God, +then all useful effort is divine; and to work is the highest form of +religion. If God made us, surely He is pleased to see that His work is a +success. If we are miserable, willing to liberate life with a bare +bodkin, we certainly do not compliment our Maker in thus proclaiming His +work a failure. But if our lives are full of gladness and we are +grateful for the feeling that we are one with Deity--helping God to do +His work, then, and only then do we truly serve Him. + +Isn't it strange that men should have made laws declaring that it is +wicked for us to work? + + + +Exclusive Friendships + +An excellent and gentle man of my acquaintance has said, "When fifty-one +per cent of the voters believe in coƶperation as opposed to competition, +the Ideal Commonwealth will cease to be a theory and become a fact." + +That men should work together for the good of all is very beautiful, and +I believe the day will come when these things will be, but the simple +process of fifty-one per cent of the voters casting ballots for +socialism will not bring it about. + +The matter of voting is simply the expression of a sentiment, and after +the ballots have been counted there still remains the work to be done. A +man might vote right and act like a fool the rest of the year. + +The socialist who is full of bitterness, fight, faction and jealousy is +creating an opposition that will hold him and all others like him in +check. And this opposition is well, for even a very imperfect society is +forced to protect itself against dissolution and a condition which is +worse. To take over the monopolies and operate them for the good of +society is not enough, and not desirable either, so long as the idea of +rivalry is rife. + +As long as self is uppermost in the minds of men, they will fear and +hate other men, and under socialism there would be precisely the same +scramble for place and power that we see in politics now. + +Society can never be reconstructed until its individual members are +reconstructed. Man must be born again. When fifty-one per cent of the +voters rule their own spirit and have put fifty-one per cent of their +present envy, jealousy, bitterness, hate, fear and foolish pride out of +their hearts, then Christian socialism will be at hand, and not +until then. + +The subject is entirely too big to dispose of in a paragraph, so I am +just going to content myself here with the mention of one thing, that so +far as I know has never been mentioned in print--the danger to society +of exclusive friendships between man and man, and woman and woman. No +two persons of the same sex can complement each other, neither can they +long uplift or benefit each other. Usually they deform the mental and +spiritual estate. We should have many acquaintances or none. When two +men begin to "tell each other everything," they are hiking for senility. +There must be a bit of well-defined reserve. We are told that in +matter--solid steel for instance--the molecules never touch. They never +surrender their individuality. We are all molecules of Divinity, and our +personality should not be abandoned. Be yourself, let no man be +necessary to you--your friend will think more of you if you keep him at +a little distance. Friendship, like credit, is highest where it is +not used. + +I can understand how a strong man can have a great and abiding affection +for a thousand other men, and call them all by name, but how he can +regard any one of these men much higher than another and preserve his +mental balance, I do not know. + +Let a man come close enough and he'll clutch you like a drowning person, +and down you both go. In a close and exclusive friendship men partake of +others' weaknesses. + +In shops and factories it happens constantly that men will have their +chums. These men relate to each other their troubles--they keep nothing +back--they sympathize with each other, they mutually condole. + +They combine and stand by each other. Their friendship is exclusive and +others see that it is. Jealousy creeps in, suspicion awakens, hate +crouches around the corner, and these men combine in mutual dislike for +certain things and persons. They foment each other, and their sympathy +dilutes sanity--by recognizing their troubles men make them real. Things +get out of focus, and the sense of values is lost. By thinking some one +is an enemy you evolve him into one. + +Soon others are involved and we have a clique. A clique is a friendship +gone to seed. + +A clique develops into a faction, and a faction into a feud, and soon we +have a mob, which is a blind, stupid, insane, crazy, ramping and roaring +mass that has lost the rudder. In a mob there are no individuals--all +are of one mind, and independent thought is gone. + +A feud is founded on nothing--it is a mistake--a fool idea fanned into +flame by a fool friend! And it may become a mob. + +Every man who has had anything to do with communal life has noticed +that the clique is the disintegrating bacillus--and the clique has its +rise always in the exclusive friendship of two persons of the same sex, +who tell each other all unkind things that are said of each other--"so +be on your guard." Beware of the exclusive friendship! Respect all men +and try to find the good in all. To associate only with the sociable, +the witty, the wise, the brilliant, is a blunder--go among the plain, +the stupid, the uneducated, and exercise your own wit and wisdom. You +grow by giving--have no favorites--you hold your friend as much by +keeping away from him as you do by following after him. + +Revere him--yes, but be natural and let space intervene. Be a Divine +molecule. + +Be yourself and give your friend a chance to be himself. Thus do you +benefit him, and in benefiting him you benefit yourself. + +The finest friendships are between those who can do without each other. + +Of course there have been cases of exclusive friendship that are pointed +out to us as grand examples of affection, but they are so rare and +exceptional that they serve to emphasize the fact that it is +exceedingly unwise for men of ordinary power and intellect to exclude +their fellow men. A few men, perhaps, who are big enough to have a place +in history, could play the part of David to another's Jonathan and yet +retain the good will of all, but the most of us would engender +bitterness and strife. + +And this beautiful dream of socialism, where each shall work for the +good of all, will never come about until fifty-one per cent of the +adults shall abandon all exclusive friendships. Until that day arrives +you will have cliques, denominations--which are cliques grown +big--factions, feuds and occasional mobs. + +Do not lean on any one, and let no one lean on you. The ideal society +will be made up of ideal individuals. Be a man and be a friend to +everybody. + +When the Master admonished his disciples to love their enemies, he had +in mind the truth that an exclusive love is a mistake--love dies when it +is monopolized--it grows by giving. Love, lim., is an error. Your enemy +is one who misunderstands you--why should you not rise above the fog and +see his error and respect him for the good qualities you find in him? + + + +The Folly of Living in the Future + +The question is often asked, "What becomes of all the Valedictorians and +all the Class-Day Poets?" + +I can give information as to two parties for whom this inquiry is +made--the Valedictorian of my class is now a most industrious and worthy +floor-walker in Siegel, Cooper & Company's store, and I was the +Class-Day Poet. Both of us had our eyes fixed on the Goal. We stood on +the Threshold and looked out upon the World preparatory to going forth, +seizing it by the tail and snapping its head off for our own +delectation. + +We had our eyes fixed on the Goal--it might better have been the gaol. + +It was a very absurd thing for us to fix our eyes on the Goal. It +strained our vision and took our attention from our work. We lost our +grip on the present. + +To think of the Goal is to travel the distance over and over in your +mind and dwell on how awfully far off it is. We have so little +mind--doing business on such a limited capital of intellect--that to +wear it threadbare looking for a far-off thing is to get hopelessly +stranded in Siegel, Cooper & Company. + +Of course, Siegel, Cooper & Company is all right, too, but the point is +this--it wasn't the Goal! + +A goodly dash of indifference is a requisite in the formula for doing a +great work. + +No one knows what the Goal is--we are all sailing under sealed orders. + +Do your work to-day, doing it the best you can, and live one day at a +time. The man that does this is conserving his God-given energy, and not +spinning it out into tenuous spider threads so fragile and filmy that +unkind Fate will probably brush it away. + +To do your work well to-day, is the certain preparation for something +better to-morrow. The past has gone from us forever; the future we +cannot reach; the present alone is ours. Each day's work is a +preparation for the next day's duties. + +Live in the present--the Day is here, the time is Now. + +There is only one thing that is worth praying for--that we may be in the +line of Evolution. + + + +The Spirit of Man + +Maybe I am all wrong about it, yet I cannot help believing that the +spirit of man will live again in a better world than ours. Fenelon says: +"Justice demands another life to make good the inequalities of this." +Astronomers prophesy the existence of stars long before they can see +them. They know where they ought to be, and training their telescopes in +that direction they wait, knowing they shall find them. + +Materially, no one can imagine anything more beautiful than this earth, +for the simple reason that we cannot imagine anything we have not seen; +we may make new combinations, but the whole is made up of parts of +things with which we are familiar. This great green earth out of which +we have sprung, of which we are a part, that supports our bodies which +must return to it to repay the loan, is very, very beautiful. + +But the spirit of man is not fully at home here; as we grow in soul and +intellect, we hear, and hear again, a voice which says: "Arise and get +thee hence, for this is not thy rest." And the greater and nobler and +more sublime the spirit, the more constant is the discontent. Discontent +may come from various causes, so it will not do to assume that the +discontented ones are always the pure in heart, but it is a fact that +the wise and excellent have all known the meaning of world-weariness. +The more you study and appreciate this life, the more sure you are that +this is not all. You pillow your head upon Mother Earth, listen to her +heart-throb, and even as your spirit is filled with the love of her, +your gladness is half pain and there comes to you a joy that hurts. To +look upon the most exalted forms of beauty, such as sunset at sea, the +coming of a storm on the prairie, or the sublime majesty of the +mountains, begets a sense of sadness, an increasing loneliness. It is +not enough to say that man encroaches on man so that we are really +deprived of our freedom, that civilization is caused by a bacillus, and +that from a natural condition we have gotten into a hurly-burly where +rivalry is rife--all this may be true, but beyond and outside of all +this there is no physical environment in way of plenty which earth can +supply, that will give the tired soul peace. They are the happiest who +have the least; and the fable of the stricken king and the shirtless +beggar contains the germ of truth. The wise hold all earthly ties very +lightly--they are stripping for eternity. + +World-weariness is only a desire for a better spiritual condition. There +is more to be written on this subject of world-pain--to exhaust the +theme would require a book. And certain it is that I have no wish to say +the final word on any topic. The gentle reader has certain rights, and +among these is the privilege of summing up the case. + +But the fact holds that world-pain is a form of desire. All desires are +just, proper and right; and their gratification is the means by which +nature supplies us that which we need. + +Desire not only causes us to seek that which we need, but is a form of +attraction by which the good is brought to us, just as the amoebae +create a swirl in the waters that brings their food within reach. + +Every desire in nature has a fixed and definite purpose in the Divine +Economy, and every desire has its proper gratification. If we desire the +close friendship of a certain person, it is because that person has +certain soul-qualities that we do not possess, and which complement +our own. + +Through desire do we come into possession of our own; by submitting to +its beckonings we add cubits to our stature; and we also give out to +others our own attributes, without becoming poorer, for soul is not +limited. All nature is a symbol of spirit, and so I am forced to believe +that somewhere there must be a proper gratification for this mysterious +nostalgia of the soul. + +The Valhalla of the Norseman, the Nirvana of the Hindu, the Heaven of +the Christian are natural hopes of beings whose cares and +disappointments here are softened by belief that somewhere, Thor, Brahma +or God gives compensation. + +The Eternal Unities require a condition where men and women shall be +permitted to love and not to sorrow; where the tyranny of things hated +shall not prevail, nor that for which the heart yearns turn to ashes at +our touch. + + + +Art and Religion + +While this seems true in the main, I am not sure it will hold in every +case. Please think it out for yourself, and if I happen to be wrong, +why, put me straight. + +The proposition is this: the artist needs no religion beyond his work. +That is to say, art is religion to the man who thinks beautiful thoughts +and expresses them for others the best he can. Religion is an emotional +excitement whereby the devotee rises into a state of spiritual +sublimity, and for the moment is bathed in an atmosphere of rest, and +peace, and love. All normal men and women crave such periods; and +Bernard Shaw says that we reach them through strong tea, tobacco, +whiskey, opium, love, art or religion. + +I think Bernard Shaw a cynic, but there is a glimmer of truth in his +idea that makes it worth repeating. But beyond the natural religion, +which is a passion for oneness with the Whole, all formalized religions +engraft the element of fear, and teach the necessity of placating a +Supreme Being. Our idea of a Supreme Being is suggested to us by the +political government under which we live. The situation was summed up by +Carlyle, when he said that Deity to the average British mind was simply +an infinite George IV. The thought of God as a terrible Supreme Tyrant +first found form in an unlimited monarchy; but as governments have +become more lenient so have the gods, until you get them down (or up) to +a republic, where God is only a president, and we all approach Him in +familiar prayer, on an absolute equality. + +Then soon, for the first time, we find man saying, "I am God, and you +are God, and we are all simply particles of Him," and this is where the +president is done away with, and the referendum comes in. But the +absence of a supreme governing head implies simplicity, honesty, +justice, and sincerity. Wherever plottings, schemings and doubtful +methods of life are employed, a ruler is necessary; and there, too, +religion, with its idea of placating God has a firm hold. Men whose +lives are doubtful feel the need of a strong government and a hot +religion. Formal religion and sin go hand in hand. Formal religion and +slavery go hand in hand. Formal religion and tyranny go hand in hand. +Formal religion and ignorance go hand in hand. + +And sin, slavery, tyranny and ignorance are one--they are never +separated. + +Formal religion is a scheme whereby man hopes to make peace with his +Maker; and a formal religion also tends to satisfy the sense of +sublimity where the man has failed to find satisfaction in his work. +Voltaire says, "When woman no longer finds herself acceptable to man, +she turns to God," When man is no longer acceptable to himself he goes +to church. In order to keep this article from extending itself into a +tome, I purposely omitted saying a single thing about the Protestant +Church as a useful Social Club and have just assumed for argument's sake +that the church is really a religious institution. + +A formal religion is only a cut 'cross lots--an attempt to bring about +the emotions and the sensations that come to a man by the practice of +love, virtue, excellence and truth. When you do a splendid piece of work +and express your best, there comes to you, as reward, an exaltation of +soul, a sublimity of feeling that puts you for the time being in touch +with the Infinite. A formal religion brings this feeling without your +doing anything useful, therefore it is unnatural. + +Formalized religion is the strongest where sin, slavery, tyranny and +ignorance abound. Where men are free, enlightened and at work, they find +all the gratification in their work that their souls demand--they cease +to hunt outside themselves for something to give them rest. They are at +peace with themselves, at peace with man and with God. + +But any man chained to a hopeless task, whose daily work does not +express himself, who is dogged by a boss, whenever he gets a moment of +respite turns to drink or religion. + +Men with an eye on Saturday night, who plot to supplant some one else, +who can locate an employer any hour of the day, who use their wit to +evade labor, who think only of their summer vacation when they will no +longer be compelled to work, are apt to be sticklers for Sabbath-keeping +and church-going. + +Gentlemen in business who give eleven for a dozen, and count thirty-four +inches a yard, who are quick to foreclose a mortgage, and who say +"business is business," generally are vestrymen, deacons and church +trustees. Look about you! Predaceous real estate dealers who set nets +for all the unwary, lawyers who lie in wait for their prey, merchant +princes who grind their clerks under the wheel, and oil magnates whose +history was never written, nor could be written, often make peace with +God, and find a gratification for their sense of sublimity by building +churches, founding colleges, giving libraries, and holding firmly to a +formalized religion. Look about you! + +To recapitulate: if your life-work is doubtful, questionable or +distasteful, you will hold the balance true by going outside your +vocation for the gratification that is your due, but which your daily +work denies, and you find it in religion, I do not say this is always +so, but it is very often. Great sinners are apt to be very religious; +and conversely, the best men who have ever lived have been at war with +established religions. And further, the best men are never found +in churches. + +Men deeply immersed in their work, whose lives are consecrated to doing +things, who are simple, honest and sincere, desire no formal religion, +need no priest nor pastor, and seek no gratification outside their daily +lives. All they ask is to be let alone--they wish only the privilege +to work. + +When Samuel Johnson, on his death bed, made Joshua Reynolds promise he +would do no more work on Sunday, he of course had no conception of the +truth that Reynolds reached through work the same condition of mind that +he, Johnson, had reached by going to church. Johnson despised work and +Reynolds loved it; Johnson considered one day in the week holy; to +Reynolds all days were sacred--sacred to work; that is, to the +expression of his best. Why should you cease to express your holiest and +highest on Sunday? Ah, I know why you don't work on Sunday! It is +because you think that work is degrading, and because your sale and +barter is founded on fraud, and your goods are shoddy. Your week-day +dealings lie like a pall upon your conscience, and you need a day in +which to throw off the weariness of that slavery under which you live. +You are not free yourself, and you insist that others shall not be free. + +You have ceased to make work gladsome, and you toil and make others +toil with you, and you all well nigh faint from weariness and disgust. +You are slave and slave-owner, for to own slaves is to be one. + +But the artist is free and he works in joy, and to him all things are +good and all days are holy. The great inventors, thinkers, poets, +musicians and artists have all been men of deep religious natures; but +their religion has never been a formalized, restricted, ossified +religion. They did not worship at set times and places. Their religion +has been a natural and spontaneous blossoming of the intellect and +emotions--they have worked in love, not only one day in the week, but +all days, and to them the groves have always and ever been God's +first temples. + +Let us work to make men free! Am I bad because I want to give you +freedom, and have you work in gladness instead of fear? + +Do not hesitate to work on Sunday, just as you would think good thoughts +if the spirit prompts you. For work is, at the last, only the expression +of your thought, and there can be no better religion than good work. + + + +Initiative + +The world bestows its big prizes, both in money and honors, for but one +thing. And that is Initiative. What is Initiative? I'll tell you: It is +doing the right thing without being told. But next to doing the right +thing without being told is to do it when you are told once. That is to +say, carry the Message to Garcia! There are those who never do a thing +until they are told twice: such get no honors and small pay. Next, there +are those who do the right thing only when necessity kicks them from +behind, and these get indifference instead of honors, and a pittance for +pay. This kind spends most of its time polishing a bench with a +hard-luck story. Then, still lower down in the scale than this, we find +the fellow who will not do the right thing even when some one goes along +to show him how, and stays to see that he does it; he is always out of a +job, and receives the contempt he deserves, unless he has a rich Pa, in +which case Destiny awaits near by with a stuffed club. To which class do +you belong? + + + +The Disagreeable Girl + +England's most famous dramatist, George Bernard Shaw, has placed in the +pillory of letters what he is pleased to call "The Disagreeable Girl." + +And he has done it by a dry-plate, quick-shutter process in a manner +that surely lays him liable for criminal libel in the assize of +high society. + +I say society's assize advisedly, because it is only in society that the +Disagreeable Girl can play a prominent part, assuming the center of the +stage. Society, in the society sense, is built upon vacuity; its favors +being for those who reveal a fine capacity to waste and consume. Those +who would write their names high on society's honor roll, need not be +either useful or intelligent--they need only seem. + +And this gives to the Disagreeable Girl her opportunity. In the paper +box factory she would have to make good; Cluett, Coon & Co. ask for +results; the stage demands at least a modicum of intellect, in addition +to shape, but society asks for nothing but pretense, and the palm is +awarded to palaver. But do not, if you please, imagine that the +Disagreeable Girl does not wield an influence. That is the very +point--her influence is so far-reaching in its effect that George +Bernard Shaw, giving cross-sections of life in the form of dramas, +cannot write a play and leave her out. + +She is always with us, ubiquitous, omniscient and omnipresent--is the +Disagreeable Girl. She is a disappointment to her father, a source of +humiliation to her mother, a pest to her brothers and sisters, and when +she finally marries, she slowly saps the inspiration of her husband and +very often converts a proud and ambitious man into a weak and +cowardly cur. + +Only in society does the Disagreeable Girl shine--everywhere else she is +an abject failure. The much-vaunted Gibson Girl is a kind of de luxe +edition of Shaw's Disagreeable Girl. The Gibson Girl lolls, loafs, +pouts, weeps, talks back, lies in wait, dreams, eats, drinks, sleeps and +yawns. She rides in a coach in a red jacket, plays golf in a secondary +sexual sweater, dawdles on a hotel veranda, and can tum-tum on a piano, +but you never hear of her doing a useful thing or saying a wise one. +She plays bridge whist, for "keeps" when she wins, and "owes" when she +loses, and her picture in flattering half-tone often adorns a page of +the Sunday Yellow. + +She reveals a beautiful capacity for avoiding all useful effort. + +Gibson gilds the Disagreeable Girl. + +Shaw paints her as she is. + +In the _Doll's House_ Henrik Ibsen has given us _Nora Hebler_, a +Disagreeable Girl of mature age, who, beyond a doubt, first set George +Bernard Shaw a-thinking. Then looking about, Shaw saw her at every turn +in every stage of her moth-and-butterfly existence. + +And the Disagreeable Girl being everywhere, Shaw, dealer in human +character, cannot write a play and leave her out, any more than the +artist Turner could paint a picture and leave man out, or Paul Veronese +produce a canvas and omit the dog. + +The Disagreeable Girl is a female of the genus homo persuasion, built +around a digestive apparatus that possesses marked marshmallow +proclivities. She is pretty, pug-nosed, pink, pert and poetical; and at +first glance, to the unwary, she shows signs of gentleness and +intelligence. Her age is anywhere from eighteen to twenty-eight. At +twenty-eight she begins to evolve into something else, and her capacity +for harm is largely curtailed, because by this time spirit has written +itself in her form and features, and the grossness and animality which +before were veiled are becoming apparent. + +Habit writes itself on the face, and body is an automatic recording +machine. + +To have a beautiful old age, you must live a beautiful youth, for we +ourselves are posterity, and every man is his own ancestor. I am to-day +what I am because I was yesterday what I was. The Disagreeable Girl is +always pretty, at least we have been told she is pretty, and she fully +accepts the dictum. + +She has also been told she is clever, and she thinks she is. + +The actual fact is she is only "sassy." + +The fine flaring up of youth has tended to set sex rampant, but she is +not "immoral" save in her mind. + +She has caution to the verge of cowardice, and so she is sans reproche. +In public she pretends to be dainty; but alone, or with those for whose +good opinion she does not care, she is gross, coarse and sensual in +every feature of her life. She eats too much, does not exercise enough +and considers it amusing to let other people wait on her and do for her +the things she should do for herself. Her room is a jumble of disorder. +The one gleam of hope for her lies in the fact that out of shame, she +allows no visitor to enter her apartments if she can help it. Concrete +selfishness is her chief mark. She will avoid responsibility, side-step +every duty that calls for honest effort; is untruthful, secretive, +indolent and dishonest. + +"What are you eating?" asks Nora Hebler's husband as she enters the +room, not expecting to see him. + +"Nothing," is the answer, and she hides the box of bonbons behind her, +and soon backs out of the room. + +I think Mr. Hebler had no business to ask her what she was eating--no +man should ask any woman such a question, and really it was no +difference anyway. But Nora is always on the defensive and fabricates +when it is necessary, and when it isn't, just through habit. She will +hide a letter written by her grandmother as quickly and deftly as if it +were a missive from a guilty lover. The habit of her life is one of +suspicion, for being inwardly guilty herself, she suspects everybody +although it is quite likely that crime with her has never broken through +thought into deed. Nora will rifle her husband's pockets, read his +note-book, examine his letters, and when he goes on a trip she spends +the day checking up his desk, for her soul delights in duplicate keys. + +At times she lets drop hints of knowledge concerning little nothings +that are none of hers, just to mystify folks. + +She does strange, annoying things simply to see what others will do. + +In degree, Nora's husband fixed the vice of finesse in her nature, for +when even a "good" woman is accused she parries by the use of trickery +and wins her point by the artistry of the bagnio. Women and men are +never really far apart anyway, and women are largely what men have +made them. + +We are all just getting rid of our shackles; listen closely, anywhere, +even among honest and intellectual people, if such there be, and you can +detect the rattle of chains. + +The Disagreeable Girl's mind and soul have not kept pace with her body. +Yesterday she was a slave, sold in a Circassian mart, and freedom to her +is so new and strange that she is unfamiliar with her environment, and +she does not know what to do with it. + +The tragedy she works, according to George Bernard Shaw, is through the +fact that very often good men, blinded by the glamour of sex, imagine +they love the Disagreeable Girl, when what they love is their own +ideal--an image born in their own minds. + +Nature is both a trickster and a humorist, and ever sets the will of the +species beyond the discernment of the individual. The picador has to +blindfold his horse in order to get him into the bull-ring, and +likewise, Dan Cupid does the myopic to a purpose. + +For aught we know, the lovely Beatrice of Dante was only a Disagreeable +Girl, clothed in a poet's fancy, and idealized by a dreamer. Fortunate +was Dante that he worshipped her afar, that he never knew her well +enough to be undeceived, and so walked through life in love with love, +sensitive, saintly, sweetly sad and most divinely happy in his +melancholy. + + + +The Neutral + +There is known to me a prominent business house that by the very force +of its directness and worth has incurred the enmity of many rivals. In +fact, there is a very general conspiracy on hand to put the institution +down and out. In talking with a young man employed by this house, he +yawned and said, "Oh, in this quarrel I am neutral." + +"But you get your bread and butter from this firm, and in a matter where +the very life of the institution is concerned, I do not see how you can +be a neutral." + +And he changed the subject. + +I think that if I enlisted in the Japanese army I would not be a +neutral. + +Business is a fight--a continual struggle--just as life is. Man has +reached his present degree of development through struggle. Struggle +there must be and always will be. The struggle began as purely physical; +as man evolved it shifted ground to the mental, psychic, and the +spiritual, with a few dashes of cave-man proclivities still left. But +depend upon it, the struggle will always be--life is activity. And when +it gets to be a struggle in well-doing, it will still be a struggle. +When inertia gets the better of you it is time to telephone to the +undertaker. + +The only real neutral in this game of life is a dead one. + +Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty, but of every other +good thing. + +A business that is not safeguarded on every side by active, alert, +attentive, vigilant men is gone. As oxygen is the disintegrating +principle of life, working night and day to dissolve, separate, pull +apart and dissipate, so there is something in business that continually +tends to scatter, destroy and shift possession from this man to that. A +million mice nibble eternally at every business venture. + +The mice are not neutrals, and if enough employes in a business house +are neutrals, the whole concern will eventually come tumbling about +their ears. + +I like that order of Field-Marshal Oyama: "Give every honorable neutral +that you find in our lines the honorable jiu-jitsu hikerino." + + + +Reflections on Progress + +Renan has said that truth is always rejected when it comes to a man for +the first time, its evolution being as follows: + +First, we say the thing is rank heresy, and contrary to the Bible. + +Second, we say the matter really amounts to nothing, anyway. + +Third, we declare that we always believed it. + +Two hundred years ago partnerships in business were very rare. A man in +business simply made things and sold them--and all the manufacturing was +done by himself and his immediate family. Soon we find instances of +brothers continuing the work the father had begun, as in the case of the +Elzevirs and the Plantins, the great bookmakers of Holland. To meet this +competition, four printers, in 1640, formed a partnership and pooled +their efforts. A local writer by the name of Van Krugen denounced these +four men, and made savage attacks on partnerships in general as wicked +and illegal, and opposed to the best interests of the people. This view +seems to have been quite general, for there was a law in Amsterdam +forbidding all partnerships in business that were not licensed by the +state. The legislature of the State of Missouri has recently made war on +the department store in the same way, using the ancient Van Krugen +argument as a reason, for there is no copyright on stupidity. + +In London in the seventeenth century men who were found guilty of +pooling their efforts and dividing profits, were convicted by law and +punished for "contumacy, contravention and connivance," and were given a +taste of the stocks in the public square. + +When corporations were formed for the first time, only a few years ago, +there was a fine burst of disapproval. The corporation was declared a +scheme of oppression, a hungry octopus, a grinder of the individual. And +to prove the case various instances of hardship were cited; and no doubt +there was much suffering, for many people are never able to adjust +themselves to new conditions without experiencing pain and regret. + +But we now believe that corporations came because they were required. +Certain things the times demanded, and no one man, or two or three men +could perform these tasks alone--hence the corporation. The rise of +England as a manufacturing nation began with the plan of the +stock company. + +The aggregation known as the joint-stock company, everybody is willing +now to admit, was absolutely necessary in order to secure the machinery, +that is to say, the tools, the raw stock, the buildings, and to provide +for the permanence of the venture. + +The railroad system of America has built up this country--on this thing +of joint-stock companies and transportation, our prosperity has hinged. +"Commerce, consists in carrying things from where they are plentiful to +where they are needed," says Emerson. + +There are ten combinations of capital in this country that control over +six thousand miles of railroad each. These companies have taken in a +large number of small lines; and many connecting lines of tracks have +been built. Competition over vast sections of country has been +practically obliterated, and this has been done so quietly that few +people are aware of the change. Only one general result of this +consolidation of management has been felt, and that it is better +service at less expense. No captain of any great industrial enterprise +dares now to say, "The public be damned," even if he ever said it--which +I much doubt. The pathway to success lies in serving the public, not in +affronting it. In no other way is success possible, and this truth is so +plain and patent that even very simple folk are able to recognize it. +You can only help yourself by helping others. + +Thirty years ago, when P. T. Barnum said, "The public delights in being +humbugged," he knew that it was not true, for he never attempted to put +the axiom in practice. He amused the public by telling it a lie, but P. +T. Barnum never tried anything so risky as deception. Even when he lied +we were not deceived; truth can be stated by indirection. "When my love +tells me she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she +lies." Barnum always gave more than he advertised; and going over and +over the same territory he continued to amuse and instruct the public +for nearly forty years. + +This tendency to coƶperate is seen in such splendid features as the +Saint Louis Union Station, for instance, where just twenty great +railroad companies lay aside envy, prejudice, rivalry and whim, and use +one terminal. If competition were really the life of trade, each +railroad that enters Saint Louis would have a station of its own, and +the public would be put to the worry, trouble, expense and endless delay +of finding where it wanted to go and how to get there. As it is now, the +entire aim and end of the scheme is to reduce friction, worry and +expense, and give the public the greatest accommodation--the best +possible service--to make travel easy and life secure. Servants in +uniform meet you as you alight, and answer your every question--speeding +you courteously and kindly on your way. There are women to take care of +women, and nurses to take care of children, and wheel chairs for such as +may be infirm or lame. The intent is to serve--not to pull you this way +and that, and sell you a ticket over a certain road. You are free to +choose your route and you are free to utilize as your own this great +institution that cost a million dollars, and that requires the presence +of two hundred people to maintain. All is for you. It is for the public +and was only made possible by a oneness of aim and desire--that is to +say coƶperation. Before coƶperation comes in any line, there is always +competition pushed to a point that threatens destruction and promises +chaos; then to divert ruin, men devise a better way, a plan that +conserves and economizes, and behold, it is found in coƶperation. + +Civilization is an evolution. + +Civilization is not a thing separate and apart, any more than art is. + +Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Civilization is the +expeditious way of doing things. And as haste is often waste--the more +hurry the less speed--civilization is the best way of doing things. + +As mankind multiplies in number, the problem of supplying people what +they need is the important question of Earth. And mankind has ever held +out offers of reward in fame and money--both being forms of power--to +those who would supply it better things. + +Teachers are those who educate the people to appreciate the things they +need. + +The man who studies mankind, and finds out what men really want, and +then supplies them this, whether it be an Idea or a Thing, is the man +who is crowned with the laurel wreath of honor and clothed with riches. + +What people need and what they want may be very different. + +To undertake to supply people a thing you think they need but which they +do not want, is to have your head elevated on a pike, and your bones +buried in Potter's Field. + +But wait, and the world will yet want the thing that it needs, and your +bones will then become sacred relics. + +This change in desire on the part of mankind is the result of the growth +of intellect. + +It is Progress, and Progress is Evolution, and Evolution is Progress. + +There are men who are continually trying to push Progress along: we call +these individuals "Reformers." + +Then there are others who always oppose the Reformer--the mildest name +we have for them is "Conservative." + +The Reformer is either a Savior or a Rebel, all depending on whether he +succeeds or fails, and your point of view. He is what he is, regardless +of what other men think of him. The man who is indicted and executed as +a rebel, often afterward has the word "Savior" carved on his tomb; and +sometimes men who are hailed as saviors in their day are afterward found +to be sham saviors--to wit, charlatans. Conservation is a plan of +Nature. To keep the good is to conserve. A Conservative is a man who +puts on the brakes when he thinks Progress is going to land Civilization +in the ditch and wreck the whole concern. + +Brakemen are necessary, but in the language of Koheleth, there is a time +to apply the brake and there is a time to abstain from applying the +brake. To clog the wheels continually is to stand still, and to stand +still is to retreat. Progress has need of the brakeman, but the brakeman +should not occupy all of his time putting on the brakes. + +The Conservative is just as necessary as the Radical. The Conservative +keeps the Reformer from going too fast, and plucking the fruit before it +is ripe. Governments are only good where there is strong Opposition, +just as the planets are held in place by the opposition of forces. And +so civilization goes forward by stops and starts--pushed by the +Reformers and held back by the Conservatives. One is necessary to the +other, and they often shift places. But forward and forward Civilization +forever goes--ascertaining the best way of doing things. + +In commerce we have had the Individual Worker, the Partnership, the +Corporation, and now we have the Trust. + +The Trust is simply Corporations forming a partnership. The thing is all +an Evolution--a moving forward. It is all for man and it is all done by +man. It is all done with the consent, aye, and approval of man. + +The Trusts were made by the People, and the People can and will unmake +them, should they ever prove an engine of oppression. They exist only +during good behavior, and like men, they are living under a sentence of +death, with an indefinite reprieve. + +The Trusts are good things because they are economizers of energy. They +cut off waste, increase the production, and make a panic practically +impossible. + +The Trusts are here in spite of the men who think they originated them, +and in spite of the Reformers who turned Conservatives and +opposed them. + +The next move of Evolution will be the age of Socialism. Socialism means +the operation of all industries by the people, and for the people. +Socialism is coƶperation instead of competition. Competition has been so +general that economists mistook it for a law of nature, when it was only +an incident. + +Competition is no more a law of nature than is hate. Hate was once so +thoroughly believed in that we gave it personality and called it +the Devil. + +We have banished the Devil by educating people to know that he who works +has no time to hate and no need to fear, and by this same means, +education, will the people be prepared for the age of Socialism. + +The Trusts are now getting things ready for Socialism. + +Socialism is a Trust of Trusts. + +Humanity is growing in intellect, in patience, in kindness--in love. And +when the time is ripe, the people will step in and take peaceful +possession of their own, and the Coƶperative Commonwealth will give to +each one his due. + + + +Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise + +Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise seem to be the three ingredients that are +most needed in forming the Gentle Man. I place these elements according +to their value. No man is great who does not have Sympathy plus, and the +greatness of men can be safely gauged by their sympathies. Sympathy and +imagination are twin sisters. Your heart must go out to all men, the +high, the low, the rich, the poor, the learned, the unlearned, the good, +the bad, the wise and the foolish--it is necessary to be one with them +all, else you can never comprehend them. Sympathy!--it is the touchstone +to every secret, the key to all knowledge, the open sesame of all +hearts. Put yourself in the other man's place and then you will know why +he thinks certain things and does certain deeds. Put yourself in his +place and your blame will dissolve itself into pity, and your tears will +wipe out the record of his misdeeds. The saviors of the world have +simply been men with wondrous sympathy. + +But Knowledge must go with Sympathy, else the emotions will become +maudlin and pity may be wasted on a poodle instead of a child; on a +field-mouse instead of a human soul. Knowledge in use is wisdom, and +wisdom implies a sense of values--you know a big thing from a little +one, a valuable fact from a trivial one. Tragedy and comedy are simply +questions of value: a little misfit in life makes us laugh, a great one +is tragedy and cause for expression of grief. + +Poise is the strength of body and strength of mind to control your +Sympathy and your Knowledge. Unless you control your emotions they run +over and you stand in the mire. Sympathy must not run riot, or it is +valueless and tokens weakness instead of strength. In every hospital for +nervous disorders are to be found many instances of this loss of +control. The individual has Sympathy but not Poise, and therefore his +life is worthless to himself and to the world. + +He symbols inefficiency and not helpfulness. Poise reveals itself more +in voice than it does in words; more in thought than in action; more in +atmosphere than in conscious life. It is a spiritual quality, and is +felt more than it is seen. It is not a matter of bodily size, nor of +bodily attitude, nor attire, nor of personal comeliness: it is a state +of inward being, and of knowing your cause is just. And so you see it is +a great and profound subject after all, great in its ramifications, +limitless in extent, implying the entire science of right living. I once +met a man who was deformed in body and little more than a dwarf, but who +had such Spiritual Gravity--such Poise--that to enter a room where he +was, was to feel his presence and acknowledge his superiority. To allow +Sympathy to waste itself on unworthy objects is to deplete one's life +forces. To conserve is the part of wisdom, and reserve is a necessary +element in all good literature, as well as in everything else. + +Poise being the control of our Sympathy and Knowledge, it implies a +possession of these attributes, for without having Sympathy and +Knowledge you have nothing to control but your physical body. To +practise Poise as a mere gymnastic exercise, or study in etiquette, is +to be self-conscious, stiff, preposterous and ridiculous. Those who cut +such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make angels weep, are men +void of Sympathy and Knowledge trying to cultivate Poise. Their science +is a mere matter of what to do with arms and legs. Poise is a question +of spirit controlling flesh, heart controlling attitude. + +Get Knowledge by coming close to Nature. That man is the greatest who +best serves his kind. Sympathy and Knowledge are for use--you acquire +that you may give out; you accumulate that you may bestow. And as God +has given unto you the sublime blessings of Sympathy and Knowledge, +there will come to you the wish to reveal your gratitude by giving them +out again; for the wise man is aware that we retain spiritual qualities +only as we give them away. Let your light shine. To him that hath shall +be given. The exercise of wisdom brings wisdom; and at the last the +infinitesimal quantity of man's knowledge, compared with the Infinite, +and the smallness of man's Sympathy when compared with the source from +which ours is absorbed, will evolve an abnegation and a humility that +will lend a perfect Poise. The Gentleman is a man with perfect Sympathy, +Knowledge, and Poise. + + + +Love and Faith + +No woman is worthy to be a wife who on the day of her marriage is not +lost absolutely and entirely in an atmosphere of love and perfect trust; +the supreme sacredness of the relation is the only thing which, at the +time, should possess her soul. Is she a bawd that she should bargain? + +Women should not "obey" men anymore than men should obey women. There +are six requisites in every happy marriage; the first is Faith, and the +remaining five are Confidence. Nothing so compliments a man as for a +woman to believe in him--nothing so pleases a woman as for a man to +place confidence in her. + +Obey? God help me! Yes, if I loved a woman, my whole heart's desire +would be to obey her slightest wish. And how could I love her unless I +had perfect confidence that she would only aspire to what was beautiful, +true and right? And to enable her to realize this ideal, her wish would +be to me a sacred command; and her attitude of mind toward me I know +would be the same. And the only rivalry between us would be as to who +could love the most; and the desire to obey would be the one controlling +impulse of our lives. + +We gain freedom by giving it, and he who bestows faith gets it back with +interest. To bargain and stipulate in love is to lose. + +The woman who stops the marriage ceremony and requests the minister to +omit the word "obey," is sowing the first seed of doubt and distrust +that later may come to fruition in the divorce court. + +The haggling and bickerings of settlements and dowries that usually +precede the marriage of "blood" and "dollars" are the unheeded warnings +that misery, heartache, suffering, and disgrace await the principals. + +Perfect faith implies perfect love; and perfect love casteth out fear. +It is always the fear of imposition, and a lurking intent to rule, that +causes the woman to haggle over a word--it is absence of love, a +limitation, an incapacity. The price of a perfect love is an absolute +and complete surrender. + +Keep back part of the price and yours will be the fate of Ananias and +Sapphira. Your doom is swift and sure. To win all we must give all. + + + +Giving Something for Nothing + +To give a man something for nothing tends to make the individual +dissatisfied with himself. + +Your enemies are the ones you have helped. + +And when an individual is dissatisfied with himself he is dissatisfied +with the whole world--and with you. + +A man's quarrel with the world is only a quarrel with himself. But so +strong is this inclination to lay blame elsewhere and take credit to +ourselves, that when we are unhappy we say it is the fault of this woman +or that man. Especially do women attribute their misery to That Man. + +And often the trouble is he has given her too much for nothing. + +This truth is a reversible, back-action one, well lubricated by use, +working both ways--as the case may be. + +Nobody but a beggar has really definite ideas concerning his rights. +People who give much--who love much--do not haggle. + +That form of affection which drives sharp bargains and makes demands, +gets a check on the bank in which there is no balance. + +There is nothing so costly as something you get for nothing. + +My friend Tom Lowry, Magnate in Ordinary, of Minneapolis and the east +side of Wall Street, has recently had a little experience that proves +my point. + +A sturdy beggar-man, a specimen of decayed gentility, once called on +Tammas with a hard-luck story and a Family Bible, and asked for a small +loan on the Good Book. + +To be compelled to soak the Family Bible would surely melt the heart of +gneiss! + +Tom was melted. + +Tom made the loan but refused the collateral, stating he had no use for +it. + +Which was God's truth for once. + +In a few weeks the man came back, and tried to tell Tom his hard-luck +story concerning the Cold Ingratitude of a Cruel World. + +Tom said, "Spare me the slow music and the recital--I have troubles