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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf 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..cf91835 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #56306 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56306) diff --git a/old/56306-8.txt b/old/56306-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6b60009..0000000 --- a/old/56306-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7547 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Living the Radiant Life, by George Wharton James - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Living the Radiant Life - A Personal Narrative - -Author: George Wharton James - -Release Date: January 4, 2018 [EBook #56306] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE *** - - - - -Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Christopher Wright and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - -LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE - - - - -LATEST BOOKS BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES - - - CALIFORNIA, ROMANTIC AND BEAUTIFUL. Handsomely bound, gilt top, with - 8 full page illustrations in colors and 64 in duogravure. In silk - cloth, $3.50, postpaid $3.75; in half morocco $7.00, postpaid $7.50. - - INDIAN BLANKETS AND THEIR MAKERS. With 32 pictures in color of rare - and unique blankets, and more than 200 other illustrations. - Handsomely bound in cloth, boxed $5.00, express paid $5.50. - - THE LAKE OF THE SKY, LAKE TAHOE. Handsomely illustrated. $2.00 net, - postpaid $2.25. - - OUR AMERICAN WONDERLANDS (See America First). Illustrated, $2.00 - net, $2.25 postpaid. - - QUIT YOUR WORRYING. $1.00 net, $1.10 postpaid. - - LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE. 300 pages; $1.00 net, $1.10 postpaid. - - -TO BE PUBLISHED IN 1916 OR LATER - - THE PREHISTORIC CLIFF DWELLINGS OF THE SOUTHWEST. Fully illustrated, - and with maps and diagrams. Price, possibly, about $4.00 net. - - ARIZONA, THE WONDERLAND OF THE SOUTHWEST. With 12 full-page - illustrations in color, and 48 duogravures; $3.50, cloth, net; $3.75 - postpaid; half Morocco, $7.00 net; $7.50 postpaid. - - RECLAIMING THE ARID WEST. The story of the work of the U. S. - Reclamation Service. Fully illustrated, $2.00 net, $2.25 postpaid. - - CALIFORNIA LITERATURE. A Text Book for High Schools and Colleges, - with copious illustrative quotations. - - * * * * * - -For further list of books see end of the book. Any of these books will -be autographed by the Author, on request, if the order be sent direct to -him, 1098 W. Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, California. - - - - -LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE - - -A PERSONAL NARRATIVE - - -BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES - -Author of "Quit from Worrying," "What the White Race May Learn From the -Indian," "The Story of Scroggles," "The Heroes of California," "The -Grand Canyon of Arizona," "Lake Tahoe," "The Wonders of the Colorado -Desert," etc., etc. - - - PASADENA, CALIF. - THE RADIANT LIFE PRESS - 1916 - - - - - Copyright, 1916 - BY EDITH E. FARNSWORTH - - - J. F. TAPLEY CO. - NEW YORK - - - - -TO ONE - - -who, in all the years I have known her, never once has failed to radiate -that which is sweet, pure, helpful, unselfish, humane, sincere, -beautiful and true, with thankfulness for the blessedness of my -association with her - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - - FOREWORD ix - - CHAPTER - - I RADIANCIES OF NATURE 1 - - II THE RADIANT AURA 6 - - III A FEW WORDS IN PASSING 14 - - IV VARIED RADIANCIES 22 - - V RADIANCIES OF INDIVIDUALITY 38 - - VI CONFLICTING RADIANCIES 50 - - VII RADIANCIES OF FEAR 56 - - VIII THE RADIANCY OF REBUKE 78 - - IX WHAT I WOULD RADIATE TO THE WRONG DOER 81 - - X THE RADIANCIES OF TOLERATION 89 - - XI OUT OF DOOR RADIANCIES 96 - - XII RADIANCIES OF JOY, INSPIRATION, AND SERENITY 115 - - XIII RADIANCIES OF THE WILL 126 - - XIV RADIANCIES OF CHEERFULNESS 147 - - XV RADIANCIES OF MORAL COURAGE 166 - - XVI RADIANCIES OF CONTENT AND DISCONTENT 186 - - XVII RADIANCIES OF SINCERITY 217 - - XVIII RADIANCIES OF SERVICE 221 - - XIX RADIANCIES OF HUMOR 232 - - XX RADIANCIES OF THE "ETERNAL NOW" 241 - - XXI RADIANCIES OF EXTREMES 247 - - XXII ABSORPTION IN RELATION TO RADIATION 255 - - XXIII RADIANCIES OF DEATH 286 - - - - -FOREWORD - - -From the standpoint of religion the lives of "good" men and women may be -divided into two great classes, viz., those who do no active wrong, -whose conduct is based upon the "thou shalt nots" of the Bible, the law, -and society, and those whose every thought is to do some active good. - -I am far more interested in the latter than the former class. I am not -content simply to forego doing wrong. I want to _do_, to _be_. Hence -when the idea of _Living a Radiant Life_ took hold of me, it sank deep, -and is now part of my inner self. It was natural, therefore, that I -should seek to formulate my thoughts as to what I desired to radiate. -This seeking soon taught me that I already was a radiant being; every -thought, every act, every word written or spoken was a radiant act, -having its influence for good or evil upon my fellows, and that, -therefore, I must decide speedily what I wanted to avoid radiating, and -that which I would radiate. - -The following pages are some of the results of my earnest cogitations, -deliberations, reflections, and decisions. Consequently they partake -strongly of personal preachments applied to myself. They may be regarded -as a record of personal aspirations and longings, of spiritual hopes, of -living prayers, and desires. And they are purposely written in the -personal form in the sincere hope that they will help others to put into -similar form their own half-formed thoughts, desires, and aspirations. - -This book is not offered as a complete manual of life. It is merely a -suggestion to others of the larger, wider, better, nobler thing they may -do for themselves. It is my desire to arouse thought, to stimulate -ardent longings for something beyond the gratification of the senses, to -lead my readers to strive more earnestly for unselfish living, and to -encourage them in their endeavors to find, realize, and live those -spiritual truths which redeem human beings from their mortal inheritance -of imperfection. - -The main test of any system of religion or code of life is: Does it -work? If it is not practical; applicable to all the events of daily -life; enabling one to cope with problems as they arise; making one more -helpful to mankind, less selfish, less censorious, less vain, less -proud, less obstinate, less cruel, less thoughtless, less despondent; -and, on the other hand, exciting and stimulating one to be more humane, -more tender and compassionate with sinning humanity, more humble and -ready to learn, more amenable to the suggestions of the wise and good, -more kind, more considerate, more generous, more noble, more aspiring, -then, indeed, has it proven itself to be a broken reed, instead of a -tried staff upon which one may lean. - -No longer to me is religion a question of "Thou shalt not." The "don'ts" -of life are of far less importance than the "dos." He whose life is -occupied with doing good has little time or thought for doing harm. -Christ's method of living was positive and active, rather than negative -and passive. He _went about, doing good_. He said: "_Do_ unto others as -ye would have them do unto you." He taught love in action: Love your -enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and -pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. - -Hence I earnestly hope that every one of the following pages will -contain some helpful thought for all who are seeking the more perfect -life; and also for those who are sitting in the darkness of -discouragement, under the depressing temptation to regard life as a -"failure." There is no man living, no matter how low in body, mind, or -soul, but can be helped into happiness; no woman so utterly lost to all -good who may not live to feel the sprouting of angel wings because of -the birth within her soul of helpful, unselfish love. - -Goethe's cry was for "more light," and as life comes with light in the -material world, so light and life are inseparably connected in the -mental and spiritual world. There is no real darkness in life. There may -be a temporary withdrawal of solar light, but we know that as surely as -all the days of the past have dawned, so the sun will shine again -to-morrow. And through all the seeming mists of doubt, fear, and pain -the true spiritual light forever shines to give immortal life. Let us -take Life then as God's gift, and as we progress daily to a more perfect -expression of freedom from all that would wrongfully enthrall us, let us -seek diligently to "let our light shine" upon those around who seem to -live in the shadows. - -I would come, in these pages, as the glorious sun, bringing warmth, -healing, and purification. I would come as the stimulating breeze that -vivifies and refreshes--the breeze that has its birth on the vast -Pacific where all impurities are scrubbed out of it in a thousand miles -of storms, then floats gently over the orange and lemon groves, the rose -gardens and violet beds, the sweet scented blossoms of ten thousand -times ten thousand shrubs of California; then, laden with sweet odors -and charged with the bromine and ozone of the ocean, climbs over the -steep Sierran heights and becomes cool and filtered through the vast -pine and juniper forests, and adds the balsams of health and strength, -distilled from a million trees and shrubs, ere it falls to the desert -and is there rendered aseptic and antiseptic. Like such a health-laden -breeze would I come to weary men and women, tired and exhausted with the -battle of life, sick of its complexities and frivolities, longing for -spiritual as well as physical health, and seeking the happiness that -comes alone when we live for the happiness of others. - -My desire is to send forth a message that will bless body, mind, and -soul, just as a triple song, whose melodies blend in perfect harmony, -carries healing, strength, and inspiration. For he indeed is thrice -blessed who knows the joy of life in its threefold manifestation, who -has a body that is vigorous and healthy, a mind alert and active, quick -to observe and reflect, to discern and classify, and a soul whose -emotions and aspirations are ever to help, encourage, comfort, and -purify humanity. - -The conditions for such a life are in the "Everywhere" waiting to be -born into the "Here," and God's time is _now_. - -Many of these chapters originally appeared in the pages of _Physical -Culture Magazine_, and to my good friends, its editor and founder, -Bernarr Macfadden, and the present editor, John Brennan, I tender my -cordial thanks for the privilege of reprinting which they have -generously accorded. - -[Illustration: George Wharton James] - -Pasadena, Calif. - - - - -PRAYER - - -OH, ALMIGHTY GOD, Thou radiant source of all power, life and love, Thou -free giver of sun and earth, clouds and wind, flowers and trees, fruits -and birds, bees and butterflies, work and play, tenderness and -unselfishness, sympathy and love, so fill us with Thyself that we shall -become radiant beings like Thyself. Make us innocent as little children, -simple as the young animals of the hills and fields, beautiful in soul -as are the flowers, heaven-aspiring as are the trees, soothing as are -the gentle breezes of night, warming as is the sun, fluid to meet all -needs as water, restful as night, eager for work as the dawn, joyous in -all life as the birds, and thankful for labor as the busy bees. Give us -the needy to bless, the loveless to love, the sinful to stimulate and -encourage to goodness, purity, and truth, the orphan to father, the -degraded to uplift, and at the same time the wise to be our teachers and -the serene to lead us into peace. Be Thou our Constant Vision, longing -and aspiration--nay, be Thou our never-failing companion, counselor and -friend. So shall we become radiant, true children of Thine, possessed of -Thy likeness and radiating the glory and beauty of Thyself. - - --Amen. - - - - -LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE RADIANCIES OF NATURE - - -Everything in Nature is radiant. Use the term in its broad sense and -there is nothing to which it does not apply. The sun radiates light and -heat, and without it life would be impossible. The moon radiates light, -but practically no heat. Its light is reflected and of an entirely -different character from that of the sun, so that no one ever mistakes -the one for the other. The stars have a light all their own which they, -though so many millions of miles away from us, radiate in varying -intensities. And many of these stars are so individualistic in their -radiancies that each one, though perfect, is different from each other -one, and may readily be detected by its own peculiarities. Every flower -that grows, from the night-blooming cereus on the desert to the most -perfect amaryllis developed by Burbank, radiates its own colors, odors, -and general appearance. One familiar with them may close his eyes and -detect in a moment, by the odor of each--the violet, rose, lily, cosmos, -verbena, and a thousand others, and there are those whose olfactory -nerves are highly sensitive who can discern, by smell alone, the -varieties of each flower. - -Every species of tree radiates its own qualities, so that, to the -student, they become growingly wonderful in what they give out. A -distinguished botanist whom I know is so familiar with the radiancies of -the various pines of the Pacific Slope that he can sketch and perfectly -describe the complete tree as soon as he sees the cone, or, blindfolded, -smells its odor. - -Every rock has its own radiancies of color, texture, weight, and -density. One of John Ruskin's most useful and beautiful books is his -_Ethics of the Dust_, and those who have not read it should do so to -understand how many things a wise and good man has felt radiated from -the rocks. - -Shakspere felt the potency of this truth or he would never have written -that he saw "tongues in trees; books in the running brooks; sermons in -stones, and good in everything." - -Every landscape radiates its own personality. Some are quietly pastoral, -as the valleys in Connecticut. The prairies of Illinois, Iowa, and -Nebraska are wide and impressive; the wastes of the Colorado Desert are -vast and appalling; the varied colorings of the Painted Desert are -weird and startling. The orange, lemon, and other orchards of Southern -California delight the senses, the forests of the north and the High -Sierras stir the soul by their expansiveness, and the groves of Big -Trees overpower by their height and size. The ocean is restless and -resistless; the stars pitiless at times, soothing at others. Each scene, -whether pastoral, picturesque, wild, rugged, grand, or weird, has its -peculiar radiancies, and some scenes possess many qualities, all of -which are felt or perceived by the sensitive onlooker. For instance, as -one stands on the rim of the Grand Canyon he feels the radiancies of -overwhelming vastness, profound depth, far-reaching length, expansive -width, vivid and extraordinary coloring, bizarre and strange carvings, -and, in the lower depths of the Inner Gorge, where flows the solemn and -sullen Colorado, a strangeness and mystery found nowhere else in the -known world. - -In his _Kreutzer Sonata_, Tolstoi contends that certain music radiates -damning influences, and though I do not agree with him (perhaps because -I have never felt or seen such evil), his attitude of mind serves as a -further illustration of my proposition. We all are aware of certain -radiancies of certain kinds of music, even though unaccompanied with -words. The _Dead March in Saul_; the _Threnody_ in Bach's Passion Music; -the _Death of the King_ in Grieg's _Peer Gynt_, and Chopin's _Funeral -March_, all radiate the solemnity and sadness of death, while Sousa's -various marches, Chopin's _March Militaire_, and a hundred other similar -compositions radiate the arousement either of active life or passionate -war. The _Glorias_ of Mozart and Pergolesi, and Handel's _Hallelujah -Chorus_ speak--even though the words are unheard--of the joy of the -world at the Savior's birth, and the _Requiems_ of Verdi, Bach, and -Gounod of the sadness of soul felt at His cruel death. - -Every picture radiates the spirit of its artist at the period of -creation, and every piece of music the influences that overpower the -soul of the composer; and even every piece of furniture radiates to some -extent the spirit of the age in which it was created, or the animating -spirit of its creator. - -It should not be overlooked that, although these radiant properties are -possessed for all persons alike, they are not discerned by all alike. -All people are not equally receptive, equally sensitive, equally -apperceptive. Human beings are like soil--some is stony ground and the -seed takes no root, other is thorny, and the seeds, springing up, are -choked, other still is good ground and bears fruit, some thirty, some -sixty, some an hundred fold. In other words the state of our own -responsiveness determines the effect upon us of the radiancy of the -objects with which we come in contact. - -The quartz picked up from a ledge may be full of valuable mineral, but -to the ignorant it is "a piece of rock and nothing more." - -The ordinary traveler on the desert sees a large black beetle. Knowing -nothing of beetles, it is to him "only a bug." But the scientific -entomologist, seeing the same beetle, is carried away with delight, for -he recognizes the rare _Dinapate Wrightii_, one of the least seen and -most rare of American beetles. - -Most travelers seeing the cactuses of the desert note but a few -varieties, but the trained observer revels in hundreds of differences in -_mammillaria_, _opuntias_, _echinocactuses_, and _agave_. - -Some see no beauty in them, some delight in their many and diverse -charms; to some their thorns are hideous and repulsive, to others both -interesting and beautiful in their arrangement and design. - -According to our receptivity do these objects of Nature affect us--some -in one way, some another. The more sensitive our minds and souls are to -what they perceive, the more we receive, absorb, gain, and, therefore, -the more we in turn radiate to others, but we must remember that the -character and quality of that which we receive will be reflected, -therefore it is necessary to be constantly in that attitude of mind -which is receptive to good only. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE RADIANT AURA - - -Swedenborg, who was one of the most eminent of scientists and engineers, -as well as the founder of the religious system that bears his name, -asserted that various "aura" surrounded all living beings, and that the -mental or spiritual state radiates, just as light and heat radiate from -the sun, and cold from the snow. When one was angry, he said, he gave -out the aura of anger which enveloped him as a cloud. Hatred had its -aura, as well as love, sympathy, purity, impurity, kindliness, charity, -jealousy, courage, justice, and the like. - -He also asserted that, to those who were simple, natural, and unspoiled -by false reasoning--those who were spiritually inclined--these varied -aura were clearly perceptible, and were as certainly felt or seen as -were heat, cold, whiteness, blackness by the senses. - -Rudyard Kipling bases his story, "They," which appeared some years ago -in _Scribner's Magazine_, upon this statement of Swedenborg's, and in -this light it becomes an extra fascinating story to read. - -A great modern French scientist has made many exhaustive studies of -these aura, and claims to have photographed them. - -In the Panama-Pacific Exposition, one of the exhibits contained a series -of interesting pictures, or diagrams, which purported to be exact -representations of the various aura of people under different mental -conditions. In an article on this subject, written by a well-known -authority, we are told that: - - It is not around the human body alone that an aura is to be seen; a - similar cloud of light surrounds or emanates from animals, trees, - and even minerals, though in all these cases it is less extended and - less complex than that of man. - -The occultists assert that the aura is extremely complex in its -character, in other words, that there are several aura superposed one -upon the other. The first appearance is of a luminous cloud, extending -some eighteen inches or two feet from the body, assuming a somewhat oval -shape. Careful study, however, reveals that this first appearance is -resolvable into several component parts, or separate aura, of different -degrees of tenuity, and, apparently, superposed. Five of these have been -defined. The first, or most material, is that pertaining to the physical -body. In a state of health this is composed of separate, orderly, and -nearly parallel lines, which radiate from the body in every direction. - -When one suffers from disease the lines in the neighborhood of the part -affected become erratic, and radiate less actively but in the wildest -confusion, or, if the whole body be affected, all the lines are -consequently erratic. - -For a long time it was not known what kept these lines straight and -approximately parallel in the case of the healthy person, until a second -radiating aura was discovered. This comes from a healthy body in -pulsating waves, with such vigor as to compel the rigidity of the health -lines. These waves may be compared to the pulsations of the heated air -which rise from the ground on a very hot day. Baron Reichenbach made -experiments with certain sensitives who declared they could see these -radiations, and he called them "the magnetic flame." - -When these "waves" come from a sickly or weakly body they not only lose -power, but seem to give a confused direction to the health lines. - -Many observations also have led to the conclusion that when the lines -are kept straight by the force of the pulsating waves from a healthy and -vigorous body, "it seems to be almost entirely protected from the attack -of evil physical influences, such as germs of disease--such germs being -repelled and carried away by the outrush of the life-force: but when -from any cause--through weakness, through wound or injury, through -over-fatigue, through extreme depression of spirits, or through the -excesses of an irregular life--an unusually large amount of vitality is -required to repair damage or waste, within the body, and there is -consequently a serious diminution in the quantity radiated, this system -of defense becomes dangerously weak, and it is comparatively easy for -the deadly germs to effect an entrance." - -The third aura is that which expresses one's desires--a kind of mirror -in which every feeling, every desire, every thought almost, of the -personality is reflected. This changes constantly, in some people, -accordingly as they are swayed by their impulses. Its colors, -brilliancy, rate of pulsations, alter from moment to moment, or minute -to minute. "An outburst of anger will charge the whole aura with -deep-red flashes on a black ground; a sudden fright in a moment will -change everything to a mass of ghastly livid gray." - -Connected with this, and yet, seemingly, of a separate character, are -the radiations of the aura that express the progress of the personality -into higher and better appreciation of the things of mind and spirit. -The more intellectual and spiritual one becomes the more steady and -beautiful are the colors and radiations of this aura, and the variations -and distressing manifestations of the evil desires of the third aura -become less apparent and distinct. - -The fifth aura is the highest at present discernible. It manifests the -spiritual development of the individual and is of almost inconceivable -delicacy and beauty. It seems to be a cloud of living light--the word -cloud being used for want of a better term. - -In the concrete examples of aura that were presented at the Exposition, -that which radiated from a wise mother showing her protective love for -her infant, was in the form of outspread wings of a beautiful rosy tint, -the wings held together at the articulations by a sheaf-like mass of -golden yellow. - -Selfish ambition, sudden fear, explosive anger, selfishness, grasping -animal affection, greed, jealousy, jealousy mixed with anger, gloom, -murderous hatred, were all displayed in peculiar, hideous, and repulsive -forms and colors. - -Pure, radiating affection, on the other hand, was represented in the -form and color of a round body exhaling rays as from a rosy sun. Strange -to say, though I had never read anything explicit upon this subject -before, I had always conceived of pure affection as giving forth -radiations of this exact appearance. - -Whether this "occult" explanation of the radiation of aura be a true one -or not, it serves to give one a beautiful conception, viz., that every -soul may strive so to live within that he sheds upon his fellows -glorious rays of light, serenity, warmth, comfort, blessing, joy, -happiness that help them to the attainment of like felicities. - -In the earlier part of this chapter Swedenborg's assertion will be -recalled that those who were unspoiled, real children of Nature, could -actually perceive these aura, and that their acts were guided or -influenced by them just as ours are by the perceptions of our five -senses. - -When I began to visit the Hopi Indians in Northern Arizona, who -celebrate that wonderfully thrilling religious ceremony known as the -Snake Dance, I found that their lives conformed exactly to this aura -assumption. They handle deadly rattlesnakes with fearlessness, putting -small ones into their mouths so that nothing but their heads protrude, -and larger ones, up to five feet in length, in their teeth, head on one -side of the mouth, the writhing, wriggling body on the other. Young -boys, from three to six and ten years of age--neophytes of the Antelope -Clan, which, with the Snake Clan, has charge of this ceremonial prayer -for rain--hold these snakes during a part of the ceremony with an -indifferent carelessness that is appalling to most onlookers. On the -other hand those who are alive to the dangers attending the handling of -snakes assert positively that the reptiles must have their fangs -removed, as otherwise they would bite, and either cause death or -dangerous sicknesses. - -Yet both classes of observers are in error. The snakes are not handled -carelessly, nor are their fangs removed. Apparent carelessness is often -the result of years of training, the ease and readiness that come with -much experience. Fearlessness is another result of experience and -knowledge. But, once in a while, a member of the Snake Clan is afraid, -and at such times he is not allowed to dance. In this exclusion is a -strong suggestion that the Hopis fully believe that not only do the aura -of our mental and spiritual states surround us, but that even to the -lower animals they are as perceptible as light, heat, and cold. It may -be true that the truly occult, or clairvoyant, by pure and simple -living, return to the clarity of spiritual perception of the child and -the lower animals, and they likewise see and understand. In the case of -the snakes, the Hopis believe that if a dancer is afraid it makes the -snake afraid. In other words, the reptile sees or discerns the "fear -aura," and, at once, its own fear is awakened. When afraid it assumes -the defensive, for that is its only mode of protection. It coils ready -to strike, and rattles in warning: Beware! - -On the other hand, when the dancer is unafraid and handles the reptile -in the true Hopi spirit, viz., as his _Elder Brother_--for, according -to Hopi mythology, the Snake Clan originates with the Snake Mother, and -therefore all members of it are younger brothers to all snakes--the aura -of friendliness and brotherly kindliness surrounds him, which, being -perceived by the snake, it is at once soothed and allows itself to be -handled with restfulness and assurance of safety. And in the thirteen -times that I have witnessed the Snake Dance (and several times been -privileged to see and take part in the secret ceremonials of the -underground chambers where the snakes are handled and washed), only -twice have I known any one to be bitten.[A] - -[A] For a full and complete description of the Snake Dance see the -writings of Dr. J. W. Fewkes in the Reports of the U. S. Bureau of -Ethnology and my own _Indians of the Painted Desert Region_, published -by Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -A FEW WORDS IN PASSING - - -Perhaps the majority of human beings do not really _live_: they merely -_exist_ for a time in the flesh and for the flesh. And as all are -constantly reminded that such existence is temporary and fleeting it is -a very common belief that only in youth can one "have a good time." Old -age is dreaded because we have been taught to expect a greater or lesser -degree of decrepitude, pain, and physical disability when we shall pass -the so-called "Bible-limit" of three-score years and ten, and, -therefore, we anticipate losing our powers of enjoyment. Fathers and -mothers encourage their children to "make the most of their youth," and -to "get all out of life they can while they have the opportunity," thus -fostering and cultivating a high state of nervous tension in young -people that is demoralizing in every way. - -I believe this attitude is wrong, and yet I believe fully in "having a -good time." I believe God intended that all living beings should be -happy, and that it is possible to order our lives--our habits, actions, -thoughts, desires, and ambitions--so that every conscious hour of every -day will be full of real joy. I believe in the buoyancy, the happiness, -the radiancy, the perfection of life. Browning expresses my thought in -_Rabbi Ben Ezra_, and in _Saul_. In the latter he says: - - Oh, our manhood's prime vigor! No spirit feels waste, - Not a muscle is stopped in its playing nor sinew unbraced, - Oh, the wild joys of living!... - How good is man's life, the mere living, how fit to employ - All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy! - -And in _Rabbi Ben Ezra_ he says: - - Grow old along with me! - The best [of life] is yet to be. - -And why should not old age be the best part of life? Does experience -count for nothing? Can we not learn as the years roll along? Do we grow -more foolish as we grow old? If so it might be advisable to let the -facetious suggestion of the celebrated Dr. Osier be carried out in order -that all men might be chloroformed at the age of fifty. If, however, -history and experience teach us that the intellectual faculties and -reasoning powers of a man in normal health do not decrease with age, let -us protest vigorously against the false and injurious statement that -youth is the best part of life, and let us advocate that we should all -possess greater mental and spiritual ability at ninety than at thirty, -with physical powers of endurance ample for every need. - -It is recorded in the Bible that many of the ancients lived to be -several hundred years old, and some of them were vigorously active at -great age. We are told that Cornaro lived many years more than a -century, and I have personally known Indians of great physical power and -keen mentality who were over one hundred years old. Doubtless all are -familiar with instances of great mental and physical ability at an -advanced age, and this is an encouragement for us to believe that health -and happiness and usefulness are not confined to the early decades of -human life. My words, therefore, are not addressed merely to the young, -but to those of all ages, for it is never too late to gain more of that -mental health which strengthens body, mind, and soul--the real life -which is manifested in love, joy, and all goodness, and constantly -radiates life-giving qualities. Radiancy is a condition of all life, as -I use the term in these pages. No person can rightly live and retain -within himself that which he possesses in abundance. We must give out in -order to live. Christ never spake a truer word than when He declared: -"He that loveth his life shall lose it." Those who are so careful to -keep all of their lives for themselves, who never give of themselves to -others, who know nothing of the joy of self-sacrifice, of service, of -helpfulness--these people defeat the very object of their selfishness by -losing that which they are so determined to retain. On the other hand, -"he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." -Or, as Joaquin Miller exquisitely and forcefully puts it in his -unequaled couplet: - - For all you can hold in your dead, cold hand, - Is what you have given away. - -So, then, radiation of the good of ourselves becomes an essential -condition in itself of real life. This law of radiation is apparent -everywhere in life. For, consciously or unconsciously, willingly or -unwillingly, each man and woman radiates what is within. The moment you -come into the presence of some men you feel their uprightness, their -integrity, their truth. Other men impress you in a moment as untruthful, -dishonorable, and unreliable. Some radiate confidence, so that the weak -and uncertain rely upon them; others the hesitancy and fear of -incertitude. Others are radiant centers of conceit and overweening -self-esteem, which is an entirely different radiancy from that of -self-confidence and true self-reliance combined with good sense and -modesty. Some people radiate gluttony, others drunkenness, others -impurity, others dishonesty. You have not been in the presence of some -persons five minutes before you feel that they radiate "Every man has -his price." It is a great temptation when I come into the presence of -such people to ask, "What is your price?" and then myself to give the -answer: "Thirty cents, and it is twenty-nine cents too dear." - -During a recent little outing trip I could not help witnessing the -varying radiancies of a friend and the thirty students that he invited -to accompany us. One young man was full of physical energy, good nature, -and helpfulness. With keen eye he was prompt to notice any failure to -keep up in the less strong of the girls, and, with jollity and jest, but -with real consideration and helpfulness, he aided the weaklings whenever -and wherever possible. One of the girls radiated an abundance of joyous -healthfulness that made it a pleasure to watch her. Another was a -thoughtless go-ahead young miss, who led a large part of the group a -mile or two out of the way. Two of the girls were fault-finders, three -were radiators of efficient initiative when time came for preparing -lunch, and half a dozen were "ready to help," but had no idea how to go -to work until directed by some one else. One was able to determine -somewhat the real character of the persons by that which they radiated. -Of course, that is not always a sure guide, for one may pretend, or -affect the possession of qualities that are not inherent. Yet if we -lived the true life and never dulled the keenness of our sense -perceptions, we should be like the animals and able to rely absolutely -upon what we felt of the radiancies of others. Who has not seen the keen -readiness of a horse to "sense" the mental condition of the man who was -driving him? Suppose two men sit in the buggy. One holds the lines, but -is unused to driving and especially nervous in a city. He radiates -nervousness and fear, uncertainty and hesitancy. The horse feels these -radiancies and himself is nervous, fretful, fearful, hesitant, and -uncertain. Seeing this, his friend takes the lines. Almost instantly, -though the horse has "blinders" on and cannot possibly know by any -ordinary sense perception that a change has taken place in his driver, -he calms and quiets down, and goes ahead without further fear, -hesitancy, or nervousness. - -With dogs, every one knows that to be afraid of a barking, yelping, -aggressive cur is to invite him to bite you. But if you advance upon him -boldly and without any fear he will retreat in snarling dismay, and if -you make a bold dash at him he turns tail like the veriest coward and -runs. In my many visits to Indian villages and camps I have tested this -again and again. I have had a dozen dogs run out as if they would tear -me to pieces. Had I turned and run there is no doubt that, unless their -owners had interfered, I should have been bitten. But, knowing the -nature of the ill-bred curs of the Indians, I advanced boldly upon -them, kicking to left and right, if the animals were more than usually -persistent, and invariably following into his own place of refuge the -animal that seemed to be the leader, and there giving him one or two -sharp blows or decisive kicks. The result was always the same. So long -as I stayed in that camp I was never bothered again. They readily and -quickly understood the radiancy of boldness and that of kindness when -they ceased their fierce aggressiveness, and never pestered me again. - -This same radiant power of others is often recognized by lawless men and -by criminals. A fearless woman can go into places of great danger with -absolute safety, and a fearless and honest officer can arrest the most -desperate and dangerous men far more easily than can a dozen fearful and -dishonest ones. - -Thus it will be apparent that: - -Every person, animal, and thing, consciously or unconsciously, willingly -or unwillingly, radiates good or evil. - -As human beings we radiate that which we possess, or that which -possesses us, and we influence those with whom we come in contact by our -radiancies. - -The questions, then, that every true-hearted man and woman must, and -will, ask are: "Am I radiating good or evil? If evil, why? If good, am -I radiating as much as I might and should?" - -For myself I want every man and woman I meet or shake hands with, to -feel that I am physically strong, healthy, and vigorous; that I have -vigor and health of mind; that I think for myself, rather than accept -the opinions of others, and that in character, in spirit, in soul, I am -healthy, vigorous, sincere, pure, true; that my emotions, my -aspirations, my ambitions are noble and upward. I want to radiate -spiritual health. Do you? - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -VARIED RADIANCIES - - -Man is a part of Nature, but he is more than that which we mean by the -words, "mere Nature." He is Nature plus. There is given to him more than -is possessed by sun or flower. He has within him that spirit which -renders him nearer the divine than sun or flower. Mind and _soul_ make -him a superior being. Hence it is the divine plan that he should radiate -in his enlarged sphere as the sun and flower do in theirs. - -Unfortunately, while we are in the body, our imperfect and evil -qualities are radiated as well as our good. This is our misfortune, and -should be our distress. For certainly every true man and woman would -desire to radiate only truth, purity, sincerity, courage, good judgment, -self-control, stamina, or perseverance in good endeavor, energy, love of -knowledge, mental capacity, justice, tact, ability, executive power, -regard for the rights of others, kindliness, individuality, -self-reliance, readiness to avail one's self of the wisdom of others, -self-dependence, attractiveness of person, companionable qualities, good -manners, good taste in dress, attractiveness of mind and soul (this as -differentiated from mere attractiveness of person), cheerfulness, -optimism, and altruism, readiness to see and have faith in the good of -others, and good humor.