of +my own. I need mirth and good cheer--take this dollar, and peace be +with you." + +"Peace be multiplied unto thee," said the beggar, and departed. The +next month the man returned, and began to tell Tom a tale of Cruelty, +Injustice and Ingratitude. + +Tom was riled--he had his magnate business to attend to, and he made a +remark in italics. The beggar said, "Mr. Lowry, if you had your business +a little better systematized, I would not have to trouble you +personally--why don't you just speak to your cashier?" And the great +man, who once took a party of friends out for a tally-ho ride, and +through mental habit collected five cents from each guest, was so +pleased at the thought of relief that he pressed the buzzer. The cashier +came, and Tom said, "Put this man Grabheimer on your pay-roll, give him +two dollars now and the same the first of every month." + +Then turning to the beggar-man, Tom said, "Now get out of here--hurry, +vamose, hike--and be damned to you!" + +"The same to you and many of them," said His Effluvia politely, and +withdrew. + +All this happened two years ago. The beggar got his money regularly for +a year, and then in auditing accounts Tom found the name on the +pay-roll, and as Tom could not remember how the name got there, he at +first thought the pay-roll was being stuffed. Anyway he ordered the +beggar's name stricken off the roster, and the elevator man was +instructed to enforce the edict against beggars. + +Not being allowed to see his man, the beggar wrote him +letters--denunciatory, scandalous, abusive, threatening. Finally the +beggar laid the matter before an obese limb o' the Law, Jaggers, of the +firm of Jaggers & Jaggers, who took the case on a contingent fee. + +The case came to trial, and Jaggers proved his case se +offendendo--argal: it was shown by the defendant's books that His +Bacteria had been on the pay-roll and his name had been stricken off +without suggestion, request, cause, reason or fault of his own. + +His Crabship proved the contract, and Tom got it in the mazzard. +Judgment for plaintiff, with costs. The beggar got the money and +Minneapolis Tom got the experience. Tom said the man would lose the +money, but he himself has gotten the part that will be his for +ninety-nine years. Surely the spirit of justice does not sleep and there +is a beneficent and wise Providence that watches over magnates. + + + +Work and Waste + +These truths I hold to be self-evident: That man was made to be happy; +that happiness is only attainable through useful effort; that the very +best way to help ourselves is to help others, and often the best way to +help others is to mind our own business; that useful effort means the +proper exercise of all our faculties; that we grow only through +exercise; that education should continue through life, and the joys of +mental endeavor should be, especially, the solace of the old; that where +men alternate work, play and study in right proportion, the organs of +the mind are the last to fail, and death for such has no terrors. + +That the possession of wealth can never make a man exempt from useful +manual labor; that if all would work a little, no one would then be +overworked; that if no one wasted, all would have enough; that if none +were overfed, none would be underfed; that the rich and "educated" need +education quite as much as the poor and illiterate; that the presence of +a serving class is an indictment and a disgrace to our civilization; +that the disadvantage of having a serving class falls most upon those +who are served, and not upon those who serve--just as the real curse of +slavery fell upon the slave-owners. + +That people who are waited on by a serving class cannot have a right +consideration for the rights of others, and they waste both time and +substance, both of which are lost forever, and can only seemingly be +made good by additional human effort. + +That the person who lives on the labor of others, not giving himself in +return to the best of his ability, is really a consumer of human life +and therefore must be considered no better than a cannibal. + +That each one living naturally will do the thing he can do best, but +that in useful service there is no high nor low. + +That to set apart one day in seven as "holy" is really absurd and serves +only to loosen our grasp on the tangible present. + +That all duties, offices and things which are useful and necessary to +humanity are sacred, and that nothing else is or can be sacred. + + + +The Law of Obedience + +The very first item in the creed of common sense is _Obedience_. + +Perform your work with a whole heart. + +Revolt may be sometimes necessary, but the man who tries to mix revolt +and obedience is doomed to disappoint himself and everybody with whom he +has dealings. To flavor work with protest is to fail absolutely. + +When you revolt, why revolt--climb, hike, get out, defy--tell everybody +and everything to go to hades! That disposes of the case. You thus +separate yourself entirely from those you have served--no one +misunderstands you--you have declared yourself. + +The man who quits in disgust when ordered to perform a task which he +considers menial or unjust may be a pretty good fellow, but in the wrong +environment, but the malcontent who takes your order with a smile and +then secretly disobeys, is a dangerous proposition. To pretend to obey, +and yet carry in your heart the spirit of revolt is to do half-hearted, +slipshod work. If revolt and obedience are equal in power, your engine +will then stop on the center and you benefit no one, not even yourself. + +The spirit of obedience is the controlling impulse that dominates the +receptive mind and the hospitable heart. There are boats that mind the +helm and there are boats that do not. Those that do not, get holes +knocked in them sooner or later. + +To keep off the rocks, obey the rudder. + +Obedience is not to slavishly obey this man or that, but it is that +cheerful mental state which responds to the necessity of the case, and +does the thing without any back talk--unuttered or expressed. + +Obedience to the institution--loyalty! The man who has not learned to +obey has trouble ahead of him every step of the way. The world has it in +for him continually, because he has it in for the world. + +The man who does not know how to receive orders is not fit to issue them +to others. But the individual who knows how to execute the orders given +him is preparing the way to issue orders, and better still--to have +them obeyed. + + + +Society's Saviors + +All adown the ages society has made the mistake of nailing its Saviors +to the cross between thieves. + +That is to say, society has recognized in the Savior a very dangerous +quality--something about him akin to a thief, and his career has been +suddenly cut short. + +We have telephones and trolly cars, yet we have not traveled far into +the realm of spirit, and our X-ray has given us no insight into the +heart of things. + +Society is so dull and dense, so lacking in spiritual vision, so dumb +and so beast-like that it does not know the difference between a thief +and the only Begotten Son. In a frantic effort to forget its hollowness +it takes to ping-pong, parchesi and progressive euchre, and seeks to +lose itself and find solace and consolation in tiddle-dy-winks. + +We are told in glaring head-lines and accurate photographic +reproductions of a conference held by leaders in society to settle a +matter of grave import. Was it to build technical schools and provide a +means for practical and useful education? Was it a plan of building +modern tenement houses along scientific and sanitary lines? Was it +called to provide funds for scientific research of various kinds that +would add to human knowledge and prove a benefit to mankind? No, it was +none of these. This body met to determine whether the crook in a certain +bulldog's tail was natural or had been produced artificially. + +Should the Savior come to-day and preach the same gospel that He taught +before, society would see that His experience was repeated. Now and then +it blinks stupidly and cries, "Away with Him!" or it stops its game long +enough to pass gall and vinegar on a spear to One it has thrust +beyond the pale. + +For the woman who has loved much society has but one verdict: crucify +her! The best and the worst are hanged on one tree. + +In the abandon of a great love there exists a godlike quality which +places a woman very close to the holy of holies, yet such a one, not +having complied with the edicts of society, is thrust unceremoniously +forth, and society, Pilate-like, washes its hands in innocency. + + + +Preparing for Old Age + +Socrates was once asked by a pupil, this question: "What kind of people +shall we be when we reach Elysium?" + +And the answer was this: "We shall be the same kind of people that we +were here." + +If there is a life after this, we are preparing for it now, just as I am +to-day preparing for my life to-morrow. + +What kind of a man shall I be to-morrow? Oh, about the same kind of a +man that I am now. The kind of a man that I shall be next month depends +upon the kind of a man that I have been this month. + +If I am miserable to-day, it is not within the round of probabilities +that I shall be supremely happy to-morrow. Heaven is a habit. And if we +are going to Heaven we would better be getting used to it. + +Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the +future is to live as if there were none. + +We are preparing all the time for old age. The two things that make old +age beautiful are resignation and a just consideration for the rights +of others. + +In the play of _Ivan the Terrible_, the interest centers around one man, +the Czar Ivan. If anybody but Richard Mansfield played the part, there +would be nothing in it. We simply get a glimpse into the life of a +tyrant who has run the full gamut of goosedom, grumpiness, selfishness +and grouch. Incidentally this man had the power to put other men to +death, and this he does and has done as his whim and temper might +dictate. He has been vindictive, cruel, quarrelsome, tyrannical and +terrible. Now that he feels the approach of death, he would make his +peace with God. But he has delayed that matter too long. He didn't +realize in youth and middle life that he was then preparing for old age. + +Man is the result of cause and effect, and the causes are to a degree in +our hands. Life is a fluid, and well has it been called the stream of +life--we are going, flowing somewhere. Strip _Ivan_ of his robes and +crown, and he might be an old farmer and live in Ebenezer. Every town +and village has its Ivan. To be an Ivan, just turn your temper loose +and practise cruelty on any person or thing within your reach, and the +result will be a sure preparation for a querulous, quarrelsome, pickety, +snipity, fussy and foolish old age, accented with many outbursts of +wrath that are terrible in their futility and ineffectiveness. + +Babyhood has no monopoly on the tantrum. The characters of _King Lear_ +and _Ivan the Terrible_ have much in common. One might almost believe +that the writer of _Ivan_ had felt the incompleteness of _Lear_, and had +seen the absurdity of making a melodramatic bid for sympathy in behalf +of this old man thrust out by his daughters. + +Lear, the troublesome, Lear to whose limber tongue there was constantly +leaping words unprintable and names of tar, deserves no soft pity at our +hands. All his life he had been training his three daughters for exactly +the treatment he was to receive. All his life Lear had been lubricating +the chute that was to give him a quick ride out into that black +midnight storm. + +"Oh, how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless +child," he cries. + +There is something quite as bad as a thankless child, and that is a +thankless parent--an irate, irascible parent who possesses an +underground vocabulary and a disposition to use it. + +The false note in _Lear_ lies in giving to him a daughter like +_Cordelia_. Tolstoy and Mansfield ring true, and _Ivan the Terrible_ is +what he is without apology, excuse or explanation. Take it or leave +it--if you do not like plays of this kind, go to see Vaudeville. + +Mansfield's _Ivan_ is terrible. The Czar is not old in years--not over +seventy--but you can see that Death is sniffing close upon his track. +_Ivan_ has lost the power of repose. He cannot listen, weigh and +decide--he has no thought or consideration for any man or thing--this is +his habit of life. His bony hands are never still--the fingers open and +shut, and pick at things eternally. He fumbles the cross on his breast, +adjusts his jewels, scratches his cosmos, plays the devil's tattoo, gets +up nervously and looks behind the throne, holds his breath to listen. +When people address him, he damns them savagely if they kneel, and if +they stand upright he accuses them of lack of respect. He asks that he +be relieved from the cares of state, and then trembles for fear his +people will take him at his word. When asked to remain ruler of Russia +he proceeds to curse his councilors and accuses them of loading him with +burdens that they themselves would not endeavor to bear. + +He is a victim of amor senilis, and right here if Mansfield took one +step more his realism would be appalling, but he stops in time and +suggests what he dares not express. This tottering, doddering, +slobbering, sniffling old man is in love--he is about to wed a young, +beautiful girl. He selects jewels for her--he makes remarks about what +would become her beauty, jeers and laughs in cracked falsetto. In the +animality of youth there is something pleasing--it is natural--but the +vices of an old man, when they have become only mental, are most +revolting. + +The people about _Ivan_ are in mortal terror of him, for he is still the +absolute monarch--he has the power to promote or disgrace, to take their +lives or let them go free. They laugh when he laughs, cry when he does, +and watch his fleeting moods with thumping hearts. + +He is intensely religious and affects the robe and cowl of a priest. +Around his neck hangs the crucifix. His fear is that he will die with no +opportunity of confession and absolution. He prays to High Heaven every +moment, kisses the cross, and his toothless old mouth interjects prayers +to God and curses on man in the same breath. + +If any one is talking to him he looks the other way, slips down until +his shoulders occupy the throne, scratches his leg, and keeps up a +running comment of insult--"Aye," "Oh," "Of course," "Certainly," "Ugh," +"Listen to him now!" There is a comedy side to all this which relieves +the tragedy and keeps the play from becoming disgusting. + +Glimpses of _Ivan's_ past are given in his jerky confessions--he is the +most miserable and unhappy of men, and you behold that he is reaping as +he has sown. + +All his life he has been preparing for this. Each day has been a +preparation for the next. _Ivan_ dies in a fit of wrath, hurling curses +on his family and court--dies in a fit of wrath into which he has been +purposely taunted by a man who knows that the outburst is certain to +kill the weakened monarch. + +Where does _Ivan the Terrible_ go when Death closes his eyes? + +I know not. But this I believe: No confessional can absolve him--no +priest benefit him--no God forgive him. He has damned himself, and he +began the work in youth. He was getting ready all his life for this old +age, and this old age was getting ready for the fifth act. + +The playwright does not say so, Mansfield does not say so, but this is +the lesson: Hate is a poison--wrath is a toxin--sensuality leads to +death--clutching selfishness is a lighting of the fires of hell. It is +all a preparation--cause and effect. + +If you are ever absolved, you must absolve yourself, for no one else +can. And the sooner you begin, the better. + +We often hear of the beauties of old age, but the only old age that is +beautiful is the one the man has long been preparing for by living a +beautiful life. Every one of us are right now preparing for old age. + +There may be a substitute somewhere in the world for Good Nature, but I +do not know where it can be found. + +The secret of salvation is this: Keep Sweet. + + + +An Alliance with Nature + +My father is a doctor who has practised medicine for sixty-five years, +and is still practising. + +I am a doctor myself. + +I am fifty years old; my father is eighty-five. We live in the same +house, and daily we ride horseback together or tramp thru the fields and +woods. To-day we did our little jaunt of five miles and back +'cross country. + +I have never been ill a day--never consulted a physician in a +professional way, and in fact, never missed a meal through inability to +eat. As for the author of the author of _A Message to Garcia_, he holds, +esoterically, to the idea that the hot pedaluvia and small doses of hop +tea will cure most ailments that are curable, and so far all of his own +ails have been curable--a point he can prove. + +The value of the pedaluvia lies in the fact that it tends to equalize +circulation, not to mention the little matter of sanitation; and the +efficacy of the hops lies largely in the fact that they are bitter and +disagreeable to take. + +Both of these prescriptions give the patient the soothing thought that +something is being done for him, and at the very worst can never do him +serious harm. + +My father and I are not fully agreed on all of life's themes, so +existence for us never resolves itself into a dull, neutral gray. He is +a Baptist and I am a Vegetarian. Occasionally he refers to me as +"callow," and we have daily resorts to logic to prove prejudices, and +history is searched to bolster the preconceived, but on the following +important points we stand together, solid as one man: + +First. Ninety-nine people out of a hundred who go to a physician have no +organic disease, but are merely suffering from some symptom of their own +indiscretion. + +Second. Individuals who have diseases, nine times out of ten, are +suffering only from the accumulated evil effects of medication. + +Third. Hence we get the proposition: Most diseases are the result of +medication which has been prescribed to relieve and take away a +beneficent and warning symptom on the part of wise Nature. + +Most of the work of doctors in the past has been to prescribe for +symptoms; the difference between actual disease and a symptom being +something that the average man does not even yet know. + +And the curious part is that on these points all physicians, among +themselves, are fully agreed. What I say here being merely truism, +triteness and commonplace. + +Last week, in talking with an eminent surgeon in Buffalo, he said, "I +have performed over a thousand operations of laparotomy, and my records +show that in every instance, excepting in cases of accident, the +individual was given to what you call the 'Beecham Habit.'" + +The people you see waiting in the lobbies of doctors' offices are, in a +vast majority of cases, suffering thru poisoning caused by an excess of +food. Coupled with this goes the bad results of imperfect breathing, +irregular sleep, lack of exercise, and improper use of stimulants, or +holding the thought of fear, jealousy and hate. All of these things, or +any one of them, will, in very many persons, cause fever, chills, cold +feet, congestion and faulty elimination. + +To administer drugs to a man suffering from malnutrition caused by a +desire to "get even," and a lack of fresh air, is simply to compound +his troubles, shuffle his maladies, and get him ripe for the ether-cone +and scalpel. + +Nature is forever trying to keep people well, and most so-called +"disease," which word means merely lack of ease, is self-limiting, and +tends to cure itself. If you have appetite, do not eat too much. If you +have no appetite, do not eat at all. Be moderate in the use of all +things, save fresh air and sunshine. + +The one theme of _Ecclesiastes_ is moderation. Buddha wrote it down that +the greatest word in any language is Equanimity. William Morris said +that the finest blessing of life was systematic, useful work. Saint Paul +declared that the greatest thing in the world was love. Moderation, +Equanimity, Work and Love--you need no other physician. + +In so stating I lay down a proposition agreed to by all physicians; +which was expressed by Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and then +repeated in better phrase by Epictetus, the slave, to his pupil, the +great Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and which has been known to every +thinking man and woman since: Moderation, Equanimity, Work and Love! + + + +The Ex. Question + +Words sometimes become tainted and fall into bad repute, and are +discarded. Until the day of Elizabeth Fry, on the official records in +England appeared the word "mad-house." Then it was wiped out and the +word "asylum" substituted. Within twenty years' time in several states +in America we have discarded the word "asylum" and have substituted the +word "hospital." + +In Jeffersonville, Indiana, there is located a "Reformatory" which some +years ago was known as a penitentiary. The word "prison" had a +depressing effect, and "penitentiary" throws a theological shadow, and +so the words will have to go. As our ideas of the criminal change, we +change our vocabulary. + +A few years ago we talked about asylums for the deaf and dumb--the word +"dumb" has now been stricken from every official document in every state +in the Union, because we have discovered, with the assistance of Gardner +G. Hubbard, that deaf people are not dumb, and not being defectives, +they certainly do not need an asylum. They need schools, however, and so +everywhere we have established schools for the deaf. + +Deaf people are just as capable, are just as competent, just as well +able to earn an honest living as is the average man who can hear. + +The "indeterminate sentence" is one of the wisest expedients ever +brought to bear in penology. And it is to this generation alone that the +honor of first using it must be given. The offender is sentenced for, +say from one to eight years. This means that if the prisoner behaves +himself, obeying the rules, showing a desire to be useful, he will be +paroled and given his freedom at the end of one year. + +If he misbehaves and does not prove his fitness for freedom he will be +kept two or three years, and he may possibly have to serve the whole +eight years. "How long are you in for?" I asked a convict at +Jeffersonville, who was caring for the flowers in front of the walls. +"Me? Oh, I'm in for two years, with the privilege of fourteen," was the +man's answer, given with a grin. + +The old plan of "short time," allowing two or three months off from +every year for good behavior was a move in the right direction, but the +indeterminate sentence will soon be the rule everywhere for first +offenders. + +The indeterminate sentence throws upon the man himself the +responsibility for the length of his confinement and tends to relieve +prison life of its horror, by holding out hope. The man has the short +time constantly in mind, and usually is very careful not to do anything +to imperil it. Insurrection and an attempt to escape may mean that every +day of the whole long sentence will have to be served. + +So even the dullest of minds and the most calloused realize that it pays +to do what is right--the lesson being pressed home upon them in a way it +has never been before. + +The old-time prejudice of business men against the man who had "done +time" was chiefly on account of his incompetence, and not his record. +The prison methods that turned out a hateful, depressed and frightened +man who had been suppressed by the silent system and deformed by the +lock-step, calloused by brutal treatment and the constant thought held +over him that he was a criminal, was a bad thing for the prisoner, for +the keeper and for society. Even an upright man would be undone by such +treatment, and in a year be transformed into a sly, secretive and +morally sick man. The men just out of prison were unable to do +anything--they needed constant supervision and attention, and so of +course we did not care to hire them. + +The Ex. now is a totally different man from the Ex. just out of his +striped suit in the seventies, thanks to that much defamed man, +Brockway, and a few others. + +We may have to restrain men for the good of themselves and the good of +society, but we do not punish. The restraint is punishment enough; we +believe men are punished by their sins, not for them. + +When men are sent to reform schools now, the endeavor and the hope is to +give back to society a better man than we took. + +Judge Lindsey sends boys to the reform school without officer or guard. +The boys go of their own accord, carrying their own commitment papers. +They pound on the gate demanding admittance in the name of the law. The +boy believes that Judge Lindsey is his friend, and that the reason he +is sent to the reform school is that he may reap a betterment which his +full freedom cannot possibly offer. When he takes his commitment papers +he is no longer at war with society and the keepers of the law. He +believes that what is being done for him is done for the best, and so he +goes to prison, which is really not a prison at the last, for it is a +school where the lad is taught to economize both time and money and to +make himself useful. + +Other people work for us, and we must work for them. This is the supreme +lesson that the boy learns. You can only help yourself by +helping others. + +Now here is a proposition: If a boy or a man takes his commitment +papers, goes to prison alone and unattended, is it necessary that he +should be there locked up, enclosed in a corral and be looked after by +guards armed with death-dealing implements? + +Superintendent Whittaker, of the institution at Jeffersonville, Indiana, +says, "No." He believes that within ten years' time we will do away with +the high wall, and will keep our loaded guns out of sight; to a great +degree also we will take the bars from the windows of the prisons, just +as we have taken them away from the windows of the hospitals for +the insane. + +At the reform school it may be necessary to have a guard-house for some +years to come, but the high wall must go, just as we have sent the +lock-step and the silent system and the striped suit of disgrace into +the ragbag of time--lost in the memory of things that were. + +Four men out of five in the reformatory at Jeffersonville need no +coercion, they would not run away if the walls were razed and the doors +left unlocked. One young man I saw there refused the offered parole--he +wanted to stay until he learned his trade. He was not the only one with +a like mental attitude. + +The quality of men in the average prison is about the same as that of +the men who are in the United States Army. The man who enlists is a +prisoner; for him to run away is a very serious offense, and yet he is +not locked up at night, nor is he surrounded by a high wall. + +The George Junior Republic is simply a farm, unfenced and unpatroled, +excepting by the boys who are in the Republic, and yet it is a penal +institution. The prison of the future will not be unlike a young ladies' +boarding school, where even yet the practice prevails of taking the +inmates out all together, with a guard, and allowing no one to leave +without a written permit. + +As society changes, so changes the so-called criminal. In any event, I +know this--that Max Nordau did not make out his case. + +There is no criminal class. + +Or for that matter we are all criminals. "I have in me the capacity for +every crime," said Emerson. + +The man or woman who goes wrong is a victim of unkind environment. +Booker Washington says that when the negro has something that we want, +or can perform a task that we want done, we waive the color line, and +the race problem then ceases to be a problem. So it is with the Ex. +Question. When the ex-convict is able to show that he is useful to the +world, the world will cease to shun him. When Superintendent Whittaker +graduates a man it is pretty good evidence that the man is able and +willing to render a service to society. + +The only places where the ex-convicts get the icy mitt are pink teas +and prayer meetings. An ex-convict should work all day and then spend +his evenings at the library, feeding his mind--then he is safe. + +If I were an ex-convict I would fight shy of all "Refuges," "Sheltering +Arms," "Saint Andrew's Societies" and the philanthropic "College +Settlements." I would never go to those good professional people, or +professional good people, who patronize the poor and spit upon the +alleged wrongdoer, and who draw sharp lines of demarcation in +distinguishing between the "good" and the "bad." If you can work and are +willing to work, business men will not draw the line on you. Get a job, +and then hold it down hard by making yourself necessary. Employers of +labor and the ex-convicts themselves are fast settling this Ex. +Question, with the help of the advanced type of the Reform School where +the inmates are being taught to be useful and are not punished nor +patronized, but are simply given a chance. My heart goes out in sympathy +to the man who gives a poor devil a chance. I myself am a poor devil! + + + +The Sergeant + +A colonel in the United States Army told me the other day something like +this: The most valuable officer, the one who has the greatest +responsibility, is the sergeant. The true sergeant is born, not made--he +is the priceless gift of the gods. He is so highly prized that when +found he is never promoted, nor is he allowed to resign. If he is +dissatisfied with his pay, Captain, Lieutenant and Colonel chip in--they +cannot afford to lose him. He is a rara avis--the apple of their eye. + +His first requirement is that he must be able to lick any man in the +company. A drunken private may damn a captain upside down and wrong-side +out, and the captain is not allowed to reply. He can neither strike with +his fist, nor engage in a cussing match, but your able sergeant is an +adept in both of these polite accomplishments. Even if a private strike +an officer, the officer is not allowed to strike back. Perhaps the man +who abuses him could easily beat him in a rough-and-tumble fight, and +then it is quite a sufficient reason to keep one's clothes clean. We +say the revolver equalizes all men, but it doesn't. It is disagreeable +to shoot a man. It scatters brains and blood all over the sidewalk, +attracts a crowd, requires a deal of explanation afterward, and may cost +an officer his stripes. No good officer ever hears anything said about +him by a private. + +The sergeant hears everything, and his reply to backslack is a +straight-arm jab in the jaw. The sergeant is responsible only to his +captain, and no good captain will ever know anything about what a +sergeant does, and he will not believe it when told. If a fight occurs +between two privates, the sergeant jumps in, bumps their heads together +and licks them both. If a man feigns sick, or is drunk, the sergeant +chucks him under the pump. The regulations do not call for any such +treatment, but the sergeant does not know anything about the +regulations--he gets the thing done. The sergeant may be twenty years +old or sixty--age does not count. The sergeant is a father to his +men--he regards them all as children--bad boys--and his business is to +make them brave, honorable and dutiful soldiers. + +The sergeant is always the first man up in the morning, the last man to +go to bed at night. He knows where his men are every minute of the day +or night. If they are actually sick, he is both nurse and physician, and +dictates gently to the surgeon what should be done. He is also the +undertaker, and the digging of ditches and laying out of latrines all +fall to his lot. Unlike the higher officers, he does not have to dress +"smart," and he is very apt to discard his uniform and go clothed like a +civilian teamster, excepting on special occasions when necessity demands +braid and buttons. + +He knows everything, and nothing. No wild escapade of a higher officer +passes by him, yet he never tells. + +Now one might suppose that he is an absolute tyrant, but a good sergeant +is a beneficent tyrant at the right time. To break the spirit of his men +will not do--it would unfit them for service--so what he seeks to do is +merely to bend their minds so as to match his own. Gradually they grow +to both love and fear him. In time of actual fight he transforms cowards +into heroes. He holds his men up to the scratch. In battle there are +often certain officers marked for death--they are to be shot by their +own men. It is a time of getting even--and in the hurly-burly and +excitement there are no witnesses. The sergeant is ever on the lookout +for such mutinies, and his revolver often sends to the dust the head +revolutionary before the dastardly plot can be carried out. In war-time +all executions are not judicial. + +In actual truth, the sergeant is the only real, sure-enough fighting man +in the army. He is as rare as birds' teeth, and every officer anxiously +scans his recruits in search of good sergeant timber. + +In business life, the man with the sergeant instincts is even more +valuable than in the army. The business sergeant is the man not in +evidence--who asks for no compliments or bouquets--who knows where +things are--who has no outside ambitions, and no desire save to do his +work. If he is too smart he will lay plots and plans for his own +promotion, and thereby he is pretty sure to defeat himself. + +As an individual the average soldier is a sneak, a shirk, a failure, a +coward. He is only valuable as he is licked into shape. It is pretty +much the same in business. It seems hard to say it, but the average +employe in factory, shop or store, puts the face of the clock to shame +looking at it; he is thinking of his pay envelope and his intent is to +keep the boss located and to do as little work as possible. In many +cases the tyranny of the employer is to blame for the condition, but +more often it is the native outcrop of suspicion that prompts the seller +to give no more than he can help. + +And here the sergeant comes in, and with watchful eye and tireless +nerves, holds the recreants to their tasks. If he is too severe, he will +fix in the shirks more firmly the shirk microbe; but if he is of better +fibre, he may supply a little more will to those who lack it, and +gradually create an atmosphere of right intent, so that the only +disgrace will consist in their wearing the face off the regulator and +keeping one ear cocked to catch the coming footsteps of the boss. + +There is not the slightest danger that there will ever be an overplus of +sergeants. Let the sergeant keep out of strikes, plots, feuds, hold his +temper and show what's what, and he can name his own salary and keep his +place for ninety-nine years without having a contract. + + + +The Spirit of the Age + +Four hundred and twenty-five years before the birth of the Nazarene, +Socrates said, "The gods are on high Olympus, but you and I are here." +And for this--and a few other similar observations--be was compelled to +drink a substitute for coffee--he was an infidel! Within the last thirty +years the churches of Christendom have, in the main, adopted the +Socratic proposition that you and I are here. That is, we have made +progress by getting away from narrow theology and recognizing humanity. +We do not know anything about either Olympus or Elysium, but we do know +something about Athens. + +Athens is here. + +Athens needs us--the Greeks are at the door. Let the gods run Elysium, +and we'll devote ourselves to Athens. + +This is the prevailing spirit in the churches of America to-day. Our +religion is humanitarian, not theological. + +A like evolution has come about in medicine. The materia medica of +twenty-five years ago is now obsolete. No good doctor now treats +symptoms--he neither gives you something to relieve your headache nor to +settle your stomach. These are but timely ting-a-lings--Nature's +warnings--look out! And the doctor tells you so, and charges you a fee +sufficient to impress you with the fact that he is no fool, but that +you are. + +The lawyer who now gets the largest fees is never seen in a court-room. +Litigation is now largely given over to damage suits--carried on by +clients who want something for nothing, and little lawyers, shark-like +and hungry, who work on contingent fees. Three-fourths of the time of +all superior and supreme courts is taken up by His Effluvia, who brings +suit thru His Bacteria, with His Crabship as chief witness, for damages +not due, either in justice or fact. + +How to get rid of this burden, brought upon us by men who have nothing +to lose, is a question too big for the average legislator. It can only +be solved by heroic measures, carried out by lawyers who are out of +politics and have a complete indifference for cheap popularity. Here is +opportunity for men of courage and ability. But the point is this, wise +business men keep out of court. They arbitrate their differences +--compromise--they cannot afford to quit their work for the +sake of getting even. As for making money, they know a better way. + +In theology we are waiving distinctions and devoting ourselves to the +divine spirit only as it manifests itself in humanity--we are talking +less and less about another world and taking more notice of the one we +inhabit. Of course we occasionally have heresy trials, and pictures of +the offender and the Fat Bishop adorn the first page, but heresy trials +not accompanied by the scaffold or the faggots are innocuous and +exceedingly tame. + +In medicine we have more faith in ourselves and less in prescriptions. + +In pedagogy we are teaching more and more by the natural +method--learning by doing--and less and less by means of injunction +and precept. + +In penology we seek to educate and reform, not to suppress, repress and +punish. + +That is to say, the gods are on high Olympus--let them stay there. +Athens is here. + + + +The Grammarian + +The best way to learn to write is to write. + +Herbert Spencer never studied grammar until he had learned to write. He +took his grammar at sixty, which is a good age for one to begin this +most interesting study, as by the time you have reached that age you +have largely lost your capacity to sin. + +Men who can swim exceedingly well are not those who have taken courses +in the theory of swimming at natatoriums, from professors of the +amphibian art--they were just boys who jumped into the ol' swimmin' +hole, and came home with shirts on wrong-side out and a tell-tale +dampness in their hair. + +Correspondence schools for the taming of bronchos are as naught; and +treatises on the gentle art of wooing are of no avail--follow +nature's lead. + +Grammar is the appendenda vermiformis of the science of pedagogics: it +is as useless as the letter q in the alphabet, or the proverbial two +tails to a cat, which no cat ever had, and the finest cat in the world, +the Manx cat, has no tail at all. + +"The literary style of most university men is commonplace, when not +positively bad," wrote Herbert Spencer in his old age. + +"Educated Englishmen all write alike," said Taine. That is to say, +educated men who have been drilled to write by certain fixed and +unchangeable rules of rhetoric and grammar will produce similar +compositions. They have no literary style, for style is individuality +and character--the style is the man, and grammar tends to obliterate +individuality. No study is so irksome to everybody, except the sciolists +who teach it, as grammar. It remains forever a bad taste in the mouth of +the man of ideas, and has weaned bright minds innumerable from a desire +to express themselves through the written word. + +Grammar is the etiquette of words, and the man who does not know how to +properly salute his grandmother on the street until he has consulted a +book, is always so troubled about the tenses that his fancies break thru +language and escape. + +The grammarian is one whose whole thought is to string words according +to a set formula. The substance itself that he wishes to convey is of +secondary importance. Orators who keep their thoughts upon the proper +way to gesticulate in curves, impress nobody. + +If it were a sin against decency, or an attempt to poison the minds of +the people, for a person to be ungrammatical, it might be wise enough +to hire men to protect the well of English from defilement. But a +stationary language is a dead one--moving water only is pure--and the +well that is not fed by springs is sure to be a breeding-place +for disease. + +Let men express themselves in their own way, and if they express +themselves poorly, look you, their punishment will be that no one will +read their literary effusions. Oblivion with her smother-blanket lies in +wait for the writer who has nothing to say and says it faultlessly. + +In the making of hare soup, I am informed by most excellent culinary +authority, the first requisite is to catch your hare. The literary +scullion who has anything to offer a hungry world, will doubtless find a +way to fricassee it. + + + +The Best Religion + +A religion of just being kind would be a pretty good religion, don't you +think so? + +But a religion of kindness and useful effort is nearly a perfect +religion. + +We used to think it was a man's belief concerning a dogma that would fix +his place in eternity. This was because we believed that God was a +grumpy, grouchy old gentleman, stupid, touchy and dictatorial. A really +good man would not damn you even if you didn't like him, but a bad +man would. + +As our ideas of God changed, we ourselves changed for the better. Or, as +we thought better of ourselves we thought better of God. It will be +character that locates our place in another world, if there is one, just +as it is our character that fixes our place here. + +We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best +character is to be kind and to be useful. + +THINK RIGHT, ACT RIGHT; IT IS WHAT WE THINK AND DO THAT MAKE US WHAT WE +ARE. + +So here ends LOVE, LIFE AND WORK, being +a book of Essays selected from the writings +of ELBERT HUBBARD, and done into print by +_The Roycrofters_ at their Shop at East Aurora, +which is in Erie County, New York, U.S.A. +Completed in the month of July, MCMVI + +[Illustration: The Roycroft Shop] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Love, Life & Work, by Elbert Hubbard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10417 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..30ccb30 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10417 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10417) diff --git a/old/10417-8.txt b/old/10417-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..daa7b8d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10417-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3519 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Love, Life & Work, by Elbert Hubbard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Love, Life & Work + Being a Book of Opinions Reasonably Good-Natured Concerning + How to Attain the Highest Happiness for One's Self with the + Least Possible Harm to Others + +Author: Elbert Hubbard + +Release Date: December 8, 2003 [EBook #10417] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE, LIFE & WORK *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Thomas Cormode and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +LOVE LIFE & WORK + +BEING A BOOK OF OPINIONS REASONABLY GOOD-NATURED CONCERNING HOW TO +ATTAIN THE HIGHEST HAPPINESS FOR ONE'S SELF WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE +HARM TO OTHERS + +1906 + +By ELBERT HUBBARD + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTERS + +1. A Prayer + +2. Life and Expression + +3. Time and Chance + +4. Psychology of a Religious Revival + +5. One-Man Power + +6. Mental Attitude + +7. The Outsider + +8. Get Out or Get in Line + +9. The Week-Day, Keep it Holy + +10. Exclusive Friendships + +11. The Folly of Living in the Future + +12. The Spirit of Man + +13. Art and Religion + +14. Initiative + +15. The Disagreeable Girl + +16. The Neutral + +17. Reflections on Progress + +18. Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise + +19. Love and Faith + +20. Giving Something for Nothing + +21. Work and Waste + +22. The Law of Obedience + +23. Society's Saviors + +24. Preparing for Old Age + +25. An Alliance With Nature + +26. The Ex. Question + +27. The Sergeant + +28. The Spirit of the Age + +29. The Grammarian + +30. The Best Religion + + + +A Prayer + +The supreme prayer of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, +powerful, or "good," but simply to be radiant. I desire to radiate +health, cheerfulness, calm courage and good will. I wish to live without +hate, whim, jealousy, envy, fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, +natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected--ready to say "I do +not know," if it be so, and to meet all men on an absolute equality--to +face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid. + +I wish others to live their lives, too--up to their highest, fullest and +best. To that end I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate, +give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not +needed. If I can help people, I'll do it by giving them a chance to help +themselves; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, +inference, and suggestion, rather than by injunction and dictation. That +is to say, I desire to be radiant--to radiate life. + + + +Life and Expression + +By exercise of its faculties the spirit grows, just as a muscle grows +strong thru continued use. Expression is necessary. Life is expression, +and repression is stagnation--death. + +Yet, there can be right and wrong expression. If a man permits his life +to run riot and only the animal side of his nature is allowed to express +itself, he is repressing his highest and best, and the qualities not +used atrophy and die. + +Men are punished by their sins, not for them. Sensuality, gluttony, and +the life of license repress the life of the spirit, and the soul never +blossoms; and this is what it is to lose one's soul. All adown the +centuries thinking men have noted these truths, and again and again we +find individuals forsaking in horror the life of the senses and devoting +themselves to the life of the spirit. This question of expression +through the spirit, or through the senses--through soul or body--has +been the pivotal point of all philosophy and the inspiration of +all religion. + +Every religion is made up of two elements that never mix any more than +oil and water mix. A religion is a mechanical mixture, not a chemical +combination, of morality and dogma. Dogma is the science of the unseen: +the doctrine of the unknown and unknowable. And in order to give this +science plausibility, its promulgators have always fastened upon it +morality. Morality can and does exist entirely separate and apart from +dogma, but dogma is ever a parasite on morality, and the business of the +priest is to confuse the two. + +But morality and religion never saponify. Morality is simply the +question of expressing your life forces--how to use them? You have so +much energy; and what will you do with it? And from out the multitude +there have always been men to step forward and give you advice for a +consideration. Without their supposed influence with the unseen we might +not accept their interpretation of what is right and wrong. But with the +assurance that their advice is backed up by Deity, followed with an +offer of reward if we believe it, and a threat of dire punishment if we +do not, the Self-appointed Superior Class has driven men wheresoever it +willed. The evolution of formal religions is not a complex process, and +the fact that they embody these two unmixable things, dogma and +morality, is a very plain and simple truth, easily seen, undisputed by +all reasonable men. And be it said that the morality of most religions +is good. Love, truth, charity, justice and gentleness are taught in them +all. But, like a rule in Greek grammar, there are many exceptions. And +so in the morality of religions there are exceptional instances that +constantly arise where love, truth, charity, gentleness and justice are +waived on suggestion of the Superior Class, that good may follow. Were +it not for these exceptions there would be no wars between +Christian nations. + +The question of how to express your life will probably never down, for +the reason that men vary in temperament and inclination. Some men have +no capacity for certain sins of the flesh; others there be, who, having +lost their inclination for sensuality through too much indulgence, turn +ascetics. Yet all sermons have but one theme: how shall life be +expressed? Between asceticism and indulgence men and races swing. + +Asceticism in our day finds an interesting manifestation in the +Trappists, who live on a mountain top, nearly inaccessible, and deprive +themselves of almost every vestige of bodily comfort, going without food +for days, wearing uncomfortable garments, suffering severe cold; and +should one of this community look upon the face of a woman he would +think he was in instant danger of damnation. So here we find the extreme +instance of men repressing the faculties of the body in order that the +spirit may find ample time and opportunity for exercise. + +Somewhere between this extreme repression of the monk and the license of +the sensualist lies the truth. But just where is the great question; and +the desire of one person, who thinks he has discovered the norm, to +compel all other men to stop there, has led to war and strife untold. +All law centers around this point--what shall men be allowed to do? And +so we find statutes to punish "strolling play actors," "players on +fiddles," "disturbers of the public conscience," "persons who dance +wantonly," "blasphemers," and in England there were, in the year 1800, +thirty-seven offenses that were legally punishable by death. What +expression is right and what is not, is simply a matter of opinion. One +religious denomination that now exists does not allow singing; +instrumental music has been to some a rock of offense, exciting the +spirit through the sense of hearing, to improper thoughts--"through the +lascivious pleasing of the lute"; others think dancing wicked, while a +few allow pipe-organ music, but draw the line at the violin; while still +others use a whole orchestra in their religious service. Some there be +who regard pictures as implements of idolatry; while the Hook-and-Eye +Baptists look upon buttons as immoral. + +Strange evolutions are often witnessed within the life of one +individual. For instance, Leo Tolstoy, a great and good man, at one time +a sensualist, has now turned ascetic; a common evolution in the lives of +the saints. But excellent as this man is, there is yet a grave +imperfection in his cosmos which to a degree vitiates the truth he +desires to teach: he leaves the element of beauty out of his formula. +Not caring for harmony as set forth in color, form and sweet sounds, he +is quite willing to deny all others these things which minister to +their well-being. There is in most souls a hunger for beauty, just as +there is physical hunger. Beauty speaks to their spirits through the +senses; but Tolstoy would have your house barren to the verge of +hardship. My veneration for Count Tolstoy is profound, yet I mention him +here to show the grave danger that lies in allowing any man, even one of +the wisest of men, to dictate to us what is best. We ourselves are the +better judges. Most of the frightful cruelties inflicted on men during +the past have arisen simply out of a difference of opinion that arose +through a difference in temperament. The question is as alive to-day as +it was two thousand years ago--what expression is best? That is, what +shall we do to be saved? And concrete absurdity consists in saying that +we must all do the same thing. Whether the race will ever grow to a +point where men will be willing to leave the matter of life-expression +to the individual is a question; but the millennium will never arrive +until men cease trying to compel all other men to live after +one pattern. + +Most people are anxious to do what is best for themselves and least +harmful for others. The average man now has intelligence enough: Utopia +is not far off, if the self-appointed folk who rule us, and teach us for +a consideration, would only be willing to do unto others as they would +be done by, that is to say, mind their own business and cease coveting +things that belong to other people. War among nations and strife among +individuals is a result of the covetous spirit to possess. + +A little more patience, a little more charity for all, a little more +love; with less bowing down to the past, and the silent ignoring of +pretended authority; a brave looking forward to the future, with more +self-confidence and more faith in our fellow men, and the race will be +ripe for a great burst of life and light. + +[Illustration] + + + +Time and Chance + +As the subject is somewhat complex, I will have to explain it to you. +The first point is that there is not so very much difference in the +intelligence of people after all. The great man is not so great as folks +think, and the dull man is not quite so stupid as he seems. The +difference in our estimates of men lies in the fact that one individual +is able to get his goods into the show-window, and the other is not +aware that he has any show-window or any goods. + +"The soul knows all things, and knowledge is only a remembering," says +Emerson. + +This seems a very broad statement; and yet the fact remains that the +vast majority of men know a thousand times as much as they are aware of. +Far down in the silent depths of subconsciousness lie myriads of truths, +each awaiting a time when its owner shall call it forth. To utilize +these stored-up thoughts, you must express them to others; and to be +able to express them well your soul has to soar into this subconscious +realm where you have cached these net results of experience. In other +words, you must "come out"--get out of self--away from +self-consciousness, into the region of partial oblivion--away from the +boundaries of time and the limitations of space. The great painter +forgets all in the presence of his canvas; the writer is oblivious to +his surroundings; the singer floats away on the wings of melody (and +carries the audience with her); the orator pours out his soul for an +hour, and it seems to him as if barely five minutes had passed, so rapt +is he in his exalted theme. When you reach the heights of sublimity and +are expressing your highest and best, you are in a partial trance +condition. And all men who enter this condition surprise themselves by +the quantity of knowledge and the extent of insight they possess. And +some going a little deeper than others into this trance condition, and +having no knowledge of the miraculous storing up of truth in the +subconscious cells, jump to the conclusion that their intelligence is +guided by a spirit not theirs. When one reaches this conclusion he +begins to wither at the top, for he relies on the dead, and ceases to +feed the well-springs of his subconscious self. + +The mind is a dual affair--objective and subjective. The objective mind +sees all, hears all, reasons things out. The subjective mind stores up +and only gives out when the objective mind sleeps. And as few men ever +cultivate the absorbed, reflective or semi-trance state, where the +objective mind rests, they never really call on their subconscious +treasury for its stores. They are always self-conscious. + +A man in commerce, where men prey on their kind, must be alive and alert +to what is going on, or while he dreams, his competitor will seize upon +his birthright. And so you see why poets are poor and artists often beg. + +And the summing up of this sermonette is that all men are equally rich, +only some thru fate are able to muster their mental legions on the +plains of their being and count them, while others are never able to +do so. + +But what think you is necessary before a person can come into full +possession of his subconscious treasures? Well, I'll tell you: It is not +ease, nor prosperity, nor requited love, nor worldly security--not +these. + +"You sing well," said the master, impatiently, to his best pupil, "but +you will never sing divinely until you have given your all for love, +and then been neglected and rejected, and scorned and beaten, and left +for dead. Then, if you do not exactly die, you will come back, and when +the world hears your voice it will mistake you for an angel and fall at +your feet." + +And the moral is, that as long as you are satisfied and comfortable, you +use only the objective mind and live in the world of sense. But let love +be torn from your grasp and flee as a shadow--living only as a memory in +a haunting sense of loss; let death come and the sky shut down over less +worth in the world; or stupid misunderstanding and crushing defeat grind +you into the dust, then you may arise, forgetting time and space and +self, and take refuge in mansions not made with hands; and find a +certain sad, sweet satisfaction in the contemplation of treasures stored +up where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break +through and steal. + +And thus looking out into the Eternal, you entirely forget the present +and go forth into the Land of Subconsciousness--the Land of Spirit, +where yet dwell the gods of ancient and innocent days? Is it worth +the cost? + + + +Psychology of a Religious Revival + +Traveling to and fro over the land and up and down in it are men who +manage street-fairs. + +Let it be known that a street-fair or Mardi Gras is never a spontaneous +expression of the carnival spirit on the part of the townspeople. These +festivals are a business--carefully planned, well advertised and carried +out with much astuteness. + +The men who manage street-fairs send advance agents, to make +arrangements with the local merchants of the place--these secure the +legal permits that are necessary. + +A week is set apart for the carnival, much advertising is done, the +newspapers, reflecting the will of the many, devote pages to the +wonderful things that will happen. The shows arrive--the touters, the +spielers, the clowns, the tumblers, the girls in tights, the singers! +The bands play--the carnival is on! The object of the fair is to boom +the business of the town. The object of the professional managers of the +fair is to make money for themselves, and this they do thru the +guaranty of the merchants, or a percentage on concessions, or both. + +I am told that no town whose business is on an absolutely safe and +secure footing ever resorts to a street-fair. The street-fair comes in +when a rival town seems to be getting more than its share of the trade. +When the business of Skaneateles is drifting to Waterloo, then +Skaneateles succumbs to a street-fair. + +Sanitation, sewerage, good water supply, and schoolhouses and paved +streets are not the result of throwing confetti, tooting tin horns and +waiving the curfew law. + +Whether commerce is effectually helped by the street-fair, or a town +assisted to get on a firm financial basis through the ministry of the +tom-tom, is a problem. I leave the question with students of political +economy and pass on to a local condition which is not a theory. The +religious revivals that have recently been conducted in various parts of +the country were most carefully planned business schemes. One F. Wilbur +Chapman and his corps of well-trained associates may be taken as a type +of the individuals who work up local religious excitement for a +consideration. + +Religious revivals are managed very much as are street-fairs. If +religion is getting at a low ebb in your town, you can hire Chapman, the +revivalist, just as you can secure the services of Farley, the +strike-breaker. Chapman and his helpers go from town to town and from +city to city and work up this excitation as a business. They are paid +for their services a thousand dollars a week, or down to what they can +get from collections. Sometimes they work on a guaranty, and at other +times on a percentage or contingent fee, or both. + +Towns especially in need of Mr. Chapman's assistance will please send +for circulars, terms and testimonials. No souls saved--no pay. + +The basic element of the revival is hypnotism. The scheme of bringing +about the hypnosis, or the obfuscation of the intellect, has taken +generations to carefully perfect. The plan is first to depress the +spirit to a point where the subject is incapable of independent thought. +Mournful music, a monotonous voice of woe, tearful appeals to God, +dreary groans, the whole mingled with pious ejaculations, all tend to +produce a terrifying effect upon the auditor. The thought of God's +displeasure is constantly dwelt upon--the idea of guilt, death and +eternal torment. If the victims can be made to indulge in hysterical +laughter occasionally, the control is better brought about. No chance is +allowed for repose, poise or sane consideration. When the time seems +ripe a general promise of joy is made and the music takes an adagio +turn. The speaker's voice now tells of triumph--offers of forgiveness +are tendered, and then the promise of eternal life. + +The final intent is to get the victim on his feet and make him come +forward and acknowledge the fetich. This once done the convert finds +himself among pleasant companions. His social station is +improved--people shake hands with him and solicitously ask after his +welfare. His approbativeness is appealed to--his position is now one of +importance. And moreover, he is given to understand in many subtile ways +that as he will be damned in another world if he does not acquiesce in +the fetich, so also will he be damned financially and socially here if +he does not join the church. The intent in every Christian community is +to boycott and make a social outcast of the independent thinker. The +fetich furnishes excuse for the hypnotic processes. Without assuming a +personal God who can be appeased, eternal damnation and the proposition +that you can win eternal life by believing a myth, there is no sane +reason for the absurd hypnotic formulas. + +We are heirs to the past, its good and ill, and we all have a touch of +superstition, like a syphilitic taint. To eradicate this tyranny of fear +and get the cringe and crawl out of our natures, seems the one desirable +thing to lofty minds. But the revivalist, knowing human nature, as all +confidence men do, banks on our superstitious fears and makes his appeal +to our acquisitiveness, offering us absolution and life eternal for a +consideration--to cover expenses. As long as men are paid honors and +money, can wear good clothes, and be immune from work for preaching +superstition, they will preach it. The hope of the world lies in +withholding supplies from the pious mendicants who seek to hold our +minds in thrall. + +This idea of a divine bankrupt court where you can get forgiveness by +paying ten cents on the dollar, with the guaranty of becoming a winged +pauper of the skies, is not alluring excepting to a man who has been +well scared. Advance agents pave the way for revivalists by arranging +details with the local orthodox clergy. Universalists, Unitarians, +Christian Scientists and Befaymillites are all studiously avoided. The +object is to fill depleted pews of orthodox Protestant churches--these +pay the freight, and to the victor belong the spoils. The plot and plan +is to stampede into the pen of orthodoxy the intellectual +unwary--children and neurotic grown-ups. The cap-and-bells element is +largely represented in Chapman's select company of German-American +talent: the confetti of foolishness is thrown at us--we dodge, laugh, +listen and no one has time to think, weigh, sift or analyze. There are +the boom of rhetoric, the crack of confession, the interspersed +rebel-yell of triumph, the groans of despair, the cries of victory. Then +come songs by paid singers, the pealing of the organ--rise and sing, +kneel and pray, entreaty, condemnation, misery, tears, threats, promise, +joy, happiness, heaven, eternal bliss, decide now--not a moment is to be +lost, whoop-la you'll be a long time in hell! + +All this whirl is a carefully prepared plan, worked out by expert +flim-flammers to addle the reason, scramble intellect and make of men +drooling derelicts. + +What for? + +I'll tell you--that Doctor Chapman and his professional rooters may roll +in cheap honors, be immune from all useful labor and wax fat on the pay +of those who work. Second, that the orthodox churches may not advance +into workshops and schoolhouses, but may remain forever the home of a +superstition. One would think that the promise of making a person exempt +from the results of his own misdeeds, would turn the man of brains from +these religious shell-men in disgust. But under their hypnotic spell, +the minds of many seem to suffer an obsession, and they are caught in +the swirl of foolish feeling, like a grocer's clerk in the hands of a +mesmerist. + +At Northfield, Massachusetts, is a college at which men are taught and +trained, just as men are drilled at a Tonsorial College, in every phase +of this pleasing episcopopography. + +There is a good fellow by the suggestive name of Sunday who works the +religious graft. Sunday is the whirling dervish up to date. He and +Chapman and their cappers purposely avoid any trace of the ecclesiastic +in their attire. They dress like drummers--trousers carefully creased, +two watch-chains and a warm vest. Their manner is free and easy, their +attitude familiar. The way they address the Almighty reveals that their +reverence for Him springs out of the supposition that He is very much +like themselves. + +The indelicacy of the revivalists who recently called meetings to pray +for Fay Mills, was shown in their ardent supplications to God that He +should make Mills to be like them. Fay Mills tells of the best way to +use this life here and now. He does not prophesy what will become of you +if you do not accept his belief, neither does he promise everlasting +life as a reward for thinking as he does. He realizes that he has not +the agency of everlasting life. Fay Mills is more interested in having a +soul that is worth saving than in saving a soul that isn't. Chapman +talks about lost souls as he might about collar buttons lost under a +bureau, just as if God ever misplaced anything, or that all souls were +not God's souls, and therefore forever in His keeping. + +Doctor Chapman wants all men to act alike and believe alike, not +realizing that progress is the result of individuality, and so long as a +man thinks, whether he is right or wrong, he is making head. Neither +does he realize that wrong thinking is better than no thinking at all, +and that the only damnation consists in ceasing to think, and accepting +the conclusions of another. Final truths and final conclusions are +wholly unthinkable to sensible people in their sane moments, but these +revivalists wish to sum up truth for all time and put their leaden +seal upon it. + +In Los Angeles is a preacher by the name of McIntyre, a type of the +blatant Bellarmine who exiled Galileo--a man who never doubts his own +infallibility, who talks like an oracle and continually tells of +perdition for all who disagree with him. + +Needless to say that McIntyre lacks humor. Personally, I prefer the +McGregors, but in Los Angeles the McIntyres are popular. It was McIntyre +who called a meeting to pray for Fay Mills, and in proposing the meeting +McIntyre made the unblushing announcement that he had never met Mills +nor heard him speak, nor had he read one of his books. + +Chapman and McIntyre represent the modern types of +Phariseeism--spielers and spouters for churchianity, and such are the +men who make superstition of so long life. Superstition is the one +Infamy--Voltaire was right. To pretend to believe a thing at which your +reason revolts--to stultify your intellect--this, if it exists at all, +is the unpardonable sin. These muftis preach "the blood of Jesus," the +dogma that man without a belief in miracles is eternally lost, that +everlasting life depends upon acknowledging this, that or the other. +Self-reliance, self-control and self-respect are the three things that +make a man a man. + +But man has so recently taken on this ability to think, that he has not +yet gotten used to handling it. The tool is cumbrous in his hands. He is +afraid of it--this one characteristic that differentiates him from the +lower animals--so he abdicates and turns his divine birthright over to a +syndicate. This combination called a church agrees to take care of his +doubts and fears and do his thinking for him, and to help matters along +he is assured that he is not fit to think for himself, and to do so +would be a sin. Man, in his present crude state, holds somewhat the +same attitude toward reason that an Apache Indian holds toward a +camera--the Indian thinks that to have his picture taken means that he +will shrivel up and blow away in a month. And Stanley relates that a +watch with its constant ticking sent the bravest of Congo chiefs into a +cold sweat of agonizing fear; on discovering which, the explorer had but +to draw his Waterbury and threaten to turn the whole bunch into +crocodiles, and at once they got busy and did his bidding. Stanley +exhibited the true Northfield-revival quality in banking on the +superstition of his wavering and frightened followers. + +The revival meetin' is an orgie of the soul, a spiritual debauch--a +dropping from sane and sensible control into eroticism. No person of +normal intelligence can afford to throw the reins of reason on the neck +of emotion and ride a Tam O'Shanter race to Bedlam. This hysteria of the +uncurbed feelings is the only blasphemy, and if there were a personal +God, He surely would be grieved to see that we have so absurd an idea of +Him, as to imagine He would be pleased with our deporting the divine +gift of reason into the hell-box. + +Revivalism works up the voltage, then makes no use of the current--the +wire is grounded. Let any one of these revivalists write out his sermons +and print them in a book, and no sane man could read them without danger +of paresis. The book would lack synthesis, defy analysis, puzzle the +brain and paralyze the will. There would not be enough attic salt in it +to save it. It would be the supernaculum of the commonplace, and prove +the author to be the lobscouse of literature, the loblolly of letters. +The churches want to enroll members, and so desperate is the situation +that they are willing to get them at the price of self-respect. Hence +come Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Chapman, and play Svengali to our +Trilby. These gentlemen use the methods and the tricks of the +auctioneer--the blandishments of the bookmaker--the sleek, smooth ways +of the professional spieler. + +With this troupe of Christian clowns is one Chaeffer, who is a +specialist with children. He has meetings for boys and girls only, where +he plays tricks, grimaces, tells stories and gets his little hearers +laughing, and thus having found an entrance into their hearts, he +suddenly reverses the lever, and has them crying. He talks to these +little innocents about sin, the wrath of God, the death of Christ, and +offers them a choice between everlasting life and eternal death. To the +person who knows and loves children--who has studied the gentle ways of +Froebel--this excitement is vicious, concrete cruelty. Weakened vitality +follows close upon overwrought nerves, and every excess has its +penalty--the pendulum swings as far this way as it does that. + +These reverend gentlemen bray it into the ears of innocent little +children that they were born in iniquity, and in sin did their mothers +conceive them; that the souls of all children over nine years (why +nine?) are lost, and the only way they can hope for heaven is through a +belief in a barbaric blood bamboozle, that men of intelligence have long +since discarded. And all this in the name of the gentle Christ, who took +little children in his arms and said, "Of such is the Kingdom +of Heaven." + +This pagan proposition of being born in sin is pollution to the mind of +a child, and causes misery, unrest and heartache incomputable. A few +years ago we were congratulating ourselves that the devil at last was +dead, and that the tears of pity had put out the fires of hell, but the +serpent of superstition was only slightly scotched, not killed. + +The intent of the religious revival is dual: first, the claim is that +conversion makes men lead better lives; second, it saves their souls +from endless death or everlasting hell. + +To make men lead beautiful lives is excellent, but the Reverend Doctor +Chapman, nor any of his colleagues, nor the denominations that they +represent, will for an instant admit that the fact of a man living a +beautiful life will save his soul alive In fact, Doctor Chapman, Doctor +Torrey and Doctor Sunday, backed by the Reverend Doctor McIntyre, +repeatedly warn their hearers of the danger of a morality that is not +accompanied by a belief in the "blood of Jesus." + +So the beautiful life they talk of is the bait that covers the hook for +gudgeons. You have to accept the superstition, or your beautiful life to +them is a byword and a hissing. + +Hence, to them, superstition, and not conduct, is the vital thing. + +If such a belief is not fanaticism then have I read Webster's +Unabridged Dictionary in vain. Belief in superstition makes no man +kinder, gentler, more useful to himself or society. He can have all the +virtues without the fetich, and he may have the fetich and all the vices +beside. Morality is really not controlled at all by religion--if +statistics of reform schools and prisons are to be believed. + +Fay Mills, according to Reverend Doctor McIntyre has all the virtues--he +is forgiving, kind, gentle, modest, helpful. But Fay has abandoned the +fetich--hence McIntyre and Chapman call upon the public to pray for Fay +Mills. Mills had the virtues when he believed in the fetich--and now +that he has disavowed the fetich, he still has the virtues, and in a +degree he never before had. Even those who oppose him admit this, but +still they declare that he is forever "lost." + +Reverend Doctor Chaeffer says there are two kinds of habits--good and +bad. + +There are also two kinds of religion, good and bad. The religion of +kindness, good cheer, helpfulness and useful effort is good. And on this +point there is no dispute--it is admitted everywhere by every grade of +intellect. But any form of religion that incorporates a belief in +miracles and other barbaric superstitions, as a necessity to salvation, +is not only bad, but very bad. And all men, if left alone long enough to +think, know that salvation depends upon redemption from a belief in +miracles. But the intent of Doctor Chapman and his theological rough +riders is to stampede the herd and set it a milling. To rope the +mavericks and place upon them the McIntyre brand is then quite easy. + +As for the reaction and the cleaning up after the carnival, our +revivalists are not concerned. The confetti, collapsed balloons and +peanut shucks are the net assets of the revival--and these are left for +the local managers. + +Revivals are for the revivalists, and some fine morning these revival +towns will arise, rub their sleepy eyes, and Chapman will be but a bad +taste in the mouth, and Sunday, Chaeffer, Torrey, Biederwolf and +Company, a troubled dream. To preach hagiology to civilized people is a +lapse that Nemesis will not overlook. America stands for the Twentieth +Century, and if in a moment of weakness she slips back to the exuberant +folly of the frenzied piety of the Sixteenth, she must pay the penalty. +Two things man will have to do--get free from the bondage of other men; +and second, liberate himself from the phantoms of his own mind. On +neither of these points does the revivalist help or aid in any way. +Effervescence is not character and every debauch must be paid for in +vitality and self-respect. + +All formal organized religions through which the promoters and managers +thrive are bad, but some are worse than others. The more superstition a +religion has, the worse it is. Usually religions are made up of morality +and superstition. Pure superstition alone would be revolting--in our day +it would attract nobody--so the idea is introduced that morality and +religion are inseparable. I am against the men who pretend to believe +that ethics without a fetich is vain and useless. + +The preachers who preach the beauty of truth, honesty and a useful, +helpful life, I am with, head, heart and hand. + +The preachers who declare that there can be no such thing as a beautiful +life unless it will accept superstition, I am against, tooth, claw, +club, tongue and pen. Down with the Infamy! I prophesy a day when +business and education will be synonymous--when commerce and college +will join hands--when the preparation for life will be to go to work. + +As long as trade was trickery, business barter, commerce finesse, +government exploitation, slaughter honorable, and murder a fine art; +when religion was ignorant superstition, piety the worship of a fetich +and education a clutch for honors, there was small hope for the race. +Under these conditions everything tended towards division, dissipation, +disintegration, separation--darkness, death. + +But with the supremacy gained by science, the introduction of the +one-price system in business, and the gradually growing conviction that +honesty is man's most valuable asset, we behold light at the end of +the tunnel. + +It only remains now for the laity to drive conviction home upon the +clergy, and prove to them that pretence has its penalty, and to bring to +the mourners' bench that trinity of offenders, somewhat ironically +designated as the Three Learned Professions, and mankind will be well +out upon the broad highway, the towering domes of the Ideal City +in sight. + + + +One-Man Power + +Every successful concern is the result of a One-Man Power. Coöperation, +technically, is an iridescent dream--things coöperate because the man +makes them. He cements them by his will. + +But find this Man, and get his confidence, and his weary eyes will look +into yours and the cry of his heart shall echo in your ears. "O, for +some one to help me bear this burden!" + +Then he will tell you of his endless search for Ability, and of his +continual disappointments and thwartings in trying to get some one to +help himself by helping him. + +Ability is the one crying need of the hour. The banks are bulging with +money, and everywhere are men looking for work. The harvest is ripe. But +the Ability to captain the unemployed and utilize the capital, is +lacking--sadly lacking. In every city there are many five- and +ten-thousand-dollar-a-year positions to be filled, but the only +applicants are men who want jobs at fifteen dollars a week. Your man of +Ability has a place already. Yes, Ability is a rare article. + +But there is something that is much scarcer, something finer far, +something rarer than this quality of Ability. + +It is the ability to recognize Ability. + +The sternest comment that ever can be made against employers as a class, +lies in the fact that men of Ability usually succeed in showing their +worth in spite of their employer, and not with his assistance and +encouragement. + +If you know the lives of men of Ability, you know that they discovered +their power, almost without exception, thru chance or accident. Had the +accident not occurred that made the opportunity, the man would have +remained unknown and practically lost to the world. The experience of +Tom Potter, telegraph operator at an obscure little way station, is +truth painted large. That fearful night, when most of the wires were +down and a passenger train went through the bridge, gave Tom Potter the +opportunity of discovering himself. He took charge of the dead, cared +for the wounded, settled fifty claims--drawing drafts on the +company--burned the last vestige of the wreck, sunk the waste iron in +the river and repaired the bridge before the arrival of the +Superintendent on the spot. + +"Who gave you the authority to do all this?" demanded the +Superintendent. + +"Nobody," replied Tom, "I assumed the authority." + +The next month Tom Potter's salary was five thousand dollars a year, and +in three years he was making ten times this, simply because he could get +other men to do things. + +Why wait for an accident to discover Tom Potter? Let us set traps for +Tom Potter, and lie in wait for him. Perhaps Tom Potter is just around +the corner, across the street, in the next room, or at our elbow. +Myriads of embryonic Tom Potters await discovery and development if we +but look for them. + +I know a man who roamed the woods and fields for thirty years and never +found an Indian arrow. One day he began to think "arrow," and stepping +out of his doorway he picked one up. Since then he has collected a +bushel of them. + +Suppose we cease wailing about incompetence, sleepy indifference and +slipshod "help" that watches the clock. These things exist--let us +dispose of the subject by admitting it, and then emphasize the fact that +freckled farmer boys come out of the West and East and often go to the +front and do things in a masterly way. There is one name that stands out +in history like a beacon light after all these twenty-five hundred years +have passed, just because the man had the sublime genius of discovering +Ability. That man is Pericles. Pericles made Athens. + +And to-day the very dust of the streets of Athens is being sifted and +searched for relics and remnants of the things made by people who were +captained by men of Ability who were discovered by Pericles. + +There is very little competition in this line of discovering Ability. We +sit down and wail because Ability does not come our way. Let us think +"Ability," and possibly we can jostle Pericles there on his pedestal, +where he has stood for over a score of centuries--the man with a supreme +genius for recognizing Ability. Hail to thee, Pericles, and hail to +thee, Great Unknown, who shall be the first to successfully imitate this +captain of men. + + + +Mental Attitude + +Success is in the blood. There are men whom fate can never keep +down--they march forward in a jaunty manner, and take by divine right +the best of everything that the earth affords. But their success is not +attained by means of the Samuel Smiles-Connecticut policy. They do not +lie in wait, nor scheme, nor fawn, nor seek to adapt their sails to +catch the breeze of popular favor. Still, they are ever alert and alive +to any good that may come their way, and when it comes they simply +appropriate it, and tarrying not, move steadily on. + +Good health! Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the +crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the +sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every +hand-clasp. + +Do not fear being misunderstood; and never waste a moment thinking about +your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your own mind what you would like to +do, and then without violence of direction you will move straight to +the goal. + +Fear is the rock on which we split, and hate the shoal on which many a +barque is stranded. When we become fearful, the judgment is as +unreliable as the compass of a ship whose hold is full of iron ore; when +we hate, we have unshipped the rudder; and if ever we stop to meditate +on what the gossips say, we have allowed a hawser to foul the screw. + +Keep your mind on the great and splendid thing you would like to do; and +then, as the days go gliding by, you will find yourself unconsciously +seizing the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your +desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the +elements that it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful +person you desire to be, and the thought that you hold is hourly +transforming you into that particular individual you so admire. + +Thought is supreme, and to think is often better than to do. + +Preserve a right mental attitude--the attitude of courage, frankness and +good cheer. + +Darwin and Spencer have told us that this is the method of Creation. +Each animal has evolved the parts it needed and desired. The horse is +fleet because he wishes to be; the bird flies because it desires to; the +duck has a web foot because it wants to swim. All things come through +desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on +which our hearts are fixed. + +Many people know this, but they do not know it thoroughly enough so that +it shapes their lives. We want friends, so we scheme and chase 'cross +lots after strong people, and lie in wait for good folks--or alleged +good folks--hoping to be able to attach ourselves to them. The only way +to secure friends is to be one. And before you are fit for friendship +you must be able to do without it. That is to say, you must have +sufficient self-reliance to take care of yourself, and then out of the +surplus of your energy you can do for others. + +The individual who craves friendship, and yet desires a self-centered +spirit more, will never lack for friends. + +If you would have friends, cultivate solitude instead of society. Drink +in the ozone; bathe in the sunshine; and out in the silent night, under +the stars, say to yourself again and yet again, "I am a part of all my +eyes behold!" And the feeling then will come to you that you are no +mere interloper between earth and heaven; but you are a necessary part +of the whole. No harm can come to you that does not come to all, and if +you shall go down it can only be amid a wreck of worlds. + +Like old Job, that which we fear will surely come upon us. By a wrong +mental attitude we have set in motion a train of events that ends in +disaster. People who die in middle life from disease, almost without +exception, are those who have been preparing for death. The acute tragic +condition is simply the result of a chronic state of mind--a culmination +of a series of events. + +Character is the result of two things, mental attitude, and the way we +spend our time. It is what we think and what we do that make us what +we are. + +By laying hold on the forces of the universe, you are strong with them. +And when you realize this, all else is easy, for in your arteries will +course red corpuscles, and in your heart the determined resolution is +born to do and to be. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head +high. We are gods in the chrysalis. + + + +The Outsider + +When I was a farmer lad I noticed that whenever we bought a new cow, and +turned her into the pasture with the herd, there was a general +inclination on the part of the rest to make the new cow think she had +landed in the orthodox perdition. They would hook her away from the +salt, chase her from the water, and the long-horned ones, for several +weeks, would lose no opportunity to give her vigorous digs, pokes +and prods. + +With horses it was the same. And I remember one particular little black +mare that we boys used to transfer from one pasture to another, just to +see her back into a herd of horses and hear her hoofs play a resounding +solo on their ribs as they gathered round to do her mischief. + +Men are animals just as much as are cows, horses and pigs; and they +manifest similar proclivities. The introduction of a new man into an +institution always causes a small panic of resentment, especially if he +be a person of some power. Even in schools and colleges the new teacher +has to fight his way to overcome the opposition he is certain to meet. + +In a lumber camp, the newcomer would do well to take the initiative, +like that little black mare, and meet the first black look with a +short-arm jab. + +But in a bank, department store or railroad office this cannot be. So +the next best thing is to endure, and win out by an attention to +business to which the place is unaccustomed. In any event, the bigger +the man, unless he has the absolute power to overawe everything, the +more uncomfortable will be his position until gradually time smooths the +way and new issues come up for criticism, opposition and resentment, and +he is forgotten. + +The idea of Civil Service Reform--promotion for the good men in your +employ rather than hiring new ones for the big places--is a rule which +looks well on paper but is a fatal policy if carried out to the letter. + +The business that is not progressive is sowing the seeds of its own +dissolution. Life is a movement forward, and all things in nature that +are not evolving into something better are preparing to return into +their constituent elements. One general rule for progress in big +business concerns is the introduction of new blood. You must keep step +with the business world. If you lag behind, the outlaws that hang on the +flanks of commerce will cut you out and take you captive, just as the +wolves lie in wait for the sick cow of the plains. + +To keep your columns marching you must introduce new methods, new +inspiration and seize upon the best that others have invented or +discovered. + +The great railroads of America have evolved together. No one of them has +an appliance or a method that is much beyond the rest. If it were not +for this interchange of men and ideas some railroads would still be +using the link and pin, and snake-heads would be as common as in the +year 1869. + +The railroad manager who knows his business is ever on the lookout for +excellence among his men, and he promotes those who give an undivided +service. But besides this he hires a strong man occasionally from the +outside and promotes him over everybody. Then out come the hammers! + +But this makes but little difference to your competent manager--if a +place is to be filled and he has no one on his payroll big enough to +fill it, he hires an outsider. + +That is right and well for every one concerned. The new life of many a +firm dates from the day they hired a new man. + +Communities that intermarry raise a fine crop of scrubs, and the result +is the same in business ventures. Two of America's largest publishing +houses failed for a tidy sum of five millions or so each, a few years +ago, just thru a dogged policy, that extended over a period of fifty +years, of promoting cousins, uncles and aunts whose only claim of +efficiency was that they had been on the pension roll for a long time. +This way lies dry-rot. + +If you are a business man, and have a position of responsibility to be +filled, look carefully among your old helpers for a man to promote. But +if you haven't a man big enough to fill the place, do not put in a +little one for the sake of peace. Go outside and find a man and hire +him--never mind the salary if he can man the position--wages are always +relative to earning power. This will be the only way you can really man +your ship. + +As for Civil Service Rules--rules are made to be broken. And as for the +long-horned ones who will attempt to make life miserable for your new +employe, be patient with them. It is the privilege of everybody to do a +reasonable amount of kicking, especially if the person has been a long +time with one concern and has received many benefits. + +But if at the last, worst comes to worst, do not forget that you +yourself are at the head of the concern. If it fails you get the blame. +And should the anvil chorus become so persistent that there is danger of +discord taking the place of harmony, stand by your new man, even tho it +is necessary to give the blue envelope to every antediluvian. Precedence +in business is a matter of power, and years in one position may mean +that the man has been there so long that he needs a change. Let the +zephyrs of natural law play freely thru your whiskers. + +So here is the argument: promote your deserving men, but do not be +afraid to hire a keen outsider; he helps everybody, even the kickers, +for if you disintegrate and go down in defeat, the kickers will have to +skirmish around for new jobs anyway. Isn't that so? + + + +Get Out or Get in Line + +Abraham Lincoln's letter to Hooker! If all the letters, messages and +speeches of Lincoln were destroyed, except that one letter to Hooker, we +still would have an excellent index to the heart of the Rail-Splitter. + +In this letter we see that Lincoln ruled his own spirit; and we also +behold the fact that he could rule others. The letter shows wise +diplomacy, frankness, kindliness, wit, tact and infinite patience. +Hooker had harshly and unjustly criticised Lincoln, his commander in +chief. But Lincoln waives all this in deference to the virtues he +believes Hooker possesses, and promotes him to succeed Burnside. In +other words, the man who had been wronged promotes the man who had +wronged him, over the head of a man whom the promotee had wronged and +for whom the promoter had a warm personal friendship. + +But all personal considerations were sunk in view of the end desired. +Yet it was necessary that the man promoted should know the truth, and +Lincoln told it to him in a way that did not humiliate nor fire to +foolish anger; but which surely prevented the attack of cerebral +elephantiasis to which Hooker was liable. + +Perhaps we had better give the letter entire, and so here it is: + + +Executive Mansion, +Washington, January 26, 1863. + +Major-General Hooker: + +General:--I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of +course, I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient +reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some +things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. + +I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, which, of course, I +like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your position, in +which you are right. + +You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable if not an +indispensable quality. + +You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather +than harm; but I think that during General Burnside's command of the +army you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as +you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most +meritorious and honorable brother officer. + +I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying +that both the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course, it +was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. +Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now +ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The +government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is +neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I +much fear that the spirit you have aided to infuse into the army, of +criticising their commander and withholding confidence from him, will +now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. +Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out +of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. And now beware of +rashness, but with sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories. + +Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. + +One point in this letter is especially worth our consideration, for it +suggests a condition that springs up like deadly nightshade from a +poisonous soil. I refer to the habit of carping, sneering, grumbling and +criticising those who are above us. The man who is anybody and who does +anything is certainly going to be criticised, vilified and +misunderstood. This is a part of the penalty for greatness, and every +great man understands it; and understands, too, that it is no proof of +greatness. The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure +contumely without resentment. Lincoln did not resent criticism; he knew +that every life was its own excuse for being, but look how he calls +Hooker's attention to the fact that the dissension Hooker has sown is +going to return and plague him! "Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were +alive, could get any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in +it." Hooker's fault falls on Hooker--others suffer, but Hooker suffers +most of all. + +Not long ago I met a Yale student home on a vacation. I am sure he did +not represent the true Yale spirit, for he was full of criticism and +bitterness toward the institution. President Hadley came in for his +share, and I was given items, facts, data, with times and places, for a +"peach of a roast." + +Very soon I saw the trouble was not with Yale, the trouble was with the +young man. He had mentally dwelt on some trivial slights until he had +gotten so out of harmony with the place that he had lost the power to +derive any benefit from it. Yale college is not a perfect institution--a +fact, I suppose, that President Hadley and most Yale men are quite +willing to admit; but Yale does supply young men certain advantages, and +it depends upon the students whether they will avail themselves of +these advantages or not. If you are a student in college, seize upon +the good that is there. You receive good by giving it. You gain by +giving--so give sympathy and cheerful loyalty to the institution. Be +proud of it. Stand by your teachers--they are doing the best they can. +If the place is faulty, make it a better place by an example of +cheerfully doing your work every day the best you can. Mind your +own business. + +If the concern where you are employed is all wrong, and the Old Man is a +curmudgeon, it may be well for you to go to the Old Man and +confidentially, quietly and kindly tell him that his policy is absurd +and preposterous. Then show him how to reform his ways, and you might +offer to take charge of the concern and cleanse it of its secret faults. +Do this, or if for any reason you should prefer not, then take your +choice of these: Get Out, or Get in Line. You have got to do one or the +other--now make your choice. If you work for a man, in heaven's name +work for him. + +If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for +him--speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by +the institution that he represents. + +I think if I worked for a man, I would work for him. I would not work +for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I +would give an undivided service or none. If put to the pinch, an ounce +of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. + +If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage, why, resign your +position, and then when you are outside, damn to your heart's content. +But I pray you, as long as you are a part of an institution, do not +condemn it. Not that you will injure the institution--not that--but when +you disparage a concern of which you are a part, you disparage yourself. + +More than that, you are loosening the tendrils that hold you to the +institution, and the first high wind that happens along, you will be +uprooted and blown away in the blizzard's track--and probably you will +never know why. The letter only says, "Times are dull and we regret +there is not enough work," et cetera. + +Everywhere you will find these out-of-a-job fellows. Talk with them and +you will find that they are full of railing, bitterness, scorn and +condemnation. That was the trouble--thru a spirit of fault-finding they +got themselves swung around so they blocked the channel, and had to be +dynamited. They were out of harmony with the place, and no longer being +a help they had to be removed. Every employer is constantly looking for +people who can help him; naturally he is on the lookout among his +employees for those who do not help, and everything and everybody that +is a hindrance has to go. This is the law of trade--do not find fault +with it; it is founded on nature. The reward is only for the man who +helps, and in order to help you must have sympathy. + +You cannot help the Old Man so long as you are explaining in an +undertone and whisper, by gesture and suggestion, by thought and mental +attitude that he is a curmudgeon and that his system is dead wrong. You +are not necessarily menacing him by stirring up this cauldron of +discontent and warming envy into strife, but you are doing this: you are +getting yourself on a well-greased chute that will give you a quick ride +down and out. When you say to other employees that the Old Man is a +curmudgeon, you reveal the fact that you are one; and when you tell them +that the policy of the institution is "rotten," you certainly show +that yours is. + +This bad habit of fault-finding, criticising and complaining is a tool +that grows keener by constant use, and there is grave danger that he who +at first is only a moderate kicker may develop into a chronic knocker, +and the knife he has sharpened will sever his head. + +Hooker got his promotion even in spite of his many failings; but the +chances are that your employer does not have the love that Lincoln +had--the love that suffereth long and is kind. But even Lincoln could +not protect Hooker forever. Hooker failed to do the work, and Lincoln +had to try some one else. So there came a time when Hooker was +superseded by a Silent Man, who criticised no one, railed at nobody--not +even the enemy. + +And this Silent Man, who could rule his own spirit, took the cities. He +minded his own business, and did the work that no man can ever do unless +he constantly gives absolute loyalty, perfect confidence, unswerving +fidelity and untiring devotion. Let us mind our own business, and allow +others to mind theirs, thus working for self by working for the good +of all. + + + +The Week-Day, Keep it Holy + +Did it ever strike you that it is a most absurd and semi-barbaric thing +to set one day apart as "holy?" + +If you are a writer and a beautiful thought comes to you, you never +hesitate because it is Sunday, but you write it down. + +If you are a painter, and the picture appears before you, vivid and +clear, you make haste to materialize it ere the vision fades. + +If you are a musician, you sing a song, or play it on the piano, that it +may be etched upon your memory--and for the joy of it. + +But if you are a cabinet-maker, you may make a design, but you