[B] - -[B] This list, with slight variations, is taken from the _Cosmopolitan_, -Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2. - -Who could ever resist the radiating influences of a Mark Tapley, such as -Dickens so vividly pictures? Such radiancies penetrate so deeply that -nothing can obliterate them. The greater the cause for wretchedness and -misery, the greater the opportunity to "come out strong" and show that -his spirit of cheerfulness was greater than any untoward circumstance. -Happy is that man or woman who gives out such radiancies, and blessed -are those who come in contact with them. - -Certain men and women radiate gloom and the abnormal recognition of -their physical ills. You greet them with a cheery "Good morning" and -they respond with an explicitly detailed wail of their ailments. Their -rheumatism is "so bad," and their liver is out of order. Their backache -is worse, and their headache is "simply frightful." - -Brooding over their pains and aches has magnified them so that they -overshadow all things else in the universe. An earthquake and fire that -destroy a great city are of less importance to them than the recital of -their own woes. - -How different the cheery radiancies of the happy man--like Dickens's -Cheeryble Brothers--who gives out breezy healthfulness on every hand. -The clasp of the hand radiates physical vigor that in itself is a tonic -to the body; their bright and cheerful words brace up the mind; and -their God-like optimism and altruism lift up the soul so that--above the -mists and fogs of mortal error--we see God and enjoy His smile. - -Some persons radiate selfishness. I was riding in the train the other -day. A woman had two whole seats, that is, her suit case took up one and -she sat on the other. The car was filled with people; every other seat -occupied. At the next station eight or ten people came aboard, and all -found places by the side of some one else, except one woman. Walking -down to where the whole seat was occupied by the suit case she asked the -owner if she might have the seat. "I suppose if there's no other you can -have it!" she replied in a surly and gruff tone. God save us from -radiating selfishness like this! - -It is an almost daily occurrence to see a tired man or woman get upon a -street car and no one makes a move to give a seat, when that is all it -needs--just a little sitting nearer. This may be thoughtlessness, but -all the same it is selfishness; a forgetfulness of the sweet privilege -of helping others, no matter who. - -The wife of Sir Bartle Frere once sent a servant to meet her husband, -who was just returning from Africa, an illness preventing her from -going. The man did not know Sir Bartle, and he asked for a description. -"The only description you will need," said his wife, "is this: Look out -for a fine-looking man who is helping some poor woman carry a baby, or a -basket, or a load." And, sure enough, when the train arrived he found -the distinguished diplomat, the great statesman, helping a poor laundry -woman carry her large basket of soiled linen. Ah, Sir Bartle, I greet -you a nobleman indeed, for you have radiated unselfishness, thoughtful -helpfulness, to me, and through me, to others, and thus out and on -forever. - -Some persons radiate cynical distrust of their fellows. "There are no -honest men!" "I wouldn't believe in the integrity of that man under -oath." "Believe every man dishonest until he has proven himself honest, -and even then, watch out. He'll be liable to catch you if you nap." "Do -others as they would do you, but do it first," said David Harum. "A -profession of religion is but a cloak for evil." "If your bank cashier -is a Sunday-school Superintendent, watch him!" "Look out for the man who -has no open vices." - -These are the catchwords of this class of persons. How pernicious and -evil are their radiancies. - -Commend the fearless bravery of a Roosevelt, the unpopular decisions of -an upright judge, the single-heartedness of a labor leader, the -integrity of a railroad official, and you are met with the sneer of the -lip, the cynical glance of the eye and the scornful words: "He's only -waiting for his price." - -Far rather would I meet the converse of this cynic in the optimist who -believes that every man is as good as he professes to be. For such an -abounding faith in mankind, freely radiated, has the effect of calling -forth faithfulness, and thus creating what it expects. - -I know a woman who, though abundant in good works and very kindly in -some ways, who seeks opportunities for helping the helpless and -distressed, yet, when others fail to measure up to her own standard, is -harsh, censorious, bitter, and fault-finding to a degree that many find -it impossible to listen to her without distress. Thus her kindly deeds -are overlooked and ignored and she radiates to a large degree -discomfort, unrest, and irritation. - -At our house we were once privileged to know a woman, recently widowed, -who had a crippled and almost helpless son of about a dozen years of -age. When her husband was alive she was the president of the leading -woman's club in her State and also the president of the State Federation -of Women's Clubs--a woman of executive ability and strong mentality, -though shy and unassuming. - -Her husband was a well-known Governmental specialist in plants, trees, -etc., and she had aided him, in some of his investigations, to such a -degree that she was almost as expert as he. Unfortunately she was -afflicted with deafness. When her husband died she was left with only a -few hundred dollars. Her deafness prevented her taking any of the -positions her mental qualifications so eminently fitted her to fill. Her -crippled son must be cared for. Bravely and fearlessly, yet cautiously -and studiously, she determined to make the living for herself and son. -She bought a small ranch, planted it out in vegetables and small fruit, -and, as the crops matured, personally drove to town and marketed them. -Yet with all this arduous work and care she found time and strength to -read to her boy (whose eyesight was poor), to help him in his studies -and sympathize with him in his boyish endeavors to accomplish something -as an electrician. There was no complaining, no weeping at her hard -fate--simply a brave recognition of her position and a cheerful facing -of the responsibilities thrust upon her. The sorrow and pain she felt -keenly, yet one saw no sign of suffering. One day she came to our home -and would have said nothing of her difficulties had we not pressed her -to tell us about her affairs. She made no claim for sympathy because of -the way Fate had tried her, but when we offered it, in our simple and -unpretentious fashion, she accepted it in as simple and unaffected a -way. Her uncomplaining courage, her fearless grappling with the hard -problems of life, radiated inspiration to all who came in close enough -contact to know her. We were all benefited and blessed by her presence -and the helpful radiancies she shed upon us. - -Here is another case. We are honored and blessed with the friendship of -the widow of an Episcopal clergyman. For over twenty-five years she and -her husband lived in marital oneness, and seven boys and girls crowned -their happiness. She awoke one morning to find him dead by her side. The -shock was crushing and few would have blamed her had she been -incapacitated for a while by its sudden awfulness. But in an instant she -leaped to meet her burdens and responsibilities. Religion was real to -her. Her husband was with God. He was safe. It was her duty now to be -both father and mother to her children. A struggle then began which is -as pathetic as it is heroic. I have watched every battle and known the -courage, the patience, the fidelity, the failures, the successes. A -house, partially built with funds contributed by friends, was eventually -lost to the mortgagees. The oldest daughter, after years of brave and -cheerful struggle with poverty and ill-health, passed away. A few years -later, within a week of each other, two of the noble sons, one about -twenty-seven years of age, the other nineteen, the former the most -Christ-like youth I have ever known, also died. Then the third daughter, -happily married, died after giving birth to her third child, and, in a -short time, owing to some strange perversion which it is hard to -understand, the son-in-law took it into his head to refuse the -grandmother the privilege of seeing the children. The one remaining son, -who had studied with honors at the California State University, went -East to complete his special studies at Yale, suddenly collapsed -mentally, and was cared for for a long time in an Eastern hospital. - -Think of the tragedies and sorrows thus crowded into one life in the -short space of twenty years! Yet during the whole of this time, though I -have been as close to the family as though I were an uncle or older -brother; though all their affairs have been regularly and fully unfolded -to me, there have been absolutely no wailings, no repinings, no -complaints, and only the few tears that it is a relief to let flow when -loving hearts sympathize. Instead, this brave woman, her heart fortified -by an abiding faith in and love for God, has been "abundant in good -works." She is the "right hand support of her clergyman," and every poor -and needy person in the parish has experienced her practical interest, -help, and loving sympathy. Though unable personally to contribute of -material things, she has interested those who could, and has thus made -her sympathy practical and genuine. Her home for many years was the -rallying ground for homeless young men--mainly, of course, belonging to -her own church--who have been immeasurably blessed by her motherly -sympathy, loving counsel, and helpful advice. - -There radiates from her and her family a living belief in the goodness -of God, an assurance that "all things work together for good to them -that love God," and that faith in God produces a living courage, and -daily strength, a power to overcome affliction that is nigh to the -marvelous. To some it might appear almost like indifference; yet those -who know, as I do, can testify to the keenness of the inner feeling, the -longing for the companion whose dear presence was so awfully and -suddenly removed, the heart-crushing losses of children, the terrible -burden of the mental disturbance of the brilliant-minded and -noble-hearted son. To be brave, cheerful, helpful to others, and strong -to do under such burdens is to prove one's self possessed of the power -of the living God. It is the radiation of the truths of religion more -potent than all the arguments of all the theologians of all the ages. - -Still another case comes to mind while I write. It is of a woman who -braved disinheritance by a stern father in order that she might marry -the man she loved. She came to the United States with him, and on a -vineyard in California they struggled happily together, with a poverty -that was almost sordid in its piteousness. After two children were born -the husband died, leaving the wife with these little ones, together with -another child whom she had practically adopted, and a mortgage at heavy -rates of interest upon the home place. The house in which they had lived -for several years was poor and altogether devoid of comfort, but shortly -before the husband's death it had been made comfortable by the addition -of several good rooms. - -Without a word of complaint this delicately nurtured, refined woman, -who, in her English home, had been the organist and director of the -choir of a large church, took up the burden of running a California -fruit farm. Heavily in debt, interest imperatively demanded every three -months, knowing little of the practical working of such a place, she -personally took hold and learned. She milked cows night and morning, -took them back and forth to pasture, bred calves for the butcher, made -butter, raised chickens, drove weary miles summer and winter giving -music lessons, and yet kept home more comfortable for her growing brood -than does many a woman well provided with funds and help. In time the -mortgage was paid off, and a windmill and water tank added to the -equipment of the place. The children helped as they grew up, and yet -they were kept at school. - -When apricots and peaches were ripe I have seen her for days and weeks -at a time cutting and pitting them for drying, until a half score or -more of tons were lying in their drying trays on the alfalfa. For hours -at a time, in the hot sun, she sorted raisins and stacked them up in the -sweat-boxes, and did it happily, cheerfully, uncomplainingly, in memory -of the husband she so much loved. - -Can one come in contact with such a life without feeling its blessed -radiancies of courage, energy, triumph over unpleasant circumstances, -cheerful doing of disagreeable work, and the power of love to sweeten -all things? To know this woman is to be helped, strengthened, and -blessed. The bravery of such heroines far surpasses that of much lauded -military and naval heroes, and a few such women are worth more to the -race, in my judgment, than all the Napoleons, Pompeys, Cæsars, and -Nelsons that ever lived. - -Certain men impress you with their calm self-reliance. They are not -disturbed by precedents or adverse judgments. They do what they deem to -be right and refuse to be swerved from the path they have laid out for -themselves. Ruskin radiates this influence, so do Carlyle and Browning. -Every man who has dared to make innovations, deviate from the "ways of -the old," has had to be self-reliant. Every reformer of every age and in -every field has had no other staff to lean upon than the assurance of -his own soul. Galileo in his astronomical deductions; Savonarola in his -criticisms of the existing political conditions; Luther in his -fulminations against the evils of the church; Cromwell in his stand -against the doctrine of the "divine right of kings"; Jefferson, -Washington, and the whole of our fathers, who, according to English -_law_, were rebels and revolutionists, in the Declaration of -Independence; Lincoln in his war measures and Emancipation -Proclamation--all these and a thousand others radiated such -self-reliance upon the principles they enunciated and advocated as to -convince their followers. - -Every political party based upon real principles (rather than upon a -desire for spoils), is organized as the result of the radiation of those -principles held in the self-reliant hearts of a few men. Every school of -thought, in philosophy, theology, medicine, law, ethics, or political -economy, is based upon the radiation of ideas from self-reliant men. - -Yet there is a marked difference between this quality and that of -self-conceit. When Carlyle said of the grammarian who criticised his -grammar, "Why, mon, I'd have ye ken that I mak' language for such men as -ye to mak' their grammar books from," he stated a fact. He was -self-reliant, but not conceited. So with Ruskin, when, in response to my -question as to what literature I should read to cultivate a pure style -of English, after commenting on the worth of several masters, concluded -somewhat as follows: "And there are those who say you should read what I -have written, and I agree with them, for I believe I have written more -carefully than most men." That was critical self-judgment, not -self-conceit. Still we are all more or less familiar with the conceit of -ignorance, the assumption of men and women who do not know the mere -alphabet of the subjects they profess to be experts on. Recently, on our -sleeping car, when a few people got together to sing, one of the -passengers, with a self-conceit that was as ludicrous as it was -ignorant, spoke of the baritone voice of one of the women and discoursed -learnedly upon the bass of the man who was singing tenor. - -We have a writer in California who knows so well that he knows, that -some of us think he knows "by the grace of God," without study or -effort. His whole radiancy is one of cocksure self-conceit. - -Who has not felt the radiancy of the miserliness of some men and women! -Those who would "squeeze the eagle on a penny until the poor bird -screams." - -In his _Tom Brown at Rugby_, Hughes shows that Arnold always radiated -his full appreciation of all the good in all the boys under his care. -Maud Ballington Booth is a wonderful illustration of training to -perceive the good radiancies in men and women in whom most others can -see and feel only evil. - -Is not this a quality of soul to be highly desired? How beautiful, how -helpful, how comforting to others long used to feeling that only the -evil of them is radiated to others, to feel the sympathy of a -large-hearted, pure, beautiful soul which has responded to the weak -radiancies of the good that struggles for life within. - -For, just as I have shown elsewhere that we must be alert to receive the -radiancies of animate and inanimate nature, so must we be receptive to -that which our fellow beings radiate. We should train ourselves in -receptiveness to that which is good. All prejudice, narrowness, conceit, -over self-confidence, cocksureness, tend to ward off the good radiancies -of others. There are odors so subtle that the olfactory nerves of most -people are incapable of recognizing them. There are notes so refined -that ordinary ears cannot hear them, and we are all familiar with the -fact that there are infinite depths of space that the largest telescopes -fail to penetrate. The expert violinist cherishes his sense of touch -that he may not vitiate his playing, and the engraver, the watchmaker, -and the workers in a score and one other trades cultivate and preserve -high sensitiveness of touch in order that they may become more expert. -The piano tuner's ear recognizes variations in the vibrations of the -strings he is tuning that most of us fail to appreciate, and the ear of -a Theodore Thomas, Carl Muck, Charles Halle, or any other masterly -conductor, recognizes fine shades of