will have +to halt before you make the table, if the day happens to be the "Lord's +Day"; and if you are a blacksmith, you will not dare to lift a hammer, +for fear of conscience or the police. All of which is an admission that +we regard manual labor as a sort of necessary evil, and must be done +only at certain times and places. + +The orthodox reason for abstinence from all manual labor on Sunday is +that "God made the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh +He rested," therefore, man, created in the image of his Maker, should +hold this day sacred. How it can be possible for a supreme, omnipotent +and all-powerful being without "body, parts or passions" to become +wearied thru physical exertion is a question that is as yet unanswered. + +The idea of serving God on Sunday and then forgetting Him all the week +is a fallacy that is fostered by the Reverend Doctor Sayles and his +coadjutor, Deacon Buffum, who passes the Panama for the benefit of those +who would buy absolution. Or, if you prefer, salvation being free, what +we place in the Panama is an honorarium for Deity or his agent, just as +our noted authors never speak at banquets for pay, but accept the +honorarium that in some occult and mysterious manner is left on the +mantel. Sunday, with its immunity from work, was devised for slaves who +got out of all the work they could during the week. + +Then, to tickle the approbativeness of the slave, it was declared a +virtue not to work on Sunday, a most pleasing bit of Tom Sawyer +diplomacy. By following his inclinations and doing nothing, a +mysterious, skyey benefit accrues, which the lazy man hopes to have and +to hold for eternity. + +Then the slaves who do no work on Sunday, point out those who do as +beneath them in virtue, and deserving of contempt. Upon this theory all +laws which punish the person who works or plays on Sunday have been +passed. Does God cease work one day in seven, or is the work that He +does on Sunday especially different from that which He performs on +Tuesday? The Saturday half-holiday is not "sacred"--the Sunday holiday +is, and we have laws to punish those who "violate" it. No man can +violate the Sabbath; he can, however, violate his own nature, and this +he is more apt to do through enforced idleness than either work or play. +Only running water is pure, and stagnant nature of any sort is +dangerous--a breeding-place for disease. + +Change of occupation is necessary to mental and physical health. As it +is, most people get too much of one kind of work. All the week they are +chained to a task, a repugnant task because the dose is too big. They +have to do this particular job or starve. This is slavery, quite as +much as when man was bought and sold as a chattel. + +Will there not come a time when all men and women will work because it +is a blessed gift--a privilege? Then, if all worked, wasteful consuming +as a business would cease. As it is, there are many people who do not +work at all, and these pride themselves upon it and uphold the Sunday +laws. If the idlers would work, nobody would be overworked. If this time +ever comes shall we not cease to regard it as "wicked" to work at +certain times, just as much as we would count it absurd to pass a law +making it illegal for us to be happy on Wednesday? Isn't good work an +effort to produce a useful, necessary or beautiful thing? If so, good +work is a prayer, prompted by a loving heart--a prayer to benefit and +bless. If prayer is not a desire, backed up by a right human effort to +bring about its efficacy, then what is it? + +Work is a service performed for ourselves and others. If I love you I +will surely work for you--in this way I reveal my love. And to manifest +my love in this manner is a joy and gratification to me. Thus work is +for the worker alone and labor is its own reward. These things being +true, if it is wrong to work on Sunday, it is wrong to love on Sunday; +every smile is a sin, every caress a curse, and all tenderness a crime. + +Must there not come a time, if we grow in mentality and spirit, when we +shall cease to differentiate and quit calling some work secular and some +sacred? Isn't it as necessary for me to hoe corn and feed my loved ones +(and also the priest) as for the priest to preach and pray? Would any +priest ever preach and pray if somebody didn't hoe? If life is from God, +then all useful effort is divine; and to work is the highest form of +religion. If God made us, surely He is pleased to see that His work is a +success. If we are miserable, willing to liberate life with a bare +bodkin, we certainly do not compliment our Maker in thus proclaiming His +work a failure. But if our lives are full of gladness and we are +grateful for the feeling that we are one with Deity--helping God to do +His work, then, and only then do we truly serve Him. + +Isn't it strange that men should have made laws declaring that it is +wicked for us to work? + + + +Exclusive Friendships + +An excellent and gentle man of my acquaintance has said, "When fifty-one +per cent of the voters believe in coöperation as opposed to competition, +the Ideal Commonwealth will cease to be a theory and become a fact." + +That men should work together for the good of all is very beautiful, and +I believe the day will come when these things will be, but the simple +process of fifty-one per cent of the voters casting ballots for +socialism will not bring it about. + +The matter of voting is simply the expression of a sentiment, and after +the ballots have been counted there still remains the work to be done. A +man might vote right and act like a fool the rest of the year. + +The socialist who is full of bitterness, fight, faction and jealousy is +creating an opposition that will hold him and all others like him in +check. And this opposition is well, for even a very imperfect society is +forced to protect itself against dissolution and a condition which is +worse. To take over the monopolies and operate them for the good of +society is not enough, and not desirable either, so long as the idea of +rivalry is rife. + +As long as self is uppermost in the minds of men, they will fear and +hate other men, and under socialism there would be precisely the same +scramble for place and power that we see in politics now. + +Society can never be reconstructed until its individual members are +reconstructed. Man must be born again. When fifty-one per cent of the +voters rule their own spirit and have put fifty-one per cent of their +present envy, jealousy, bitterness, hate, fear and foolish pride out of +their hearts, then Christian socialism will be at hand, and not +until then. + +The subject is entirely too big to dispose of in a paragraph, so I am +just going to content myself here with the mention of one thing, that so +far as I know has never been mentioned in print--the danger to society +of exclusive friendships between man and man, and woman and woman. No +two persons of the same sex can complement each other, neither can they +long uplift or benefit each other. Usually they deform the mental and +spiritual estate. We should have many acquaintances or none. When two +men begin to "tell each other everything," they are hiking for senility. +There must be a bit of well-defined reserve. We are told that in +matter--solid steel for instance--the molecules never touch. They never +surrender their individuality. We are all molecules of Divinity, and our +personality should not be abandoned. Be yourself, let no man be +necessary to you--your friend will think more of you if you keep him at +a little distance. Friendship, like credit, is highest where it is +not used. + +I can understand how a strong man can have a great and abiding affection +for a thousand other men, and call them all by name, but how he can +regard any one of these men much higher than another and preserve his +mental balance, I do not know. + +Let a man come close enough and he'll clutch you like a drowning person, +and down you both go. In a close and exclusive friendship men partake of +others' weaknesses. + +In shops and factories it happens constantly that men will have their +chums. These men relate to each other their troubles--they keep nothing +back--they sympathize with each other, they mutually condole. + +They combine and stand by each other. Their friendship is exclusive and +others see that it is. Jealousy creeps in, suspicion awakens, hate +crouches around the corner, and these men combine in mutual dislike for +certain things and persons. They foment each other, and their sympathy +dilutes sanity--by recognizing their troubles men make them real. Things +get out of focus, and the sense of values is lost. By thinking some one +is an enemy you evolve him into one. + +Soon others are involved and we have a clique. A clique is a friendship +gone to seed. + +A clique develops into a faction, and a faction into a feud, and soon we +have a mob, which is a blind, stupid, insane, crazy, ramping and roaring +mass that has lost the rudder. In a mob there are no individuals--all +are of one mind, and independent thought is gone. + +A feud is founded on nothing--it is a mistake--a fool idea fanned into +flame by a fool friend! And it may become a mob. + +Every man who has had anything to do with communal life has noticed +that the clique is the disintegrating bacillus--and the clique has its +rise always in the exclusive friendship of two persons of the same sex, +who tell each other all unkind things that are said of each other--"so +be on your guard." Beware of the exclusive friendship! Respect all men +and try to find the good in all. To associate only with the sociable, +the witty, the wise, the brilliant, is a blunder--go among the plain, +the stupid, the uneducated, and exercise your own wit and wisdom. You +grow by giving--have no favorites--you hold your friend as much by +keeping away from him as you do by following after him. + +Revere him--yes, but be natural and let space intervene. Be a Divine +molecule. + +Be yourself and give your friend a chance to be himself. Thus do you +benefit him, and in benefiting him you benefit yourself. + +The finest friendships are between those who can do without each other. + +Of course there have been cases of exclusive friendship that are pointed +out to us as grand examples of affection, but they are so rare and +exceptional that they serve to emphasize the fact that it is +exceedingly unwise for men of ordinary power and intellect to exclude +their fellow men. A few men, perhaps, who are big enough to have a place +in history, could play the part of David to another's Jonathan and yet +retain the good will of all, but the most of us would engender +bitterness and strife. + +And this beautiful dream of socialism, where each shall work for the +good of all, will never come about until fifty-one per cent of the +adults shall abandon all exclusive friendships. Until that day arrives +you will have cliques, denominations--which are cliques grown +big--factions, feuds and occasional mobs. + +Do not lean on any one, and let no one lean on you. The ideal society +will be made up of ideal individuals. Be a man and be a friend to +everybody. + +When the Master admonished his disciples to love their enemies, he had +in mind the truth that an exclusive love is a mistake--love dies when it +is monopolized--it grows by giving. Love, lim., is an error. Your enemy +is one who misunderstands you--why should you not rise above the fog and +see his error and respect him for the good qualities you find in him? + + + +The Folly of Living in the Future + +The question is often asked, "What becomes of all the Valedictorians and +all the Class-Day Poets?" + +I can give information as to two parties for whom this inquiry is +made--the Valedictorian of my class is now a most industrious and worthy +floor-walker in Siegel, Cooper & Company's store, and I was the +Class-Day Poet. Both of us had our eyes fixed on the Goal. We stood on +the Threshold and looked out upon the World preparatory to going forth, +seizing it by the tail and snapping its head off for our own +delectation. + +We had our eyes fixed on the Goal--it might better have been the gaol. + +It was a very absurd thing for us to fix our eyes on the Goal. It +strained our vision and took our attention from our work. We lost our +grip on the present. + +To think of the Goal is to travel the distance over and over in your +mind and dwell on how awfully far off it is. We have so little +mind--doing business on such a limited capital of intellect--that to +wear it threadbare looking for a far-off thing is to get hopelessly +stranded in Siegel, Cooper & Company. + +Of course, Siegel, Cooper & Company is all right, too, but the point is +this--it wasn't the Goal! + +A goodly dash of indifference is a requisite in the formula for doing a +great work. + +No one knows what the Goal is--we are all sailing under sealed orders. + +Do your work to-day, doing it the best you can, and live one day at a +time. The man that does this is conserving his God-given energy, and not +spinning it out into tenuous spider threads so fragile and filmy that +unkind Fate will probably brush it away. + +To do your work well to-day, is the certain preparation for something +better to-morrow. The past has gone from us forever; the future we +cannot reach; the present alone is ours. Each day's work is a +preparation for the next day's duties. + +Live in the present--the Day is here, the time is Now. + +There is only one thing that is worth praying for--that we may be in the +line of Evolution. + + + +The Spirit of Man + +Maybe I am all wrong about it, yet I cannot help believing that the +spirit of man will live again in a better world than ours. Fenelon says: +"Justice demands another life to make good the inequalities of this." +Astronomers prophesy the existence of stars long before they can see +them. They know where they ought to be, and training their telescopes in +that direction they wait, knowing they shall find them. + +Materially, no one can imagine anything more beautiful than this earth, +for the simple reason that we cannot imagine anything we have not seen; +we may make new combinations, but the whole is made up of parts of +things with which we are familiar. This great green earth out of which +we have sprung, of which we are a part, that supports our bodies which +must return to it to repay the loan, is very, very beautiful. + +But the spirit of man is not fully at home here; as we grow in soul and +intellect, we hear, and hear again, a voice which says: "Arise and get +thee hence, for this is not thy rest." And the greater and nobler and +more sublime the spirit, the more constant is the discontent. Discontent +may come from various causes, so it will not do to assume that the +discontented ones are always the pure in heart, but it is a fact that +the wise and excellent have all known the meaning of world-weariness. +The more you study and appreciate this life, the more sure you are that +this is not all. You pillow your head upon Mother Earth, listen to her +heart-throb, and even as your spirit is filled with the love of her, +your gladness is half pain and there comes to you a joy that hurts. To +look upon the most exalted forms of beauty, such as sunset at sea, the +coming of a storm on the prairie, or the sublime majesty of the +mountains, begets a sense of sadness, an increasing loneliness. It is +not enough to say that man encroaches on man so that we are really +deprived of our freedom, that civilization is caused by a bacillus, and +that from a natural condition we have gotten into a hurly-burly where +rivalry is rife--all this may be true, but beyond and outside of all +this there is no physical environment in way of plenty which earth can +supply, that will give the tired soul peace. They are the happiest who +have the least; and the fable of the stricken king and the shirtless +beggar contains the germ of truth. The wise hold all earthly ties very +lightly--they are stripping for eternity. + +World-weariness is only a desire for a better spiritual condition. There +is more to be written on this subject of world-pain--to exhaust the +theme would require a book. And certain it is that I have no wish to say +the final word on any topic. The gentle reader has certain rights, and +among these is the privilege of summing up the case. + +But the fact holds that world-pain is a form of desire. All desires are +just, proper and right; and their gratification is the means by which +nature supplies us that which we need. + +Desire not only causes us to seek that which we need, but is a form of +attraction by which the good is brought to us, just as the amoebae +create a swirl in the waters that brings their food within reach. + +Every desire in nature has a fixed and definite purpose in the Divine +Economy, and every desire has its proper gratification. If we desire the +close friendship of a certain person, it is because that person has +certain soul-qualities that we do not possess, and which complement +our own. + +Through desire do we come into possession of our own; by submitting to +its beckonings we add cubits to our stature; and we also give out to +others our own attributes, without becoming poorer, for soul is not +limited. All nature is a symbol of spirit, and so I am forced to believe +that somewhere there must be a proper gratification for this mysterious +nostalgia of the soul. + +The Valhalla of the Norseman, the Nirvana of the Hindu, the Heaven of +the Christian are natural hopes of beings whose cares and +disappointments here are softened by belief that somewhere, Thor, Brahma +or God gives compensation. + +The Eternal Unities require a condition where men and women shall be +permitted to love and not to sorrow; where the tyranny of things hated +shall not prevail, nor that for which the heart yearns turn to ashes at +our touch. + + + +Art and Religion + +While this seems true in the main, I am not sure it will hold in every +case. Please think it out for yourself, and if I happen to be wrong, +why, put me straight. + +The proposition is this: the artist needs no religion beyond his work. +That is to say, art is religion to the man who thinks beautiful thoughts +and expresses them for others the best he can. Religion is an emotional +excitement whereby the devotee rises into a state of spiritual +sublimity, and for the moment is bathed in an atmosphere of rest, and +peace, and love. All normal men and women crave such periods; and +Bernard Shaw says that we reach them through strong tea, tobacco, +whiskey, opium, love, art or religion. + +I think Bernard Shaw a cynic, but there is a glimmer of truth in his +idea that makes it worth repeating. But beyond the natural religion, +which is a passion for oneness with the Whole, all formalized religions +engraft the element of fear, and teach the necessity of placating a +Supreme Being. Our idea of a Supreme Being is suggested to us by the +political government under which we live. The situation was summed up by +Carlyle, when he said that Deity to the average British mind was simply +an infinite George IV. The thought of God as a terrible Supreme Tyrant +first found form in an unlimited monarchy; but as governments have +become more lenient so have the gods, until you get them down (or up) to +a republic, where God is only a president, and we all approach Him in +familiar prayer, on an absolute equality. + +Then soon, for the first time, we find man saying, "I am God, and you +are God, and we are all simply particles of Him," and this is where the +president is done away with, and the referendum comes in. But the +absence of a supreme governing head implies simplicity, honesty, +justice, and sincerity. Wherever plottings, schemings and doubtful +methods of life are employed, a ruler is necessary; and there, too, +religion, with its idea of placating God has a firm hold. Men whose +lives are doubtful feel the need of a strong government and a hot +religion. Formal religion and sin go hand in hand. Formal religion and +slavery go hand in hand. Formal religion and tyranny go hand in hand. +Formal religion and ignorance go hand in hand. + +And sin, slavery, tyranny and ignorance are one--they are never +separated. + +Formal religion is a scheme whereby man hopes to make peace with his +Maker; and a formal religion also tends to satisfy the sense of +sublimity where the man has failed to find satisfaction in his work. +Voltaire says, "When woman no longer finds herself acceptable to man, +she turns to God," When man is no longer acceptable to himself he goes +to church. In order to keep this article from extending itself into a +tome, I purposely omitted saying a single thing about the Protestant +Church as a useful Social Club and have just assumed for argument's sake +that the church is really a religious institution. + +A formal religion is only a cut 'cross lots--an attempt to bring about +the emotions and the sensations that come to a man by the practice of +love, virtue, excellence and truth. When you do a splendid piece of work +and express your best, there comes to you, as reward, an exaltation of +soul, a sublimity of feeling that puts you for the time being in touch +with the Infinite. A formal religion brings this feeling without your +doing anything useful, therefore it is unnatural. + +Formalized religion is the strongest where sin, slavery, tyranny and +ignorance abound. Where men are free, enlightened and at work, they find +all the gratification in their work that their souls demand--they cease +to hunt outside themselves for something to give them rest. They are at +peace with themselves, at peace with man and with God. + +But any man chained to a hopeless task, whose daily work does not +express himself, who is dogged by a boss, whenever he gets a moment of +respite turns to drink or religion. + +Men with an eye on Saturday night, who plot to supplant some one else, +who can locate an employer any hour of the day, who use their wit to +evade labor, who think only of their summer vacation when they will no +longer be compelled to work, are apt to be sticklers for Sabbath-keeping +and church-going. + +Gentlemen in business who give eleven for a dozen, and count thirty-four +inches a yard, who are quick to foreclose a mortgage, and who say +"business is business," generally are vestrymen, deacons and church +trustees. Look about you! Predaceous real estate dealers who set nets +for all the unwary, lawyers who lie in wait for their prey, merchant +princes who grind their clerks under the wheel, and oil magnates whose +history was never written, nor could be written, often make peace with +God, and find a gratification for their sense of sublimity by building +churches, founding colleges, giving libraries, and holding firmly to a +formalized religion. Look about you! + +To recapitulate: if your life-work is doubtful, questionable or +distasteful, you will hold the balance true by going outside your +vocation for the gratification that is your due, but which your daily +work denies, and you find it in religion, I do not say this is always +so, but it is very often. Great sinners are apt to be very religious; +and conversely, the best men who have ever lived have been at war with +established religions. And further, the best men are never found +in churches. + +Men deeply immersed in their work, whose lives are consecrated to doing +things, who are simple, honest and sincere, desire no formal religion, +need no priest nor pastor, and seek no gratification outside their daily +lives. All they ask is to be let alone--they wish only the privilege +to work. + +When Samuel Johnson, on his death bed, made Joshua Reynolds promise he +would do no more work on Sunday, he of course had no conception of the +truth that Reynolds reached through work the same condition of mind that +he, Johnson, had reached by going to church. Johnson despised work and +Reynolds loved it; Johnson considered one day in the week holy; to +Reynolds all days were sacred--sacred to work; that is, to the +expression of his best. Why should you cease to express your holiest and +highest on Sunday? Ah, I know why you don't work on Sunday! It is +because you think that work is degrading, and because your sale and +barter is founded on fraud, and your goods are shoddy. Your week-day +dealings lie like a pall upon your conscience, and you need a day in +which to throw off the weariness of that slavery under which you live. +You are not free yourself, and you insist that others shall not be free. + +You have ceased to make work gladsome, and you toil and make others +toil with you, and you all well nigh faint from weariness and disgust. +You are slave and slave-owner, for to own slaves is to be one. + +But the artist is free and he works in joy, and to him all things are +good and all days are holy. The great inventors, thinkers, poets, +musicians and artists have all been men of deep religious natures; but +their religion has never been a formalized, restricted, ossified +religion. They did not worship at set times and places. Their religion +has been a natural and spontaneous blossoming of the intellect and +emotions--they have worked in love, not only one day in the week, but +all days, and to them the groves have always and ever been God's +first temples. + +Let us work to make men free! Am I bad because I want to give you +freedom, and have you work in gladness instead of fear? + +Do not hesitate to work on Sunday, just as you would think good thoughts +if the spirit prompts you. For work is, at the last, only the expression +of your thought, and there can be no better religion than good work. + + + +Initiative + +The world bestows its big prizes, both in money and honors, for but one +thing. And that is Initiative. What is Initiative? I'll tell you: It is +doing the right thing without being told. But next to doing the right +thing without being told is to do it when you are told once. That is to +say, carry the Message to Garcia! There are those who never do a thing +until they are told twice: such get no honors and small pay. Next, there +are those who do the right thing only when necessity kicks them from +behind, and these get indifference instead of honors, and a pittance for +pay. This kind spends most of its time polishing a bench with a +hard-luck story. Then, still lower down in the scale than this, we find +the fellow who will not do the right thing even when some one goes along +to show him how, and stays to see that he does it; he is always out of a +job, and receives the contempt he deserves, unless he has a rich Pa, in +which case Destiny awaits near by with a stuffed club. To which class do +you belong? + + + +The Disagreeable Girl + +England's most famous dramatist, George Bernard Shaw, has placed in the +pillory of letters what he is pleased to call "The Disagreeable Girl." + +And he has done it by a dry-plate, quick-shutter process in a manner +that surely lays him liable for criminal libel in the assize of +high society. + +I say society's assize advisedly, because it is only in society that the +Disagreeable Girl can play a prominent part, assuming the center of the +stage. Society, in the society sense, is built upon vacuity; its favors +being for those who reveal a fine capacity to waste and consume. Those +who would write their names high on society's honor roll, need not be +either useful or intelligent--they need only seem. + +And this gives to the Disagreeable Girl her opportunity. In the paper +box factory she would have to make good; Cluett, Coon & Co. ask for +results; the stage demands at least a modicum of intellect, in addition +to shape, but society asks for nothing but pretense, and the palm is +awarded to palaver. But do not, if you please, imagine that the +Disagreeable Girl does not wield an influence. That is the very +point--her influence is so far-reaching in its effect that George +Bernard Shaw, giving cross-sections of life in the form of dramas, +cannot write a play and leave her out. + +She is always with us, ubiquitous, omniscient and omnipresent--is the +Disagreeable Girl. She is a disappointment to her father, a source of +humiliation to her mother, a pest to her brothers and sisters, and when +she finally marries, she slowly saps the inspiration of her husband and +very often converts a proud and ambitious man into a weak and +cowardly cur. + +Only in society does the Disagreeable Girl shine--everywhere else she is +an abject failure. The much-vaunted Gibson Girl is a kind of de luxe +edition of Shaw's Disagreeable Girl. The Gibson Girl lolls, loafs, +pouts, weeps, talks back, lies in wait, dreams, eats, drinks, sleeps and +yawns. She rides in a coach in a red jacket, plays golf in a secondary +sexual sweater, dawdles on a hotel veranda, and can tum-tum on a piano, +but you never hear of her doing a useful thing or saying a wise one. +She plays bridge whist, for "keeps" when she wins, and "owes" when she +loses, and her picture in flattering half-tone often adorns a page of +the Sunday Yellow. + +She reveals a beautiful capacity for avoiding all useful effort. + +Gibson gilds the Disagreeable Girl. + +Shaw paints her as she is. + +In the _Doll's House_ Henrik Ibsen has given us _Nora Hebler_, a +Disagreeable Girl of mature age, who, beyond a doubt, first set George +Bernard Shaw a-thinking. Then looking about, Shaw saw her at every turn +in every stage of her moth-and-butterfly existence. + +And the Disagreeable Girl being everywhere, Shaw, dealer in human +character, cannot write a play and leave her out, any more than the +artist Turner could paint a picture and leave man out, or Paul Veronese +produce a canvas and omit the dog. + +The Disagreeable Girl is a female of the genus homo persuasion, built +around a digestive apparatus that possesses marked marshmallow +proclivities. She is pretty, pug-nosed, pink, pert and poetical; and at +first glance, to the unwary, she shows signs of gentleness and +intelligence. Her age is anywhere from eighteen to twenty-eight. At +twenty-eight she begins to evolve into something else, and her capacity +for harm is largely curtailed, because by this time spirit has written +itself in her form and features, and the grossness and animality which +before were veiled are becoming apparent. + +Habit writes itself on the face, and body is an automatic recording +machine. + +To have a beautiful old age, you must live a beautiful youth, for we +ourselves are posterity, and every man is his own ancestor. I am to-day +what I am because I was yesterday what I was. The Disagreeable Girl is +always pretty, at least we have been told she is pretty, and she fully +accepts the dictum. + +She has also been told she is clever, and she thinks she is. + +The actual fact is she is only "sassy." + +The fine flaring up of youth has tended to set sex rampant, but she is +not "immoral" save in her mind. + +She has caution to the verge of cowardice, and so she is sans reproche. +In public she pretends to be dainty; but alone, or with those for whose +good opinion she does not care, she is gross, coarse and sensual in +every feature of her life. She eats too much, does not exercise enough +and considers it amusing to let other people wait on her and do for her +the things she should do for herself. Her room is a jumble of disorder. +The one gleam of hope for her lies in the fact that out of shame, she +allows no visitor to enter her apartments if she can help it. Concrete +selfishness is her chief mark. She will avoid responsibility, side-step +every duty that calls for honest effort; is untruthful, secretive, +indolent and dishonest. + +"What are you eating?" asks Nora Hebler's husband as she enters the +room, not expecting to see him. + +"Nothing," is the answer, and she hides the box of bonbons behind her, +and soon backs out of the room. + +I think Mr. Hebler had no business to ask her what she was eating--no +man should ask any woman such a question, and really it was no +difference anyway. But Nora is always on the defensive and fabricates +when it is necessary, and when it isn't, just through habit. She will +hide a letter written by her grandmother as quickly and deftly as if it +were a missive from a guilty lover. The habit of her life is one of +suspicion, for being inwardly guilty herself, she suspects everybody +although it is quite likely that crime with her has never broken through +thought into deed. Nora will rifle her husband's pockets, read his +note-book, examine his letters, and when he goes on a trip she spends +the day checking up his desk, for her soul delights in duplicate keys. + +At times she lets drop hints of knowledge concerning little nothings +that are none of hers, just to mystify folks. + +She does strange, annoying things simply to see what others will do. + +In degree, Nora's husband fixed the vice of finesse in her nature, for +when even a "good" woman is accused she parries by the use of trickery +and wins her point by the artistry of the bagnio. Women and men are +never really far apart anyway, and women are largely what men have +made them. + +We are all just getting rid of our shackles; listen closely, anywhere, +even among honest and intellectual people, if such there be, and you can +detect the rattle of chains. + +The Disagreeable Girl's mind and soul have not kept pace with her body. +Yesterday she was a slave, sold in a Circassian mart, and freedom to her +is so new and strange that she is unfamiliar with her environment, and +she does not know what to do with it. + +The tragedy she works, according to George Bernard Shaw, is through the +fact that very often good men, blinded by the glamour of sex, imagine +they love the Disagreeable Girl, when what they love is their own +ideal--an image born in their own minds. + +Nature is both a trickster and a humorist, and ever sets the will of the +species beyond the discernment of the individual. The picador has to +blindfold his horse in order to get him into the bull-ring, and +likewise, Dan Cupid does the myopic to a purpose. + +For aught we know, the lovely Beatrice of Dante was only a Disagreeable +Girl, clothed in a poet's fancy, and idealized by a dreamer. Fortunate +was Dante that he worshipped her afar, that he never knew her well +enough to be undeceived, and so walked through life in love with love, +sensitive, saintly, sweetly sad and most divinely happy in his +melancholy. + + + +The Neutral + +There is known to me a prominent business house that by the very force +of its directness and worth has incurred the enmity of many rivals. In +fact, there is a very general conspiracy on hand to put the institution +down and out. In talking with a young man employed by this house, he +yawned and said, "Oh, in this quarrel I am neutral." + +"But you get your bread and butter from this firm, and in a matter where +the very life of the institution is concerned, I do not see how you can +be a neutral." + +And he changed the subject. + +I think that if I enlisted in the Japanese army I would not be a +neutral. + +Business is a fight--a continual struggle--just as life is. Man has +reached his present degree of development through struggle. Struggle +there must be and always will be. The struggle began as purely physical; +as man evolved it shifted ground to the mental, psychic, and the +spiritual, with a few dashes of cave-man proclivities still left. But +depend upon it, the struggle will always be--life is activity. And when +it gets to be a struggle in well-doing, it will still be a struggle. +When inertia gets the better of you it is time to telephone to the +undertaker. + +The only real neutral in this game of life is a dead one. + +Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty, but of every other +good thing. + +A business that is not safeguarded on every side by active, alert, +attentive, vigilant men is gone. As oxygen is the disintegrating +principle of life, working night and day to dissolve, separate, pull +apart and dissipate, so there is something in business that continually +tends to scatter, destroy and shift possession from this man to that. A +million mice nibble eternally at every business venture. + +The mice are not neutrals, and if enough employes in a business house +are neutrals, the whole concern will eventually come tumbling about +their ears. + +I like that order of Field-Marshal Oyama: "Give every honorable neutral +that you find in our lines the honorable jiu-jitsu hikerino." + + + +Reflections on Progress + +Renan has said that truth is always rejected when it comes to a man for +the first time, its evolution being as follows: + +First, we say the thing is rank heresy, and contrary to the Bible. + +Second, we say the matter really amounts to nothing, anyway. + +Third, we declare that we always believed it. + +Two hundred years ago partnerships in business were very rare. A man in +business simply made things and sold them--and all the manufacturing was +done by himself and his immediate family. Soon we find instances of +brothers continuing the work the father had begun, as in the case of the +Elzevirs and the Plantins, the great bookmakers of Holland. To meet this +competition, four printers, in 1640, formed a partnership and pooled +their efforts. A local writer by the name of Van Krugen denounced these +four men, and made savage attacks on partnerships in general as wicked +and illegal, and opposed to the best interests of the people. This view +seems to have been quite general, for there was a law in Amsterdam +forbidding all partnerships in business that were not licensed by the +state. The legislature of the State of Missouri has recently made war on +the department store in the same way, using the ancient Van Krugen +argument as a reason, for there is no copyright on stupidity. + +In London in the seventeenth century men who were found guilty of +pooling their efforts and dividing profits, were convicted by law and +punished for "contumacy, contravention and connivance," and were given a +taste of the stocks in the public square. + +When corporations were formed for the first time, only a few years ago, +there was a fine burst of disapproval. The corporation was declared a +scheme of oppression, a hungry octopus, a grinder of the individual. And +to prove the case various instances of hardship were cited; and no doubt +there was much suffering, for many people are never able to adjust +themselves to new conditions without experiencing pain and regret. + +But we now believe that corporations came because they were required. +Certain things the times demanded, and no one man, or two or three men +could perform these tasks alone--hence the corporation. The rise of +England as a manufacturing nation began with the plan of the +stock company. + +The aggregation known as the joint-stock company, everybody is willing +now to admit, was absolutely necessary in order to secure the machinery, +that is to say, the tools, the raw stock, the buildings, and to provide +for the permanence of the venture. + +The railroad system of America has built up this country--on this thing +of joint-stock companies and transportation, our prosperity has hinged. +"Commerce, consists in carrying things from where they are plentiful to +where they are needed," says Emerson. + +There are ten combinations of capital in this country that control over +six thousand miles of railroad each. These companies have taken in a +large number of small lines; and many connecting lines of tracks have +been built. Competition over vast sections of country has been +practically obliterated, and this has been done so quietly that few +people are aware of the change. Only one general result of this +consolidation of management has been felt, and that it is better +service at less expense. No captain of any great industrial enterprise +dares now to say, "The public be damned," even if he ever said it--which +I much doubt. The pathway to success lies in serving the public, not in +affronting it. In no other way is success possible, and this truth is so +plain and patent that even very simple folk are able to recognize it. +You can only help yourself by helping others. + +Thirty years ago, when P. T. Barnum said, "The public delights in being +humbugged," he knew that it was not true, for he never attempted to put +the axiom in practice. He amused the public by telling it a lie, but P. +T. Barnum never tried anything so risky as deception. Even when he lied +we were not deceived; truth can be stated by indirection. "When my love +tells me she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she +lies." Barnum always gave more than he advertised; and going over and +over the same territory he continued to amuse and instruct the public +for nearly forty years. + +This tendency to coöperate is seen in such splendid features as the +Saint Louis Union Station, for instance, where just twenty great +railroad companies lay aside envy, prejudice, rivalry and whim, and use +one terminal. If competition were really the life of trade, each +railroad that enters Saint Louis would have a station of its own, and +the public would be put to the worry, trouble, expense and endless delay +of finding where it wanted to go and how to get there. As it is now, the +entire aim and end of the scheme is to reduce friction, worry and +expense, and give the public the greatest accommodation--the best +possible service--to make travel easy and life secure. Servants in +uniform meet you as you alight, and answer your every question--speeding +you courteously and kindly on your way. There are women to take care of +women, and nurses to take care of children, and wheel chairs for such as +may be infirm or lame. The intent is to serve--not to pull you this way +and that, and sell you a ticket over a certain road. You are free to +choose your route and you are free to utilize as your own this great +institution that cost a million dollars, and that requires the presence +of two hundred people to maintain. All is for you. It is for the public +and was only made possible by a oneness of aim and desire--that is to +say coöperation. Before coöperation comes in any line, there is always +competition pushed to a point that threatens destruction and promises +chaos; then to divert ruin, men devise a better way, a plan that +conserves and economizes, and behold, it is found in coöperation. + +Civilization is an evolution. + +Civilization is not a thing separate and apart, any more than art is. + +Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Civilization is the +expeditious way of doing things. And as haste is often waste--the more +hurry the less speed--civilization is the best way of doing things. + +As mankind multiplies in number, the problem of supplying people what +they need is the important question of Earth. And mankind has ever held +out offers of reward in fame and money--both being forms of power--to +those who would supply it better things. + +Teachers are those who educate the people to appreciate the things they +need. + +The man who studies mankind, and finds out what men really want, and +then supplies them this, whether it be an Idea or a Thing, is the man +who is crowned with the laurel wreath of honor and clothed with riches. + +What people need and what they want may be very different. + +To undertake to supply people a thing you think they need but which they +do not want, is to have your head elevated on a pike, and your bones +buried in Potter's Field. + +But wait, and the world will yet want the thing that it needs, and your +bones will then become sacred relics. + +This change in desire on the part of mankind is the result of the growth +of intellect. + +It is Progress, and Progress is Evolution, and Evolution is Progress. + +There are men who are continually trying to push Progress along: we call +these individuals "Reformers." + +Then there are others who always oppose the Reformer--the mildest name +we have for them is "Conservative." + +The Reformer is either a Savior or a Rebel, all depending on whether he +succeeds or fails, and your point of view. He is what he is, regardless +of what other men think of him. The man who is indicted and executed as +a rebel, often afterward has the word "Savior" carved on his tomb; and +sometimes men who are hailed as saviors in their day are afterward found +to be sham saviors--to wit, charlatans. Conservation is a plan of +Nature. To keep the good is to conserve. A Conservative is a man who +puts on the brakes when he thinks Progress is going to land Civilization +in the ditch and wreck the whole concern. + +Brakemen are necessary, but in the language of Koheleth, there is a time +to apply the brake and there is a time to abstain from applying the +brake. To clog the wheels continually is to stand still, and to stand +still is to retreat. Progress has need of the brakeman, but the brakeman +should not occupy all of his time putting on the brakes. + +The Conservative is just as necessary as the Radical. The Conservative +keeps the Reformer from going too fast, and plucking the fruit before it +is ripe. Governments are only good where there is strong Opposition, +just as the planets are held in place by the opposition of forces. And +so civilization goes forward by stops and starts--pushed by the +Reformers and held back by the Conservatives. One is necessary to the +other, and they often shift places. But forward and forward Civilization +forever goes--ascertaining the best way of doing things. + +In commerce we have had the Individual Worker, the Partnership, the +Corporation, and now we have the Trust. + +The Trust is simply Corporations forming a partnership. The thing is all +an Evolution--a moving forward. It is all for man and it is all done by +man. It is all done with the consent, aye, and approval of man. + +The Trusts were made by the People, and the People can and will unmake +them, should they ever prove an engine of oppression. They exist only +during good behavior, and like men, they are living under a sentence of +death, with an indefinite reprieve. + +The Trusts are good things because they are economizers of energy. They +cut off waste, increase the production, and make a panic practically +impossible. + +The Trusts are here in spite of the men who think they originated them, +and in spite of the Reformers who turned Conservatives and +opposed them. + +The next move of Evolution will be the age of Socialism. Socialism means +the operation of all industries by the people, and for the people. +Socialism is coöperation instead of competition. Competition has been so +general that economists mistook it for a law of nature, when it was only +an incident. + +Competition is no more a law of nature than is hate. Hate was once so +thoroughly believed in that we gave it personality and called it +the Devil. + +We have banished the Devil by educating people to know that he who works +has no time to hate and no need to fear, and by this same means, +education, will the people be prepared for the age of Socialism. + +The Trusts are now getting things ready for Socialism. + +Socialism is a Trust of Trusts. + +Humanity is growing in intellect, in patience, in kindness--in love. And +when the time is ripe, the people will step in and take peaceful +possession of their own, and the Coöperative Commonwealth will give to +each one his due. + + + +Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise + +Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise seem to be the three ingredients that are +most needed in forming the Gentle Man. I place these elements according +to their value. No man is great who does not have Sympathy plus, and the +greatness of men can be safely gauged by their sympathies. Sympathy and +imagination are twin sisters. Your heart must go out to all men, the +high, the low, the rich, the poor, the learned, the unlearned, the good, +the bad, the wise and the foolish--it is necessary to be one with them +all, else you can never comprehend them. Sympathy!