expression, harmony, and -tastefulness in the playing of an orchestra that but few can appreciate. -Browning in _Rabbi Ben Ezra_ speaks of things that God takes note of in -measuring the man's account that men ignore: - - All instincts immature, - All purposes unsure; - Thoughts hardly to be packed - Into a narrow act. - All I could never be, - All men ignored in me, - This I was worth to God. - -We may not be able to discern these "instincts immature," these "facts -that break through language and escape," but we can assuredly discipline -our minds and souls to see, hear, feel, and touch many beautiful things -in our fellows which we too often ignore. - -Reader, what are you radiating? I cannot answer that question. Your -friends and your enemies may tell in part. You alone can tell all. Sit -down some day, many days, and study yourself. Weigh yourself. See how -much good you are doing, how much evil. Write out a balance sheet. It -will help you in your efforts to know what you most need to seek to -radiate in future, and what to avoid radiating. - -You surely do not _want_ to radiate evil. - -You surely _want_ to radiate only good. - -Is it not better consciously to radiate that which you wish than -unconsciously (or thoughtlessly) to radiate that which you do not wish? - -As, consciously or unconsciously, we radiate that which is within us, -whether good or evil, should we not aim consciously to radiate the best -of which we are capable, and thus evidence that we are striving to -overcome all the evil that may be within us? - - - - -CHAPTER V - -RADIANCIES OF INDIVIDUALITY - - -I want to radiate individuality. I want to be myself and none other. If -I see in others things to emulate, things that will more fully make me -what I want and ought to be, then emulation becomes a joyful duty--the -something in another becomes part of myself through my desire, my -emulation, my longing to attain. Hence in the right seeking to be myself -I seek also to be like all the good in others which appeals to me. -Herein is no destruction of my individuality. It is a perfecting of it. -I take what is my own, no matter where or how I find it. - -It is so well known as to be trite that men and women are mere sheep. We -follow our leaders. We are anything but individual. In religion, in -medicine, in law, in speech, in dress, in amusements, in architecture, -in literature, in food, in everything, custom and fashion dominate us. - -I would radiate a healthy resistance to the dictates of fashion. Why -should fashion ride rough-shod over the wisdom of men and women? The -hoop-skirt, the stove-pipe collar and hat, the camel's hump of fifteen -or twenty years ago that the ladies wore as an extra adornment, the -chignon, and a thousand and one other foolish things that once -domineeringly dared us to defy them have disappeared. Why should we ever -have yielded to them? What is fashion, anyhow? She is a fickle damsel, -generally proud of her money, whose good looks are often the result of -powder and paint and chalk and rouge instead of good health, vigor, and -love. She is a mere flirt, carried away for a few hours with anything as -a whim to pass away the time; without heart, feeling, sensibility, -brain, or knowledge. Her fads are more likely to be wrong than right, -and when right are generally the result of a lapse into sensibility by -relinquishing any pretense at thought into the hands of some one who can -think for her. Fashion, a heartless, conscienceless, soulless jade whose -friendship and favor are a curse, whose flatteries are hollow, -insincere, and corrupting, and whose only use for any one or anything -lasts merely so long as her own selfish pleasures are attained or desire -for novelty satisfied. - -Why let fashion dictate what we shall wear? Radiate your distrust of its -judgment. Radiate your refusal to submit to its dictates. Radiate your -full and calm determination, without argument, to live in your own way. -If a certain "style" of dress, which is structural, honest, neat, is -suited to you to-day, it is suited to you to-morrow and for all time. Be -yourself and _wear that style_ regardless of the fluctuations of -fashion. Why should fashion say that a man's overcoat this year shall -fit him tightly and keep him warm, and next year fit him loosely and -send him into the cold, through a storm, shivering and chilled? What -sense, what manliness, what dignity, is there in allowing a -"fashion-designer" to thus have the opportunity of ruining our health? -Let us radiate our positive repudiation of such insane follies, of such -sins against our bodies, and in our dress, our food, our social customs, -be ourselves in a kindly, unselfish, unobtrusive manner. - -Wherever fashion dictates in matters of dress, of personal custom, there -you find at once a restricted and "provincial" people. For fashion -compels adherence to her silly commands, hence picturesque individuality -disappears. A few years ago the clever editor of the New York _Journal_ -wrote an editorial against men's wearing whiskers. One part of his -argument was that the hairs were carriers of disease-germs, and that, -therefore, a man with whiskers was dangerous and to be shunned. -Thousands of the poor people of New York read and believed this man's -preposterous screed, and were thus made unhappy and miserable, and by -mental suggestion rendered more liable to the attacks of disease than -they would have been had these foolish words never been penned. - -It was fashion--not a care for health--that dictated those words. We -Americans so love the intellectual conversation and edifying monologues -of our barbers that we allow them to dictate to us whether we shall have -hair on our cheeks or not, whether we shall have our necks shaved, and -how much and whose "restorer" we shall put upon our hair. - -I use the barber here merely as a type. He by no means stands alone. - -I am determined to radiate a quiet but forceful protest against having -my life or that of my fellows dictated to, in purely personal matters, -by any one, whether he be priest, doctor, lawyer, barber, or editor. Let -each live his own life, within reasonable bounds, and let each _expect_ -every other to be himself. In nature there are no two things alike, yet -fashion would have us _all alike_; and, it might be added, therefore, -all foolish. - -In seeking for the expression of yourself do not for one moment think it -is necessary for you to think out something new, original, startling, or -strange. That is not the idea at all. Your life may be _yours_--purely -individualistic, and yet everything you do and say and think and feel be -as old as the hills. The idea is this. No matter where you get the -thoughts from that incite you to action, _make them your own_; _let -them become a part of yourself_, then your life will be yours indeed; an -expression of your own soul, and not that imitation of another that -Emerson so truthfully says is suicide. - -But in the radiating of my own individuality I must be so filled with -the true spirit of individuality that I shall in no way interfere with -that of others. Too often men and women in seeking to be "individual" -have seriously trespassed upon the rights, the joys, the comforts of -others. This is a fundamental error. The first law of individualism is -this: "What I claim for myself I _thereby freely accord_ to all others." -Note the word "thereby." In the very fact and act of claiming I -_thereby_ freely recognize _to the utmost_ the right of every one else -to claim the same right. There is no selfishness in individualism; there -are no "special" privileges in its exercise. It is the habit of a few to -believe that _they_ should have "special" privileges accorded them. True -individualism recognizes no such special rights. In _taking_ we _give_. -In claiming we avow the right of others to claim. - -The trouble with mankind is that it has not learned that souls are -individuals; that the diversities seen between plants, the differences -that exist even between blades of grass, so that there are no two blades -exactly alike, is but indicative of the individualism of the human -soul. There is a family likeness, for we are all created in God's image, -but God is so large, so great, so diverse, in Himself, that each soul is -a different image. Hence each soul must be itself and not another. Each -soul must develop in its own lines and not in those of others. - -The great errors have come in when men have said: "I have found the way -of life; it is the only way; all men, therefore, must walk herein." It -is a very human error, yet error it certainly is. That Roman Catholicism -is "the way" for many human souls no one can question, but that it is -"the only way for all human souls" many millions have questioned and -doubtless for ever will question. Every church, every creed, every -philosophy has those for whom it is "the way," for the time being at -least, and it is well that they walk therein. But in thought religion, -as in everything else, progress is the law of life, not standing still. -In religious thought, as in all life, let us say with our whole souls: - - So welcome each rebuff - That turns earth's smoothness rough, - Each sting that bids not sit, nor stand, but go. - -Onward, forward, is the cry. The law of evolution has demonstrated that -there must ever be the disturbance of the equilibrium on the lower plane -in order that there may be the readjustment upon the higher. Every soul -that sits still and rests content is retrogressing. There must ever be a -godly discontent--a reaching out, a following after, as Paul puts it, if -that we may apprehend--take hold of--the things for which Christ Jesus -has taken hold of us. - -Every soul-field must be plowed and harrowed after each harvest. Crops -do not volunteer very often, and a volunteer crop is never so good as -one that is carefully prepared for; ground thoroughly nourished, plowed, -drained, harrowed, rolled, seeded with the best of seed, watered, -weeded, and properly harvested. Is a soul's harvest to be left to -chance, while farmers take anxious thought for field-harvests, where -only a few dollars' worth of produce are the outcome? Let us be wise for -our own souls. - -I can only radiate individuality when I am individualistic. - -Is there no infallible, certain, sure way of doing things? Of learning -things? - -I know not what others have found, I only know for myself _that there is -but one way, and that is the way of personal test and experience_. - -Cardinal Newman, one of the greatest, simplest, purest, and sweetest -minds of the last century, had to put his life's guidance into the hands -of the church--the Mother Church, to him--the Roman Catholic Church. His -piteous cry has voiced the cry of millions of human souls since; souls -groping in the dark, seeking for light, desiring above all to _know_. - - Lead, kindly light, amid th' encircling gloom, - Lead Thou me on; - The night is dark, and I am far from home, - Lead Thou me on. - Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see - The distant scene; one step enough for me. - -It was his desire to know that led him to write the hymn. - -What a profound truth Emerson said when he wrote: "A man should learn to -detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from -within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he -dismisses without notice his thought, _because it is his_." - -The italics are mine. Why will men rely more upon written words than -upon the flashes of illuminated truth that come to their own souls? God -and His truth are as much for me as for any man. There is as much truth, -wisdom, knowledge in the universe for me as for all the wise and learned -of all the ages. It is outside of me, waiting to come in, anxious to -come in if I will allow it to do so, and yet I allow a Board of Bishops, -a College of Medicine, a Bench of Judges to dictate to me as to what of -God and His truth I shall receive. While it is my duty and privilege to -study reverently all which these people would present to me as the -truth, I want to radiate with all the power of my nature my belief that -every soul must find truth for itself. There is no patent truth -extractor that suits every human need. Conventional thought which -professes to express "the truth" is merely man's sign-board to point out -to you the way some one else has found truth. Too often, alas, it is -used as a restricting bond to tell you beyond which bounds you must not -go. Let no man bind you. God is over all and in all. His truth is -everywhere. _Seek in spirit and in truth_ and you will find,--_for -yourself_. But be careful, when you have found for yourself, that you do -not make the common mistake of most human beings, and endeavor to force -your truth, appropriate and suitable for you, down the mental and -spiritual throats of every one else as the appropriate and suitable -truth for them. Leave to every other soul the right, the privilege, the -joy, the necessity of finding truth for himself, herself. Tell what you -have found, if you like, but tell it reverently, as a gift to you, not -as a divine light for every one else. - -This, therefore, is the individuality I would radiate. I would have the -Hindoo, the Hottentot, the Hopi, the Roman Catholic, the Mormon, the -Chinaman, the Methodist all feel that I revere and respect their -individuality even as I revere and respect my own. But, further--and -here is the important thing--I would so radiate that they will respect -and revere mine as I respect theirs. When the Methodist says either in -words or acts, "I am a Methodist and therefore you should be one," he -violates the law of individuality as of moral freedom. So with the Hopi, -the Catholic, the Hindoo. - -I would have it clear, therefore, that individualism is not -"toleration." What is there in my exercise of a God-given right and duty -to be myself that should call for the assumption of my fellow being that -HE will "tolerate" these rights? Therefore, I do not want to be -"tolerant" to my fellows. I would radiate the individualism which goes -ahead and thinks and acts according to the dictates of personal -conscience. It is all very well to say that we should learn from the -combined wisdom of the ages. I am not so sure of much of it, after all! -I accept the astronomy of to-day, but by no means believe our -astronomers have said the last word, any more than I believe that the -great and humble Newton said the last word when he declared that man had -gained the summit in the art of telescope making. Just four years after -he made that foolish assertion John Dolland invented the achromatic -telescope which has revolutionized the astronomical science of the world -by adding infinitely to the astronomer's seeing power. - -_Nothing_ in human life is yet complete. There is _no_ absolute truth -carried out to its ultimate. When numbers were first discovered our -forefathers thought they had gone as far as it was possible, in -discovering that two and two make four. Then geometry was discovered and -Euclid changed the arithmetic of the world, and the teachers said we had -gone as far as it was possible. Then algebra was discovered and the -world found out the teachers were wrong in limiting the science of -arithmetic. Yet foolish people would not learn from the folly of the -past. They wisely and sagely declared that _now, at last_, the ultimate -had been reached. But Newton comes along and with his "Calculus" opens -up new worlds in arithmetical science. NOW we have got it all, declares -the teacher of _fixed_ truth. Yet in the year of Our Lord, one thousand -nineteen hundred and six, there comes a Japanese, and in his _Handbook -of Chess_ demonstrates as great an advance in arithmetical science as -Newton did in his Calculus. We are yet children. We shall ever be -learning so long as we are human. The knowledge we have so far gained is -vast, apparently, when compared with the knowledge held in the Dark -Ages, but, as compared _with what there is yet stored away for us to -know_, I verily believe it is so insignificant, so slight, so small, so -puny, so infinitesimal, as to excite the pity and the contempt of any -superior beings who look down upon us and see us strutting in our -doctor's mortar-boards and gowns in our assumed wisdom. - -God forbid that any arrogant pretension of mine should ever prevent one -truth from entering a human soul. I want to radiate my acceptance of all -there is, but my expectance for the large _more_ that is yet to come. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -CONFLICTING RADIANCIES - - -There are few, if any, human beings in the world who radiate only evil, -or, on the other hand, only good. Man is a _human_ being, not divine. -Humanity implies a lower stage than divinity, and whether what we call -evil be but manifestations of the imperfect and incomplete, or -deliberate wrong choice for which one is personally responsible, we are -all compelled to admit that there are few people with whom we meet who -radiate toward us and all others only that which is good. Sometimes -these "not good" radiancies have no immoral intent in them, though they -produce bad results. - -For instance, it is a well-known fact that many a man is driven to -drunkenness by an unhappy home life, yet probably no member of the -household has the deliberate intention of producing such a result. It -may be that he is equally to blame for the conditions in his home, for -all are imperfect, yet if the appetite for drink has been formed, or -environment supplies great temptation, the complaints, taunts, or anger -of his unhappy family do not increase his powers of resistance, but -rather weaken them. There are men, also, who frankly confess to a -reckless impulse to do wrong whenever they come under any very -depressing influence. It may be true that some peculiarity of -temperament renders them liable to be thrown out of mental balance. -There may be inherent weakness, or hereditary tendency, which renders -them unusually susceptible to depressing radiancies, but the results are -just as deplorable. - -Doubtless many a woman, too, warped and twisted out of normal conditions -by disappointment, ill-treatment, and mental suffering, becomes a -tongue-lasher, goes to the bad, or commits suicide, when different -influences and environment would have saved her from such consequences. -There may not seem to be any immorality in the nagging of a husband, or -a wife, or a parent, yet the persistent nagging of some person, whose -intent was only good, has produced direful effects in various ways. - -These and a thousand other tendencies of the human being point to our -present imperfection or subjugation to error, out of which we must rise. - -_I know a poet._ His words have thrilled millions to a nobler and better -life. His pen has never incited to a mean or ignoble thought or action; -it has always written high and noble truth--peace, good will to men, the -dignity of labor, the joy of helping, the blessing of purity, the -never-failing help of God--and yet in his personal life he sometimes -radiates the degradation of drunkenness and the awfulness of impurity. - -_I know a writer._ He is one of the most brilliant men of his State. His -knowledge is profound. He devotes more time, unselfishly, to the good of -his adopted city and State than any other man I know. His work is -untiring in its fervid zeal for the preservation of historic landmarks -that without his efforts would possibly have disappeared; and also for a -museum for the accumulation of evidences of past civilization. Yet he -radiates a vindictive jealousy and fierce hatred of those whom he does -not like that makes even his friends afraid of him and fearful lest they -incur his anger. - -Shelley, Byron, Poe, Bret Harte, Leigh Hunt, Landor--and thousands of -others, including the Psalmist David, the Hebrew king whom God -loved--radiated grand, sublime, divine truths, yet they also radiated -weakness and moral wrong. - -What should be our mental attitude toward those who give such -conflicting radiancies? Shall we ignore the evil and see only the good? -How _can_ we? How _dare_ we? - -Shall we ignore the good and see only the evil? - -Again I ask, How can we? How dare we? - -There are good people, I know, who do both of these, to me, impossible -things. I want to do neither. I will do neither if I can possibly help -it. I will not stultify _my own_ sense of right and wrong by ignoring -what I deem to be wrong in another. I will reprobate it, for myself, and -earnestly strive to be kept free from it, but, at the same time, I will -see the good in all its beauty and power and will glorify it and accept -it, and thank God that so much good does exist. - -The whole question thus resolves itself to me: Shall I refuse to accept -the good of certain men because they do many evil things? Shall I refuse -to accept good except from those who are perfect? If so, from whom shall -I gain good? From you, reader? Are you perfect? If you take that -position you had better drop this book, here and now, for you cannot -receive good from me, for too sadly do I know that neither the book nor -its writer is perfect. Joaquin Miller perfectly expresses this thought -in the introductory lines to his poem on Byron: - - In men whom men condemn as ill, - I find so much of goodness still, - In men whom men account divine, - I find so much of sin and blot, - I hesitate to draw the line between the two, - Where God has not! - -Let us be fearless, honest, just, frank. Too often we condemn people who -have as much good as evil in them--or more--because we are afraid if we -do not condemn the evil that they do, openly and loudly, people will -think we tolerate evil because we ourselves are evil. Hawthorne wrote -his _Scarlet Letter_ to teach us different. The harsh, stern, -vindictively pure and good people--in my humble judgment--have many and -grave sins to answer for as well as those whom they so mercilessly -condemn. I condemn all that which appears evil to me, and I seek to -avoid it, but I condemn no man, no woman. That is not my privilege, my -work. Judgment belongs to God who knows all circumstances and -understands all hearts. I know and understand very little, for I am very -short-sighted and ignorant. How can any of us look with so severe an eye -upon the sins of our brothers and sisters when we, too, are imperfect, -ignorant, prone to wrong. John Wesley taught the people of his -denomination very differently, though they haven't yet learned the -lesson. One of his hymns says: - - To hate sin with all my heart - And yet the sinner love. - -And the Lord of the whole Christian Church spoke in no uncertain terms -when He said, "Judge Not," and in His action to those who brought the -adulterous woman to Him clearly showed us what our attitude should be. -Joaquin Miller wrote a much-needed lesson for this age, this -civilization, this people (the puritanic American and Anglo-Saxon), when -he took this incident in Christ's life and made it the theme of his -poem, _Charity_. May its high and sympathetic truths sink deep, so that -henceforth you will be able to stand side by side with the Divine in -dealing with sinful men and women, and while condemning the sin be able -to say: "Go, and sin no more." And, remember, it is not for you to say -which sin is most sinful in God's sight. You may know which is of -greater horror to yourself, but it may be that the "darling sin" you -cherish in secret, or the "weakness" of your life may be regarded by the -Divine as of great culpability as well as the "horrible sin" you so much -deplore and feel you must condemn so bitterly in another. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -RADIANCIES OF FEAR - - -Fear is the greatest enemy of mankind. It is the creator of evil, for -many people sin through fear. It is the maker of cowards and moral -weaklings, the foe of all progress, the barrier to advancement, -physical, mental, spiritual. He who is afraid dares not, and he who -dares not, knows not, feels not, enjoys not. The fearful do not live; -they merely exist, in bondage to a terror that leaves them neither night -nor day. They know few of the delights of achievement, for they are -afraid to dare. Fear throttles endeavor, stifles hope, murders -aspiration. It is a hydra-headed monster of protean forms. It is a liar -and a coward, a beguiler and a thief, a sneak and a poltroon, a -slanderer and a cur. It comes in a thousand guises--sometimes as -caution, then as tact, again as consideration for others, but ever and -always as a deceiver and a destroyer. - -If there is one thing above another that I wish I had learned in -earliest youth, and I wish I had known enough to teach my children in -their earliest days, it is perfect fearlessness. The only thing I fear -to-day is fear. To go through life afraid of this and that and the -other, is to take away all joy, all spontaneity, all freedom, all -aspiration, all endeavor. - -I used to believe and teach that we should "fear God." But the word -"fear" as here used is not the abject, groveling, contemptible feeling -that so many people imagine it to be. God has made us in His own image. -He wishes us to stand upright, and greet Him as filial beings should, -proud and glad to come to Him as "Our Father." - -Fear makes us whine and whimper before God, and go to Him in the same -spirit of dread that leads the Indian to feel he must always be -propitiating the powers that be. If he does not pray and sing and dance -and smoke the good powers will be offended, and will injure him, and the -evil powers will be made more evil and do him more harm than they -otherwise would. Hence month in and month out, because of fear, he seeks -by his dances, and smokings, and songs, and prayers to protect himself -from evil by soothing their possible anger and quieting their fury -against him. - -There is much of this same spirit in our old-time theology, and our -present-day life. We are afraid of God. God doesn't want us to be -afraid. Every man should therefore stand upright, afraid of neither God, -man, nor devil. God is no tyrant to be turned from His purposes by -sycophantic worship, or by "much speaking" and importunity. He is a -reasonable God, a loving God, a just God, a merciful God, and abject -fear will never change His plans as to His treatment of any human being. - -As to being afraid of men, why should one man ever be afraid of another? -Let us stand upright as men--one man just as good as another--_if he is -as good_, and if he isn't as good, knowing that all the potentialities -of godhead are within his own soul. We are gods, says Browning, though -but as yet in the germ. Let us fearlessly develop the germ, or give it -opportunity for development. - -And as to being afraid of the devil, I have long since learned that the -proper way to deal with what I suppose to be the devil--or his -henchmen--is simply to straighten up my back, look him squarely in the -eye, and definitely and positively bid him "Go to hell!" Even the most -modest and refined of preachers, whether of the new or old type, will -agree that that is the only place for the devil and his myrmidons. - -I would have my children, myself, and the world afraid of nothing but of -evil--and by evil I mean those sins that I myself know are -evil--selfishness, pride, uncleanness, as well as the sins of the -decalogue. But even here I would not let it be a fear that dreads -falling into these sins. I would not anticipate or expect anything of -the kind. Hence, in one sense I would not have them afraid of evil. -Resist evil and it will flee from you. Harbor it not, do not dread it, -but resolve to slay it by its opposite good. The evil is null if you -live its opposite. There is no need for an unselfish man to fear -selfishness. A man who gives freely never need fear that he will become -a miser. - -Yet people go through life afraid, and teach their children to be -afraid, and thus lose nine-tenths of the love and joy and power and -blessing of life. - -Fear holds a large and powerful grip upon the human race. Scarce one -woman in a thousand of the so-called civilized portion but is afraid of -child-birth--a perfectly natural process that should be attended with -all the angels of Love and Joy and Welcome, instead of the horrible -demons of Fear. From the time of birth until its body falls into the -grave the mortal is taught fear. We pay preachers, teachers, lawyers, -and doctors, and much of their work consists of fostering our fears. I -have a picture before my mind's eye now of one of the noblest and best -women that ever lived. Her whole life was a self-sacrifice, an unselfish -devotion to others, yet, such was the theology that had been taught to -her that she was constantly in dread lest she had done wrong, she was -ever sitting on the stool of repentance, and life was a gloomy, somber, -awful thing to her, because of her "dread of an angry God." - -Thousands of people fear death because they have been taught that when -they die they may "go to hell" for sins done on earth. - -A mother was telling me only a few days ago of the perfect fearlessness -of her boy until (when about six years of age) he went to a Sunday -school, where they taught him their ideas of the devil and hell and -God's method of punishing sin. That night he dared not go to bed without -a light and woke up several times crying that he was afraid of sinking -into hell. - -Whatever preachers may feel it to be their duty to teach of hell and -God's anger to grown men and women, I deem it monstrously cruel to put -such fears into the plastic and trustful souls of the young. - -Teachers, lawyers, and doctors are as bad as the preachers. We must -avoid "night air," and draughts, and getting our feet wet, and not -eating enough, and eating too much. We must not eat this and that, and -must not do that or the other. Fear is instilled into our minds all -along the pathway of life until if we are not healthy enough to throw it -away and live our own fearless life, we are weighted down by the burden -of our needless and senseless fears. All quack doctors work on the -foolish and ignorant fears of the people, or their nostrums would never -sell enough to pay a thousandth part of what their advertising costs. -Fear is the club that scoundrels use to beat the ignorant into paying -tribute to them. - -I do not believe in these fears--to me they are all bad, and nothing but -bad. I would banish every one of them from the human heart. - -But, says an objector, you surely would not let your child go and handle -a deadly rattlesnake, or send your growing and innocent girl into the -company of expert _roués_, or willfully sleep in a miasmic atmosphere, -or inhale the poisonous gases of a badly cared-for plumbing system? Of -course not. But neither would I be afraid of them. There is all the -difference in the world between _knowledge of danger_, and _fear_ of -that danger. Let a child be taught definitely and positively the danger -of handling a rattlesnake, but do not fill his soul with fear of it; -impress forcefully and strongly the wisdom of avoiding evil company upon -your daughter, but teach her to be absolutely fearless in the presence -of the debauchee; seek to the full how to avoid all miasma and deadly -plumbing, but be fearless about them. Fear is the product of ignorance; -fearlessness of knowledge. If my child knows all the harm a rattlesnake -can do, and all the power it possesses, he can avoid it as easily as -not. Therefore why should he be afraid? The feminine fears of mice, -rats, spiders, and snakes are evidences either of ignorance, or of a -developed hereditary tendency to fear. In the former case the fearful -one should be trained so as to remove her fear, in the latter she should -resolutely set her will to work to overcome it, in which all her friends -should sympathetically aid her. - -Fear has ever been the foe of progress. Every advance step in all life -has been taken by him only who had throttled his fears. Fire was -conquered for the human race by the man who dared brave the strange and -weird flames that grew and then disappeared. Prometheus--the -fearless--is the type of all who have helped the race to progress. It is -the same in every field of endeavor, on every plane of thought. Galileo, -Newton, Savonarola, the barons of King John's time, Cromwell, Luther, -Bacon, Captain Cook, Washington, Lincoln are but a few of the thousands -of names of men who have dared, who have bid their fears depart, and in -so doing have advanced the human race. - -Joaquin Miller in his grand poem _Columbus_ clearly shows what would -have become of him and the discovery of the new world had he let the -fears of the mate and his sailors affect him. Read it carefully with -this thought in view. Indeed it is well worth memorizing as a standing -lesson against fear. - - -COLUMBUS - - Behind him lay the gray Azores, - Behind the Gates of Hercules; - Before him not the ghost of shores; - Before him only shoreless seas. - The good mate said: "Now must we pray, - For lo! the very stars are gone. - Brave Admir'l, speak; what shall I say?" - "Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'" - - "My men grow mutinous day by day; - My men grow ghastly wan and weak." - The stout mate thought of home; a spray - Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. - "What shall I say, brave Admir'l, say, - If we sight naught but seas at dawn?" - "Why, you shall say at break of day: - 'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'" - - They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, - Until at last the blanched mate said: - "Why, now, not even God would know - Should I and all my men fall dead. - These very winds forget their way, - For God from these dread seas is gone. - Now speak, brave Admir'l; speak and say----" - He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!" - - They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate: - "This mad sea shows his teeth to-night. - He curls his lip, he lies in wait, - With lifted teeth, as if to bite! - Brave Admir'l, say but one good word: - What shall we do when hope is gone?" - The words leapt like a leaping sword: - "Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!" - - Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, - And peered through darkness. Ah, that night - Of all dark nights! and then a speck-- - A light! A light? A light! A light! - It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! - It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. - He gained a world; he gave that world - Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"[C] - -[C] This poem has recently been set to music by Dr. Carlos Troyer, of -San Francisco, that is as thrilling and soul-stirring as are the words. -Copies may be had by sending sixty cents in postage stamps to Dr. -Troyer, 1236 19th Ave., Sunset District, San Francisco, Calif. - -Sydney Smith once well said: "A great deal of talent is lost to the -world for want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves men -who have remained obscure because of timidity. The fact is that, in -order to do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand -shivering on the brink and thinking of the cold and danger; but jump in -and scramble through as well as we can. It will not do to be perpetually -calculating risks, and adjusting nice chances. It did very well before -the flood, when a man could consult his friends upon an intended -publication for a hundred and fifty years, and live to see its success -for six or seven centuries afterward. But at present a man waits, and -doubts, and hesitates, and consults his father, brother, cousin, -friends, till one fine day he finds he is sixty-five years of age. There -is so little time for our squeamishness that it is no bad rule to preach -up the necessity of a little violence done to the feelings and of -efforts made in defiance of strict and sober calculation." - -Too often elderly friends, with the best of intentions, inculcate this -fear into the hearts of the young. Never was there a greater mistake or -_real_ unkindness. It is nothing that the intent is good. One's intent -may palliate any judgment rendered against the offender, but, the -unfortunate result, the implanting of the fear, cannot so easily be -forgiven. Oh that I could prevail upon older people to refrain from this -terribly demoralizing habit of giving advice to the young that -inculcates fear. Let me illustrate: - -A young man is a clerk in an office. He sees an opening to which his -heart and brain strongly impel him, but there is a little, perhaps a -great deal, of risk connected with it. He goes for advice to his older -friends. They, with their life-work practically finished, valuing their -rest and content more than desiring to reënter the battle of life, -naturally are wary about an uncertainty. "Why not leave well enough -alone? Why run the risk? What will you do if this fails? You will have -given up a certainty for an uncertainty," and so on. - -Ah! worldly wise though it _seems_, it is the most injurious and harmful -advice that the young could possibly receive. Where would progress and -advancement be to-day if many had not totally disregarded such smug, -self-contented, unheroic advice! Thank God, youth is the time for -adventure, for striking out, for _making mistakes_, for learning, for -testing, for "proving _all_ things," and holding fast to that which is -good. Old age has had its day. It has made its mistakes and profited by -them. Let it keep its hands off the young. Let them have their -opportunity. - -Herbert Spencer tells of throwing up a good job as civil engineer in -order to experiment with a matter that a fortnight proved to be utterly -impossible. Yet fifty years later he thus reviewed this apparently -self-injurious act: "Had there not been this seemingly foolish act, I -should have passed a humdrum and not very prosperous life as a civil -engineer. That which has since been done would never have been done." - -In other words, the act that shook him out of the rut, the contented, -common, mediocre path, compelled him to find a new path for himself, and -this called upon all the resources of his great and, to him and others, -unknown nature, and he developed into the transcendent genius, the -profound philosopher, whose writings had greater influence, perhaps, -upon his century than those of any other man. - -Hence I want to radiate the spirit of complete fearlessness, not only -for myself, but for my young friends of both sexes, all the sons and -daughters of men. I would calmly watch them