--it is the touchstone +to every secret, the key to all knowledge, the open sesame of all +hearts. Put yourself in the other man's place and then you will know why +he thinks certain things and does certain deeds. Put yourself in his +place and your blame will dissolve itself into pity, and your tears will +wipe out the record of his misdeeds. The saviors of the world have +simply been men with wondrous sympathy. + +But Knowledge must go with Sympathy, else the emotions will become +maudlin and pity may be wasted on a poodle instead of a child; on a +field-mouse instead of a human soul. Knowledge in use is wisdom, and +wisdom implies a sense of values--you know a big thing from a little +one, a valuable fact from a trivial one. Tragedy and comedy are simply +questions of value: a little misfit in life makes us laugh, a great one +is tragedy and cause for expression of grief. + +Poise is the strength of body and strength of mind to control your +Sympathy and your Knowledge. Unless you control your emotions they run +over and you stand in the mire. Sympathy must not run riot, or it is +valueless and tokens weakness instead of strength. In every hospital for +nervous disorders are to be found many instances of this loss of +control. The individual has Sympathy but not Poise, and therefore his +life is worthless to himself and to the world. + +He symbols inefficiency and not helpfulness. Poise reveals itself more +in voice than it does in words; more in thought than in action; more in +atmosphere than in conscious life. It is a spiritual quality, and is +felt more than it is seen. It is not a matter of bodily size, nor of +bodily attitude, nor attire, nor of personal comeliness: it is a state +of inward being, and of knowing your cause is just. And so you see it is +a great and profound subject after all, great in its ramifications, +limitless in extent, implying the entire science of right living. I once +met a man who was deformed in body and little more than a dwarf, but who +had such Spiritual Gravity--such Poise--that to enter a room where he +was, was to feel his presence and acknowledge his superiority. To allow +Sympathy to waste itself on unworthy objects is to deplete one's life +forces. To conserve is the part of wisdom, and reserve is a necessary +element in all good literature, as well as in everything else. + +Poise being the control of our Sympathy and Knowledge, it implies a +possession of these attributes, for without having Sympathy and +Knowledge you have nothing to control but your physical body. To +practise Poise as a mere gymnastic exercise, or study in etiquette, is +to be self-conscious, stiff, preposterous and ridiculous. Those who cut +such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make angels weep, are men +void of Sympathy and Knowledge trying to cultivate Poise. Their science +is a mere matter of what to do with arms and legs. Poise is a question +of spirit controlling flesh, heart controlling attitude. + +Get Knowledge by coming close to Nature. That man is the greatest who +best serves his kind. Sympathy and Knowledge are for use--you acquire +that you may give out; you accumulate that you may bestow. And as God +has given unto you the sublime blessings of Sympathy and Knowledge, +there will come to you the wish to reveal your gratitude by giving them +out again; for the wise man is aware that we retain spiritual qualities +only as we give them away. Let your light shine. To him that hath shall +be given. The exercise of wisdom brings wisdom; and at the last the +infinitesimal quantity of man's knowledge, compared with the Infinite, +and the smallness of man's Sympathy when compared with the source from +which ours is absorbed, will evolve an abnegation and a humility that +will lend a perfect Poise. The Gentleman is a man with perfect Sympathy, +Knowledge, and Poise. + + + +Love and Faith + +No woman is worthy to be a wife who on the day of her marriage is not +lost absolutely and entirely in an atmosphere of love and perfect trust; +the supreme sacredness of the relation is the only thing which, at the +time, should possess her soul. Is she a bawd that she should bargain? + +Women should not "obey" men anymore than men should obey women. There +are six requisites in every happy marriage; the first is Faith, and the +remaining five are Confidence. Nothing so compliments a man as for a +woman to believe in him--nothing so pleases a woman as for a man to +place confidence in her. + +Obey? God help me! Yes, if I loved a woman, my whole heart's desire +would be to obey her slightest wish. And how could I love her unless I +had perfect confidence that she would only aspire to what was beautiful, +true and right? And to enable her to realize this ideal, her wish would +be to me a sacred command; and her attitude of mind toward me I know +would be the same. And the only rivalry between us would be as to who +could love the most; and the desire to obey would be the one controlling +impulse of our lives. + +We gain freedom by giving it, and he who bestows faith gets it back with +interest. To bargain and stipulate in love is to lose. + +The woman who stops the marriage ceremony and requests the minister to +omit the word "obey," is sowing the first seed of doubt and distrust +that later may come to fruition in the divorce court. + +The haggling and bickerings of settlements and dowries that usually +precede the marriage of "blood" and "dollars" are the unheeded warnings +that misery, heartache, suffering, and disgrace await the principals. + +Perfect faith implies perfect love; and perfect love casteth out fear. +It is always the fear of imposition, and a lurking intent to rule, that +causes the woman to haggle over a word--it is absence of love, a +limitation, an incapacity. The price of a perfect love is an absolute +and complete surrender. + +Keep back part of the price and yours will be the fate of Ananias and +Sapphira. Your doom is swift and sure. To win all we must give all. + + + +Giving Something for Nothing + +To give a man something for nothing tends to make the individual +dissatisfied with himself. + +Your enemies are the ones you have helped. + +And when an individual is dissatisfied with himself he is dissatisfied +with the whole world--and with you. + +A man's quarrel with the world is only a quarrel with himself. But so +strong is this inclination to lay blame elsewhere and take credit to +ourselves, that when we are unhappy we say it is the fault of this woman +or that man. Especially do women attribute their misery to That Man. + +And often the trouble is he has given her too much for nothing. + +This truth is a reversible, back-action one, well lubricated by use, +working both ways--as the case may be. + +Nobody but a beggar has really definite ideas concerning his rights. +People who give much--who love much--do not haggle. + +That form of affection which drives sharp bargains and makes demands, +gets a check on the bank in which there is no balance. + +There is nothing so costly as something you get for nothing. + +My friend Tom Lowry, Magnate in Ordinary, of Minneapolis and the east +side of Wall Street, has recently had a little experience that proves +my point. + +A sturdy beggar-man, a specimen of decayed gentility, once called on +Tammas with a hard-luck story and a Family Bible, and asked for a small +loan on the Good Book. + +To be compelled to soak the Family Bible would surely melt the heart of +gneiss! + +Tom was melted. + +Tom made the loan but refused the collateral, stating he had no use for +it. + +Which was God's truth for once. + +In a few weeks the man came back, and tried to tell Tom his hard-luck +story concerning the Cold Ingratitude of a Cruel World. + +Tom said, "Spare me the slow music and the recital--I have troubles of +my own. I need mirth and good cheer--take this dollar, and peace be +with you." + +"Peace be multiplied unto thee," said the beggar, and departed. The +next month the man returned, and began to tell Tom a tale of Cruelty, +Injustice and Ingratitude. + +Tom was riled--he had his magnate business to attend to, and he made a +remark in italics. The beggar said, "Mr. Lowry, if you had your business +a little better systematized, I would not have to trouble you +personally--why don't you just speak to your cashier?" And the great +man, who once took a party of friends out for a tally-ho ride, and +through mental habit collected five cents from each guest, was so +pleased at the thought of relief that he pressed the buzzer. The cashier +came, and Tom said, "Put this man Grabheimer on your pay-roll, give him +two dollars now and the same the first of every month." + +Then turning to the beggar-man, Tom said, "Now get out of here--hurry, +vamose, hike--and be damned to you!" + +"The same to you and many of them," said His Effluvia politely, and +withdrew. + +All this happened two years ago. The beggar got his money regularly for +a year, and then in auditing accounts Tom found the name on the +pay-roll, and as Tom could not remember how the name got there, he at +first thought the pay-roll was being stuffed. Anyway he ordered the +beggar's name stricken off the roster, and the elevator man was +instructed to enforce the edict against beggars. + +Not being allowed to see his man, the beggar wrote him +letters--denunciatory, scandalous, abusive, threatening. Finally the +beggar laid the matter before an obese limb o' the Law, Jaggers, of the +firm of Jaggers & Jaggers, who took the case on a contingent fee. + +The case came to trial, and Jaggers proved his case se +offendendo--argal: it was shown by the defendant's books that His +Bacteria had been on the pay-roll and his name had been stricken off +without suggestion, request, cause, reason or fault of his own. + +His Crabship proved the contract, and Tom got it in the mazzard. +Judgment for plaintiff, with costs. The beggar got the money and +Minneapolis Tom got the experience. Tom said the man would lose the +money, but he himself has gotten the part that will be his for +ninety-nine years. Surely the spirit of justice does not sleep and there +is a beneficent and wise Providence that watches over magnates. + + + +Work and Waste + +These truths I hold to be self-evident: That man was made to be happy; +that happiness is only attainable through useful effort; that the very +best way to help ourselves is to help others, and often the best way to +help others is to mind our own business; that useful effort means the +proper exercise of all our faculties; that we grow only through +exercise; that education should continue through life, and the joys of +mental endeavor should be, especially, the solace of the old; that where +men alternate work, play and study in right proportion, the organs of +the mind are the last to fail, and death for such has no terrors. + +That the possession of wealth can never make a man exempt from useful +manual labor; that if all would work a little, no one would then be +overworked; that if no one wasted, all would have enough; that if none +were overfed, none would be underfed; that the rich and "educated" need +education quite as much as the poor and illiterate; that the presence of +a serving class is an indictment and a disgrace to our civilization; +that the disadvantage of having a serving class falls most upon those +who are served, and not upon those who serve--just as the real curse of +slavery fell upon the slave-owners. + +That people who are waited on by a serving class cannot have a right +consideration for the rights of others, and they waste both time and +substance, both of which are lost forever, and can only seemingly be +made good by additional human effort. + +That the person who lives on the labor of others, not giving himself in +return to the best of his ability, is really a consumer of human life +and therefore must be considered no better than a cannibal. + +That each one living naturally will do the thing he can do best, but +that in useful service there is no high nor low. + +That to set apart one day in seven as "holy" is really absurd and serves +only to loosen our grasp on the tangible present. + +That all duties, offices and things which are useful and necessary to +humanity are sacred, and that nothing else is or can be sacred. + + + +The Law of Obedience + +The very first item in the creed of common sense is _Obedience_. + +Perform your work with a whole heart. + +Revolt may be sometimes necessary, but the man who tries to mix revolt +and obedience is doomed to disappoint himself and everybody with whom he +has dealings. To flavor work with protest is to fail absolutely. + +When you revolt, why revolt--climb, hike, get out, defy--tell everybody +and everything to go to hades! That disposes of the case. You thus +separate yourself entirely from those you have served--no one +misunderstands you--you have declared yourself. + +The man who quits in disgust when ordered to perform a task which he +considers menial or unjust may be a pretty good fellow, but in the wrong +environment, but the malcontent who takes your order with a smile and +then secretly disobeys, is a dangerous proposition. To pretend to obey, +and yet carry in your heart the spirit of revolt is to do half-hearted, +slipshod work. If revolt and obedience are equal in power, your engine +will then stop on the center and you benefit no one, not even yourself. + +The spirit of obedience is the controlling impulse that dominates the +receptive mind and the hospitable heart. There are boats that mind the +helm and there are boats that do not. Those that do not, get holes +knocked in them sooner or later. + +To keep off the rocks, obey the rudder. + +Obedience is not to slavishly obey this man or that, but it is that +cheerful mental state which responds to the necessity of the case, and +does the thing without any back talk--unuttered or expressed. + +Obedience to the institution--loyalty! The man who has not learned to +obey has trouble ahead of him every step of the way. The world has it in +for him continually, because he has it in for the world. + +The man who does not know how to receive orders is not fit to issue them +to others. But the individual who knows how to execute the orders given +him is preparing the way to issue orders, and better still--to have +them obeyed. + + + +Society's Saviors + +All adown the ages society has made the mistake of nailing its Saviors +to the cross between thieves. + +That is to say, society has recognized in the Savior a very dangerous +quality--something about him akin to a thief, and his career has been +suddenly cut short. + +We have telephones and trolly cars, yet we have not traveled far into +the realm of spirit, and our X-ray has given us no insight into the +heart of things. + +Society is so dull and dense, so lacking in spiritual vision, so dumb +and so beast-like that it does not know the difference between a thief +and the only Begotten Son. In a frantic effort to forget its hollowness +it takes to ping-pong, parchesi and progressive euchre, and seeks to +lose itself and find solace and consolation in tiddle-dy-winks. + +We are told in glaring head-lines and accurate photographic +reproductions of a conference held by leaders in society to settle a +matter of grave import. Was it to build technical schools and provide a +means for practical and useful education? Was it a plan of building +modern tenement houses along scientific and sanitary lines? Was it +called to provide funds for scientific research of various kinds that +would add to human knowledge and prove a benefit to mankind? No, it was +none of these. This body met to determine whether the crook in a certain +bulldog's tail was natural or had been produced artificially. + +Should the Savior come to-day and preach the same gospel that He taught +before, society would see that His experience was repeated. Now and then +it blinks stupidly and cries, "Away with Him!" or it stops its game long +enough to pass gall and vinegar on a spear to One it has thrust +beyond the pale. + +For the woman who has loved much society has but one verdict: crucify +her! The best and the worst are hanged on one tree. + +In the abandon of a great love there exists a godlike quality which +places a woman very close to the holy of holies, yet such a one, not +having complied with the edicts of society, is thrust unceremoniously +forth, and society, Pilate-like, washes its hands in innocency. + + + +Preparing for Old Age + +Socrates was once asked by a pupil, this question: "What kind of people +shall we be when we reach Elysium?" + +And the answer was this: "We shall be the same kind of people that we +were here." + +If there is a life after this, we are preparing for it now, just as I am +to-day preparing for my life to-morrow. + +What kind of a man shall I be to-morrow? Oh, about the same kind of a +man that I am now. The kind of a man that I shall be next month depends +upon the kind of a man that I have been this month. + +If I am miserable to-day, it is not within the round of probabilities +that I shall be supremely happy to-morrow. Heaven is a habit. And if we +are going to Heaven we would better be getting used to it. + +Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the +future is to live as if there were none. + +We are preparing all the time for old age. The two things that make old +age beautiful are resignation and a just consideration for the rights +of others. + +In the play of _Ivan the Terrible_, the interest centers around one man, +the Czar Ivan. If anybody but Richard Mansfield played the part, there +would be nothing in it. We simply get a glimpse into the life of a +tyrant who has run the full gamut of goosedom, grumpiness, selfishness +and grouch. Incidentally this man had the power to put other men to +death, and this he does and has done as his whim and temper might +dictate. He has been vindictive, cruel, quarrelsome, tyrannical and +terrible. Now that he feels the approach of death, he would make his +peace with God. But he has delayed that matter too long. He didn't +realize in youth and middle life that he was then preparing for old age. + +Man is the result of cause and effect, and the causes are to a degree in +our hands. Life is a fluid, and well has it been called the stream of +life--we are going, flowing somewhere. Strip _Ivan_ of his robes and +crown, and he might be an old farmer and live in Ebenezer. Every town +and village has its Ivan. To be an Ivan, just turn your temper loose +and practise cruelty on any person or thing within your reach, and the +result will be a sure preparation for a querulous, quarrelsome, pickety, +snipity, fussy and foolish old age, accented with many outbursts of +wrath that are terrible in their futility and ineffectiveness. + +Babyhood has no monopoly on the tantrum. The characters of _King Lear_ +and _Ivan the Terrible_ have much in common. One might almost believe +that the writer of _Ivan_ had felt the incompleteness of _Lear_, and had +seen the absurdity of making a melodramatic bid for sympathy in behalf +of this old man thrust out by his daughters. + +Lear, the troublesome, Lear to whose limber tongue there was constantly +leaping words unprintable and names of tar, deserves no soft pity at our +hands. All his life he had been training his three daughters for exactly +the treatment he was to receive. All his life Lear had been lubricating +the chute that was to give him a quick ride out into that black +midnight storm. + +"Oh, how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless +child," he cries. + +There is something quite as bad as a thankless child, and that is a +thankless parent--an irate, irascible parent who possesses an +underground vocabulary and a disposition to use it. + +The false note in _Lear_ lies in giving to him a daughter like +_Cordelia_. Tolstoy and Mansfield ring true, and _Ivan the Terrible_ is +what he is without apology, excuse or explanation. Take it or leave +it--if you do not like plays of this kind, go to see Vaudeville. + +Mansfield's _Ivan_ is terrible. The Czar is not old in years--not over +seventy--but you can see that Death is sniffing close upon his track. +_Ivan_ has lost the power of repose. He cannot listen, weigh and +decide--he has no thought or consideration for any man or thing--this is +his habit of life. His bony hands are never still--the fingers open and +shut, and pick at things eternally. He fumbles the cross on his breast, +adjusts his jewels, scratches his cosmos, plays the devil's tattoo, gets +up nervously and looks behind the throne, holds his breath to listen. +When people address him, he damns them savagely if they kneel, and if +they stand upright he accuses them of lack of respect. He asks that he +be relieved from the cares of state, and then trembles for fear his +people will take him at his word. When asked to remain ruler of Russia +he proceeds to curse his councilors and accuses them of loading him with +burdens that they themselves would not endeavor to bear. + +He is a victim of amor senilis, and right here if Mansfield took one +step more his realism would be appalling, but he stops in time and +suggests what he dares not express. This tottering, doddering, +slobbering, sniffling old man is in love--he is about to wed a young, +beautiful girl. He selects jewels for her--he makes remarks about what +would become her beauty, jeers and laughs in cracked falsetto. In the +animality of youth there is something pleasing--it is natural--but the +vices of an old man, when they have become only mental, are most +revolting. + +The people about _Ivan_ are in mortal terror of him, for he is still the +absolute monarch--he has the power to promote or disgrace, to take their +lives or let them go free. They laugh when he laughs, cry when he does, +and watch his fleeting moods with thumping hearts. + +He is intensely religious and affects the robe and cowl of a priest. +Around his neck hangs the crucifix. His fear is that he will die with no +opportunity of confession and absolution. He prays to High Heaven every +moment, kisses the cross, and his toothless old mouth interjects prayers +to God and curses on man in the same breath. + +If any one is talking to him he looks the other way, slips down until +his shoulders occupy the throne, scratches his leg, and keeps up a +running comment of insult--"Aye," "Oh," "Of course," "Certainly," "Ugh," +"Listen to him now!" There is a comedy side to all this which relieves +the tragedy and keeps the play from becoming disgusting. + +Glimpses of _Ivan's_ past are given in his jerky confessions--he is the +most miserable and unhappy of men, and you behold that he is reaping as +he has sown. + +All his life he has been preparing for this. Each day has been a +preparation for the next. _Ivan_ dies in a fit of wrath, hurling curses +on his family and court--dies in a fit of wrath into which he has been +purposely taunted by a man who knows that the outburst is certain to +kill the weakened monarch. + +Where does _Ivan the Terrible_ go when Death closes his eyes? + +I know not. But this I believe: No confessional can absolve him--no +priest benefit him--no God forgive him. He has damned himself, and he +began the work in youth. He was getting ready all his life for this old +age, and this old age was getting ready for the fifth act. + +The playwright does not say so, Mansfield does not say so, but this is +the lesson: Hate is a poison--wrath is a toxin--sensuality leads to +death--clutching selfishness is a lighting of the fires of hell. It is +all a preparation--cause and effect. + +If you are ever absolved, you must absolve yourself, for no one else +can. And the sooner you begin, the better. + +We often hear of the beauties of old age, but the only old age that is +beautiful is the one the man has long been preparing for by living a +beautiful life. Every one of us are right now preparing for old age. + +There may be a substitute somewhere in the world for Good Nature, but I +do not know where it can be found. + +The secret of salvation is this: Keep Sweet. + + + +An Alliance with Nature + +My father is a doctor who has practised medicine for sixty-five years, +and is still practising. + +I am a doctor myself. + +I am fifty years old; my father is eighty-five. We live in the same +house, and daily we ride horseback together or tramp thru the fields and +woods. To-day we did our little jaunt of five miles and back +'cross country. + +I have never been ill a day--never consulted a physician in a +professional way, and in fact, never missed a meal through inability to +eat. As for the author of the author of _A Message to Garcia_, he holds, +esoterically, to the idea that the hot pedaluvia and small doses of hop +tea will cure most ailments that are curable, and so far all of his own +ails have been curable--a point he can prove. + +The value of the pedaluvia lies in the fact that it tends to equalize +circulation, not to mention the little matter of sanitation; and the +efficacy of the hops lies largely in the fact that they are bitter and +disagreeable to take. + +Both of these prescriptions give the patient the soothing thought that +something is being done for him, and at the very worst can never do him +serious harm. + +My father and I are not fully agreed on all of life's themes, so +existence for us never resolves itself into a dull, neutral gray. He is +a Baptist and I am a Vegetarian. Occasionally he refers to me as +"callow," and we have daily resorts to logic to prove prejudices, and +history is searched to bolster the preconceived, but on the following +important points we stand together, solid as one man: + +First. Ninety-nine people out of a hundred who go to a physician have no +organic disease, but are merely suffering from some symptom of their own +indiscretion. + +Second. Individuals who have diseases, nine times out of ten, are +suffering only from the accumulated evil effects of medication. + +Third. Hence we get the proposition: Most diseases are the result of +medication which has been prescribed to relieve and take away a +beneficent and warning symptom on the part of wise Nature. + +Most of the work of doctors in the past has been to prescribe for +symptoms; the difference between actual disease and a symptom being +something that the average man does not even yet know. + +And the curious part is that on these points all physicians, among +themselves, are fully agreed. What I say here being merely truism, +triteness and commonplace. + +Last week, in talking with an eminent surgeon in Buffalo, he said, "I +have performed over a thousand operations of laparotomy, and my records +show that in every instance, excepting in cases of accident, the +individual was given to what you call the 'Beecham Habit.'" + +The people you see waiting in the lobbies of doctors' offices are, in a +vast majority of cases, suffering thru poisoning caused by an excess of +food. Coupled with this goes the bad results of imperfect breathing, +irregular sleep, lack of exercise, and improper use of stimulants, or +holding the thought of fear, jealousy and hate. All of these things, or +any one of them, will, in very many persons, cause fever, chills, cold +feet, congestion and faulty elimination. + +To administer drugs to a man suffering from malnutrition caused by a +desire to "get even," and a lack of fresh air, is simply to compound +his troubles, shuffle his maladies, and get him ripe for the ether-cone +and scalpel. + +Nature is forever trying to keep people well, and most so-called +"disease," which word means merely lack of ease, is self-limiting, and +tends to cure itself. If you have appetite, do not eat too much. If you +have no appetite, do not eat at all. Be moderate in the use of all +things, save fresh air and sunshine. + +The one theme of _Ecclesiastes_ is moderation. Buddha wrote it down that +the greatest word in any language is Equanimity. William Morris said +that the finest blessing of life was systematic, useful work. Saint Paul +declared that the greatest thing in the world was love. Moderation, +Equanimity, Work and Love--you need no other physician. + +In so stating I lay down a proposition agreed to by all physicians; +which was expressed by Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and then +repeated in better phrase by Epictetus, the slave, to his pupil, the +great Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and which has been known to every +thinking man and woman since: Moderation, Equanimity, Work and Love! + + + +The Ex. Question + +Words sometimes become tainted and fall into bad repute, and are +discarded. Until the day of Elizabeth Fry, on the official records in +England appeared the word "mad-house." Then it was wiped out and the +word "asylum" substituted. Within twenty years' time in several states +in America we have discarded the word "asylum" and have substituted the +word "hospital." + +In Jeffersonville, Indiana, there is located a "Reformatory" which some +years ago was known as a penitentiary. The word "prison" had a +depressing effect, and "penitentiary" throws a theological shadow, and +so the words will have to go. As our ideas of the criminal change, we +change our vocabulary. + +A few years ago we talked about asylums for the deaf and dumb--the word +"dumb" has now been stricken from every official document in every state +in the Union, because we have discovered, with the assistance of Gardner +G. Hubbard, that deaf people are not dumb, and not being defectives, +they certainly do not need an asylum. They need schools, however, and so +everywhere we have established schools for the deaf. + +Deaf people are just as capable, are just as competent, just as well +able to earn an honest living as is the average man who can hear. + +The "indeterminate sentence" is one of the wisest expedients ever +brought to bear in penology. And it is to this generation alone that the +honor of first using it must be given. The offender is sentenced for, +say from one to eight years. This means that if the prisoner behaves +himself, obeying the rules, showing a desire to be useful, he will be +paroled and given his freedom at the end of one year. + +If he misbehaves and does not prove his fitness for freedom he will be +kept two or three years, and he may possibly have to serve the whole +eight years. "How long are you in for?" I asked a convict at +Jeffersonville, who was caring for the flowers in front of the walls. +"Me? Oh, I'm in for two years, with the privilege of fourteen," was the +man's answer, given with a grin. + +The old plan of "short time," allowing two or three months off from +every year for good behavior was a move in the right direction, but the +indeterminate sentence will soon be the rule everywhere for first +offenders. + +The indeterminate sentence throws upon the man himself the +responsibility for the length of his confinement and tends to relieve +prison life of its horror, by holding out hope. The man has the short +time constantly in mind, and usually is very careful not to do anything +to imperil it. Insurrection and an attempt to escape may mean that every +day of the whole long sentence will have to be served. + +So even the dullest of minds and the most calloused realize that it pays +to do what is right--the lesson being pressed home upon them in a way it +has never been before. + +The old-time prejudice of business men against the man who had "done +time" was chiefly on account of his incompetence, and not his record. +The prison methods that turned out a hateful, depressed and frightened +man who had been suppressed by the silent system and deformed by the +lock-step, calloused by brutal treatment and the constant thought held +over him that he was a criminal, was a bad thing for the prisoner, for +the keeper and for society. Even an upright man would be undone by such +treatment, and in a year be transformed into a sly, secretive and +morally sick man. The men just out of prison were unable to do +anything--they needed constant supervision and attention, and so of +course we did not care to hire them. + +The Ex. now is a totally different man from the Ex. just out of his +striped suit in the seventies, thanks to that much defamed man, +Brockway, and a few others. + +We may have to restrain men for the good of themselves and the good of +society, but we do not punish. The restraint is punishment enough; we +believe men are punished by their sins, not for them. + +When men are sent to reform schools now, the endeavor and the hope is to +give back to society a better man than we took. + +Judge Lindsey sends boys to the reform school without officer or guard. +The boys go of their own accord, carrying their own commitment papers. +They pound on the gate demanding admittance in the name of the law. The +boy believes that Judge Lindsey is his friend, and that the reason he +is sent to the reform school is that he may reap a betterment which his +full freedom cannot possibly offer. When he takes his commitment papers +he is no longer at war with society and the keepers of the law. He +believes that what is being done for him is done for the best, and so he +goes to prison, which is really not a prison at the last, for it is a +school where the lad is taught to economize both time and money and to +make himself useful. + +Other people work for us, and we must work for them. This is the supreme +lesson that the boy learns. You can only help yourself by +helping others. + +Now here is a proposition: If a boy or a man takes his commitment +papers, goes to prison alone and unattended, is it necessary that he +should be there locked up, enclosed in a corral and be looked after by +guards armed with death-dealing implements? + +Superintendent Whittaker, of the institution at Jeffersonville, Indiana, +says, "No." He believes that within ten years' time we will do away with +the high wall, and will keep our loaded guns out of sight; to a great +degree also we will take the bars from the windows of the prisons, just +as we have taken them away from the windows of the hospitals for +the insane. + +At the reform school it may be necessary to have a guard-house for some +years to come, but the high wall must go, just as we have sent the +lock-step and the silent system and the striped suit of disgrace into +the ragbag of time--lost in the memory of things that were. + +Four men out of five in the reformatory at Jeffersonville need no +coercion, they would not run away if the walls were razed and the doors +left unlocked. One young man I saw there refused the offered parole--he +wanted to stay until he learned his trade. He was not the only one with +a like mental attitude. + +The quality of men in the average prison is about the same as that of +the men who are in the United States Army. The man who enlists is a +prisoner; for him to run away is a very serious offense, and yet he is +not locked up at night, nor is he surrounded by a high wall. + +The George Junior Republic is simply a farm, unfenced and unpatroled, +excepting by the boys who are in the Republic, and yet it is a penal +institution. The prison of the future will not be unlike a young ladies' +boarding school, where even yet the practice prevails of taking the +inmates out all together, with a guard, and allowing no one to leave +without a written permit. + +As society changes, so changes the so-called criminal. In any event, I +know this--that Max Nordau did not make out his case. + +There is no criminal class. + +Or for that matter we are all criminals. "I have in me the capacity for +every crime," said Emerson. + +The man or woman who goes wrong is a victim of unkind environment. +Booker Washington says that when the negro has something that we want, +or can perform a task that we want done, we waive the color line, and +the race problem then ceases to be a problem. So it is with the Ex. +Question. When the ex-convict is able to show that he is useful to the +world, the world will cease to shun him. When Superintendent Whittaker +graduates a man it is pretty good evidence that the man is able and +willing to render a service to society. + +The only places where the ex-convicts get the icy mitt are pink teas +and prayer meetings. An ex-convict should work all day and then spend +his evenings at the library, feeding his mind--then he is safe. + +If I were an ex-convict I would fight shy of all "Refuges," "Sheltering +Arms," "Saint Andrew's Societies" and the philanthropic "College +Settlements." I would never go to those good professional people, or +professional good people, who patronize the poor and spit upon the +alleged wrongdoer, and who draw sharp lines of demarcation in +distinguishing between the "good" and the "bad." If you can work and are +willing to work, business men will not draw the line on you. Get a job, +and then hold it down hard by making yourself necessary. Employers of +labor and the ex-convicts themselves are fast settling this Ex. +Question, with the help of the advanced type of the Reform School where +the inmates are being taught to be useful and are not punished nor +patronized, but are simply given a chance. My heart goes out in sympathy +to the man who gives a poor devil a chance. I myself am a poor devil! + + + +The Sergeant + +A colonel in the United States Army told me the other day something like +this: The most valuable officer, the one who has the greatest +responsibility, is the sergeant. The true sergeant is born, not made--he +is the priceless gift of the gods. He is so highly prized that when +found he is never promoted, nor is he allowed to resign. If he is +dissatisfied with his pay, Captain, Lieutenant and Colonel chip in--they +cannot afford to lose him. He is a rara avis--the apple of their eye. + +His first requirement is that he must be able to lick any man in the +company. A drunken private may damn a captain upside down and wrong-side +out, and the captain is not allowed to reply. He can neither strike with +his fist, nor engage in a cussing match, but your able sergeant is an +adept in both of these polite accomplishments. Even if a private strike +an officer, the officer is not allowed to strike back. Perhaps the man +who abuses him could easily beat him in a rough-and-tumble fight, and +then it is quite a sufficient reason to keep one's clothes clean. We +say the revolver equalizes all men, but it doesn't. It is disagreeable +to shoot a man. It scatters brains and blood all over the sidewalk, +attracts a crowd, requires a deal of explanation afterward, and may cost +an officer his stripes. No good officer ever hears anything said about +him by a private. + +The sergeant hears everything, and his reply to backslack is a +straight-arm jab in the jaw. The sergeant is responsible only to his +captain, and no good captain will ever know anything about what a +sergeant does, and he will not believe it when told. If a fight occurs +between two privates, the sergeant jumps in, bumps their heads together +and licks them both. If a man feigns sick, or is drunk, the sergeant +chucks him under the pump. The regulations do not call for any such +treatment, but the sergeant does not know anything about the +regulations--he gets the thing done. The sergeant may be twenty years +old or sixty--age does not count. The sergeant is a father to his +men--he regards them all as children--bad boys--and his business is to +make them brave, honorable and dutiful soldiers. + +The sergeant is always the first man up in the morning, the last man to +go to bed at night. He knows where his men are every minute of the day +or night. If they are actually sick, he is both nurse and physician, and +dictates gently to the surgeon what should be done. He is also the +undertaker, and the digging of ditches and laying out of latrines all +fall to his lot. Unlike the higher officers, he does not have to dress +"smart," and he is very apt to discard his uniform and go clothed like a +civilian teamster, excepting on special occasions when necessity demands +braid and buttons. + +He knows everything, and nothing. No wild escapade of a higher officer +passes by him, yet he never tells. + +Now one might suppose that he is an absolute tyrant, but a good sergeant +is a beneficent tyrant at the right time. To break the spirit of his men +will not do--it would unfit them for service--so what he seeks to do is +merely to bend their minds so as to match his own. Gradually they grow +to both love and fear him. In time of actual fight he transforms cowards +into heroes. He holds his men up to the scratch. In battle there are +often certain officers marked for death--they are to be shot by their +own men. It is a time of getting even--and in the hurly-burly and +excitement there are no witnesses. The sergeant is ever on the lookout +for such mutinies, and his revolver often sends to the dust the head +revolutionary before the dastardly plot can be carried out. In war-time +all executions are not judicial. + +In actual truth, the sergeant is the only real, sure-enough fighting man +in the army. He is as rare as birds' teeth, and every officer anxiously +scans his recruits in search of good sergeant timber. + +In business life, the man with the sergeant instincts is even more +valuable than in the army. The business sergeant is the man not in +evidence--who asks for no compliments or bouquets--who knows where +things are--who has no outside ambitions, and no desire save to do his +work. If he is too smart he will lay plots and plans for his own +promotion, and thereby he is pretty sure to defeat himself. + +As an individual the average soldier is a sneak, a shirk, a failure, a +coward. He is only valuable as he is licked into shape. It is pretty +much the same in business. It seems hard to say it, but the average +employe in factory, shop or store, puts the face of the clock to shame +looking at it; he is thinking of his pay envelope and his intent is to +keep the boss located and to do as little work as possible. In many +cases the tyranny of the employer is to blame for the condition, but +more often it is the native outcrop of suspicion that prompts the seller +to give no more than he can help. + +And here the sergeant comes in, and with watchful eye and tireless +nerves, holds the recreants to their tasks. If he is too severe, he will +fix in the shirks more firmly the shirk microbe; but if he is of better +fibre, he may supply a little more will to those who lack it, and +gradually create an atmosphere of right intent, so that the only +disgrace will consist in their wearing the face off the regulator and +keeping one ear cocked to catch the coming footsteps of the boss. + +There is not the slightest danger that there will ever be an overplus of +sergeants. Let the sergeant keep out of strikes, plots, feuds, hold his +temper and show what's what, and he can name his own salary and keep his +place for ninety-nine years without having a contract. + + + +The Spirit of the Age + +Four hundred and twenty-five years before the birth of the Nazarene, +Socrates said, "The gods are on high Olympus, but you and I are here." +And for this--and a few other similar observations--be was compelled to +drink a substitute for coffee--he was an infidel! Within the last thirty +years the churches of Christendom have, in the main, adopted the +Socratic proposition that you and I are here. That is, we have made +progress by getting away from narrow theology and recognizing humanity. +We do not know anything about either Olympus or Elysium, but we do know +something about Athens. + +Athens is here. + +Athens needs us--the Greeks are at the door. Let the gods run Elysium, +and we'll devote ourselves to Athens. + +This is the prevailing spirit in the churches of America to-day. Our +religion is humanitarian, not theological. + +A like evolution has come about in medicine. The materia medica of +twenty-five years ago is now obsolete. No good doctor now treats +symptoms--he neither gives you something to relieve your headache nor to +settle your stomach. These are but timely ting-a-lings--Nature's +warnings--look out! And the doctor tells you so, and charges you a fee +sufficient to impress you with the fact that he is no fool, but that +you are. + +The lawyer who now gets the largest fees is never seen in a court-room. +Litigation is now largely given over to damage suits--carried on by +clients who want something for nothing, and little lawyers, shark-like +and hungry, who work on contingent fees. Three-fourths of the time of +all superior and supreme courts is taken up by His Effluvia, who brings +suit thru His Bacteria, with His Crabship as chief witness, for damages +not due, either in justice or fact. + +How to get rid of this burden, brought upon us by men who have nothing +to lose, is a question too big for the average legislator. It can only +be solved by heroic measures, carried out by lawyers who are out of +politics and have a complete indifference for cheap popularity. Here is +opportunity for men of courage and ability. But the point is this, wise +business men keep out of court. They arbitrate their differences +--compromise--they cannot afford to quit their work for the +sake of getting even. As for making money, they know a better way. + +In theology we are waiving distinctions and devoting ourselves to the +divine spirit only as it manifests itself in humanity--we are talking +less and less about another world and taking more notice of the one we +inhabit. Of course we occasionally have heresy trials, and pictures of +the offender and the Fat Bishop adorn the first page, but heresy trials +not accompanied by the scaffold or the faggots are innocuous and +exceedingly tame. + +In medicine we have more faith in ourselves and less in prescriptions. + +In pedagogy we are teaching more and more by the natural +method--learning by doing--and less and less by means of injunction +and precept. + +In penology we seek to educate and reform, not to suppress, repress and +punish. + +That is to say, the gods are on high Olympus--let them stay there. +Athens is here. + + + +The Grammarian + +The best way to learn to write is to write. + +Herbert Spencer never studied grammar until he had learned to write. He +took his grammar at sixty, which is a good age for one to begin this +most interesting study, as by the time you have reached that age you +have largely lost your capacity to sin. + +Men who can swim exceedingly well are not those who have taken courses +in the theory of swimming at natatoriums, from professors of the +amphibian art--they were just boys who jumped into the ol' swimmin' +hole, and came home with shirts on wrong-side out and a tell-tale +dampness in their hair. + +Correspondence schools for the taming of bronchos are as naught; and +treatises on the gentle art of wooing are of no avail--follow +nature's lead. + +Grammar is the appendenda vermiformis of the science of pedagogics: it +is as useless as the letter q in the alphabet, or the proverbial two +tails to a cat, which no cat ever had, and the finest cat in the world, +the Manx cat, has no tail at all. + +"The literary style of most university men is commonplace, when not +positively bad," wrote Herbert Spencer in his old age. + +"Educated Englishmen all write alike," said Taine. That is to say, +educated men who have been drilled to write by certain fixed and +unchangeable rules of rhetoric and grammar will produce similar +compositions. They have no literary style, for style is individuality +and character--the style is the man, and grammar tends to obliterate +individuality. No study is so irksome to everybody, except the sciolists +who teach it, as grammar. It remains forever a bad taste in the mouth of +the man of ideas, and has weaned bright minds innumerable from a desire +to express themselves through the written word. + +Grammar is the etiquette of words, and the man who does not know how to +properly salute his grandmother on the street until he has consulted a +book, is always so troubled about the tenses that his fancies break thru +language and escape. + +The grammarian is one whose whole thought is to string words according +to a set formula. The substance itself that he wishes to convey is of +secondary importance. Orators who keep their thoughts upon the proper +way to gesticulate in curves, impress nobody. + +If it were a sin against decency, or an attempt to poison the minds of +the people, for a person to be ungrammatical, it might be wise enough +to hire men to protect the well of English from defilement. But a +stationary language is a dead one--moving water only is pure--and the +well that is not fed by springs is sure to be a breeding-place +for disease. + +Let men express themselves in their own way, and if they express +themselves poorly, look you, their punishment will be that no one will +read their literary effusions. Oblivion with her smother-blanket lies in +wait for the writer who has nothing to say and says it faultlessly. + +In the making of hare soup, I am informed by most excellent culinary +authority, the first requisite is to catch your hare. The literary +scullion who has anything to offer a hungry world, will doubtless find a +way to fricassee it. + + + +The Best Religion + +A religion of just being kind would be a pretty good religion, don't you +think so? + +But a religion of kindness and useful effort is nearly a perfect +religion. + +We used to think it was a man's belief concerning a dogma that would fix +his place in eternity. This was because we believed that God was a +grumpy, grouchy old gentleman, stupid, touchy and dictatorial. A really +good man would not damn you even if you didn't like him, but a bad +man would. + +As our ideas of God changed, we ourselves changed for the better. Or, as +we thought better of ourselves we thought better of God. It will be +character that locates our place in another world, if there is one, just +as it is our character that fixes our place here. + +We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best +character is to be kind and to be useful. + +THINK RIGHT, ACT RIGHT; IT IS WHAT WE THINK AND DO THAT MAKE US WHAT WE +ARE. + +So here ends LOVE, LIFE AND WORK, being +a book of Essays selected from the writings +of ELBERT HUBBARD, and done into print by +_The Roycrofters_ at their Shop at East Aurora, +which is in Erie County, New York, U.S.A. +Completed in the month of July, MCMVI + +[Illustration: The Roycroft Shop] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Love, Life & Work, by Elbert Hubbard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE, LIFE & WORK *** + +***** This file should be named 10417-8.txt or 10417-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/4/1/10417/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Thomas Cormode and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Love, Life & Work + Being a Book of Opinions Reasonably Good-Natured Concerning + How to Attain the Highest Happiness for One's Self with the + Least Possible Harm to Others + +Author: Elbert Hubbard + +Release Date: December 8, 2003 [EBook #10417] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE, LIFE & WORK *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Thomas Cormode and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + +LOVE LIFE & WORK + +BEING A BOOK OF OPINIONS REASONABLY GOOD-NATURED CONCERNING HOW TO +ATTAIN THE HIGHEST HAPPINESS FOR ONE'S SELF WITH THE LEAST POSSIBLE +HARM TO OTHERS + +1906 + +By ELBERT HUBBARD + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTERS + +1. A Prayer + +2. Life and Expression + +3. Time and Chance + +4. Psychology of a Religious Revival + +5. One-Man Power + +6. Mental Attitude + +7. The Outsider + +8. Get Out or Get in Line + +9. The Week-Day, Keep it Holy + +10. Exclusive Friendships + +11. The Folly of Living in the Future + +12. The Spirit of Man + +13. Art and Religion + +14. Initiative + +15. The Disagreeable Girl + +16. The Neutral + +17. Reflections on Progress + +18. Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise + +19. Love and Faith + +20. Giving Something for Nothing + +21. Work and Waste + +22. The Law of Obedience + +23. Society's Saviors + +24. Preparing for Old Age + +25. An Alliance With Nature + +26. The Ex. Question + +27. The Sergeant + +28. The Spirit of the Age + +29. The Grammarian + +30. The Best Religion + + + +A Prayer + +The supreme prayer of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, +powerful, or "good," but simply to be radiant. I desire to radiate +health, cheerfulness, calm courage and good will. I wish to live without +hate, whim, jealousy, envy, fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, +natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected--ready to say "I do +not know," if it be so, and to meet all men on an absolute equality--to +face any obstacle and meet every difficulty unabashed and unafraid. + +I wish others to live their lives, too--up to their highest, fullest and +best. To that end I pray that I may never meddle, interfere, dictate, +give advice that is not wanted, or assist when my services are not +needed. If I can help people, I'll do it by giving them a chance to help +themselves; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, +inference, and suggestion, rather than by injunction and dictation. That +is to say, I desire to be radiant--to radiate life. + + + +Life and Expression + +By exercise of its faculties the spirit grows, just as a muscle grows +strong thru continued use. Expression is necessary. Life is expression, +and repression is stagnation--death. + +Yet, there can be right and wrong expression. If a man permits his life +to run riot and only the animal side of his nature is allowed to express +itself, he is repressing his highest and best, and the qualities not +used atrophy and die. + +Men are punished by their sins, not for them. Sensuality, gluttony, and +the life of license repress the life of the spirit, and the soul never +blossoms; and this is what it is to lose one's soul. All adown the +centuries thinking men have noted these truths, and again and again we +find individuals forsaking in horror the life of the senses and devoting +themselves to the life of the spirit. This question of expression +through the spirit, or through the senses--through soul or body--has +been the pivotal point of all philosophy and the inspiration of +all religion. + +Every religion is made up of two elements that never mix any more than +oil and water mix. A religion is a mechanical mixture, not a chemical +combination, of morality and dogma. Dogma is the science of the unseen: +the doctrine of the unknown and unknowable. And in order to give this +science plausibility, its promulgators have always fastened upon it +morality. Morality can and does exist entirely separate and apart from +dogma, but dogma is ever a parasite on morality, and the business of the +priest is to confuse the two. + +But morality and religion never saponify. Morality is simply the +question of expressing your life forces--how to use them? You have so +much energy; and what will you do with it? And from out the multitude +there have always been men to step forward and give you advice for a +consideration. Without their supposed influence with the unseen we might +not accept their interpretation of what is right and wrong. But with the +assurance that their advice is backed up by Deity, followed with an +offer of reward if we believe it, and a threat of dire punishment if we +do not, the Self-appointed Superior Class has driven men wheresoever it +willed. The evolution of formal religions is not a complex process, and +the fact that they embody these two unmixable things, dogma and +morality, is a very plain and simple truth, easily seen, undisputed by +all reasonable men. And be it said that the morality of most religions +is good. Love, truth, charity, justice and gentleness are taught in them +all. But, like a rule in Greek grammar, there are many exceptions. And +so in the morality of religions there are exceptional instances that +constantly arise where love, truth, charity, gentleness and justice are +waived on suggestion of the Superior Class, that good may follow. Were +it not for these exceptions there would be no wars between +Christian nations. + +The question of how to express your life will probably never down, for +the reason that men vary in temperament and inclination. Some men have +no capacity for certain sins of the flesh; others there be, who, having +lost their inclination for sensuality through too much indulgence, turn +ascetics. Yet all sermons have but one theme: how shall life be +expressed? Between asceticism and indulgence men and races swing. + +Asceticism in our day finds an interesting manifestation in the +Trappists, who live on a mountain top, nearly inaccessible, and deprive +themselves of almost every vestige of bodily comfort, going without food +for days, wearing uncomfortable garments, suffering severe cold; and +should one of this community look upon the face of a woman he would +think he was in instant danger of damnation. So here we find the extreme +instance of men repressing the faculties of the body in order that the +spirit may find ample time and opportunity for exercise. + +Somewhere between this extreme repression of the monk and the license of +the sensualist lies the truth. But just where is the great question; and +the desire of one person, who thinks he has discovered the norm, to +compel all other men to stop there, has led to war and strife untold. +All law centers around this point--what shall men be allowed to do? And +so we find statutes to punish "strolling play actors," "players on +fiddles," "disturbers of the public conscience," "persons who dance +wantonly," "blasphemers," and in England there were, in the year 1800, +thirty-seven offenses that were legally punishable by death. What +expression is right and what is not, is simply a matter of opinion. One +religious denomination that now exists does not allow singing; +instrumental music has been to some a rock of offense, exciting the +spirit through the sense of hearing, to improper thoughts--"through the +lascivious pleasing of the lute"; others think dancing wicked, while a +few allow pipe-organ music, but draw the line at the violin; while still +others use a whole orchestra in their religious service. Some there be +who regard pictures as implements of idolatry; while the Hook-and-Eye +Baptists look upon buttons as immoral. + +Strange evolutions are often witnessed within the life of one +individual. For instance, Leo Tolstoy, a great and good man, at one time +a sensualist, has now turned ascetic; a common evolution in the lives of +the saints. But excellent as this man is, there is yet a grave +imperfection in his cosmos which to a degree vitiates the truth he +desires to teach: he leaves the element of beauty out of his formula. +Not caring for harmony as set forth in color, form and sweet sounds, he +is quite willing to deny all others these things which minister to +their well-being. There is in most souls a hunger for beauty, just as +there is physical hunger. Beauty speaks to their spirits through the +senses; but Tolstoy would have your house barren to the verge of +hardship. My veneration for Count Tolstoy is profound, yet I mention him +here to show the grave danger that lies in allowing any man, even one of +the wisest of men, to dictate to us what is best. We ourselves are the +better judges. Most of the frightful cruelties inflicted on men during +the past have arisen simply out of a difference of opinion that arose +through a difference in temperament. The question is as alive to-day as +it was two thousand years ago--what expression is best? That is, what +shall we do to be saved? And concrete absurdity consists in saying that +we must all do the same thing. Whether the race will ever grow to a +point where men will be willing to leave the matter of life-expression +to the individual is a question; but the millennium will never arrive +until men cease trying to compel all other men to live after +one pattern. + +Most people are anxious to do what is best for themselves and least +harmful for others. The average man now has intelligence enough: Utopia +is not far off, if the self-appointed folk who rule us, and teach us for +a consideration, would only be willing to do unto others as they would +be done by, that is to say, mind their own business and cease coveting +things that belong to other people. War among nations and strife among +individuals is a result of the covetous spirit to possess. + +A little more patience, a little more charity for all, a little more +love; with less bowing down to the past, and the silent ignoring of +pretended authority; a brave looking forward to the future, with more +self-confidence and more faith in our fellow men, and the race will be +ripe for a great burst of life and light. + +[Illustration] + + + +Time and Chance + +As the subject is somewhat complex, I will have to explain it to you. +The first point is that there is not so very much difference in the +intelligence of people after all. The great man is not so great as folks +think, and the dull man is not quite so stupid as he seems. The +difference in our estimates of men lies in the fact that one individual +is able to get his goods into the show-window, and the other is not +aware that he has any show-window or any goods. + +"The soul knows all things, and knowledge is only a remembering," says +Emerson. + +This seems a very broad statement; and yet the fact remains that the +vast majority of men know a thousand times as much as they are aware of. +Far down in the silent depths of subconsciousness lie myriads of truths, +each awaiting a time when its owner shall call it forth. To utilize +these stored-up thoughts, you must express them to others; and to be +able to express them well your soul has to soar into this subconscious +realm where you have cached these net results of experience. In other +words, you must "come out"--get out of self--away from +self-consciousness, into the region of partial oblivion--away from the +boundaries of time and the limitations of space. The great painter +forgets all in the presence of his canvas; the writer is oblivious to +his surroundings; the singer floats away on the wings of melody (and +carries the audience with her); the orator pours out his soul for an +hour, and it seems to him as if barely five minutes had passed, so rapt +is he in his exalted theme. When you reach the heights of sublimity and +are expressing your highest and best, you are in a partial trance +condition. And all men who enter this condition surprise themselves by +the quantity of knowledge and the extent of insight they possess. And +some going a little deeper than others into this trance condition, and +having no knowledge of the miraculous storing up of truth in the +subconscious cells, jump to the conclusion that their intelligence is +guided by a spirit not theirs. When one reaches this conclusion he +begins to wither at the top, for he relies on the dead, and ceases to +feed the well-springs of his subconscious self. + +The mind is a dual affair--objective and subjective. The objective mind +sees all, hears all, reasons things out. The subjective mind stores up +and only gives out when the objective mind sleeps. And as few men ever +cultivate the absorbed, reflective or semi-trance state, where the +objective mind rests, they never really call on their subconscious +treasury for its stores. They are always self-conscious. + +A man in commerce, where men prey on their kind, must be alive and alert +to what is going on, or while he dreams, his competitor will seize upon +his birthright. And so you see why poets are poor and artists often beg. + +And the summing up of this sermonette is that all men are equally rich, +only some thru fate are able to muster their mental legions on the +plains of their being and count them, while others are never able to +do so. + +But what think you is necessary before a person can come into full +possession of his subconscious treasures? Well, I'll tell you: It is not +ease, nor prosperity, nor requited love, nor worldly security--not +these. + +"You sing well," said the master, impatiently, to his best pupil, "but +you will never sing divinely until you have given your all for love, +and then been neglected and rejected, and scorned and beaten, and left +for dead. Then, if you do not exactly die, you will come back, and when +the world hears your voice it will mistake you for an angel and fall at +your feet." + +And the moral is, that as long as you are satisfied and comfortable, you +use only the objective mind and live in the world of sense. But let love +be torn from your grasp and flee as a shadow--living only as a memory in +a haunting sense of loss; let death come and the sky shut down over less +worth in the world; or stupid misunderstanding and crushing defeat grind +you into the dust, then you may arise, forgetting time and space and +self, and take refuge in mansions not made with hands; and find a +certain sad, sweet satisfaction in the contemplation of treasures stored +up where moth and rust do not corrupt, and where thieves do not break +through and steal. + +And thus looking out into the Eternal, you entirely forget the present +and go forth into the Land of Subconsciousness--the Land of Spirit, +where yet dwell the gods of ancient and innocent days? Is it worth +the cost? + + + +Psychology of a Religious Revival + +Traveling to and fro over the land and up and down in it are men who +manage street-fairs. + +Let it be known that a street-fair or Mardi Gras is never a spontaneous +expression of the carnival spirit on the part of the townspeople. These +festivals are a business--carefully planned, well advertised and carried +out with much astuteness. + +The men who manage street-fairs send advance agents, to make +arrangements with the local merchants of the place--these secure the +legal permits that are necessary. + +A week is set apart for the carnival, much advertising is done, the +newspapers, reflecting the will of the many, devote pages to the +wonderful things that will happen. The shows arrive--the touters, the +spielers, the clowns, the tumblers, the girls in tights, the singers! +The bands play--the carnival is on! The object of the fair is to boom +the business of the town. The object of the professional managers of the +fair is to make money for themselves, and this they do thru the +guaranty of the merchants, or a percentage on concessions, or both. + +I am told that no town whose business is on an absolutely safe and +secure footing ever resorts to a street-fair. The street-fair comes in +when a rival town seems to be getting more than its share of the trade. +When the business of Skaneateles is drifting to Waterloo, then +Skaneateles succumbs to a street-fair. + +Sanitation, sewerage, good water supply, and schoolhouses and paved +streets are not the result of throwing confetti, tooting tin horns and +waiving the curfew law. + +Whether commerce is effectually helped by the street-fair, or a town +assisted to get on a firm financial basis through the ministry of the +tom-tom, is a problem. I leave the question with students of political +economy and pass on to a local condition which is not a theory. The +religious revivals that have recently been conducted in various parts of +the country were most carefully planned business schemes. One F. Wilbur +Chapman and his corps of well-trained associates may be taken as a type +of the individuals who work up local religious excitement for a +consideration. + +Religious revivals are managed very much as are street-fairs. If +religion is getting at a low ebb in your town, you can hire Chapman, the +revivalist, just as you can secure the services of Farley, the +strike-breaker. Chapman and his helpers go from town to town and from +city to city and work up this excitation as a business. They are paid +for their services a thousand dollars a week, or down to what they can +get from collections. Sometimes they work on a guaranty, and at other +times on a percentage or contingent fee, or both. + +Towns especially in need of Mr. Chapman's assistance will please send +for circulars, terms and testimonials. No souls saved--no pay. + +The basic element of the revival is hypnotism. The scheme of bringing +about the hypnosis, or the obfuscation of the intellect, has taken +generations to carefully perfect. The plan is first to depress the +spirit to a point where the subject is incapable of independent thought. +Mournful music, a monotonous voice of woe, tearful appeals to God, +dreary groans, the whole mingled with pious ejaculations, all tend to +produce a terrifying effect upon the auditor. The thought of God's +displeasure is constantly dwelt upon--the idea of guilt, death and +eternal torment. If the victims can be made to indulge in hysterical +laughter occasionally, the control is better brought about. No chance is +allowed for repose, poise or sane consideration. When the time seems +ripe a general promise of joy is made and the music takes an adagio +turn. The speaker's voice now tells of triumph--offers of forgiveness +are tendered, and then the promise of eternal life. + +The final intent is to get the victim on his feet and make him come +forward and acknowledge the fetich. This once done the convert finds +himself among pleasant companions. His social station is +improved--people shake hands with him and solicitously ask after his +welfare. His approbativeness is appealed to--his position is now one of +importance. And moreover, he is given to understand in many subtile ways +that as he will be damned in another world if he does not acquiesce in +the fetich, so also will he be damned financially and socially here if +he does not join the church. The intent in every Christian community is +to boycott and make a social outcast of the independent thinker. The +fetich furnishes excuse for the hypnotic processes. Without assuming a +personal God who can be appeased, eternal damnation and the proposition +that you can win eternal life by believing a myth, there is no sane +reason for the absurd hypnotic formulas. + +We are heirs to the past, its good and ill, and we all have a touch of +superstition, like a syphilitic taint. To eradicate this tyranny of fear +and get the cringe and crawl out of our natures, seems the one desirable +thing to lofty minds. But the revivalist, knowing human nature, as all +confidence men do, banks on our superstitious fears and makes his appeal +to our acquisitiveness, offering us absolution and life eternal for a +consideration--to cover expenses. As long as men are paid honors and +money, can wear good clothes, and be immune from work for preaching +superstition, they will preach it. The hope of the world lies in +withholding supplies from the pious mendicants who seek to hold our +minds in thrall. + +This idea of a divine bankrupt court where you can get forgiveness by +paying ten cents on the dollar, with the guaranty of becoming a winged +pauper of the skies, is not alluring excepting to a man who has been +well scared. Advance agents pave the way for revivalists by arranging +details with the local orthodox clergy. Universalists, Unitarians, +Christian Scientists and Befaymillites are all studiously avoided. The +object is to fill depleted pews of orthodox Protestant churches--these +pay the freight, and to the victor belong the spoils. The plot and plan +is to stampede into the pen of orthodoxy the intellectual +unwary--children and neurotic grown-ups. The cap-and-bells element is +largely represented in Chapman's select company of German-American +talent: the confetti of foolishness is thrown at us--we dodge, laugh, +listen and no one has time to think, weigh, sift or analyze. There are +the boom of rhetoric, the crack of confession, the interspersed +rebel-yell of triumph, the groans of despair, the cries of victory. Then +come songs by paid singers, the pealing of the organ--rise and sing, +kneel and pray, entreaty, condemnation, misery, tears, threats, promise, +joy, happiness, heaven, eternal bliss, decide now--not a moment is to be +lost, whoop-la you'll be a long time in hell! + +All this whirl is a carefully prepared plan, worked out by expert +flim-flammers to addle the reason, scramble intellect and make of men +drooling derelicts. + +What for? + +I'll tell you--that Doctor Chapman and his professional rooters may roll +in cheap honors, be immune from all useful labor and wax fat on the pay +of those who work. Second, that the orthodox churches may not advance +into workshops and schoolhouses, but may remain forever the home of a +superstition. One would think that the promise of making a person exempt +from the results of his own misdeeds, would turn the man of brains from +these religious shell-men in disgust. But under their hypnotic spell, +the minds of many seem to suffer an obsession, and they are caught in +the swirl of foolish feeling, like a grocer's clerk in the hands of a +mesmerist. + +At Northfield, Massachusetts, is a college at which men are taught and +trained, just as men are drilled at a Tonsorial College, in every phase +of this pleasing episcopopography. + +There is a good fellow by the suggestive name of Sunday who works the +religious graft. Sunday is the whirling dervish up to date. He and +Chapman and their cappers purposely avoid any trace of the ecclesiastic +in their attire. They dress like drummers--trousers carefully creased, +two watch-chains and a warm vest. Their manner is free and easy, their +attitude familiar. The way they address the Almighty reveals that their +reverence for Him springs out of the supposition that He is very much +like themselves. + +The indelicacy of the revivalists who recently called meetings to pray +for Fay Mills, was shown in their ardent supplications to God that He +should make Mills to be like them. Fay Mills tells of the best way to +use this life here and now. He does not prophesy what will become of you +if you do not accept his belief, neither does he promise everlasting +life as a reward for thinking as he does. He realizes that he has not +the agency of everlasting life. Fay Mills is more interested in having a +soul that is worth saving than in saving a soul that isn't. Chapman +talks about lost souls as he might about collar buttons lost under a +bureau, just as if God ever misplaced anything, or that all souls were +not God's souls, and therefore forever in His keeping. + +Doctor Chapman wants all men to act alike and believe alike, not +realizing that progress is the result of individuality, and so long as a +man thinks, whether he is right or wrong, he is making head. Neither +does he realize that wrong thinking is better than no thinking at all, +and that the only damnation consists in ceasing to think, and accepting +the conclusions of another. Final truths and final conclusions are +wholly unthinkable to sensible people in their sane moments, but these +revivalists wish to sum up truth for all time and put their leaden +seal upon it. + +In Los Angeles is a preacher by the name of McIntyre, a type of the +blatant Bellarmine who exiled Galileo--a man who never doubts his own +infallibility, who talks like an oracle and continually tells of +perdition for all who disagree with him. + +Needless to say that McIntyre lacks humor. Personally, I prefer the +McGregors, but in Los Angeles the McIntyres are popular. It was McIntyre +who called a meeting to pray for Fay Mills, and in proposing the meeting +McIntyre made the unblushing announcement that he had never met Mills +nor heard him speak, nor had he read one of his books. + +Chapman and McIntyre represent the modern types of +Phariseeism--spielers and spouters for churchianity, and such are the +men who make superstition of so long life. Superstition is the one +Infamy--Voltaire was right. To pretend to believe a thing at which your +reason revolts--to stultify your intellect--this, if it exists at all, +is the unpardonable sin. These muftis preach "the blood of Jesus," the +dogma that man without a belief in miracles is eternally lost, that +everlasting life depends upon acknowledging this, that or the other. +Self-reliance, self-control and self-respect are the three things that +make a man a man. + +But man has so recently taken on this ability to think, that he has not +yet gotten used to handling it. The tool is cumbrous in his hands. He is +afraid of it--this one characteristic that differentiates him from the +lower animals--so he abdicates and turns his divine birthright over to a +syndicate. This combination called a church agrees to take care of his +doubts and fears and do his thinking for him, and to help matters along +he is assured that he is not fit to think for himself, and to do so +would be a sin. Man, in his present crude state, holds somewhat the +same attitude toward reason that an Apache Indian holds toward a +camera--the Indian thinks that to have his picture taken means that he +will shrivel up and blow away in a month. And Stanley relates that a +watch with its constant ticking sent the bravest of Congo chiefs into a +cold sweat of agonizing fear; on discovering which, the explorer had but +to draw his Waterbury and threaten to turn the whole bunch into +crocodiles, and at once they got busy and did his bidding. Stanley +exhibited the true Northfield-revival quality in banking on the +superstition of his wavering and frightened followers. + +The revival meetin' is an orgie of the soul, a spiritual debauch--a +dropping from sane and sensible control into eroticism. No person of +normal intelligence can afford to throw the reins of reason on the neck +of emotion and ride a Tam O'Shanter race to Bedlam. This hysteria of the +uncurbed feelings is the only blasphemy, and if there were a personal +God, He surely would be grieved to see that we have so absurd an idea of +Him, as to imagine He would be pleased with our deporting the divine +gift of reason into the hell-box. + +Revivalism works up the voltage, then makes no use of the current--the +wire is grounded. Let any one of these revivalists write out his sermons +and print them in a book, and no sane man could read them without danger +of paresis. The book would lack synthesis, defy analysis, puzzle the +brain and paralyze the will. There would not be enough attic salt in it +to save it. It would be the supernaculum of the commonplace, and prove +the author to be the lobscouse of literature, the loblolly of letters. +The churches want to enroll members, and so desperate is the situation +that they are willing to get them at the price of self-respect. Hence +come Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Chapman, and play Svengali to our +Trilby. These gentlemen use the methods and the tricks of the +auctioneer--the blandishments of the bookmaker--the sleek, smooth ways +of the professional spieler. + +With this troupe of Christian clowns is one Chaeffer, who is a +specialist with children. He has meetings for boys and girls only, where +he plays tricks, grimaces, tells stories and gets his little hearers +laughing, and thus having found an entrance into their hearts, he +suddenly reverses the lever, and has them crying. He talks to these +little innocents about sin, the wrath of God, the death of Christ, and +offers them a choice between everlasting life and eternal death. To the +person who knows and loves children--who has studied the gentle ways of +Froebel--this excitement is vicious, concrete cruelty. Weakened vitality +follows close upon overwrought nerves, and every excess has its +penalty--the pendulum swings as far this way as it does that. + +These reverend gentlemen bray it into the ears of innocent little +children that they were born in iniquity, and in sin did their mothers +conceive them; that the souls of all children over nine years (why +nine?) are lost, and the only way they can hope for heaven is through a +belief in a barbaric blood bamboozle, that men of intelligence have long +since discarded. And all this in the name of the gentle Christ, who took +little children in his arms and said, "Of such is the Kingdom +of Heaven." + +This pagan proposition of being born in sin is pollution to the mind of +a child, and causes misery, unrest and heartache incomputable. A few +years ago we were congratulating ourselves that the devil at last was +dead, and that the tears of pity had put out the fires of hell, but the +serpent of superstition was only slightly scotched, not killed. + +The intent of the religious revival is dual: first, the claim is that +conversion makes men lead better lives; second, it saves their souls +from endless death or everlasting hell. + +To make men lead beautiful lives is excellent, but the Reverend Doctor +Chapman, nor any of his colleagues, nor the denominations that they +represent, will for an instant admit that the fact of a man living a +beautiful life will save his soul alive In fact, Doctor Chapman, Doctor +Torrey and Doctor Sunday, backed by the Reverend Doctor McIntyre, +repeatedly warn their hearers of the danger of a morality that is not +accompanied by a belief in the "blood of Jesus." + +So the beautiful life they talk of is the bait that covers the hook for +gudgeons. You have to accept the superstition, or your beautiful life to +them is a byword and a hissing. + +Hence, to them, superstition, and not conduct, is the vital thing. + +If such a belief is not fanaticism then have I read Webster's +Unabridged Dictionary in vain. Belief in superstition makes no man +kinder, gentler, more useful to himself or society. He can have all the +virtues without the fetich, and he may have the fetich and all the vices +beside. Morality is really not controlled at all by religion--if +statistics of reform schools and prisons are to be believed. + +Fay Mills, according to Reverend Doctor McIntyre has all the virtues--he +is forgiving, kind, gentle, modest, helpful. But Fay has abandoned the +fetich--hence McIntyre and Chapman call upon the public to pray for Fay +Mills. Mills had the virtues when he believed in the fetich--and now +that he has disavowed the fetich, he still has the virtues, and in a +degree he never before had. Even those who oppose him admit this, but +still they declare that he is forever "lost." + +Reverend Doctor Chaeffer says there are two kinds of habits--good and +bad. + +There are also two kinds of religion, good and bad. The religion of +kindness, good cheer, helpfulness and useful effort is good. And on this +point there is no dispute--it is admitted everywhere by every grade of +intellect. But any form of religion that incorporates a belief in +miracles and other barbaric superstitions, as a necessity to salvation, +is not only bad, but very bad. And all men, if left alone long enough to +think, know that salvation depends upon redemption from a belief in +miracles. But the intent of Doctor Chapman and his theological rough +riders is to stampede the herd and set it a milling. To rope the +mavericks and place upon them the McIntyre brand is then quite easy. + +As for the reaction and the cleaning up after the carnival, our +revivalists are not concerned. The confetti, collapsed balloons and +peanut shucks are the net assets of the revival--and these are left for +the local managers. + +Revivals are for the revivalists, and some fine morning these revival +towns will arise, rub their sleepy eyes, and Chapman will be but a bad +taste in the mouth, and Sunday, Chaeffer, Torrey, Biederwolf and +Company, a troubled dream. To preach hagiology to civilized people is a +lapse that Nemesis will not overlook. America stands for the Twentieth +Century, and if in a moment of weakness she slips back to the exuberant +folly of the frenzied piety of the Sixteenth, she must pay the penalty. +Two things man will have to do--get free from the bondage of other men; +and second, liberate himself from the phantoms of his own mind. On +neither of these points does the revivalist help or aid in any way. +Effervescence is not character and every debauch must be paid for in +vitality and self-respect. + +All formal organized religions through which the promoters and managers +thrive are bad, but some are worse than others. The more superstition a +religion has, the worse it is. Usually religions are made up of morality +and superstition. Pure superstition alone would be revolting--in our day +it would attract nobody--so the idea is introduced that morality and +religion are inseparable. I am against the men who pretend to believe +that ethics without a fetich is vain and useless. + +The preachers who preach the beauty of truth, honesty and a useful, +helpful life, I am with, head, heart and hand. + +The preachers who declare that there can be no such thing as a beautiful +life unless it will accept superstition, I am against, tooth, claw, +club, tongue and pen. Down with the Infamy! I prophesy a day when +business and education will be synonymous--when commerce and college +will join hands--when the preparation for life will be to go to work. + +As long as trade was trickery, business barter, commerce finesse, +government exploitation, slaughter honorable, and murder a fine art; +when religion was ignorant superstition, piety the worship of a fetich +and education a clutch for honors, there was small hope for the race. +Under these conditions everything tended towards division, dissipation, +disintegration, separation--darkness, death. + +But with the supremacy gained by science, the introduction of the +one-price system in business, and the gradually growing conviction that +honesty is man's most valuable asset, we behold light at the end of +the tunnel. + +It only remains now for the laity to drive conviction home upon the +clergy, and prove to them that pretence has its penalty, and to bring to +the mourners' bench that trinity of offenders, somewhat ironically +designated as the Three Learned Professions, and mankind will be well +out upon the broad highway, the towering domes of the Ideal City +in sight. + + + +One-Man Power + +Every successful concern is the result of a One-Man Power. Cooeperation, +technically, is an iridescent dream--things cooeperate because the man +makes them. He cements them by his will. + +But find this Man, and get his confidence, and his weary eyes will look +into yours and the cry of his heart shall echo in your ears. "O, for +some one to help me bear this burden!" + +Then he will tell you of his endless search for Ability, and of his +continual disappointments and thwartings in trying to get some one to +help himself by helping him. + +Ability is the one crying need of the hour. The banks are bulging with +money, and everywhere are men looking for work. The harvest is ripe. But +the Ability to captain the unemployed and utilize the capital, is +lacking--sadly lacking. In every city there are many five- and +ten-thousand-dollar-a-year positions to be filled, but the only +applicants are men who want jobs at fifteen dollars a week. Your man of +Ability has a place already. Yes, Ability is a rare article. + +But there is something that is much scarcer, something finer far, +something rarer than this quality of Ability. + +It is the ability to recognize Ability. + +The sternest comment that ever can be made against employers as a class, +lies in the fact that men of Ability usually succeed in showing their +worth in spite of their employer, and not with his assistance and +encouragement. + +If you know the lives of men of Ability, you know that they discovered +their power, almost without exception, thru chance or accident. Had the +accident not occurred that made the opportunity, the man would have +remained unknown and practically lost to the world. The experience of +Tom Potter, telegraph operator at an obscure little way station, is +truth painted large. That fearful night, when most of the wires were +down and a passenger train went through the bridge, gave Tom Potter the +opportunity of discovering himself. He took charge of the dead, cared +for the wounded, settled fifty claims--drawing drafts on the +company--burned the last vestige of the wreck, sunk the waste iron in +the river and repaired the bridge before the arrival of the +Superintendent on the spot. + +"Who gave you the authority to do all this?" demanded the +Superintendent. + +"Nobody," replied Tom, "I assumed the authority." + +The next month Tom Potter's salary was five thousand dollars a year, and +in three years he was making ten times this, simply because he could get +other men to do things. + +Why wait for an accident to discover Tom Potter? Let us set traps for +Tom Potter, and lie in wait for him. Perhaps Tom Potter is just around +the corner, across the street, in the next room, or at our elbow. +Myriads of embryonic Tom Potters await discovery and development if we +but look for them. + +I know a man who roamed the woods and fields for thirty years and never +found an Indian arrow. One day he began to think "arrow," and stepping +out of his doorway he picked one up. Since then he has collected a +bushel of them. + +Suppose we cease wailing about incompetence, sleepy indifference and +slipshod "help" that watches the clock. These things exist--let us +dispose of the subject by admitting it, and then emphasize the fact that +freckled farmer boys come out of the West and East and often go to the +front and do things in a masterly way. There is one name that stands out +in history like a beacon light after all these twenty-five hundred years +have passed, just because the man had the sublime genius of discovering +Ability. That man is Pericles. Pericles made Athens. + +And to-day the very dust of the streets of Athens is being sifted and +searched for relics and remnants of the things made by people who were +captained by men of Ability who were discovered by Pericles. + +There is very little competition in this line of discovering Ability. We +sit down and wail because Ability does not come our way. Let us think +"Ability," and possibly we can jostle Pericles there on his pedestal, +where he has stood for over a score of centuries--the man with a supreme +genius for recognizing Ability. Hail to thee, Pericles, and hail to +thee, Great Unknown, who shall be the first to successfully imitate this +captain of men. + + + +Mental Attitude + +Success is in the blood. There are men whom fate can never keep +down--they march forward in a jaunty manner, and take by divine right +the best of everything that the earth affords. But their success is not +attained by means of the Samuel Smiles-Connecticut policy. They do not +lie in wait, nor scheme, nor fawn, nor seek to adapt their sails to +catch the breeze of popular favor. Still, they are ever alert and alive +to any good that may come their way, and when it comes they simply +appropriate it, and tarrying not, move steadily on. + +Good health! Whenever you go out of doors, draw the chin in, carry the +crown of the head high, and fill the lungs to the utmost; drink in the +sunshine; greet your friends with a smile, and put soul into every +hand-clasp. + +Do not fear being misunderstood; and never waste a moment thinking about +your enemies. Try to fix firmly in your own mind what you would like to +do, and then without violence of direction you will move straight to +the goal. + +Fear is the rock on which we split, and hate the shoal on which many a +barque is stranded. When we become fearful, the judgment is as +unreliable as the compass of a ship whose hold is full of iron ore; when +we hate, we have unshipped the rudder; and if ever we stop to meditate +on what the gossips say, we have allowed a hawser to foul the screw. + +Keep your mind on the great and splendid thing you would like to do; and +then, as the days go gliding by, you will find yourself unconsciously +seizing the opportunities that are required for the fulfillment of your +desire, just as the coral insect takes from the running tide the +elements that it needs. Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful +person you desire to be, and the thought that you hold is hourly +transforming you into that particular individual you so admire. + +Thought is supreme, and to think is often better than to do. + +Preserve a right mental attitude--the attitude of courage, frankness and +good cheer. + +Darwin and Spencer have told us that this is the method of Creation. +Each animal has evolved the parts it needed and desired. The horse is +fleet because he wishes to be; the bird flies because it desires to; the +duck has a web foot because it wants to swim. All things come through +desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on +which our hearts are fixed. + +Many people know this, but they do not know it thoroughly enough so that +it shapes their lives. We want friends, so we scheme and chase 'cross +lots after strong people, and lie in wait for good folks--or alleged +good folks--hoping to be able to attach ourselves to them. The only way +to secure friends is to be one. And before you are fit for friendship +you must be able to do without it. That is to say, you must have +sufficient self-reliance to take care of yourself, and then out of the +surplus of your energy you can do for others. + +The individual who craves friendship, and yet desires a self-centered +spirit more, will never lack for friends. + +If you would have friends, cultivate solitude instead of society. Drink +in the ozone; bathe in the sunshine; and out in the silent night, under +the stars, say to yourself again and yet again, "I am a part of all my +eyes behold!" And the feeling then will come to you that you are no +mere interloper between earth and heaven; but you are a necessary part +of the whole. No harm can come to you that does not come to all, and if +you shall go down it can only be amid a wreck of worlds. + +Like old Job, that which we fear will surely come upon us. By a wrong +mental attitude we have set in motion a train of events that ends in +disaster. People who die in middle life from disease, almost without +exception, are those who have been preparing for death. The acute tragic +condition is simply the result of a chronic state of mind--a culmination +of a series of events. + +Character is the result of two things, mental attitude, and the way we +spend our time. It is what we think and what we do that make us what +we are. + +By laying hold on the forces of the universe, you are strong with them. +And when you realize this, all else is easy, for in your arteries will +course red corpuscles, and in your heart the determined resolution is +born to do and to be. Carry your chin in and the crown of your head +high. We are gods in the chrysalis. + + + +The Outsider + +When I was a farmer lad I noticed that whenever we bought a new cow, and +turned her into the pasture with the herd, there was a general +inclination on the part of the rest to make the new cow think she had +landed in the orthodox perdition. They would hook her away from the +salt, chase her from the water, and the long-horned ones, for several +weeks, would lose no opportunity to give her vigorous digs, pokes +and prods. + +With horses it was the same. And I remember one particular little black +mare that we boys used to transfer from one pasture to another, just to +see her back into a herd of horses and hear her hoofs play a resounding +solo on their ribs as they gathered round to do her mischief. + +Men are animals just as much as are cows, horses and pigs; and they +manifest similar proclivities. The introduction of a new man into an +institution always causes a small panic of resentment, especially if he +be a person of some power. Even in schools and colleges the new teacher +has to fight his way to overcome the opposition he is certain to meet. + +In a lumber camp, the newcomer would do well to take the initiative, +like that little black mare, and meet the first black look with a +short-arm jab. + +But in a bank, department store or railroad office this cannot be. So +the next best thing is to endure, and win out by an attention to +business to which the place is unaccustomed. In any event, the bigger +the man, unless he has the absolute power to overawe everything, the +more uncomfortable will be his position until gradually time smooths the +way and new issues come up for criticism, opposition and resentment, and +he is forgotten. + +The idea of Civil Service Reform--promotion for the good men in your +employ rather than hiring new ones for the big places--is a rule which +looks well on paper but is a fatal policy if carried out to the letter. + +The business that is not progressive is sowing the seeds of its own +dissolution. Life is a movement forward, and all things in nature that +are not evolving into something better are preparing to return into +their constituent elements. One general rule for progress in big +business concerns is the introduction of new blood. You must keep step +with the business world. If you lag behind, the outlaws that hang on the +flanks of commerce will cut you out and take you captive, just as the +wolves lie in wait for the sick cow of the plains. + +To keep your columns marching you must introduce new methods, new +inspiration and seize upon the best that others have invented or +discovered. + +The great railroads of America have evolved together. No one of them has +an appliance or a method that is much beyond the rest. If it were not +for this interchange of men and ideas some railroads would still be +using the link and pin, and snake-heads would be as common as in the +year 1869. + +The railroad manager who knows his business is ever on the lookout for +excellence among his men, and he promotes those who give an undivided +service. But besides this he hires a strong man occasionally from the +outside and promotes him over everybody. Then out come the hammers! + +But this makes but little difference to your competent manager--if a +place is to be filled and he has no one on his payroll big enough to +fill it, he hires an outsider. + +That is right and well for every one concerned. The new life of many a +firm dates from the day they hired a new man. + +Communities that intermarry raise a fine crop of scrubs, and the result +is the same in business ventures. Two of America's largest publishing +houses failed for a tidy sum of five millions or so each, a few years +ago, just thru a dogged policy, that extended over a period of fifty +years, of promoting cousins, uncles and aunts whose only claim of +efficiency was that they had been on the pension roll for a long time. +This way lies dry-rot. + +If you are a business man, and have a position of responsibility to be +filled, look carefully among your old helpers for a man to promote. But +if you haven't a man big enough to fill the place, do not put in a +little one for the sake of peace. Go outside and find a man and hire +him--never mind the salary if he can man the position--wages are always +relative to earning power. This will be the only way you can really man +your ship. + +As for Civil Service Rules--rules are made to be broken. And as for the +long-horned ones who will attempt to make life miserable for your new +employe, be patient with them. It is the privilege of everybody to do a +reasonable amount of kicking, especially if the person has been a long +time with one concern and has received many benefits. + +But if at the last, worst comes to worst, do not forget that you +yourself are at the head of the concern. If it fails you get the blame. +And should the anvil chorus become so persistent that there is danger of +discord taking the place of harmony, stand by your new man, even tho it +is necessary to give the blue envelope to every antediluvian. Precedence +in business is a matter of power, and years in one position may mean +that the man has been there so long that he needs a change. Let the +zephyrs of natural law play freely thru your whiskers. + +So here is the argument: promote your deserving men, but do not be +afraid to hire a keen outsider; he helps everybody, even the kickers, +for if you disintegrate and go down in defeat, the kickers will have to +skirmish around for new jobs anyway. Isn't that so? + + + +Get Out or Get in Line + +Abraham Lincoln's letter to Hooker! If all the letters, messages and +speeches of Lincoln were destroyed, except that one letter to Hooker, we +still would have an excellent index to the heart of the Rail-Splitter. + +In this letter we see that Lincoln ruled his own spirit; and we also +behold the fact that he could rule others. The letter shows wise +diplomacy, frankness, kindliness, wit, tact and infinite patience. +Hooker had harshly and unjustly criticised Lincoln, his commander in +chief. But Lincoln waives all this in deference to the virtues he +believes Hooker possesses, and promotes him to succeed Burnside. In +other words, the man who had been wronged promotes the man who had +wronged him, over the head of a man whom the promotee had wronged and +for whom the promoter had a warm personal friendship. + +But all personal considerations were sunk in view of the end desired. +Yet it was necessary that the man promoted should know the truth, and +Lincoln told it to him in a way that did not humiliate nor fire to +foolish anger; but which surely prevented the attack of cerebral +elephantiasis to which Hooker was liable. + +Perhaps we had better give the letter entire, and so here it is: + + +Executive Mansion, +Washington, January 26, 1863. + +Major-General Hooker: + +General:--I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of +course, I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient +reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some +things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. + +I believe you to be a brave and skilful soldier, which, of course, I +like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your position, in +which you are right. + +You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable if not an +indispensable quality. + +You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather +than harm; but I think that during General Burnside's command of the +army you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as +you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most +meritorious and honorable brother officer. + +I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying +that both the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course, it +was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. +Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now +ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The +government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is +neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I +much fear that the spirit you have aided to infuse into the army, of +criticising their commander and withholding confidence from him, will +now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. +Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out +of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. And now beware of +rashness, but with sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories. + +Yours very truly, A. LINCOLN. + +One point in this letter is especially worth our consideration, for it +suggests a condition that springs up like deadly nightshade from a +poisonous soil. I refer to the habit of carping, sneering, grumbling and +criticising those who are above us. The man who is anybody and who does +anything is certainly going to be criticised, vilified and +misunderstood. This is a part of the penalty for greatness, and every +great man understands it; and understands, too, that it is no proof of +greatness. The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure +contumely without resentment. Lincoln did not resent criticism; he knew +that every life was its own excuse for being, but look how he calls +Hooker's attention to the fact that the dissension Hooker has sown is +going to return and plague him! "Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were +alive, could get any good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in +it." Hooker's fault falls on Hooker--others suffer, but Hooker suffers +most of all. + +Not long ago I met a Yale student home on a vacation. I am sure he did +not represent the true Yale spirit, for he was full of criticism and +bitterness toward the institution. President Hadley came in for his +share, and I was given items, facts, data, with times and places, for a +"peach of a roast." + +Very soon I saw the trouble was not with Yale, the trouble was with the +young man. He had mentally dwelt on some trivial slights until he had +gotten so out of harmony with the place that he had lost the power to +derive any benefit from it. Yale college is not a perfect institution--a +fact, I suppose, that President Hadley and most Yale men are quite +willing to admit; but Yale does supply young men certain advantages, and +it depends upon the students whether they will avail themselves of +these advantages or not. If you are a student in college, seize upon +the good that is there. You receive good by giving it. You gain by +giving--so give sympathy and cheerful loyalty to the institution. Be +proud of it. Stand by your teachers--they are doing the best they can. +If the place is faulty, make it a better place by an example of +cheerfully doing your work every day the best you can. Mind your +own business. + +If the concern where you are employed is all wrong, and the Old Man is a +curmudgeon, it may be well for you to go to the Old Man and +confidentially, quietly and kindly tell him that his policy is absurd +and preposterous. Then show him how to reform his ways, and you might +offer to take charge of the concern and cleanse it of its secret faults. +Do this, or if for any reason you should prefer not, then take your +choice of these: Get Out, or Get in Line. You have got to do one or the +other--now make your choice. If you work for a man, in heaven's name +work for him. + +If he pays you wages that supply you your bread and butter, work for +him--speak well of him, think well of him, stand by him and stand by +the institution that he represents. + +I think if I worked for a man, I would work for him. I would not work +for him a part of the time, and the rest of the time work against him. I +would give an undivided service or none. If put to the pinch, an ounce +of loyalty is worth a pound of cleverness. + +If you must vilify, condemn and eternally disparage, why, resign your +position, and then when you are outside, damn to your heart's content. +But I pray you, as long as you are a part of an institution, do not +condemn it. Not that you will injure the institution--not that--but when +you disparage a concern of which you are a part, you disparage yourself. + +More than that, you are loosening the tendrils that hold you to the +institution, and the first high wind that happens along, you will be +uprooted and blown away in the blizzard's track--and probably you will +never know why. The letter only says, "Times are dull and we regret +there is not enough work," et cetera. + +Everywhere you will find these out-of-a-job fellows. Talk with them and +you will find that they are full of railing, bitterness, scorn and +condemnation. That was the trouble--thru a spirit of fault-finding they +got themselves swung around so they blocked the channel, and had to be +dynamited. They were out of harmony with the place, and no longer being +a help they had to be removed. Every employer is constantly looking for +people who can help him; naturally he is on the lookout among his +employees for those who do not help, and everything and everybody that +is a hindrance has to go. This is the law of trade--do not find fault +with it; it is founded on nature. The reward is only for the man who +helps, and in order to help you must have sympathy. + +You cannot help the Old Man so long as you are explaining in an +undertone and whisper, by gesture and suggestion, by thought and mental +attitude that he is a curmudgeon and that his system is dead wrong. You +are not necessarily menacing him by stirring up this cauldron of +discontent and warming envy into strife, but you are doing this: you are +getting yourself on a well-greased chute that will give you a quick ride +down and out. When you say to other employees that the Old Man is a +curmudgeon, you reveal the fact that you are one; and when you tell them +that the policy of the institution is "rotten," you certainly show +that yours is. + +This bad habit of fault-finding, criticising and complaining is a tool +that grows keener by constant use, and there is grave danger that he who +at first is only a moderate kicker may develop into a chronic knocker, +and the knife he has sharpened will sever his head. + +Hooker got his promotion even in spite of his many failings; but the +chances are that your employer does not have the love that Lincoln +had--the love that suffereth long and is kind. But even Lincoln could +not protect Hooker forever. Hooker failed to do the work, and Lincoln +had to try some one else. So there came a time when Hooker was +superseded by a Silent Man, who criticised no one, railed at nobody--not +even the enemy. + +And this Silent Man, who could rule his own spirit, took the cities. He +minded his own business, and did the work that no man can ever do unless +he constantly gives absolute loyalty, perfect confidence, unswerving +fidelity and untiring devotion. Let us mind our own business, and allow +others to mind theirs, thus working for self by working for the good +of all. + + + +The Week-Day, Keep it Holy + +Did it ever strike you that it is a most absurd and semi-barbaric thing +to set one day apart as "holy?" + +If you are a writer and a beautiful thought comes to you, you never +hesitate because it is Sunday, but you write it down. + +If you are a painter, and the picture appears before you, vivid and +clear, you make haste to materialize it ere the vision fades. + +If you are a musician, you sing a song, or play it on the piano, that it +may be etched upon your memory--and for the joy of it. + +But if you are a cabinet-maker, you may make a design, but you will have +to halt before you make the table, if the day happens to be the "Lord's +Day"; and if you are a blacksmith, you will not dare to lift a hammer, +for fear of conscience or the police. All of which is an admission that +we regard manual labor as a sort of necessary evil, and must be done +only at certain times and places. + +The orthodox reason for abstinence from all manual labor on Sunday is +that "God made the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh +He rested," therefore, man, created in the image of his Maker, should +hold this day sacred. How it can be possible for a supreme, omnipotent +and all-powerful being without "body, parts or passions" to become +wearied thru physical exertion is a question that is as yet unanswered. + +The idea of serving God on Sunday and then forgetting Him all the week +is a fallacy that is fostered by the Reverend Doctor Sayles and his +coadjutor, Deacon Buffum, who passes the Panama for the benefit of those +who would buy absolution. Or, if you prefer, salvation being free, what +we place in the Panama is an honorarium for Deity or his agent, just as +our noted authors never speak at banquets for pay, but accept the +honorarium that in some occult and mysterious manner is left on the +mantel. Sunday, with its immunity from work, was devised for slaves who +got out of all the work they could during the week. + +Then, to tickle the approbativeness of the slave, it was declared a +virtue not to work on Sunday, a most pleasing bit of Tom Sawyer +diplomacy. By following his inclinations and doing nothing, a +mysterious, skyey benefit accrues, which the lazy man hopes to have and +to hold for eternity. + +Then the slaves who do no work on Sunday, point out those who do as +beneath them in virtue, and deserving of contempt. Upon this theory all +laws which punish the person who works or plays on Sunday have been +passed. Does God cease work one day in seven, or is the work that He +does on Sunday especially different from that which He performs on +Tuesday? The Saturday half-holiday is not "sacred"--the Sunday holiday +is, and we have laws to punish those who "violate" it. No man can +violate the Sabbath; he can, however, violate his own nature, and this +he is more apt to do through enforced idleness than either work or play. +Only running water is pure, and stagnant nature of any sort is +dangerous--a breeding-place for disease. + +Change of occupation is necessary to mental and physical health. As it +is, most people get too much of one kind of work. All the week they are +chained to a task, a repugnant task because the dose is too big. They +have to do this particular job or starve. This is slavery, quite as +much as when man was bought and sold as a chattel. + +Will there not come a time when all men and women will work because it +is a blessed gift--a privilege? Then, if all worked, wasteful consuming +as a business would cease. As it is, there are many people who do not +work at all, and these pride themselves upon it and uphold the Sunday +laws. If the idlers would work, nobody would be overworked. If this time +ever comes shall we not cease to regard it as "wicked" to work at +certain times, just as much as we would count it absurd to pass a law +making it illegal for us to be happy on Wednesday? Isn't good work an +effort to produce a useful, necessary or beautiful thing? If so, good +work is a prayer, prompted by a loving heart--a prayer to benefit and +bless. If prayer is not a desire, backed up by a right human effort to +bring about its efficacy, then what is it? + +Work is a service performed for ourselves and others. If I love you I +will surely work for you--in this way I reveal my love. And to manifest +my love in this manner is a joy and gratification to me. Thus work is +for the worker alone and labor is its own reward. These things being +true, if it is wrong to work on Sunday, it is wrong to love on Sunday; +every smile is a sin, every caress a curse, and all tenderness a crime. + +Must there not come a time, if we grow in mentality and spirit, when we +shall cease to differentiate and quit calling some work secular and some +sacred? Isn't it as necessary for me to hoe corn and feed my loved ones +(and also the priest) as for the priest to preach and pray? Would any +priest ever preach and pray if somebody didn't hoe? If life is from God, +then all useful effort is divine; and to work is the highest form of +religion. If God made us, surely He is pleased to see that His work is a +success. If we are miserable, willing to liberate life with a bare +bodkin, we certainly do not compliment our Maker in thus proclaiming His +work a failure. But if our lives are full of gladness and we are +grateful for the feeling that we are one with Deity--helping God to do +His work, then, and only then do we truly serve Him. + +Isn't it strange that men should have made laws declaring that it is +wicked for us to work? + + + +Exclusive Friendships + +An excellent and gentle man of my acquaintance has said, "When fifty-one +per cent of the voters believe in cooeperation as opposed to competition, +the Ideal Commonwealth will cease to be a theory and become a fact." + +That men should work together for the good of all is very beautiful, and +I believe the day will come when these things will be, but the simple +process of fifty-one per cent of the voters casting ballots for +socialism will not bring it about. + +The matter of voting is simply the expression of a sentiment, and after +the ballots have been counted there still remains the work to be done. A +man might vote right and act like a fool the rest of the year. + +The socialist who is full of bitterness, fight, faction and jealousy is +creating an opposition that will hold him and all others like him in +check. And this opposition is well, for even a very imperfect society is +forced to protect itself against dissolution and a condition which is +worse. To take over the monopolies and operate them for the good of +society is not enough, and not desirable either, so long as the idea of +rivalry is rife. + +As long as self is uppermost in the minds of men, they will fear and +hate other men, and under socialism there would be precisely the same +scramble for place and power that we see in politics now. + +Society can never be reconstructed until its individual members are +reconstructed. Man must be born again. When fifty-one per cent of the +voters rule their own spirit and have put fifty-one per cent of their +present envy, jealousy, bitterness, hate, fear and foolish pride out of +their hearts, then Christian socialism will be at hand, and not +until then. + +The subject is entirely too big to dispose of in a paragraph, so I am +just going to content myself here with the mention of one thing, that so +far as I know has never been mentioned in print--the danger to society +of exclusive friendships between man and man, and woman and woman. No +two persons of the same sex can complement each other, neither can they +long uplift or benefit each other. Usually they deform the mental and +spiritual estate. We should have many acquaintances or none. When two +men begin to "tell each other everything," they are hiking for senility. +There must be a bit of well-defined reserve. We are told that in +matter--solid steel for instance--the molecules never touch. They never +surrender their individuality. We are all molecules of Divinity, and our +personality should not be abandoned. Be yourself, let no man be +necessary to you--your friend will think more of you if you keep him at +a little distance. Friendship, like credit, is highest where it is +not used. + +I can understand how a strong man can have a great and abiding affection +for a thousand other men, and call them all by name, but how he can +regard any one of these men much higher than another and preserve his +mental balance, I do not know. + +Let a man come close enough and he'll clutch you like a drowning person, +and down you both go. In a close and exclusive friendship men partake of +others' weaknesses. + +In shops and factories it happens constantly that men will have their +chums. These men relate to each other their troubles--they keep nothing +back--they sympathize with each other, they mutually condole. + +They combine and stand by each other. Their friendship is exclusive and +others see that it is. Jealousy creeps in, suspicion awakens, hate +crouches around the corner, and these men combine in mutual dislike for +certain things and persons. They foment each other, and their sympathy +dilutes sanity--by recognizing their troubles men make them real. Things +get out of focus, and the sense of values is lost. By thinking some one +is an enemy you evolve him into one. + +Soon others are involved and we have a clique. A clique is a friendship +gone to seed. + +A clique develops into a faction, and a faction into a feud, and soon we +have a mob, which is a blind, stupid, insane, crazy, ramping and roaring +mass that has lost the rudder. In a mob there are no individuals--all +are of one mind, and independent thought is gone. + +A feud is founded on nothing--it is a mistake--a fool idea fanned into +flame by a fool friend! And it may become a mob. + +Every man who has had anything to do with communal life has noticed +that the clique is the disintegrating bacillus--and the clique has its +rise always in the exclusive friendship of two persons of the same sex, +who tell each other all unkind things that are said of each other--"so +be on your guard." Beware of the exclusive friendship! Respect all men +and try to find the good in all. To associate only with the sociable, +the witty, the wise, the brilliant, is a blunder--go among the plain, +the stupid, the uneducated, and exercise your own wit and wisdom. You +grow by giving--have no favorites--you hold your friend as much by +keeping away from him as you do by following after him. + +Revere him--yes, but be natural and let space intervene. Be a Divine +molecule. + +Be yourself and give your friend a chance to be himself. Thus do you +benefit him, and in benefiting him you benefit yourself. + +The finest friendships are between those who can do without each other. + +Of course there have been cases of exclusive friendship that are pointed +out to us as grand examples of affection, but they are so rare and +exceptional that they serve to emphasize the fact that it is +exceedingly unwise for men of ordinary power and intellect to exclude +their fellow men. A few men, perhaps, who are big enough to have a place +in history, could play the part of David to another's Jonathan and yet +retain the good will of all, but the most of us would engender +bitterness and strife. + +And this beautiful dream of socialism, where each shall work for the +good of all, will never come about until fifty-one per cent of the +adults shall abandon all exclusive friendships. Until that day arrives +you will have cliques, denominations--which are cliques grown +big--factions, feuds and occasional mobs. + +Do not lean on any one, and let no one lean on you. The ideal society +will be made up of ideal individuals. Be a man and be a friend to +everybody. + +When the Master admonished his disciples to love their enemies, he had +in mind the truth that an exclusive love is a mistake--love dies when it +is monopolized--it grows by giving. Love, lim., is an error. Your enemy +is one who misunderstands you--why should you not rise above the fog and +see his error and respect him for the good qualities you find in him? + + + +The Folly of Living in the Future + +The question is often asked, "What becomes of all the Valedictorians and +all the Class-Day Poets?" + +I can give information as to two parties for whom this inquiry is +made--the Valedictorian of my class is now a most industrious and worthy +floor-walker in Siegel, Cooper & Company's store, and I was the +Class-Day Poet. Both of us had our eyes fixed on the Goal. We stood on +the Threshold and looked out upon the World preparatory to going forth, +seizing it by the tail and snapping its head off for our own +delectation. + +We had our eyes fixed on the Goal--it might better have been the gaol. + +It was a very absurd thing for us to fix our eyes on the Goal. It +strained our vision and took our attention from our work. We lost our +grip on the present. + +To think of the Goal is to travel the distance over and over in your +mind and dwell on how awfully far off it is. We have so little +mind--doing business on such a limited capital of intellect--that to +wear it threadbare looking for a far-off thing is to get hopelessly +stranded in Siegel, Cooper & Company. + +Of course, Siegel, Cooper & Company is all right, too, but the point is +this--it wasn't the Goal! + +A goodly dash of indifference is a requisite in the formula for doing a +great work. + +No one knows what the Goal is--we are all sailing under sealed orders. + +Do your work to-day, doing it the best you can, and live one day at a +time. The man that does this is conserving his God-given energy, and not +spinning it out into tenuous spider threads so fragile and filmy that +unkind Fate will probably brush it away. + +To do your work well to-day, is the certain preparation for something +better to-morrow. The past has gone from us forever; the future we +cannot reach; the present alone is ours. Each day's work is a +preparation for the next day's duties. + +Live in the present--the Day is here, the time is Now. + +There is only one thing that is worth praying for--that we may be in the +line of Evolution. + + + +The Spirit of Man + +Maybe I am all wrong about it, yet I cannot help believing that the +spirit of man will live again in a better world than ours. Fenelon says: +"Justice demands another life to make good the inequalities of this." +Astronomers prophesy the existence of stars long before they can see +them. They know where they ought to be, and training their telescopes in +that direction they wait, knowing they shall find them. + +Materially, no one can imagine anything more beautiful than this earth, +for the simple reason that we cannot imagine anything we have not seen; +we may make new combinations, but the whole is made up of parts of +things with which we are familiar. This great green earth out of which +we have sprung, of which we are a part, that supports our bodies which +must return to it to repay the loan, is very, very beautiful. + +But the spirit of man is not fully at home here; as we grow in soul and +intellect, we hear, and hear again, a voice which says: "Arise and get +thee hence, for this is not thy rest." And the greater and nobler and +more sublime the spirit, the more constant is the discontent. Discontent +may come from various causes, so it will not do to assume that the +discontented ones are always the pure in heart, but it is a fact that +the wise and excellent have all known the meaning of world-weariness. +The more you study and appreciate this life, the more sure you are that +this is not all. You pillow your head upon Mother Earth, listen to her +heart-throb, and even as your spirit is filled with the love of her, +your gladness is half pain and there comes to you a joy that hurts. To +look upon the most exalted forms of beauty, such as sunset at sea, the +coming of a storm on the prairie, or the sublime majesty of the +mountains, begets a sense of sadness, an increasing loneliness. It is +not enough to say that man encroaches on man so that we are really +deprived of our freedom, that civilization is caused by a bacillus, and +that from a natural condition we have gotten into a hurly-burly where +rivalry is rife--all this may be true, but beyond and outside of all +this there is no physical environment in way of plenty which earth can +supply, that will give the tired soul peace. They are the happiest who +have the least; and the fable of the stricken king and the shirtless +beggar contains the germ of truth. The wise hold all earthly ties very +lightly--they are stripping for eternity. + +World-weariness is only a desire for a better spiritual condition. There +is more to be written on this subject of world-pain--to exhaust the +theme would require a book. And certain it is that I have no wish to say +the final word on any topic. The gentle reader has certain rights, and +among these is the privilege of summing up the case. + +But the fact holds that world-pain is a form of desire. All desires are +just, proper and right; and their gratification is the means by which +nature supplies us that which we need. + +Desire not only causes us to seek that which we need, but is a form of +attraction by which the good is brought to us, just as the amoebae +create a swirl in the waters that brings their food within reach. + +Every desire in nature has a fixed and definite purpose in the Divine +Economy, and every desire has its proper gratification. If we desire the +close friendship of a certain person, it is because that person has +certain soul-qualities that we do not possess, and which complement +our own. + +Through desire do we come into possession of our own; by submitting to +its beckonings we add cubits to our stature; and we also give out to +others our own attributes, without becoming poorer, for soul is not +limited. All nature is a symbol of spirit, and so I am forced to believe +that somewhere there must be a proper gratification for this mysterious +nostalgia of the soul. + +The Valhalla of the Norseman, the Nirvana of the Hindu, the Heaven of +the Christian are natural hopes of beings whose cares and +disappointments here are softened by belief that somewhere, Thor, Brahma +or God gives compensation. + +The Eternal Unities require a condition where men and women shall be +permitted to love and not to sorrow; where the tyranny of things hated +shall not prevail, nor that for which the heart yearns turn to ashes at +our touch. + + + +Art and Religion + +While this seems true in the main, I am not sure it will hold in every +case. Please think it out for yourself, and if I happen to be wrong, +why, put me straight. + +The proposition is this: the artist needs no religion beyond his work. +That is to say, art is religion to the man who thinks beautiful thoughts +and expresses them for others the best he can. Religion is an emotional +excitement whereby the devotee rises into a state of spiritual +sublimity, and for the moment is bathed in an atmosphere of rest, and +peace, and love. All normal men and women crave such periods; and +Bernard Shaw says that we reach them through strong tea, tobacco, +whiskey, opium, love, art or religion. + +I think Bernard Shaw a cynic, but there is a glimmer of truth in his +idea that makes it worth repeating. But beyond the natural religion, +which is a passion for oneness with the Whole, all formalized religions +engraft the element of fear, and teach the necessity of placating a +Supreme Being. Our idea of a Supreme Being is suggested to us by the +political government under which we live. The situation was summed up by +Carlyle, when he said that Deity to the average British mind was simply +an infinite George IV. The thought of God as a terrible Supreme Tyrant +first found form in an unlimited monarchy; but as governments have +become more lenient so have the gods, until you get them down (or up) to +a republic, where God is only a president, and we all approach Him in +familiar prayer, on an absolute equality. + +Then soon, for the first time, we find man saying, "I am God, and you +are God, and we are all simply particles of Him," and this is where the +president is done away with, and the referendum comes in. But the +absence of a supreme governing head implies simplicity, honesty, +justice, and sincerity. Wherever plottings, schemings and doubtful +methods of life are employed, a ruler is necessary; and there, too, +religion, with its idea of placating God has a firm hold. Men whose +lives are doubtful feel the need of a strong government and a hot +religion. Formal religion and sin go hand in hand. Formal religion and +slavery go hand in hand. Formal religion and tyranny go hand in hand. +Formal religion and ignorance go hand in hand. + +And sin, slavery, tyranny and ignorance are one--they are never +separated. + +Formal religion is a scheme whereby man hopes to make peace with his +Maker; and a formal religion also tends to satisfy the sense of +sublimity where the man has failed to find satisfaction in his work. +Voltaire says, "When woman no longer finds herself acceptable to man, +she turns to God," When man is no longer acceptable to himself he goes +to church. In order to keep this article from extending itself into a +tome, I purposely omitted saying a single thing about the Protestant +Church as a useful Social Club and have just assumed for argument's sake +that the church is really a religious institution. + +A formal religion is only a cut 'cross lots--an attempt to bring about +the emotions and the sensations that come to a man by the practice of +love, virtue, excellence and truth. When you do a splendid piece of work +and express your best, there comes to you, as reward, an exaltation of +soul, a sublimity of feeling that puts you for the time being in touch +with the Infinite. A formal religion brings this feeling without your +doing anything useful, therefore it is unnatural. + +Formalized religion is the strongest where sin, slavery, tyranny and +ignorance abound. Where men are free, enlightened and at work, they find +all the gratification in their work that their souls demand--they cease +to hunt outside themselves for something to give them rest. They are at +peace with themselves, at peace with man and with God. + +But any man chained to a hopeless task, whose daily work does not +express himself, who is dogged by a boss, whenever he gets a moment of +respite turns to drink or religion. + +Men with an eye on Saturday night, who plot to supplant some one else, +who can locate an employer any hour of the day, who use their wit to +evade labor, who think only of their summer vacation when they will no +longer be compelled to work, are apt to be sticklers for Sabbath-keeping +and church-going. + +Gentlemen in business who give eleven for a dozen, and count thirty-four +inches a yard, who are quick to foreclose a mortgage, and who say +"business is business," generally are vestrymen, deacons and church +trustees. Look about you! Predaceous real estate dealers who set nets +for all the unwary, lawyers who lie in wait for their prey, merchant +princes who grind their clerks under the wheel, and oil magnates whose +history was never written, nor could be written, often make peace with +God, and find a gratification for their sense of sublimity by building +churches, founding colleges, giving libraries, and holding firmly to a +formalized religion. Look about you! + +To recapitulate: if your life-work is doubtful, questionable or +distasteful, you will hold the balance true by going outside your +vocation for the gratification that is your due, but which your daily +work denies, and you find it in religion, I do not say this is always +so, but it is very often. Great sinners are apt to be very religious; +and conversely, the best men who have ever lived have been at war with +established religions. And further, the best men are never found +in churches. + +Men deeply immersed in their work, whose lives are consecrated to doing +things, who are simple, honest and sincere, desire no formal religion, +need no priest nor pastor, and seek no gratification outside their daily +lives. All they ask is to be let alone--they wish only the privilege +to work. + +When Samuel Johnson, on his death bed, made Joshua Reynolds promise he +would do no more work on Sunday, he of course had no conception of the +truth that Reynolds reached through work the same condition of mind that +he, Johnson, had reached by going to church. Johnson despised work and +Reynolds loved it; Johnson considered one day in the week holy; to +Reynolds all days were sacred--sacred to work; that is, to the +expression of his best. Why should you cease to express your holiest and +highest on Sunday? Ah, I know why you don't work on Sunday! It is +because you think that work is degrading, and because your sale and +barter is founded on fraud, and your goods are shoddy. Your week-day +dealings lie like a pall upon your conscience, and you need a day in +which to throw off the weariness of that slavery under which you live. +You are not free yourself, and you insist that others shall not be free. + +You have ceased to make work gladsome, and you toil and make others +toil with you, and you all well nigh faint from weariness and disgust. +You are slave and slave-owner, for to own slaves is to be one. + +But the artist is free and he works in joy, and to him all things are +good and all days are holy. The great inventors, thinkers, poets, +musicians and artists have all been men of deep religious natures; but +their religion has never been a formalized, restricted, ossified +religion. They did not worship at set times and places. Their religion +has been a natural and spontaneous blossoming of the intellect and +emotions--they have worked in love, not only one day in the week, but +all days, and to them the groves have always and ever been God's +first temples. + +Let us work to make men free! Am I bad because I want to give you +freedom, and have you work in gladness instead of fear? + +Do not hesitate to work on Sunday, just as you would think good thoughts +if the spirit prompts you. For work is, at the last, only the expression +of your thought, and there can be no better religion than good work. + + + +Initiative + +The world bestows its big prizes, both in money and honors, for but one +thing. And that is Initiative. What is Initiative? I'll tell you: It is +doing the right thing without being told. But next to doing the right +thing without being told is to do it when you are told once. That is to +say, carry the Message to Garcia! There are those who never do a thing +until they are told twice: such get no honors and small pay. Next, there +are those who do the right thing only when necessity kicks them from +behind, and these get indifference instead of honors, and a pittance for +pay. This kind spends most of its time polishing a bench with a +hard-luck story. Then, still lower down in the scale than this, we find +the fellow who will not do the right thing even when some one goes along +to show him how, and stays to see that he does it; he is always out of a +job, and receives the contempt he deserves, unless he has a rich Pa, in +which case Destiny awaits near by with a stuffed club. To which class do +you belong? + + + +The Disagreeable Girl + +England's most famous dramatist, George Bernard Shaw, has placed in the +pillory of letters what he is pleased to call "The Disagreeable Girl." + +And he has done it by a dry-plate, quick-shutter process in a manner +that surely lays him liable for criminal libel in the assize of +high society. + +I say society's assize advisedly, because it is only in society that the +Disagreeable Girl can play a prominent part, assuming the center of the +stage. Society, in the society sense, is built upon vacuity; its favors +being for those who reveal a fine capacity to waste and consume. Those +who would write their names high on society's honor roll, need not be +either useful or intelligent--they need only seem. + +And this gives to the Disagreeable Girl her opportunity. In the paper +box factory she would have to make good; Cluett, Coon & Co. ask for +results; the stage demands at least a modicum of intellect, in addition +to shape, but society asks for nothing but pretense, and the palm is +awarded to palaver. But do not, if you please, imagine that the +Disagreeable Girl does not wield an influence. That is the very +point--her influence is so far-reaching in its effect that George +Bernard Shaw, giving cross-sections of life in the form of dramas, +cannot write a play and leave her out. + +She is always with us, ubiquitous, omniscient and omnipresent--is the +Disagreeable Girl. She is a disappointment to her father, a source of +humiliation to her mother, a pest to her brothers and sisters, and when +she finally marries, she slowly saps the inspiration of her husband and +very often converts a proud and ambitious man into a weak and +cowardly cur. + +Only in society does the Disagreeable Girl shine--everywhere else she is +an abject failure. The much-vaunted Gibson Girl is a kind of de luxe +edition of Shaw's Disagreeable Girl. The Gibson Girl lolls, loafs, +pouts, weeps, talks back, lies in wait, dreams, eats, drinks, sleeps and +yawns. She rides in a coach in a red jacket, plays golf in a secondary +sexual sweater, dawdles on a hotel veranda, and can tum-tum on a piano, +but you never hear of her doing a useful thing or saying a wise one. +She plays bridge whist, for "keeps" when she wins, and "owes" when she +loses, and her picture in flattering half-tone often adorns a page of +the Sunday Yellow. + +She reveals a beautiful capacity for avoiding all useful effort. + +Gibson gilds the Disagreeable Girl. + +Shaw paints her as she is. + +In the _Doll's House_ Henrik Ibsen has given us _Nora Hebler_, a +Disagreeable Girl of mature age, who, beyond a doubt, first set George +Bernard Shaw a-thinking. Then looking about, Shaw saw her at every turn +in every stage of her moth-and-butterfly existence. + +And the Disagreeable Girl being everywhere, Shaw, dealer in human +character, cannot write a play and leave her out, any more than the +artist Turner could paint a picture and leave man out, or Paul Veronese +produce a canvas and omit the dog. + +The Disagreeable Girl is a female of the genus homo persuasion, built +around a digestive apparatus that possesses marked marshmallow +proclivities. She is pretty, pug-nosed, pink, pert and poetical; and at +first glance, to the unwary, she shows signs of gentleness and +intelligence. Her age is anywhere from eighteen to twenty-eight. At +twenty-eight she begins to evolve into something else, and her capacity +for harm is largely curtailed, because by this time spirit has written +itself in her form and features, and the grossness and animality which +before were veiled are becoming apparent. + +Habit writes itself on the face, and body is an automatic recording +machine. + +To have a beautiful old age, you must live a beautiful youth, for we +ourselves are posterity, and every man is his own ancestor. I am to-day +what I am because I was yesterday what I was. The Disagreeable Girl is +always pretty, at least we have been told she is pretty, and she fully +accepts the dictum. + +She has also been told she is clever, and she thinks she is. + +The actual fact is she is only "sassy." + +The fine flaring up of youth has tended to set sex rampant, but she is +not "immoral" save in her mind. + +She has caution to the verge of cowardice, and so she is sans reproche. +In public she pretends to be dainty; but alone, or with those for whose +good opinion she does not care, she is gross, coarse and sensual in +every feature of her life. She eats too much, does not exercise enough +and considers it amusing to let other people wait on her and do for her +the things she should do for herself. Her room is a jumble of disorder. +The one gleam of hope for her lies in the fact that out of shame, she +allows no visitor to enter her apartments if she can help it. Concrete +selfishness is her chief mark. She will avoid responsibility, side-step +every duty that calls for honest effort; is untruthful, secretive, +indolent and dishonest. + +"What are you eating?" asks Nora Hebler's husband as she enters the +room, not expecting to see him. + +"Nothing," is the answer, and she hides the box of bonbons behind her, +and soon backs out of the room. + +I think Mr. Hebler had no business to ask her what she was eating--no +man should ask any woman such a question, and really it was no +difference anyway. But Nora is always on the defensive and fabricates +when it is necessary, and when it isn't, just through habit. She will +hide a letter written by her grandmother as quickly and deftly as if it +were a missive from a guilty lover. The habit of her life is one of +suspicion, for being inwardly guilty herself, she suspects everybody +although it is quite likely that crime with her has never broken through +thought into deed. Nora will rifle her husband's pockets, read his +note-book, examine his letters, and when he goes on a trip she spends +the day checking up his desk, for her soul delights in duplicate keys. + +At times she lets drop hints of knowledge concerning little nothings +that are none of hers, just to mystify folks. + +She does strange, annoying things simply to see what others will do. + +In degree, Nora's husband fixed the vice of finesse in her nature, for +when even a "good" woman is accused she parries by the use of trickery +and wins her point by the artistry of the bagnio. Women and men are +never really far apart anyway, and women are largely what men have +made them. + +We are all just getting rid of our shackles; listen closely, anywhere, +even among honest and intellectual people, if such there be, and you can +detect the rattle of chains. + +The Disagreeable Girl's mind and soul have not kept pace with her body. +Yesterday she was a slave, sold in a Circassian mart, and freedom to her +is so new and strange that she is unfamiliar with her environment, and +she does not know what to do with it. + +The tragedy she works, according to George Bernard Shaw, is through the +fact that very often good men, blinded by the glamour of sex, imagine +they love the Disagreeable Girl, when what they love is their own +ideal--an image born in their own minds. + +Nature is both a trickster and a humorist, and ever sets the will of the +species beyond the discernment of the individual. The picador has to +blindfold his horse in order to get him into the bull-ring, and +likewise, Dan Cupid does the myopic to a purpose. + +For aught we know, the lovely Beatrice of Dante was only a Disagreeable +Girl, clothed in a poet's fancy, and idealized by a dreamer. Fortunate +was Dante that he worshipped her afar, that he never knew her well +enough to be undeceived, and so walked through life in love with love, +sensitive, saintly, sweetly sad and most divinely happy in his +melancholy. + + + +The Neutral + +There is known to me a prominent business house that by the very force +of its directness and worth has incurred the enmity of many rivals. In +fact, there is a very general conspiracy on hand to put the institution +down and out. In talking with a young man employed by this house, he +yawned and said, "Oh, in this quarrel I am neutral." + +"But you get your bread and butter from this firm, and in a matter where +the very life of the institution is concerned, I do not see how you can +be a neutral." + +And he changed the subject. + +I think that if I enlisted in the Japanese army I would not be a +neutral. + +Business is a fight--a continual struggle--just as life is. Man has +reached his present degree of development through struggle. Struggle +there must be and always will be. The struggle began as purely physical; +as man evolved it shifted ground to the mental, psychic, and the +spiritual, with a few dashes of cave-man proclivities still left. But +depend upon it, the struggle will always be--life is activity. And when +it gets to be a struggle in well-doing, it will still be a struggle. +When inertia gets the better of you it is time to telephone to the +undertaker. + +The only real neutral in this game of life is a dead one. + +Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty, but of every other +good thing. + +A business that is not safeguarded on every side by active, alert, +attentive, vigilant men is gone. As oxygen is the disintegrating +principle of life, working night and day to dissolve, separate, pull +apart and dissipate, so there is something in business that continually +tends to scatter, destroy and shift possession from this man to that. A +million mice nibble eternally at every business venture. + +The mice are not neutrals, and if enough employes in a business house +are neutrals, the whole concern will eventually come tumbling about +their ears. + +I like that order of Field-Marshal Oyama: "Give every honorable neutral +that you find in our lines the honorable jiu-jitsu hikerino." + + + +Reflections on Progress + +Renan has said that truth is always rejected when it comes to a man for +the first time, its evolution being as follows: + +First, we say the thing is rank heresy, and contrary to the Bible. + +Second, we say the matter really amounts to nothing, anyway. + +Third, we declare that we always believed it. + +Two hundred years ago partnerships in business were very rare. A man in +business simply made things and sold them--and all the manufacturing was +done by himself and his immediate family. Soon we find instances of +brothers continuing the work the father had begun, as in the case of the +Elzevirs and the Plantins, the great bookmakers of Holland. To meet this +competition, four printers, in 1640, formed a partnership and pooled +their efforts. A local writer by the name of Van Krugen denounced these +four men, and made savage attacks on partnerships in general as wicked +and illegal, and opposed to the best interests of the people. This view +seems to have been quite general, for there was a law in Amsterdam +forbidding all partnerships in business that were not licensed by the +state. The legislature of the State of Missouri has recently made war on +the department store in the same way, using the ancient Van Krugen +argument as a reason, for there is no copyright on stupidity. + +In London in the seventeenth century men who were found guilty of +pooling their efforts and dividing profits, were convicted by law and +punished for "contumacy, contravention and connivance," and were given a +taste of the stocks in the public square. + +When corporations were formed for the first time, only a few years ago, +there was a fine burst of disapproval. The corporation was declared a +scheme of oppression, a hungry octopus, a grinder of the individual. And +to prove the case various instances of hardship were cited; and no doubt +there was much suffering, for many people are never able to adjust +themselves to new conditions without experiencing pain and regret. + +But we now believe that corporations came because they were required. +Certain things the times demanded, and no one man, or two or three men +could perform these tasks alone--hence the corporation. The rise of +England as a manufacturing nation began with the plan of the +stock company. + +The aggregation known as the joint-stock company, everybody is willing +now to admit, was absolutely necessary in order to secure the machinery, +that is to say, the tools, the raw stock, the buildings, and to provide +for the permanence of the venture. + +The railroad system of America has built up this country--on this thing +of joint-stock companies and transportation, our prosperity has hinged. +"Commerce, consists in carrying things from where they are plentiful to +where they are needed," says Emerson. + +There are ten combinations of capital in this country that control over +six thousand miles of railroad each. These companies have taken in a +large number of small lines; and many connecting lines of tracks have +been built. Competition over vast sections of country has been +practically obliterated, and this has been done so quietly that few +people are aware of the change. Only one general result of this +consolidation of management has been felt, and that it is better +service at less expense. No captain of any great industrial enterprise +dares now to say, "The public be damned," even if he ever said it--which +I much doubt. The pathway to success lies in serving the public, not in +affronting it. In no other way is success possible, and this truth is so +plain and patent that even very simple folk are able to recognize it. +You can only help yourself by helping others. + +Thirty years ago, when P. T. Barnum said, "The public delights in being +humbugged," he knew that it was not true, for he never attempted to put +the axiom in practice. He amused the public by telling it a lie, but P. +T. Barnum never tried anything so risky as deception. Even when he lied +we were not deceived; truth can be stated by indirection. "When my love +tells me she is made of truth, I do believe her, though I know she +lies." Barnum always gave more than he advertised; and going over and +over the same territory he continued to amuse and instruct the public +for nearly forty years. + +This tendency to cooeperate is seen in such splendid features as the +Saint Louis Union Station, for instance, where just twenty great +railroad companies lay aside envy, prejudice, rivalry and whim, and use +one terminal. If competition were really the life of trade, each +railroad that enters Saint Louis would have a station of its own, and +the public would be put to the worry, trouble, expense and endless delay +of finding where it wanted to go and how to get there. As it is now, the +entire aim and end of the scheme is to reduce friction, worry and +expense, and give the public the greatest accommodation--the best +possible service--to make travel easy and life secure. Servants in +uniform meet you as you alight, and answer your every question--speeding +you courteously and kindly on your way. There are women to take care of +women, and nurses to take care of children, and wheel chairs for such as +may be infirm or lame. The intent is to serve--not to pull you this way +and that, and sell you a ticket over a certain road. You are free to +choose your route and you are free to utilize as your own this great +institution that cost a million dollars, and that requires the presence +of two hundred people to maintain. All is for you. It is for the public +and was only made possible by a oneness of aim and desire--that is to +say cooeperation. Before cooeperation comes in any line, there is always +competition pushed to a point that threatens destruction and promises +chaos; then to divert ruin, men devise a better way, a plan that +conserves and economizes, and behold, it is found in cooeperation. + +Civilization is an evolution. + +Civilization is not a thing separate and apart, any more than art is. + +Art is the beautiful way of doing things. Civilization is the +expeditious way of doing things. And as haste is often waste--the more +hurry the less speed--civilization is the best way of doing things. + +As mankind multiplies in number, the problem of supplying people what +they need is the important question of Earth. And mankind has ever held +out offers of reward in fame and money--both being forms of power--to +those who would supply it better things. + +Teachers are those who educate the people to appreciate the things they +need. + +The man who studies mankind, and finds out what men really want, and +then supplies them this, whether it be an Idea or a Thing, is the man +who is crowned with the laurel wreath of honor and clothed with riches. + +What people need and what they want may be very different. + +To undertake to supply people a thing you think they need but which they +do not want, is to have your head elevated on a pike, and your bones +buried in Potter's Field. + +But wait, and the world will yet want the thing that it needs, and your +bones will then become sacred relics. + +This change in desire on the part of mankind is the result of the growth +of intellect. + +It is Progress, and Progress is Evolution, and Evolution is Progress. + +There are men who are continually trying to push Progress along: we call +these individuals "Reformers." + +Then there are others who always oppose the Reformer--the mildest name +we have for them is "Conservative." + +The Reformer is either a Savior or a Rebel, all depending on whether he +succeeds or fails, and your point of view. He is what he is, regardless +of what other men think of him. The man who is indicted and executed as +a rebel, often afterward has the word "Savior" carved on his tomb; and +sometimes men who are hailed as saviors in their day are afterward found +to be sham saviors--to wit, charlatans. Conservation is a plan of +Nature. To keep the good is to conserve. A Conservative is a man who +puts on the brakes when he thinks Progress is going to land Civilization +in the ditch and wreck the whole concern. + +Brakemen are necessary, but in the language of Koheleth, there is a time +to apply the brake and there is a time to abstain from applying the +brake. To clog the wheels continually is to stand still, and to stand +still is to retreat. Progress has need of the brakeman, but the brakeman +should not occupy all of his time putting on the brakes. + +The Conservative is just as necessary as the Radical. The Conservative +keeps the Reformer from going too fast, and plucking the fruit before it +is ripe. Governments are only good where there is strong Opposition, +just as the planets are held in place by the opposition of forces. And +so civilization goes forward by stops and starts--pushed by the +Reformers and held back by the Conservatives. One is necessary to the +other, and they often shift places. But forward and forward Civilization +forever goes--ascertaining the best way of doing things. + +In commerce we have had the Individual Worker, the Partnership, the +Corporation, and now we have the Trust. + +The Trust is simply Corporations forming a partnership. The thing is all +an Evolution--a moving forward. It is all for man and it is all done by +man. It is all done with the consent, aye, and approval of man. + +The Trusts were made by the People, and the People can and will unmake +them, should they ever prove an engine of oppression. They exist only +during good behavior, and like men, they are living under a sentence of +death, with an indefinite reprieve. + +The Trusts are good things because they are economizers of energy. They +cut off waste, increase the production, and make a panic practically +impossible. + +The Trusts are here in spite of the men who think they originated them, +and in spite of the Reformers who turned Conservatives and +opposed them. + +The next move of Evolution will be the age of Socialism. Socialism means +the operation of all industries by the people, and for the people. +Socialism is cooeperation instead of competition. Competition has been so +general that economists mistook it for a law of nature, when it was only +an incident. + +Competition is no more a law of nature than is hate. Hate was once so +thoroughly believed in that we gave it personality and called it +the Devil. + +We have banished the Devil by educating people to know that he who works +has no time to hate and no need to fear, and by this same means, +education, will the people be prepared for the age of Socialism. + +The Trusts are now getting things ready for Socialism. + +Socialism is a Trust of Trusts. + +Humanity is growing in intellect, in patience, in kindness--in love. And +when the time is ripe, the people will step in and take peaceful +possession of their own, and the Cooeperative Commonwealth will give to +each one his due. + + + +Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise + +Sympathy, Knowledge and Poise seem to be the three ingredients that are +most needed in forming the Gentle Man. I place these elements according +to their value. No man is great who does not have Sympathy plus, and the +greatness of men can be safely gauged by their sympathies. Sympathy and +imagination are twin sisters. Your heart must go out to all men, the +high, the low, the rich, the poor, the learned, the unlearned, the good, +the bad, the wise and the foolish--it is necessary to be one with them +all, else you can never comprehend them. Sympathy!--it is the touchstone +to every secret, the key to all knowledge, the open sesame of all +hearts. Put yourself in the other man's place and then you will know why +he thinks certain things and does certain deeds. Put yourself in his +place and your blame will dissolve itself into pity, and your tears will +wipe out the record of his misdeeds. The saviors of the world have +simply been men with wondrous sympathy. + +But Knowledge must go with Sympathy, else the emotions will become +maudlin and pity may be wasted on a poodle instead of a child; on a +field-mouse instead of a human soul. Knowledge in use is wisdom, and +wisdom implies a sense of values--you know a big thing from a little +one, a valuable fact from a trivial one. Tragedy and comedy are simply +questions of value: a little misfit in life makes us laugh, a great one +is tragedy and cause for expression of grief. + +Poise is the strength of body and strength of mind to control your +Sympathy and your Knowledge. Unless you control your emotions they run +over and you stand in the mire. Sympathy must not run riot, or it is +valueless and tokens weakness instead of strength. In every hospital for +nervous disorders are to be found many instances of this loss of +control. The individual has Sympathy but not Poise, and therefore his +life is worthless to himself and to the world. + +He symbols inefficiency and not helpfulness. Poise reveals itself more +in voice than it does in words; more in thought than in action; more in +atmosphere than in conscious life. It is a spiritual quality, and is +felt more than it is seen. It is not a matter of bodily size, nor of +bodily attitude, nor attire, nor of personal comeliness: it is a state +of inward being, and of knowing your cause is just. And so you see it is +a great and profound subject after all, great in its ramifications, +limitless in extent, implying the entire science of right living. I once +met a man who was deformed in body and little more than a dwarf, but who +had such Spiritual Gravity--such Poise--that to enter a room where he +was, was to feel his presence and acknowledge his superiority. To allow +Sympathy to waste itself on unworthy objects is to deplete one's life +forces. To conserve is the part of wisdom, and reserve is a necessary +element in all good literature, as well as in everything else. + +Poise being the control of our Sympathy and Knowledge, it implies a +possession of these attributes, for without having Sympathy and +Knowledge you have nothing to control but your physical body. To +practise Poise as a mere gymnastic exercise, or study in etiquette, is +to be self-conscious, stiff, preposterous and ridiculous. Those who cut +such fantastic tricks before high heaven as make angels weep, are men +void of Sympathy and Knowledge trying to cultivate Poise. Their science +is a mere matter of what to do with arms and legs. Poise is a question +of spirit controlling flesh, heart controlling attitude. + +Get Knowledge by coming close to Nature. That man is the greatest who +best serves his kind. Sympathy and Knowledge are for use--you acquire +that you may give out; you accumulate that you may bestow. And as God +has given unto you the sublime blessings of Sympathy and Knowledge, +there will come to you the wish to reveal your gratitude by giving them +out again; for the wise man is aware that we retain spiritual qualities +only as we give them away. Let your light shine. To him that hath shall +be given. The exercise of wisdom brings wisdom; and at the last the +infinitesimal quantity of man's knowledge, compared with the Infinite, +and the smallness of man's Sympathy when compared with the source from +which ours is absorbed, will evolve an abnegation and a humility that +will lend a perfect Poise. The Gentleman is a man with perfect Sympathy, +Knowledge, and Poise. + + + +Love and Faith + +No woman is worthy to be a wife who on the day of her marriage is not +lost absolutely and entirely in an atmosphere of love and perfect trust; +the supreme sacredness of the relation is the only thing which, at the +time, should possess her soul. Is she a bawd that she should bargain? + +Women should not "obey" men anymore than men should obey women. There +are six requisites in every happy marriage; the first is Faith, and the +remaining five are Confidence. Nothing so compliments a man as for a +woman to believe in him--nothing so pleases a woman as for a man to +place confidence in her. + +Obey? God help me! Yes, if I loved a woman, my whole heart's desire +would be to obey her slightest wish. And how could I love her unless I +had perfect confidence that she would only aspire to what was beautiful, +true and right? And to enable her to realize this ideal, her wish would +be to me a sacred command; and her attitude of mind toward me I know +would be the same. And the only rivalry between us would be as to who +could love the most; and the desire to obey would be the one controlling +impulse of our lives. + +We gain freedom by giving it, and he who bestows faith gets it back with +interest. To bargain and stipulate in love is to lose. + +The woman who stops the marriage ceremony and requests the minister to +omit the word "obey," is sowing the first seed of doubt and distrust +that later may come to fruition in the divorce court. + +The haggling and bickerings of settlements and dowries that usually +precede the marriage of "blood" and "dollars" are the unheeded warnings +that misery, heartache, suffering, and disgrace await the principals. + +Perfect faith implies perfect love; and perfect love casteth out fear. +It is always the fear of imposition, and a lurking intent to rule, that +causes the woman to haggle over a word--it is absence of love, a +limitation, an incapacity. The price of a perfect love is an absolute +and complete surrender. + +Keep back part of the price and yours will be the fate of Ananias and +Sapphira. Your doom is swift and sure. To win all we must give all. + + + +Giving Something for Nothing + +To give a man something for nothing tends to make the individual +dissatisfied with himself. + +Your enemies are the ones you have helped. + +And when an individual is dissatisfied with himself he is dissatisfied +with the whole world--and with you. + +A man's quarrel with the world is only a quarrel with himself. But so +strong is this inclination to lay blame elsewhere and take credit to +ourselves, that when we are unhappy we say it is the fault of this woman +or that man. Especially do women attribute their misery to That Man. + +And often the trouble is he has given her too much for nothing. + +This truth is a reversible, back-action one, well lubricated by use, +working both ways--as the case may be. + +Nobody but a beggar has really definite ideas concerning his rights. +People who give much--who love much--do not haggle. + +That form of affection which drives sharp bargains and makes demands, +gets a check on the bank in which there is no balance. + +There is nothing so costly as something you get for nothing. + +My friend Tom Lowry, Magnate in Ordinary, of Minneapolis and the east +side of Wall Street, has recently had a little experience that proves +my point. + +A sturdy beggar-man, a specimen of decayed gentility, once called on +Tammas with a hard-luck story and a Family Bible, and asked for a small +loan on the Good Book. + +To be compelled to soak the Family Bible would surely melt the heart of +gneiss! + +Tom was melted. + +Tom made the loan but refused the collateral, stating he had no use for +it. + +Which was God's truth for once. + +In a few weeks the man came back, and tried to tell Tom his hard-luck +story concerning the Cold Ingratitude of a Cruel World. + +Tom said, "Spare me the slow music and the recital--I have troubles of +my own. I need mirth and good cheer--take this dollar, and peace be +with you." + +"Peace be multiplied unto thee," said the beggar, and departed. The +next month the man returned, and began to tell Tom a tale of Cruelty, +Injustice and Ingratitude. + +Tom was riled--he had his magnate business to attend to, and he made a +remark in italics. The beggar said, "Mr. Lowry, if you had your business +a little better systematized, I would not have to trouble you +personally--why don't you just speak to your cashier?" And the great +man, who once took a party of friends out for a tally-ho ride, and +through mental habit collected five cents from each guest, was so +pleased at the thought of relief that he pressed the buzzer. The cashier +came, and Tom said, "Put this man Grabheimer on your pay-roll, give him +two dollars now and the same the first of every month." + +Then turning to the beggar-man, Tom said, "Now get out of here--hurry, +vamose, hike--and be damned to you!" + +"The same to you and many of them," said His Effluvia politely, and +withdrew. + +All this happened two years ago. The beggar got his money regularly for +a year, and then in auditing accounts Tom found the name on the +pay-roll, and as Tom could not remember how the name got there, he at +first thought the pay-roll was being stuffed. Anyway he ordered the +beggar's name stricken off the roster, and the elevator man was +instructed to enforce the edict against beggars. + +Not being allowed to see his man, the beggar wrote him +letters--denunciatory, scandalous, abusive, threatening. Finally the +beggar laid the matter before an obese limb o' the Law, Jaggers, of the +firm of Jaggers & Jaggers, who took the case on a contingent fee. + +The case came to trial, and Jaggers proved his case se +offendendo--argal: it was shown by the defendant's books that His +Bacteria had been on the pay-roll and his name had been stricken off +without suggestion, request, cause, reason or fault of his own. + +His Crabship proved the contract, and Tom got it in the mazzard. +Judgment for plaintiff, with costs. The beggar got the money and +Minneapolis Tom got the experience. Tom said the man would lose the +money, but he himself has gotten the part that will be his for +ninety-nine years. Surely the spirit of justice does not sleep and there +is a beneficent and wise Providence that watches over magnates. + + + +Work and Waste + +These truths I hold to be self-evident: That man was made to be happy; +that happiness is only attainable through useful effort; that the very +best way to help ourselves is to help others, and often the best way to +help others is to mind our own business; that useful effort means the +proper exercise of all our faculties; that we grow only through +exercise; that education should continue through life, and the joys of +mental endeavor should be, especially, the solace of the old; that where +men alternate work, play and study in right proportion, the organs of +the mind are the last to fail, and death for such has no terrors. + +That the possession of wealth can never make a man exempt from useful +manual labor; that if all would work a little, no one would then be +overworked; that if no one wasted, all would have enough; that if none +were overfed, none would be underfed; that the rich and "educated" need +education quite as much as the poor and illiterate; that the presence of +a serving class is an indictment and a disgrace to our civilization; +that the disadvantage of having a serving class falls most upon those +who are served, and not upon those who serve--just as the real curse of +slavery fell upon the slave-owners. + +That people who are waited on by a serving class cannot have a right +consideration for the rights of others, and they waste both time and +substance, both of which are lost forever, and can only seemingly be +made good by additional human effort. + +That the person who lives on the labor of others, not giving himself in +return to the best of his ability, is really a consumer of human life +and therefore must be considered no better than a cannibal. + +That each one living naturally will do the thing he can do best, but +that in useful service there is no high nor low. + +That to set apart one day in seven as "holy" is really absurd and serves +only to loosen our grasp on the tangible present. + +That all duties, offices and things which are useful and necessary to +humanity are sacred, and that nothing else is or can be sacred. + + + +The Law of Obedience + +The very first item in the creed of common sense is _Obedience_. + +Perform your work with a whole heart. + +Revolt may be sometimes necessary, but the man who tries to mix revolt +and obedience is doomed to disappoint himself and everybody with whom he +has dealings. To flavor work with protest is to fail absolutely. + +When you revolt, why revolt--climb, hike, get out, defy--tell everybody +and everything to go to hades! That disposes of the case. You thus +separate yourself entirely from those you have served--no one +misunderstands you--you have declared yourself. + +The man who quits in disgust when ordered to perform a task which he +considers menial or unjust may be a pretty good fellow, but in the wrong +environment, but the malcontent who takes your order with a smile and +then secretly disobeys, is a dangerous proposition. To pretend to obey, +and yet carry in your heart the spirit of revolt is to do half-hearted, +slipshod work. If revolt and obedience are equal in power, your engine +will then stop on the center and you benefit no one, not even yourself. + +The spirit of obedience is the controlling impulse that dominates the +receptive mind and the hospitable heart. There are boats that mind the +helm and there are boats that do not. Those that do not, get holes +knocked in them sooner or later. + +To keep off the rocks, obey the rudder. + +Obedience is not to slavishly obey this man or that, but it is that +cheerful mental state which responds to the necessity of the case, and +does the thing without any back talk--unuttered or expressed. + +Obedience to the institution--loyalty! The man who has not learned to +obey has trouble ahead of him every step of the way. The world has it in +for him continually, because he has it in for the world. + +The man who does not know how to receive orders is not fit to issue them +to others. But the individual who knows how to execute the orders given +him is preparing the way to issue orders, and better still--to have +them obeyed. + + + +Society's Saviors + +All adown the ages society has made the mistake of nailing its Saviors +to the cross between thieves. + +That is to say, society has recognized in the Savior a very dangerous +quality--something about him akin to a thief, and his career has been +suddenly cut short. + +We have telephones and trolly cars, yet we have not traveled far into +the realm of spirit, and our X-ray has given us no insight into the +heart of things. + +Society is so dull and dense, so lacking in spiritual vision, so dumb +and so beast-like that it does not know the difference between a thief +and the only Begotten Son. In a frantic effort to forget its hollowness +it takes to ping-pong, parchesi and progressive euchre, and seeks to +lose itself and find solace and consolation in tiddle-dy-winks. + +We are told in glaring head-lines and accurate photographic +reproductions of a conference held by leaders in society to settle a +matter of grave import. Was it to build technical schools and provide a +means for practical and useful education? Was it a plan of building +modern tenement houses along scientific and sanitary lines? Was it +called to provide funds for scientific research of various kinds that +would add to human knowledge and prove a benefit to mankind? No, it was +none of these. This body met to determine whether the crook in a certain +bulldog's tail was natural or had been produced artificially. + +Should the Savior come to-day and preach the same gospel that He taught +before, society would see that His experience was repeated. Now and then +it blinks stupidly and cries, "Away with Him!" or it stops its game long +enough to pass gall and vinegar on a spear to One it has thrust +beyond the pale. + +For the woman who has loved much society has but one verdict: crucify +her! The best and the worst are hanged on one tree. + +In the abandon of a great love there exists a godlike quality which +places a woman very close to the holy of holies, yet such a one, not +having complied with the edicts of society, is thrust unceremoniously +forth, and society, Pilate-like, washes its hands in innocency. + + + +Preparing for Old Age + +Socrates was once asked by a pupil, this question: "What kind of people +shall we be when we reach Elysium?" + +And the answer was this: "We shall be the same kind of people that we +were here." + +If there is a life after this, we are preparing for it now, just as I am +to-day preparing for my life to-morrow. + +What kind of a man shall I be to-morrow? Oh, about the same kind of a +man that I am now. The kind of a man that I shall be next month depends +upon the kind of a man that I have been this month. + +If I am miserable to-day, it is not within the round of probabilities +that I shall be supremely happy to-morrow. Heaven is a habit. And if we +are going to Heaven we would better be getting used to it. + +Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the +future is to live as if there were none. + +We are preparing all the time for old age. The two things that make old +age beautiful are resignation and a just consideration for the rights +of others. + +In the play of _Ivan the Terrible_, the interest centers around one man, +the Czar Ivan. If anybody but Richard Mansfield played the part, there +would be nothing in it. We simply get a glimpse into the life of a +tyrant who has run the full gamut of goosedom, grumpiness, selfishness +and grouch. Incidentally this man had the power to put other men to +death, and this he does and has done as his whim and temper might +dictate. He has been vindictive, cruel, quarrelsome, tyrannical and +terrible. Now that he feels the approach of death, he would make his +peace with God. But he has delayed that matter too long. He didn't +realize in youth and middle life that he was then preparing for old age. + +Man is the result of cause and effect, and the causes are to a degree in +our hands. Life is a fluid, and well has it been called the stream of +life--we are going, flowing somewhere. Strip _Ivan_ of his robes and +crown, and he might be an old farmer and live in Ebenezer. Every town +and village has its Ivan. To be an Ivan, just turn your temper loose +and practise cruelty on any person or thing within your reach, and the +result will be a sure preparation for a querulous, quarrelsome, pickety, +snipity, fussy and foolish old age, accented with many outbursts of +wrath that are terrible in their futility and ineffectiveness. + +Babyhood has no monopoly on the tantrum. The characters of _King Lear_ +and _Ivan the Terrible_ have much in common. One might almost believe +that the writer of _Ivan_ had felt the incompleteness of _Lear_, and had +seen the absurdity of making a melodramatic bid for sympathy in behalf +of this old man thrust out by his daughters. + +Lear, the troublesome, Lear to whose limber tongue there was constantly +leaping words unprintable and names of tar, deserves no soft pity at our +hands. All his life he had been training his three daughters for exactly +the treatment he was to receive. All his life Lear had been lubricating +the chute that was to give him a quick ride out into that black +midnight storm. + +"Oh, how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless +child," he cries. + +There is something quite as bad as a thankless child, and that is a +thankless parent--an irate, irascible parent who possesses an +underground vocabulary and a disposition to use it. + +The false note in _Lear_ lies in giving to him a daughter like +_Cordelia_. Tolstoy and Mansfield ring true, and _Ivan the Terrible_ is +what he is without apology, excuse or explanation. Take it or leave +it--if you do not like plays of this kind, go to see Vaudeville. + +Mansfield's _Ivan_ is terrible. The Czar is not old in years--not over +seventy--but you can see that Death is sniffing close upon his track. +_Ivan_ has lost the power of repose. He cannot listen, weigh and +decide--he has no thought or consideration for any man or thing--this is +his habit of life. His bony hands are never still--the fingers open and +shut, and pick at things eternally. He fumbles the cross on his breast, +adjusts his jewels, scratches his cosmos, plays the devil's tattoo, gets +up nervously and looks behind the throne, holds his breath to listen. +When people address him, he damns them savagely if they kneel, and if +they stand upright he accuses them of lack of respect. He asks that he +be relieved from the cares of state, and then trembles for fear his +people will take him at his word. When asked to remain ruler of Russia +he proceeds to curse his councilors and accuses them of loading him with +burdens that they themselves would not endeavor to bear. + +He is a victim of amor senilis, and right here if Mansfield took one +step more his realism would be appalling, but he stops in time and +suggests what he dares not express. This tottering, doddering, +slobbering, sniffling old man is in love--he is about to wed a young, +beautiful girl. He selects jewels for her--he makes remarks about what +would become her beauty, jeers and laughs in cracked falsetto. In the +animality of youth there is something pleasing--it is natural--but the +vices of an old man, when they have become only mental, are most +revolting. + +The people about _Ivan_ are in mortal terror of him, for he is still the +absolute monarch--he has the power to promote or disgrace, to take their +lives or let them go free. They laugh when he laughs, cry when he does, +and watch his fleeting moods with thumping hearts. + +He is intensely religious and affects the robe and cowl of a priest. +Around his neck hangs the crucifix. His fear is that he will die with no +opportunity of confession and absolution. He prays to High Heaven every +moment, kisses the cross, and his toothless old mouth interjects prayers +to God and curses on man in the same breath. + +If any one is talking to him he looks the other way, slips down until +his shoulders occupy the throne, scratches his leg, and keeps up a +running comment of insult--"Aye," "Oh," "Of course," "Certainly," "Ugh," +"Listen to him now!" There is a comedy side to all this which relieves +the tragedy and keeps the play from becoming disgusting. + +Glimpses of _Ivan's_ past are given in his jerky confessions--he is the +most miserable and unhappy of men, and you behold that he is reaping as +he has sown. + +All his life he has been preparing for this. Each day has been a +preparation for the next. _Ivan_ dies in a fit of wrath, hurling curses +on his family and court--dies in a fit of wrath into which he has been +purposely taunted by a man who knows that the outburst is certain to +kill the weakened monarch. + +Where does _Ivan the Terrible_ go when Death closes his eyes? + +I know not. But this I believe: No confessional can absolve him--no +priest benefit him--no God forgive him. He has damned himself, and he +began the work in youth. He was getting ready all his life for this old +age, and this old age was getting ready for the fifth act. + +The playwright does not say so, Mansfield does not say so, but this is +the lesson: Hate is a poison--wrath is a toxin--sensuality leads to +death--clutching selfishness is a lighting of the fires of hell. It is +all a preparation--cause and effect. + +If you are ever absolved, you must absolve yourself, for no one else +can. And the sooner you begin, the better. + +We often hear of the beauties of old age, but the only old age that is +beautiful is the one the man has long been preparing for by living a +beautiful life. Every one of us are right now preparing for old age. + +There may be a substitute somewhere in the world for Good Nature, but I +do not know where it can be found. + +The secret of salvation is this: Keep Sweet. + + + +An Alliance with Nature + +My father is a doctor who has practised medicine for sixty-five years, +and is still practising. + +I am a doctor myself. + +I am fifty years old; my father is eighty-five. We live in the same +house, and daily we ride horseback together or tramp thru the fields and +woods. To-day we did our little jaunt of five miles and back +'cross country. + +I have never been ill a day--never consulted a physician in a +professional way, and in fact, never missed a meal through inability to +eat. As for the author of the author of _A Message to Garcia_, he holds, +esoterically, to the idea that the hot pedaluvia and small doses of hop +tea will cure most ailments that are curable, and so far all of his own +ails have been curable--a point he can prove. + +The value of the pedaluvia lies in the fact that it tends to equalize +circulation, not to mention the little matter of sanitation; and the +efficacy of the hops lies largely in the fact that they are bitter and +disagreeable to take. + +Both of these prescriptions give the patient the soothing thought that +something is being done for him, and at the very worst can never do him +serious harm. + +My father and I are not fully agreed on all of life's themes, so +existence for us never resolves itself into a dull, neutral gray. He is +a Baptist and I am a Vegetarian. Occasionally he refers to me as +"callow," and we have daily resorts to logic to prove prejudices, and +history is searched to bolster the preconceived, but on the following +important points we stand together, solid as one man: + +First. Ninety-nine people out of a hundred who go to a physician have no +organic disease, but are merely suffering from some symptom of their own +indiscretion. + +Second. Individuals who have diseases, nine times out of ten, are +suffering only from the accumulated evil effects of medication. + +Third. Hence we get the proposition: Most diseases are the result of +medication which has been prescribed to relieve and take away a +beneficent and warning symptom on the part of wise Nature. + +Most of the work of doctors in the past has been to prescribe for +symptoms; the difference between actual disease and a symptom being +something that the average man does not even yet know. + +And the curious part is that on these points all physicians, among +themselves, are fully agreed. What I say here being merely truism, +triteness and commonplace. + +Last week, in talking with an eminent surgeon in Buffalo, he said, "I +have performed over a thousand operations of laparotomy, and my records +show that in every instance, excepting in cases of accident, the +individual was given to what you call the 'Beecham Habit.'" + +The people you see waiting in the lobbies of doctors' offices are, in a +vast majority of cases, suffering thru poisoning caused by an excess of +food. Coupled with this goes the bad results of imperfect breathing, +irregular sleep, lack of exercise, and improper use of stimulants, or +holding the thought of fear, jealousy and hate. All of these things, or +any one of them, will, in very many persons, cause fever, chills, cold +feet, congestion and faulty elimination. + +To administer drugs to a man suffering from malnutrition caused by a +desire to "get even," and a lack of fresh air, is simply to compound +his troubles, shuffle his maladies, and get him ripe for the ether-cone +and scalpel. + +Nature is forever trying to keep people well, and most so-called +"disease," which word means merely lack of ease, is self-limiting, and +tends to cure itself. If you have appetite, do not eat too much. If you +have no appetite, do not eat at all. Be moderate in the use of all +things, save fresh air and sunshine. + +The one theme of _Ecclesiastes_ is moderation. Buddha wrote it down that +the greatest word in any language is Equanimity. William Morris said +that the finest blessing of life was systematic, useful work. Saint Paul +declared that the greatest thing in the world was love. Moderation, +Equanimity, Work and Love--you need no other physician. + +In so stating I lay down a proposition agreed to by all physicians; +which was expressed by Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and then +repeated in better phrase by Epictetus, the slave, to his pupil, the +great Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and which has been known to every +thinking man and woman since: Moderation, Equanimity, Work and Love! + + + +The Ex. Question + +Words sometimes become tainted and fall into bad repute, and are +discarded. Until the day of Elizabeth Fry, on the official records in +England appeared the word "mad-house." Then it was wiped out and the +word "asylum" substituted. Within twenty years' time in several states +in America we have discarded the word "asylum" and have substituted the +word "hospital." + +In Jeffersonville, Indiana, there is located a "Reformatory" which some +years ago was known as a penitentiary. The word "prison" had a +depressing effect, and "penitentiary" throws a theological shadow, and +so the words will have to go. As our ideas of the criminal change, we +change our vocabulary. + +A few years ago we talked about asylums for the deaf and dumb--the word +"dumb" has now been stricken from every official document in every state +in the Union, because we have discovered, with the assistance of Gardner +G. Hubbard, that deaf people are not dumb, and not being defectives, +they certainly do not need an asylum. They need schools, however, and so +everywhere we have established schools for the deaf. + +Deaf people are just as capable, are just as competent, just as well +able to earn an honest living as is the average man who can hear. + +The "indeterminate sentence" is one of the wisest expedients ever +brought to bear in penology. And it is to this generation alone that the +honor of first using it must be given. The offender is sentenced for, +say from one to eight years. This means that if the prisoner behaves +himself, obeying the rules, showing a desire to be useful, he will be +paroled and given his freedom at the end of one year. + +If he misbehaves and does not prove his fitness for freedom he will be +kept two or three years, and he may possibly have to serve the whole +eight years. "How long are you in for?" I asked a convict at +Jeffersonville, who was caring for the flowers in front of the walls. +"Me? Oh, I'm in for two years, with the privilege of fourteen," was the +man's answer, given with a grin. + +The old plan of "short time," allowing two or three months off from +every year for good behavior was a move in the right direction, but the +indeterminate sentence will soon be the rule everywhere for first +offenders. + +The indeterminate sentence throws upon the man himself the +responsibility for the length of his confinement and tends to relieve +prison life of its horror, by holding out hope. The man has the short +time constantly in mind, and usually is very careful not to do anything +to imperil it. Insurrection and an attempt to escape may mean that every +day of the whole long sentence will have to be served. + +So even the dullest of minds and the most calloused realize that it pays +to do what is right--the lesson being pressed home upon them in a way it +has never been before. + +The old-time prejudice of business men against the man who had "done +time" was chiefly on account of his incompetence, and not his record. +The prison methods that turned out a hateful, depressed and frightened +man who had been suppressed by the silent system and deformed by the +lock-step, calloused by brutal treatment and the constant thought held +over him that he was a criminal, was a bad thing for the prisoner, for +the keeper and for society. Even an upright man would be undone by such +treatment, and in a year be transformed into a sly, secretive and +morally sick man. The men just out of prison were unable to do +anything--they needed constant supervision and attention, and so of +course we did not care to hire them. + +The Ex. now is a totally different man from the Ex. just out of his +striped suit in the seventies, thanks to that much defamed man, +Brockway, and a few others. + +We may have to restrain men for the good of themselves and the good of +society, but we do not punish. The restraint is punishment enough; we +believe men are punished by their sins, not for them. + +When men are sent to reform schools now, the endeavor and the hope is to +give back to society a better man than we took. + +Judge Lindsey sends boys to the reform school without officer or guard. +The boys go of their own accord, carrying their own commitment papers. +They pound on the gate demanding admittance in the name of the law. The +boy believes that Judge Lindsey is his friend, and that the reason he +is sent to the reform school is that he may reap a betterment which his +full freedom cannot possibly offer. When he takes his commitment papers +he is no longer at war with society and the keepers of the law. He +believes that what is being done for him is done for the best, and so he +goes to prison, which is really not a prison at the last, for it is a +school where the lad is taught to economize both time and money and to +make himself useful. + +Other people work for us, and we must work for them. This is the supreme +lesson that the boy learns. You can only help yourself by +helping others. + +Now here is a proposition: If a boy or a man takes his commitment +papers, goes to prison alone and unattended, is it necessary that he +should be there locked up, enclosed in a corral and be looked after by +guards armed with death-dealing implements? + +Superintendent Whittaker, of the institution at Jeffersonville, Indiana, +says, "No." He believes that within ten years' time we will do away with +the high wall, and will keep our loaded guns out of sight; to a great +degree also we will take the bars from the windows of the prisons, just +as we have taken them away from the windows of the hospitals for +the insane. + +At the reform school it may be necessary to have a guard-house for some +years to come, but the high wall must go, just as we have sent the +lock-step and the silent system and the striped suit of disgrace into +the ragbag of time--lost in the memory of things that were. + +Four men out of five in the reformatory at Jeffersonville need no +coercion, they would not run away if the walls were razed and the doors +left unlocked. One young man I saw there refused the offered parole--he +wanted to stay until he learned his trade. He was not the only one with +a like mental attitude. + +The quality of men in the average prison is about the same as that of +the men who are in the United States Army. The man who enlists is a +prisoner; for him to run away is a very serious offense, and yet he is +not locked up at night, nor is he surrounded by a high wall. + +The George Junior Republic is simply a farm, unfenced and unpatroled, +excepting by the boys who are in the Republic, and yet it is a penal +institution. The prison of the future will not be unlike a young ladies' +boarding school, where even yet the practice prevails of taking the +inmates out all together, with a guard, and allowing no one to leave +without a written permit. + +As society changes, so changes the so-called criminal. In any event, I +know this--that Max Nordau did not make out his case. + +There is no criminal class. + +Or for that matter we are all criminals. "I have in me the capacity for +every crime," said Emerson. + +The man or woman who goes wrong is a victim of unkind environment. +Booker Washington says that when the negro has something that we want, +or can perform a task that we want done, we waive the color line, and +the race problem then ceases to be a problem. So it is with the Ex. +Question. When the ex-convict is able to show that he is useful to the +world, the world will cease to shun him. When Superintendent Whittaker +graduates a man it is pretty good evidence that the man is able and +willing to render a service to society. + +The only places where the ex-convicts get the icy mitt are pink teas +and prayer meetings. An ex-convict should work all day and then spend +his evenings at the library, feeding his mind--then he is safe. + +If I were an ex-convict I would fight shy of all "Refuges," "Sheltering +Arms," "Saint Andrew's Societies" and the philanthropic "College +Settlements." I would never go to those good professional people, or +professional good people, who patronize the poor and spit upon the +alleged wrongdoer, and who draw sharp lines of demarcation in +distinguishing between the "good" and the "bad." If you can work and are +willing to work, business men will not draw the line on you. Get a job, +and then hold it down hard by making yourself necessary. Employers of +labor and the ex-convicts themselves are fast settling this Ex. +Question, with the help of the advanced type of the Reform School where +the inmates are being taught to be useful and are not punished nor +patronized, but are simply given a chance. My heart goes out in sympathy +to the man who gives a poor devil a chance. I myself am a poor devil! + + + +The Sergeant + +A colonel in the United States Army told me the other day something like +this: The most valuable officer, the one who has the greatest +responsibility, is the sergeant. The true sergeant is born, not made--he +is the priceless gift of the gods. He is so highly prized that when +found he is never promoted, nor is he allowed to resign. If he is +dissatisfied with his pay, Captain, Lieutenant and Colonel chip in--they +cannot afford to lose him. He is a rara avis--the apple of their eye. + +His first requirement is that he must be able to lick any man in the +company. A drunken private may damn a captain upside down and wrong-side +out, and the captain is not allowed to reply. He can neither strike with +his fist, nor engage in a cussing match, but your able sergeant is an +adept in both of these polite accomplishments. Even if a private strike +an officer, the officer is not allowed to strike back. Perhaps the man +who abuses him could easily beat him in a rough-and-tumble fight, and +then it is quite a sufficient reason to keep one's clothes clean. We +say the revolver equalizes all men, but it doesn't. It is disagreeable +to shoot a man. It scatters brains and blood all over the sidewalk, +attracts a crowd, requires a deal of explanation afterward, and may cost +an officer his stripes. No good officer ever hears anything said about +him by a private. + +The sergeant hears everything, and his reply to backslack is a +straight-arm jab in the jaw. The sergeant is responsible only to his +captain, and no good captain will ever know anything about what a +sergeant does, and he will not believe it when told. If a fight occurs +between two privates, the sergeant jumps in, bumps their heads together +and licks them both. If a man feigns sick, or is drunk, the sergeant +chucks him under the pump. The regulations do not call for any such +treatment, but the sergeant does not know anything about the +regulations--he gets the thing done. The sergeant may be twenty years +old or sixty--age does not count. The sergeant is a father to his +men--he regards them all as children--bad boys--and his business is to +make them brave, honorable and dutiful soldiers. + +The sergeant is always the first man up in the morning, the last man to +go to bed at night. He knows where his men are every minute of the day +or night. If they are actually sick, he is both nurse and physician, and +dictates gently to the surgeon what should be done. He is also the +undertaker, and the digging of ditches and laying out of latrines all +fall to his lot. Unlike the higher officers, he does not have to dress +"smart," and he is very apt to discard his uniform and go clothed like a +civilian teamster, excepting on special occasions when necessity demands +braid and buttons. + +He knows everything, and nothing. No wild escapade of a higher officer +passes by him, yet he never tells. + +Now one might suppose that he is an absolute tyrant, but a good sergeant +is a beneficent tyrant at the right time. To break the spirit of his men +will not do--it would unfit them for service--so what he seeks to do is +merely to bend their minds so as to match his own. Gradually they grow +to both love and fear him. In time of actual fight he transforms cowards +into heroes. He holds his men up to the scratch. In battle there are +often certain officers marked for death--they are to be shot by their +own men. It is a time of getting even--and in the hurly-burly and +excitement there are no witnesses. The sergeant is ever on the lookout +for such mutinies, and his revolver often sends to the dust the head +revolutionary before the dastardly plot can be carried out. In war-time +all executions are not judicial. + +In actual truth, the sergeant is the only real, sure-enough fighting man +in the army. He is as rare as birds' teeth, and every officer anxiously +scans his recruits in search of good sergeant timber. + +In business life, the man with the sergeant instincts is even more +valuable than in the army. The business sergeant is the man not in +evidence--who asks for no compliments or bouquets--who knows where +things are--who has no outside ambitions, and no desire save to do his +work. If he is too smart he will lay plots and plans for his own +promotion, and thereby he is pretty sure to defeat himself. + +As an individual the average soldier is a sneak, a shirk, a failure, a +coward. He is only valuable as he is licked into shape. It is pretty +much the same in business. It seems hard to say it, but the average +employe in factory, shop or store, puts the face of the clock to shame +looking at it; he is thinking of his pay envelope and his intent is to +keep the boss located and to do as little work as possible. In many +cases the tyranny of the employer is to blame for the condition, but +more often it is the native outcrop of suspicion that prompts the seller +to give no more than he can help. + +And here the sergeant comes in, and with watchful eye and tireless +nerves, holds the recreants to their tasks. If he is too severe, he will +fix in the shirks more firmly the shirk microbe; but if he is of better +fibre, he may supply a little more will to those who lack it, and +gradually create an atmosphere of right intent, so that the only +disgrace will consist in their wearing the face off the regulator and +keeping one ear cocked to catch the coming footsteps of the boss. + +There is not the slightest danger that there will ever be an overplus of +sergeants. Let the sergeant keep out of strikes, plots, feuds, hold his +temper and show what's what, and he can name his own salary and keep his +place for ninety-nine years without having a contract. + + + +The Spirit of the Age + +Four hundred and twenty-five years before the birth of the Nazarene, +Socrates said, "The gods are on high Olympus, but you and I are here." +And for this--and a few other similar observations--be was compelled to +drink a substitute for coffee--he was an infidel! Within the last thirty +years the churches of Christendom have, in the main, adopted the +Socratic proposition that you and I are here. That is, we have made +progress by getting away from narrow theology and recognizing humanity. +We do not know anything about either Olympus or Elysium, but we do know +something about Athens. + +Athens is here. + +Athens needs us--the Greeks are at the door. Let the gods run Elysium, +and we'll devote ourselves to Athens. + +This is the prevailing spirit in the churches of America to-day. Our +religion is humanitarian, not theological. + +A like evolution has come about in medicine. The materia medica of +twenty-five years ago is now obsolete. No good doctor now treats +symptoms--he neither gives you something to relieve your headache nor to +settle your stomach. These are but timely ting-a-lings--Nature's +warnings--look out! And the doctor tells you so, and charges you a fee +sufficient to impress you with the fact that he is no fool, but that +you are. + +The lawyer who now gets the largest fees is never seen in a court-room. +Litigation is now largely given over to damage suits--carried on by +clients who want something for nothing, and little lawyers, shark-like +and hungry, who work on contingent fees. Three-fourths of the time of +all superior and supreme courts is taken up by His Effluvia, who brings +suit thru His Bacteria, with His Crabship as chief witness, for damages +not due, either in justice or fact. + +How to get rid of this burden, brought upon us by men who have nothing +to lose, is a question too big for the average legislator. It can only +be solved by heroic measures, carried out by lawyers who are out of +politics and have a complete indifference for cheap popularity. Here is +opportunity for men of courage and ability. But the point is this, wise +business men keep out of court. They arbitrate their differences +--compromise--they cannot afford to quit their work for the +sake of getting even. As for making money, they know a better way. + +In theology we are waiving distinctions and devoting ourselves to the +divine spirit only as it manifests itself in humanity--we are talking +less and less about another world and taking more notice of the one we +inhabit. Of course we occasionally have heresy trials, and pictures of +the offender and the Fat Bishop adorn the first page, but heresy trials +not accompanied by the scaffold or the faggots are innocuous and +exceedingly tame. + +In medicine we have more faith in ourselves and less in prescriptions. + +In pedagogy we are teaching more and more by the natural +method--learning by doing--and less and less by means of injunction +and precept. + +In penology we seek to educate and reform, not to suppress, repress and +punish. + +That is to say, the gods are on high Olympus--let them stay there. +Athens is here. + + + +The Grammarian + +The best way to learn to write is to write. + +Herbert Spencer never studied grammar until he had learned to write. He +took his grammar at sixty, which is a good age for one to begin this +most interesting study, as by the time you have reached that age you +have largely lost your capacity to sin. + +Men who can swim exceedingly well are not those who have taken courses +in the theory of swimming at natatoriums, from professors of the +amphibian art--they were just boys who jumped into the ol' swimmin' +hole, and came home with shirts on wrong-side out and a tell-tale +dampness in their hair. + +Correspondence schools for the taming of bronchos are as naught; and +treatises on the gentle art of wooing are of no avail--follow +nature's lead. + +Grammar is the appendenda vermiformis of the science of pedagogics: it +is as useless as the letter q in the alphabet, or the proverbial two +tails to a cat, which no cat ever had, and the finest cat in the world, +the Manx cat, has no tail at all. + +"The literary style of most university men is commonplace, when not +positively bad," wrote Herbert Spencer in his old age. + +"Educated Englishmen all write alike," said Taine. That is to say, +educated men who have been drilled to write by certain fixed and +unchangeable rules of rhetoric and grammar will produce similar +compositions. They have no literary style, for style is individuality +and character--the style is the man, and grammar tends to obliterate +individuality. No study is so irksome to everybody, except the sciolists +who teach it, as grammar. It remains forever a bad taste in the mouth of +the man of ideas, and has weaned bright minds innumerable from a desire +to express themselves through the written word. + +Grammar is the etiquette of words, and the man who does not know how to +properly salute his grandmother on the street until he has consulted a +book, is always so troubled about the tenses that his fancies break thru +language and escape. + +The grammarian is one whose whole thought is to string words according +to a set formula. The substance itself that he wishes to convey is of +secondary importance. Orators who keep their thoughts upon the proper +way to gesticulate in curves, impress nobody. + +If it were a sin against decency, or an attempt to poison the minds of +the people, for a person to be ungrammatical, it might be wise enough +to hire men to protect the well of English from defilement. But a +stationary language is a dead one--moving water only is pure--and the +well that is not fed by springs is sure to be a breeding-place +for disease. + +Let men express themselves in their own way, and if they express +themselves poorly, look you, their punishment will be that no one will +read their literary effusions. Oblivion with her smother-blanket lies in +wait for the writer who has nothing to say and says it faultlessly. + +In the making of hare soup, I am informed by most excellent culinary +authority, the first requisite is to catch your hare. The literary +scullion who has anything to offer a hungry world, will doubtless find a +way to fricassee it. + + + +The Best Religion + +A religion of just being kind would be a pretty good religion, don't you +think so? + +But a religion of kindness and useful effort is nearly a perfect +religion. + +We used to think it was a man's belief concerning a dogma that would fix +his place in eternity. This was because we believed that God was a +grumpy, grouchy old gentleman, stupid, touchy and dictatorial. A really +good man would not damn you even if you didn't like him, but a bad +man would. + +As our ideas of God changed, we ourselves changed for the better. Or, as +we thought better of ourselves we thought better of God. It will be +character that locates our place in another world, if there is one, just +as it is our character that fixes our place here. + +We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best +character is to be kind and to be useful. + +THINK RIGHT, ACT RIGHT; IT IS WHAT WE THINK AND DO THAT MAKE US WHAT WE +ARE. + +So here ends LOVE, LIFE AND WORK, being +a book of Essays selected from the writings +of ELBERT HUBBARD, and done into print by +_The Roycrofters_ at their Shop at East Aurora, +which is in Erie County, New York, U.S.A. +Completed in the month of July, MCMVI + +[Illustration: The Roycroft Shop] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Love, Life & Work, by Elbert Hubbard + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE, LIFE & WORK *** + +***** This file should be named 10417.txt or 10417.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/4/1/10417/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Thomas Cormode and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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