plunge overboard into the -ocean of life, trustful and confident, having first taught them the -first few strokes of swimming--the principles of true and godly -living--and then stand, fearlessly, and watch them strike out for -themselves. I swam,--why should not they? God is in His heaven to-day -watching the sparrows fly just as He was a score, a hundred, a thousand -years ago. - -In the mental world how fearful people often are of breaking away from -old ideas. Only the other day a friend wrote me that he had been to a -funeral, conducted by an orthodox clergyman. He said: "I imagine his is -a very orthodox denomination, if he is a fair sample of what they -believe. Glimmerings of a soul that hungers for larger things than its -creed allowed was evident in his talk, however. Is it not pitiful, and -more, is it not tragical, how people allow their soul-instincts and -natural outreachings to be killed, or hampered, or stilled by what their -befuddled brains or the brains of others have decided is proper, or -accepted as proper, to believe?" - -I can remember when good Methodists and Congregationalists were "kicked -out of the church" for daring to hope that all men would ultimately be -saved, and I have heard preachers and doctors fulminating against -Christian Science and everything else that did not conform exactly to -what they believed, and seeking to work upon the fears of their -congregations to prevent any investigation. This kind of fear is -unworthy the human soul. Be in a daring, a receptive, an investigative -state of mind. I would radiate a readiness and willingness to listen to -anything that has proven, or seems to have proven, a truth to another. I -want to welcome truth from wherever it comes, whether popular or -unpopular, wanted or unwanted. I would broaden my horizon, heighten my -aspirations and deepen my conceptions of truth and be glad to receive -from any source. I well remember John Ruskin saying to me: "Never read -that book or listen to that sermon which you know beforehand you will -agree with. By so doing you deepen the ruts of your own mentality." I -want no mental or spiritual ruts. Good roads are never "rutted." I wish -to be a broad, wide, well-paved, solid road, over which all truth may -run, welcome, free, untaxed, life-giving. - -In his _Memory and Rime_, Joaquin Miller in speaking of poets refers to -them as "these men who have room and strength and the divine audacity to -think for themselves." - -When a man strikes out for himself, in thought and action, he does have -to be audacious, in the higher sense of the word. He has to dare his -fellow men, dare their criticism, dare their disapproval, dare to shock -them, dare to grieve them, perhaps. He has to dare himself, throw down -the gauntlet to himself in his struggle to become completely what he -believes to be highest and best. It takes a great deal of courage to do -all that, a great deal of resolution--an initiative that may seem -impudence, a fearlessness that may seem recklessness. - -The strength that makes it possible to do this must be a strength like -to the divine strength. A strength ordained from the foundation of the -earth as a part of man's birthright, to become a part of himself, when -he begins to try for himself to conceive of higher good and to live it. -The man who thinks only as other men think, dares act only as other men -act, is as a babe in swaddling clothes, helpless, dependent. One can -never be strong until he learns to walk alone, independent of another's -hand to cling to or another's strength to steady himself by. One must -learn to stand on his own feet, learn to keep his own balance, learn to -step by his own volition. If he does not he becomes a cripple. Most -lives are as the lives of cripples, and we help to make them so by our -continued trying to force people to cling to us and our ideas, -frightening them into believing that they are in great danger if they -try to step alone. A little trembling of the legs as one first stands -alone is nothing to be alarmed at. A few falls and bumps as we first -step out never seriously injure us. - -It is only when a life has strength to stand out alone, independent of -its fellows, that its soul can take hold of God. - -And I fancy that it is only when a life thinks and acts for itself, and -allows its fellow men to think and act for themselves, that it is in a -condition to really give help and to receive help, really in a state of -mind to fulfill the commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as -thyself." - -It is one thing to be brave enough to do something which is hard to do -but which your fellow men will approve of your doing, and an entirely -different thing to do something hard but which your fellow men will not -approve of your doing. Therefore I want to radiate into actual, living -potentiality my belief that life consists in expression and not -repression. By many this is taken to be a plea for license and want of -self-control. Do not believe it! That is not what I mean. The expression -of evil is not the expression of myself, for I long to do only good. -Read what St. Paul says on the subject. And by "I," I mean my real self, -as Paul did--not my lower self, my evil heredity, or whatever it is that -seeks to drive away the good from me--I, the real I, the self which is, -and which may not appear to the world, want to express all that is in -that real self. That means that I must control, slay, kill, drive out -all the evil that comes to me and demands that I express it as part of -myself. It is not a part of my spiritual self, and if I express evil -then I am not myself in that sense. But I want to have such perfect, -such absolute control over all outward expressions that I shall ever -and at all times express nothing but that which is good; and that which -will be felt to be good by all people. - -And yet we must determine what we should express. The thinking man and -woman make their own standards. These standards, in certain great -principles of honor, truth, nobleness, purity, are practically alike, -yet most men and women are controlled by fashion, custom, society, -rather than by their own cool, deliberate judgment. I want to radiate my -protest against this state of affairs. I will be my own judge and not -place the responsibility for my own moral life upon the judgment of any -person, society, clique, class, or church. I must be saved by my own -belief and life, not by the belief and life of others. - -For years I endeavored to "avoid the appearance of evil." When at last, -however, I discovered that the "appearance of evil"--the determination -of what it was, rested upon the average quality of the minds of the -community by which I was surrounded, and not always upon right, or -truth, or justice, I made up my mind that for me, at least, God had a -higher mission. I resolved, therefore, in His strength fearlessly to -radiate a higher conception of things. An evil mind sees evil where none -is; a filthy mind sees filth where is only innocence and sweetness. Was -I to shape my life and conduct to meet the ideas of those who deem -innocence and trustfulness, natural simplicity, and true-heartedness as -"appearances of evil"? God forbid. Rather, by far, would I suffer in the -judgments of men and women, cruel and untrue though they would be, than -forego the life of natural trust, simple uprightness, that alone mean -_life_ to me. - -And this is what I desire to radiate,--a positive, powerful, healthful, -aseptic moral quality that will refuse to allow people to see evil where -none exists; that will lead them to prefer to see, to hope for, to -believe in, the good rather than the evil in men. Better trust and be -deceived, than live a life of horrible mistrust. I know men and women -are imperfect, and, like myself, composed of good and evil, therefore I -am determined to radiate my belief in the good in them rather than -radiate my belief in the bad of them. - -It is worth while to re-read George Eliot's _Mill on the Floss_, to see -how poor Maggie Tulliver was misjudged and cruelly treated purely on -what people _supposed_ was her wrong-doing. And I shall never forget the -influence the following words had on me when I first read them. I would -that the lesson they contain might be burned into the inmost -consciousness of every reader of this book. - - Even on the supposition that required the utmost stretch of - belief--namely, that none of the things said about Miss Tulliver - were true--still, since they _had_ been said about her, they had - cast an odor around her which must cause her to be shrunk from by - every woman who had to take care of her own reputation--and of - society. To have taken Maggie by the hand and said, 'I will not - believe unproved evil of you; my lips shall not utter it; my ears - shall be closed against it; I, too, am an erring mortal, liable to - stumble, apt to come short of my most earnest efforts, your lot has - been harder than mine, your temptation greater; let us help each - other to stand and walk without more falling;'--to have done this - would have demanded courage, deep pity, self-knowledge, generous - trust--would have demanded a mind that tasted no piquancy in evil - speaking, that felt no self-exaltation in condemning, that cheated - itself with no large words into the belief that life can have any - moral end, any high religion, which excludes the striving after - perfect truth, justice, and love towards the individual men and - women who come across our own path. - -It is my earnest desire that I may radiate this spirit of courage, deep -pity, self-knowledge, generous trust, and all that follows. And this, -not in an abstract or theoretical way, but in the real concrete cases -that one meets with in life. I am not too good to associate with the -found-out wrong-doer if he is striving against his wrong-doing, and -aiming to be better. I would not look down on any human being because of -any sin. Though I want to grow to hate sin more and more as the -manifestations of that which separates us from the Infinite, I want the -sinner to feel that I am one with him in all desire to be free from -evil, to be possessed only by the spirit of truth, purity, and love. - -All great victories whether of peace or war have been won by the -fearless, the unafraid. We honor the heroes of the past, of Thermopylæ, -and the fearless and brave of all nations and all time. Tennyson's -_Charge of the Light Brigade_ appeals to our love and respect for the -virile, the manly, the courageous, the fearless, and it is the same -spirit that thrills us when we read or hear _Curfew Shall not Ring -To-night_. To save her lover the shrinking maiden was filled with high -born courage and dared to hang on to the bell. Whether we agree with his -beliefs or not we admire the bravery of Luther that led him to exclaim: -"Were there as many devils in my way as tiles on the house tops yet -would I go to Worms." Whether we approve of his ascetic life or not we -thrill at the bravery, the simple-hearted daring of Francis of Assisi, -who resolutely cast aside his patrimony and dared his father's anger -that he might serve God in his own way. - -Every advanced thinker, whose life and action spell progress for the -race, has to be a daring pioneer. He must be an iconoclast; he must be -self-contained, self-assured, self-confident. He must stand aloof from -his fellows in the very spirit of the message he brings, for he -dares--imperfect, weak, even sinful though he be--to be a teacher, a -leader of others. And how natural, human, it is for those who live with -or near him, seeing and knowing as they do, all his foibles, -weaknesses, littlenesses, failures, sins, to magnify these things and by -them hide the beauty and grandeur of the lesson God has given him to -teach the world. - -Our poets have given us some wonderfully vivid pictures of the fearless. -Perhaps the greatest in all literature is Shelley's _Prometheus_. It is -worth reading a score of times in order that its spirit of fearlessness -might be absorbed. Joaquin Miller's _Columbus_, which I have already -quoted, gives a marvelously vivid picture of the great admiral when even -hope had gone from his own heart, when he could not pierce by faith the -darkness of his own soul. - - Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, - And peered through darkness. Ah, that night - Of all dark nights! - -Yet though it was all darkness _to_ his own soul, and _in_ his own soul, -he kept on. His orders were "Sail on!" And his courage and bravery -brought him to the light of the new world. - -Browning in his _Prospice_ opens with the bold and daring interrogative: -"Fear death?" and, after showing what there is to fear, exclaims as in -an ecstasy of fearlessness: - - I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forebore - And bade me creep past. - No! let me fare like my peers, the heroes of old. - In a minute pay, glad, life's arrears - Of pain, darkness, and cold. - -I want to radiate the active consciousness even when I am storm-tossed, -beaten down by fierce winds, compelled to stay my journey by the -sand-laden, hot sirocco of the desert, dashed upon the cruel rocks by -tempestuous waves, frozen by the blizzards of the North, that I have -nothing to fear, that nothing can harm me save myself, that God is over -all and in all. As David called upon mountains, and all hills, fire, and -hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind, to praise Him, fulfilling His word, -so would I call. And in calling I would rest and be at peace. - -And I want to radiate to others my fearlessness for them. They need not -fear though the heavens fall. Many a man fails in the fierce conflict -raging in his own soul because he has been taught to fear the fierce -judgment of an angry God. I want with all the vehemence of my nature to -radiate a spirit that will kill and bury forever such fear in human -souls. Let no one daunt you by such teaching. Under all circumstances, -brother, keep your face up! - -Look ever to the stars! - -If, in the conflict, you lose heart, do not let your face down so as to -be covered by the mud into which you are sinking. Battle on, though you -are finally swallowed up--or fear you will be. Go down face up, and let -the last thing your expiring gaze rests upon, be the stars above. Though -the mud and mire cover your mouth so that you cannot cry out, - -Look up to the stars! - -Though it rise higher, and cover your nostrils so that you cease to -breath, - -_Look up to the stars!_ - -Though it flows into your very eyes, - -_Look up to the stars!_ - -My word for it, my soul for yours, the God of men will take that last -expiring glance of yours and make it the lever that shall pull you out -of the mire and set your feet upon the rock and establish your goings, -and - -PUT A NEW SONG INTO YOUR MOUTH. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE RADIANCY OF REBUKE - - -I want to radiate the ability to rebuke without offense, although this -may appear to be a singular desire. One night I sat with a friend -enjoying the exquisite music of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. During -one of the most subtle and delicate passages a "lady" in the seat behind -me began to whisper to her escort. It was as the thrusting of a bottle -of sulphuretted hydrogen under my nose when I was enjoying the subtle -essence of a violet. - -Four times that evening did that "cultured" Boston savage outrage my -susceptibilities by her rudeness, by her theft of my power and right of -enjoyment. - -I wanted to rebuke her, and I did not know how, without giving her -offense. I used to offend such offenders and glory in my share of the -offense. I hope I have learned better,--yet, all the same, I do wish to -administer some rebuke, that will be effective. As I have said -elsewhere, I want to do this so that my own serenity is preserved. Thus -shall I radiate serenity and not offense. If I am disturbed, offended, -outraged, I radiate those vibrations of unrest and disturbance. I would -reprove kindly, but surely and effectively, and that is best done by -bringing the offender into sympathy with the best that I desire for him -as well as myself. - -I would that I could rebuke every boy who keeps a seat in a car when an -elderly or aged man or woman stands by unseated. - -I would that I could rebuke every parent who fails to teach his or her -child his duty in this regard. - -I would that I could rebuke every parent who fails to require absolute -and explicit obedience to authority--his own and all other proper -authorities--on the part of his or her child. - -I would that I could rebuke every irreverent person whether in Catholic -Cathedral, Episcopal Church, Methodist Chapel, Congregational -Meeting-house, Navaho Hogan, Hopi Kiva, or Chinese Joss House, who -laugh, sneer, talk aloud, or in other vulgar way show their irreverence. -All are sacred to some one--all should alike be reverenced. - -I would that I could rebuke every haughty purse-proud woman or man who -_demands_ service, not through love, but by power of money or fear. - -And my rebuke list would include the politician who uses his office for -graft, the senator who sells his vote, the legislator who hesitates to -give his interest and vote to all bills that seek the true welfare of -the common people. It would include every purveyor of adulterated foods -for the people, every user of child labor, every employer of sweated -labor, and every "bargain-counter" fiend who hunts for the product of -the sweat-shop. It would include every newspaper owner who allows -prejudice to control his columns rather than fairness, and makes himself -a party to the willful deception of the people; every lawyer who values -fees more than justice; every physician a case more than health; every -preacher a fat salary more than truth. - -And it might include you, reader, did I know you as well as I know -myself, whom I rebuke constantly. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -WHAT I WOULD RADIATE TO THE WRONG DOER - - -For two years I was the chaplain for two homes where women who had led -evil lives were sheltered and cared for. During part of this time I -helped organize and conduct a midnight mission in one of the most -degraded parts of a large eastern city. I have had a large and varied -acquaintance with criminals of both sexes, of all ages and conditions, -and have been the recipient of many strange and startling confidences of -men and women whose integrity has never been questioned, and yet who, if -their inner life were known, would have been execrated and ostracized. - -As a result of these varied experiences and the knowledge that has come -to me I am compelled to assert that I believe our present system of -treatment of wrong-doers is not only unchristian but unwise and foolish, -and that it fosters and cherishes some of the very wrongs we seek to -prevent. - -The attitude we take--that every evil doer loves his evil doing, sins -because he wants to sin, is a criminal for his own pleasure--is absurd -and foolish. And what wicked cruelties such an attitude leads us to -commit. Socrates saw clearer than that centuries ago when he said: "It -is strange that you should not be angry when you meet a man with an -ill-conditioned body, and yet be vexed when you encounter one with an -ill-conditioned soul!" - -Most of us have a lot of maxims or rules that we apply to those -wrong-doers who come under our ken, forgetful of the fact that the -strange thing about human nature is that it doesn't fit your, or my, or -any one's ideas or notions. It cannot be bounded, as you bound a sea or -an island. It cannot be plotted or catalogued as you plot a lawn or -catalogue a library. The only way you can read men and women is with -sympathy and love--sympathy for their failures to measure up to your -conceptions of manhood and womanhood; love for the undoubted good that -you perceive. - -All moral judgments must remain false and hollow that are not checked -and enlightened by a perpetual reference to the special circumstances -that mark the individual lot. - -Christ did not in the least abrogate the Seventh Commandment when he -said to the woman _taken in the act_ of adultery: "I do not condemn -thee. Go and sin no more." In my opinion He wished to teach the lesson -that the self-righteousness and hypocrisy of her accusers were also -crimes. - -All men that are drunkards are not equally culpable, deserving of -hell-fire and to be swept there by quoting the Hebrew scriptures: "No -drunkard shall inherit eternal life." The special circumstances must be -considered, and God only is competent to do this. Whenever I hear these -ready quotations, whenever I am tempted to use them in my dealings with -my erring fellow-men and women I recall what George Eliot wrote in _The -Mill on the Floss_. - - All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance to - the men of maxims; because such people early discern that the - mysterious complexity of our life is not to be embraced by maxims, - and that to lace ourselves up in formulas of that sort is to repress - all the divine promptings and inspirations that spring from growing - insight and sympathy. And the man of maxims is the popular - representative of the minds that are guided in their moral judgment - safely by general rules, thinking that these will lead them to - justice by a ready-made patent method, without the trouble of - exerting patience, discrimination, impartiality,--without any care - to assure themselves whether they have the insight that comes from a - hardly earned estimate of temptation, or from a life vivid and - intense enough to have created a wide fellow-feeling with all that - is human. - -The true brotherhood of man is that which takes upon itself all the -weaknesses, all the burdens, all the woes, all the sins of the world of -men and women. This is what Christ did! Ah, that we might perceive and -realize it! This is what makes Walt Whitman so great a poet,--that he -tries to teach us this lesson. This is what gave to Ernest Crosby his -power, gave to Golden Rule Jones his influence. They felt the -brotherhood, truly, really, deeply, even though imperfectly. Christ felt -it perfectly. Can we not try to feel it? Whenever we behold sin in -others it behooves us to remember that Paul said, "_All_ have sinned and -come short of the glory of God," and that whenever we condemn sin in -another we condemn some sin in ourselves. We are all sinners in some way -or another. There are those who feel the oneness of human relationship -so keenly that they have declared that when another did a wrong they -felt it as if it were their own personal act. While I have not yet come -to so close a recognition of my brotherhood to all men and women as -that, I can deeply sympathize with the feeling. We all know how a -brother feels if one of his own family--sister or brother--"goes wrong." -He is grieved and disgraced. A burden is placed upon him. When we fully -recognize the brotherhood we owe to all men and women I doubt not we -shall then feel this personal sorrow and disgrace, which will lead us to -seek our brother's speedy reclamation, with helpful sympathy and loving -encouragement. - -Only those touched with the essential spirit of the love that belongs to -the Divine, or those who have sinned much, can know the great secret of -human tenderness and long suffering towards the wrong doer that alone, -_at times_, can help him. Oh for more of this human tenderness and -sympathy, this long suffering and patience, this active principle of -Divine Love that burns through all crusts and coatings of evil into the -most secret corners of the heart where the good is enshrined, though -forgotten. - -I have just been talking with a prominent editor about a man in his -office, competent, thorough, reliable, manly, a systematic worker and -able to get the best results out of those in his department, yet who, -once in a while, goes off on a terrible debauch. He will drink up all -the money at hand, then draw out whatever he has saved in the bank -(sometimes nearly a thousand dollars), engage an automobile, surround -himself with dissolute companions, squander his money on them, then -borrow from his friends, who, knowing that when sober he will pay back -every cent, cruelly lend it to him, and thus "go the pace" until either -money gives out, or physical endurance can no longer stand the strain. -Then his true friends come and pick him up out of the gutter, or care -for him in a hospital until he recovers. - -As soon as he is sane and sober again he is overwhelmed with remorse and -sorrow. He knows that he is ruining himself in every way and from every -possible standpoint, yet there is that in him that seems to render him -incapable of resisting these temptations to periodical sprees. He -listens with true penitence to the cautions of his employers, his -fellow workers, and to the heart-broken pleadings of his aged mother who -fairly idolizes him--still he drinks. - -What shall I radiate to such a man--to all such men? Can I ignore the -degradation of their debauchery? Certainly not! Can I ignore the fact -that, as a rule, when the downward path is once begun, the sober -intervals grow shorter after each debauch, and that by radiating -friendliness to such a man I am tying myself to one who will ultimately -disgrace himself and me? Shall I cease to be his friend, in order to -protect myself? - -God forbid! To radiate friendliness is not enough. Seek to possess more -than this, that you may radiate more. Greater than friendship is love. -Love your friend as yourself. He is having a desperate struggle. Give -him your love, your thoughtful, considerate, protective love. If -necessary treat him as you would an insane person, for the highest -medical experts now concede that "while alcoholic excess is a prolific -source of disease and mental instability, _disease and mental -instability are even more provocative of the alcoholic habit_." The -greatest possible kindness to such an one would be to lovingly, -tenderly, sympathetically _lock him up_. The insane man must be kept -from doing himself and others an injury. Society must protect itself -from the evil doer, regardless of his moral responsibility, but the -"how" of that protection is one of the most important things in the -development of the human race. As we now protect ourselves we show the -barbarity of the aborigine, the cruel vindictiveness of the savage. - -I am fully satisfied that the time will come when we shall so radiate -Christian love one to another, and especially to our weaker brothers and -sisters--whether their weaknesses manifest themselves in alcoholic -excess, sexual sins, gambling, theft, drug-manias, or any other form of -wrong-doing--that we shall prepare for them places where they may be -properly cared for, and especially whenever they fear they are in danger -of succumbing to their weaknesses. This method would not apply to those -who are so enthralled by sin that they think they find great pleasure in -the gross gratification of the senses, for such are doomed to suffer -until they are forced to see their errors and turn from them with -loathing, but there are others who are unwilling victims to appetite and -evil habits. The burdens which weak humanity carries are many and -complex, and sometimes even mysterious. It is known to the medical world -that many wrong deeds and even serious crimes are committed by men and -women under temporary abnormal mental conditions. In Scriptural times -doubtless it would have been said that they were possessed with demons, -but the modern expert calls such conditions _manias_ of various kinds. -Whatever the subtle cause of this species of insanity, it is generally -admitted that the attacks are of a periodical nature, and that during -the intervals the victims conduct themselves in accordance with ordinary -standards. Condemnation and ostracism cannot remedy such evils, but true -Christianity should prompt a method of treatment that will encourage and -sustain rather than induce despair. Even ordinary so-called "sinners" -are not reclaimed by avoiding them utterly. Those who go down into the -slums and plague-spots of our cities would never rescue any of the -"perishing" if they went grudgingly, and holding themselves daintily -aloof in self-righteous superiority. No, they brave the pestilential -radiation in perfect safety and carry hope to the fallen because they -possess the mind of Christ, which is purity and love. This does not -alter the fact that the pure and good naturally shrink from depravity -and degradation, nor that it is expedient to protect the ignorant and -innocent from association with those who radiate impurity, oftentimes, -but since it is well known that society contains many men and some women -whose private lives would not stand publicity, the only safeguard is to -be fortified within with that purity and goodness which involuntarily -resists evil and imparts good. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE RADIANCIES OF TOLERATION - - -I want to radiate my conception of what, in religion, is commonly termed -"toleration." To me the term is a misnomer. Its use is based upon a -gross and small-minded misunderstanding of the right, inherent to each -human being, to live according to the dictates of his own conscience in -all things that do not militate against what the majority conceive to be -the public good. - -What is religion? My own definition is that _it is the highest within -myself reaching out to the highest I can see or conceive outside of -myself_. In this "reaching out," this "following after," or -"apprehending," as St. Paul calls it, I alone must determine that which -I will seek for. Others may aid me in my search, others may point out to -me and for me that which they have reached, or are striving to reach, -and in that way they may aid and help me. But for another to say, -"_This_ is that alone for which you should strive," or "That is the -supreme end of all effort," and to refuse me any right of appeal to my -own judgment is to stultify my own God-given powers and to make a mere -puppet of me. Hence I stand, or fall, on the platform of individualism -in religion. I affirm that it is a purely personal matter, that there -can be no coercion, no forcing of any individual to adopt a _general_ -plan which another individual asserts that all must follow to their -eternal well-being, or disregard to their own damnation. - -The attitude I would radiate is this. For myself I know, or am learning, -what I must believe, what I must strive for, what I must seek to become. -So long as this belief, this striving, this aim, does not interfere with -the exercise of the belief, the striving, the aim of others, and is not -subversive of the public good, I demand my inherent right of individual -belief, individual striving, individual aim. When one who differs from -me offers me his "charity," or his "toleration," I regard his offer as -an insolence and small-minded impertinence. I want no charity, I refuse -all toleration, for I own as many inherent rights as the one who thus -presumes to offer me his charity and his tolerance. He needs my charity -and tolerance to cover his individualism as much as I need his. I have -as much right to offer mine to him as he to offer his to me. Hence, -boldly, fearlessly, restful in my God-given right, I believe, I strive, -I aim to reach God as best I may. But in the very self-assertiveness of -this right it is an essential condition of my perfect freedom that I -absolutely accord it to all others, no matter how diverse from mine -their beliefs, their strivings, their aims. There must be no mental -reservations, no subterfuges, no playing with one's own intellect or -conscience. The freedom to others must be as large and complete as the -freedom I demand for myself, for, wherein I limit, even in my most -secret mind and heart, the freedom of my neighbor, I am giving to him -the right to limit me. "With what measure ye mete it shall be measured -to you again." - -I resent any interference with my right to believe as I choose. My -friends, G---- and S----, are Catholics. In the exercise of their -God-given right they accept a different faith from mine. They are -equally earnest, equally intelligent, equally sincere in their -profession of faith as am I. Just as I resent any interference with my -own right to believe as I choose, so do I resent, with equal, and even -stronger fervor, any interference with G----'s and S----'s rights to -believe as they choose. - -I say with "even stronger fervor." You may ask, "Why with stronger -fervor?" The reason is this. I find, within my own soul, a greater -readiness to demand freedom for myself than I do to accord it to those -who differ from me. Hence honor demands that I watch with even closer -scrutiny the rights of my neighbors than I guard against encroachments -upon my own. Selfishness will care for my own. Indifference to my -neighbors _may_ lead me to be careless of theirs. - -Other neighbors, P---- and X----, are Christian Scientists; still -others, A---- and J----, are Unitarians; others, D---- and C----, are -Universalists; and I have friends, dear to my heart, whom I love with -true, pure fervor and who, I am assured, love me with an equal -sincerity, who are Jews, Hopis, Wallapais, Havasupais, Apaches, Greeks, -Mohammedans, Hindoos, Theosophists, Spiritualists, Atheists, Shakers, -Agnostics, Communists, and Mormons. Take these beliefs and non-beliefs -with the one I profess and the others I have referred to, and there is -as perfect a hodge-podge of diversities and differences as one can -possibly imagine. Do I attempt to reconcile them? No! Do I agree with -them all? No! Can I harmonize them all? No! It is neither my business to -reconcile them, agree with them, nor harmonize them. I am not sent to -earth to make all men's minds and souls alike, any more than Burbank is -sent to make all flowers and plants, shrubs and trees alike. My business -is to develop and live my own life, in harmony with my own beliefs, -aims, and strivings, to the utmost, and seek the utmost good for my -fellow. And in no way can I better do that than by aiding him to live -his highest beliefs to the utmost, helping him in his strivings, make -clearer to him the beauty of his own aims. Hence, even as I want all -good men and true to bid me a hearty, an earnest, a sincere "God-speed!" -in my own strivings, so do I, with all my heart, bid my many and -diverse-believing, diverse-aiming friends God-speed in their endeavors. - -If, for the public good, I should ever be called upon to pass judgment -upon any of the actions that are the result of the beliefs of my -neighbors and friends, and I, with my fellow jurors, deemed these -actions subversive of the public good, I could unite with my fellows in -suppressing these actions. But this would be done with a perfectly open -heart, without malice, without censure even, without any presumption, -without any interference with the _principle_ I have sought clearly to -state and exemplify. It would be done as the result of our united -judgment upon a matter of public policy--not a fixed, established -assurance of right or wrong, but as a matter wherein, for the benefit of -others, we regarded the restriction of an inherent and God-given freedom -a justifiable act. - -Herein, to my mind, lies the power of the argument of the political -prohibitionists. They seek to prohibit men from the exercise of their -undoubted right to manufacture and sell alcoholic stimulants--their -undoubted right provided it could be done without injury to the bodies -and souls of their fellow-beings. No one can claim an inherent right to -injure his neighbor willfully and deliberately. No one can claim a -God-given right to transgress God's own laws. Those who believe in God -believe He has ordained laws for the government of all that He has -created. The interpretation of the "moral law" as handed down to us in -the Scriptures is, in the main, similar in all creeds in Christendom, -and practically the same among all who, without so-called creeds, -believe in the brotherhood of man. - -Upon those points wherein men have conscientiously differed there have -been instances where the ruling majority has restricted or taken away -the rights of the minority to put their beliefs into practice, because -the consensus of opinion has decided such acts to be contrary to public -policy or public good, but it does not necessarily follow that the -interference was based upon incontrovertible ideas of right or wrong. - -My contention is that no man or body of men has the inherent right to -interfere with the beliefs and acts of their fellow-beings who are -sincerely and conscientiously seeking to love God with all the heart and -their neighbors as themselves, but in all countries where the majority -is supposed to rule it is expedient to submit to prevailing customs and -laws unless conscience imperatively demands otherwise. In any case, -however, it does not necessarily follow that the majority is always in -the right and the minority in the wrong, especially in religious -matters. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -OUT OF DOOR RADIANCIES - - -I want to radiate a constant, never-failing love for God's great out of -doors at all times, in all seasons, under all conditions, in all moods. -I want to understand Nature, to be one with her, to feel with her, -expand with her, be reserved with her, be exuberant with her. I want to -realize and radiate my kinship with everything that exists in Nature; I -am a part of this great whole, all of which is an expression of a great -thought of the great God. By making myself a part of Nature I am able to -make allies of all the forces of Nature, and this fact I want to radiate -with power and emphasis. I would teach both by word, influence, and -unconscious radiation that we are able to ally ourselves with all the -powers of God as manifested in the world around us. I have learned that, -no matter for whom else the sun may shine, it shines expressly for me. I -would have you learn that it shines expressly for you. Whatever its -power it belongs to you. Claim it! And so with all the forces. The winds -blow for you, the flowers bloom for you, the stars glisten for you, the -fruits grow for you, the trees clothe themselves in beauty for you, the -birds sing for you, the sunsets are glorious for you, and the sunrises -gild the mountain tops with reddish gold for you, the grass grows for -you, the creeks sing, the rivers flow, and the seas roar for you; the -forces of good are all yours, you are allies with them, and what they -are you are, what power they possess, you possess. - -What marvelous vivification comes into the body, mind, and soul of man -when he realizes this stupendous fact. He no longer stands alone on the -earth. God, to many men and women, is far away, unseen, unknowable, but -through His world in Nature we can touch Him, realize Him, learn to know -Him, and while we are learning this greatest of great facts we are -becoming stronger, more self-reliant, more full of power, more -optimistic, more sure of our own footing on earth. - -A man may not say of a palace, a house, a garden, a yacht, a fortune, -this, these, are mine, but we may each and all--the vilest drunkard, the -most wretched harlot, the near-suicide, and the nigh-insane, as well as -the poverty-stricken and the oppressed--say and know "the sun is mine, -the stars, the rain, the sweetness of the flowers, the blessedness of -God's great gift of life. Therefore, I am not poor, I am not forsaken, I -am not forgotten. I own much. I will take and utilize these for my -eternal blessing." - -And as you utilize what you have you become both capable and worthy of -larger things. Only those who use receive more. "To him that hath shall -be given," and these are the things that all may have and that bless -more abundantly than any other things mankind may possess. - -Most of us go through life missing what Nature has for us. - -In one of Sienkiewicz's books he makes one of his characters say of his -betrothed, - - I gaze on Nature, too, and feel it; but she shows me things which I - should not notice myself. A couple of days ago, we all went into the - forest, where she showed me ferns in the sun, for instance. They are - so delicate! She taught me also that the trunks of pine-trees, - especially in the evening light, have a violet tone. She opens my - eyes to colors which I have not seen hitherto, and, like a kind of - enchantress going through the forest, discloses new worlds to me. - -Reread these two sentences: "She shows me things which I should not -notice myself," and "She opens my eyes and discloses new worlds to me." -The world's beauty is so common to us that we forget it. Nothing is -commoner than the stars, yet nothing more mysterious, wonderful, and -attractive; the grass is so common that we trample it under foot, yet -its beauty, its varied features will repay long hours of study, and it -is a joy unspeakable to those who have learned to love it. It is in the -common things that we should look for beauty, for lessons in color, in -art, in criticism. One of the great students and teachers of art of our -country once wrote a book entitled _The Gate Beautiful_. It was the -result of a life of concentrated study upon true art. Whence comes true -art? What is it? How shall one know it when he sees it? The result of -all Dr. Stimson's study, placed in that wonderful book, summed up in -short is--study Nature, and you will there learn more than all the books -and teachers of art can tell you in a thousand years. The author shows -by remarkable illustrations spiral vibrations made by the voice, the -natural forms of mineralogy, mechanics, astronomy, seeds, fruit, -vegetables, fish, reptiles, insects, birds, beasts, flowers, and -humanity. He shows the exquisite beauty of snow crystals, and of the -minute forms of earliest life, found in the diatoms. He sets forth the -beauty of leaf and stem in the commonest trees, in shells, etc., until -one wonders where his eyes have been, where his appreciation of beauty, -in all the years that these things have not appealed to him. Nature is -so flooded with beauty that more than one lifetime will be necessary for -any one man to discover the half of it. So because of its beauty I want -the men and women who come in contact with me to feel in me a pulsing, -living, active, irresistible love for Nature which will draw them out -into it; arouse in them an insatiable longing to see and know, to feel -and comprehend more of the rich beauty so freely exposed out of doors. - -The out-of-doors, too, is full of beauty of color as well as beauty in -form. Oh, the sunrises and sunsets at sea, and on the desert, and in the -canyons, and on the mountain heights, and on the great plains of Arizona -and New Mexico and Utah. What colorist of earth can ever equal them? -Titian? Tintoretto? Velasquez? Turner? La Farge? Reid? Why waste words -asking the questions? How tame is Titian's greatest color-effects side -by side with a sunrise on the ocean, or a sunset on the desert! -Bostonians are proud of Reid's magnificent paintings in the State House. -I enjoy them myself and do not wonder that visitors are struck by the -powerful color-handling of the interesting historical subjects. But Mr. -Reid himself is not so foolish as to imagine that his greatest paintings -are more than futile attempts to put on canvas the colors his eyes have -seen, his soul has felt, out in the open. So, for color I would radiate -a love for out-of-doors. - -And I would radiate a love for all of out-of-doors at all times. Winter, -Summer, Spring, Autumn, in rain and sunshine, in storm and calm, there -is something in every condition, every mood for the men and women who -are receptive. When I see newly born infants shut out from the pure -air, their faces covered, "lest they take cold," I am filled with -amazement at people's fear of out-of-doors. My babies were put to sleep -out-of-doors half an hour after they were born. The latest and most -approved methods of treating tuberculosis is to make those afflicted -with it sleep out of doors. There are camps in Michigan and in the snowy -regions of New York, in the Adirondacks, where, throughout the Winter, -patients sleep out of doors with the best of results. Be not afraid. Go -out of doors as does the Indian. Learn of him and be wise. He is a -believer in the virtue of the outdoor life, not as an occasional thing, -but as his regular, uniform habit. He _lives_ out of doors; and not only -does his body remain in the open, but his mind, his soul, are ever also -there. Except in the very cold weather his house is free to every breeze -that blows. He laughs at "drafts." "Catching cold" is something of which -he knows absolutely nothing. When he learns of white people shutting -themselves up in houses into which the fresh, pure, free air of the -plains and deserts, often laden with the healthful odors of the pines, -firs, and balsams of the forest, cannot come, he shakes his head at the -folly, and feels as one would if he saw a man slamming his door in the -face of his best friend. Virtually he sleeps out of doors, eats out of -doors, works out of doors. When the women make their baskets and -pottery, it is always out of doors, and their best beadwork is always -done in the open. The men make their bows and arrows, dress their -buckskin, make their moccasins and buckskin clothes, and perform nearly -all their ceremonials out-of-doors. - -I wish I could radiate to every human soul what I mean by having one's -mind, one's soul, live in the open. Words fail to convey what I mean. -The sense of largeness, of expansion, of breadth, depth, width, and -height are as tangible in soul-results as in those of body. None can -live in the open all the time and become sordid money-grubbers. If they -are to become rich they do it in a large, expansive, virile way that -commands respect. It is only the shut-in man that can add to his -millions by cheese-paring methods, by grinding the face of the poor, by -counting up cents and nickels and dimes wrung from the labor of the -children of the poor. - -Read these lines from a wonderful poem of the out-of-doors by Edwin -Markham, and see how much you can make it mean to yourself: - - I ride on the mountain tops, I ride; - I have found my life and am satisfied. - - * * * * * - - I ride on the hills, I forgive, I forget - Life's hoard of regret-- - All the terror and pain - Of the chafing chain. - Grind on, O cities, grind; - I leave you a blur behind. - I am lifted elate--the skies expand; - Here the world's heaped gold is a pile of sand. - Let them weary and work in their narrow walls; - I ride with the voices of waterfalls! - - * * * * * - - I swing on as one in a dream--I swing - Down the airy hollows, I shout, I sing! - The world is gone like an empty word! - My body's a bough in the wind, my heart a bird! - -Never in a thousand years can one get such pure, sweet, pulsing, living -and stay-long-with-you delights as these, in a city. Granted there are -pleasures in the ballroom, and they are doubtless great, but can they -begin to compare with the delights of out-of-doors? Languor next day, -ennui, jealousies, heart-burnings, gossiping, cruel slandering, -ruination of health, too often come with these city pleasures. Then, -too, the ballroom in its desirable form is only for the rich, while the -poor may enjoy everything good of the great out-of-doors. The city has -its theaters, operas, concerts, lectures, and the like, but they are -generally at night, compelling people to be out when they should be in -bed, turning day into night, and reversing the natural order of things. -And the artificial is never equal to the real, the unnatural to the -natural. - -Then, too, the out-of-doors is such a teacher; and not a teacher of the -arid, formal, dry, embalmed knowledge, but the real living facts. As -Robert Louis, the well-beloved, says: - - There is certainly some chill and arid knowledge to be found upon - the summits of formal and laborious science, but it is all round - about you, and for the trouble of looking, that you will acquire the - warm and palpitating facts of life. - -Book knowledge can never equal living knowledge. He whose mind is stored -with what he has read too often only thinks he knows, while the one -whose facts are gained at first hand from the real objects themselves -knows that he knows. A man in a factory as a rule, in these days of -specialization, is only a cog in a wheel, a part of a great machine. Be -he a woodworker, he does not make any complete piece of furniture. He -saws on one part; another on another; a third on still another; a -fourth, who knows nothing of shaping the parts, assembles the whole, and -a fifth puts them together; a sixth sandpapers; a seventh stains or -varnishes; and an eighth polishes and finishes. So with watchmaking and -everything used by human hands. Nobody, nowadays, has the joy of "doing -it all." - -But in the country a man plows, harrows, sows the seed and cultivates, -and during it all he is in the open, seeing all the wonderful phenomena -of Nature pass before him in everchanging panorama each hour. That is, -of course, providing he has not been ground down by too many hours of -hard physical labor until he has become a mere "brother to the ox," and -the stolid and stunned creature so powerfully described by Edwin Markham -in his _Man with the Hoe_. - -Every man needs something both of the city and the country. Rubbing up -against his kind sharpens his wits; often makes him more selfish and -indifferent to the rights and needs of others; and again prepares him -more thoroughly to enjoy what the country offers. So, city man, with all -your senses sharpened by contact with mankind, go out into the country -to get your soul enlarged. For Nature is the great soul expander. - -Read John Muir's _Mountains of California_, and see how the -out-door-life enlarged him, made him bigger, grander, nobler than he -could ever have been had he stayed in the narrow confines of a city's -walls. In one chapter he tells of his experience in a storm in a Sierra -forest. Perched high on the mountains a great storm swept over the -range. Most men would have remained indoors, afraid of the fierceness of -the wind and the beating of the rain. Not so he! There were experiences -to be had out there that could come to him in no other way; so out he -went. After scrambling through underbrush, climbing hilly slopes, until -his blood was fairly a-tingle in response to the power of the storm, -watching the swaying of the trees, hearing the crash, every few -moments, of a falling tree, he finally decided to see the whole thing -from the top of a tree. So selecting a suitable tree he climbed to its -topmost branches, and there, swaying to and fro like "a bobolink on a -reed," he watched the wind playing with the gigantic trees and the tiny -leaves, and listened to such an æolian concert as few men have ever -dreamed of. - -John Muir's experiences and development are not peculiar to him. Most -men who live the larger out-of-door life, who engage in out-of-door -occupations have a largeness and expansion about them that is -stimulating and inspiring. Read the life of the fishermen--the -Gloucester Folk, and the Folk of all the shores of the sea, who gain -their livelihood by battling with storms and circumventing them. What -brawny arms and shoulders and backs; what tremendous power; what deep -breaths in powerful lungs! See the pilots who come out to meet the -transoceanic steamers; what brave, powerful, massive men they are! -Ordinary men are dwarfed in their presence--not merely physically, but -mentally and spiritually. See the captains of these same great steamers, -and all sea-going vessels, and the very sailors; there is a strength of -body and a largeness, an openness of disposition, that is good to come -in contact with. Who that has climbed the Swiss mountains with an -Alpine guide but has felt the strength and power developed by ages of -conflict with snowstorms, avalanches, and other great Nature forces. -Even the loggers in the forest swing their axes or handle the huge logs -with an ease and power that stagger the ordinary city man. Think how the -old time stage-drivers used to handle their six- and eight-horse teams -with ease and elegance, guiding and directing their movements as -gracefully as a _grande dame_ promenades in her ballroom. Who has not -been thrilled with the doings of the live-saving service, and the -lighthouse keepers? What city girl could have dared do as did Grace -Darling, the lighthouse keeper's daughter, who insisted upon her father -rowing with her to rescue a shipwrecked crew in the face of a howling -storm? What delights I myself have enjoyed out on the plains, prairies, -and foot-hills, riding with the cowboys. Well do I remember several -_rodeos_ I united with in Nevada, where we rode madly after the wild -cattle and horses, over and through the sagebrush at break-neck speed, -now dodging to the right, now to the left, now jumping a piece of brush -that could not be dodged. We went up hill like the wind, and then -started down hill at equal or greater speed, and once, getting into a -grove of trees, I had to learn to bend down flat on the horse's back to -avoid being swept off. "Let your horse go where he will. He understands -his business, and you don't," were the instructions I had received, and -well it was that I was not required to guide my animal. I had enough to -do to keep my seat. Talk about rough-riders! I was soon a rough-rider, -indeed. And how tired out and weary I was that night, but how I slept! I -had been dyspeptic, sleepless, and anæmic. Three weeks of this shook me -up so that my liver worked as it had never worked in my history before. -I got until I could eat and digest anything, and my sleep was sweet, -sound, dreamless, and refreshing. Would that I had had sense enough then -and there to resign the pastorate of my church; quit being an -indifferent and unhealthy parson; become a cowboy and gain health, vim, -vigor, strength, life. - -I suppose I had to come to it slowly, but come I did to the most -important facts, viz.: that I could never be healthy indoors, and that I -must live in the open. And as I got out more my intellect and spirit -expanded as my body grew healthier, and I began to learn more from the -objects around me than I had from all my schooling, all my books, and -all my theological training and study. - -Nowadays there is no out-of-door occupation that does not appeal to me; -a ditch-digger, a navvy on a railroad, a roustabout on a dock, a -deck-hand on a steamer, a brakeman, a road mender, a plowman, a carter, -a teamster--even these, the lowliest of the out-of-door callings, show -to me men of rugged strength that delight and appeal to me. - -How one's very soul thrills in sympathy as he thinks of the marvelous -achievements of the great explorers--all of them men of the -out-of-doors; Columbus, Magellan, Capt. Cook, Kane, Sir John Franklin, -Peary, Sven Hedin, Capt. Burnaby, Burton, Livingstone, Stanley, Major -Powell, and a host of others. How the mere thought of them and their -lives radiates the very spirit of energy, strength, courage, daring, -independence, self-reliance! In their physical or spiritual presence you -feel you are in contact with an entirely different set of earth's -mortals than ordinary men, for they radiate unconsciously the largeness, -the expansiveness, the majesty and strength of the vast out-of-doors. - -Rudyard Kipling in his _Captains Courageous_ fully explains what I mean -about this largeness and nobleness of soul that come from the -out-of-door life, in telling of the fishermen of the New England coast. -In his vivid English he pictures their daily life, what their work is, -how they have to brave the perils of the deep, the dangerous fogs, the -uncertain storms, the sudden death that comes when a great vessel looms -through the fog and cuts them down. Yet they go ahead as a matter of -course. Their life enlarges their faith and trust; either it is that or -they become used to looking in the face of danger and death and then -calmly continue in their work. No man does this without deepening and -broadening his life. - -When it comes to gardeners I fairly envy them. Think of the wondrous -life that is theirs. To learn and know the life-habits of plants and -flowers, and to see them growing from tiny seeds, or slips, or cuttings -into all their rich and perfect beauty. I never knew a despondent -gardener. His profession forbids it; his experience rebukes it. So of -late years, in my crude way, I have been trying to become a gardener, -when I am at home and have time. - -What an unspeakable joy there is in all this work. How it occupies one's -brain and body, and drives away all despondency, care, blue-devils, and -worry. Out in the garden I am a king, a proud monarch, robed in blue -flannel shirt and overalls, my scepter a spade, and my right to rule -demonstrable by my strong muscles, steady nerves, strong lungs, healthy -skin, and clear eyes. Who would not reign in such a realm? - -More than all else I feel when living this life that I am lifted above -all the petty meannesses of men and women. I am dealing with creative -forces--things direct from the hands of God--sunshine, air, water, soil, -growth, development, life. And how such feelings expand the soul! - -Then I begin to think of the wonderful work in flowers, fruits, and -plants performed by Hugo de Vries and our own Luther Burbank, and as I -recall their achievements I feel the opening up of a new realm before -me. Never can I forget the joy of a couple of days with Burbank at his -home at Santa Rosa, and his "proving grounds," at Sebastopol. I there -saw his winter rhubarb, and as we walked along we came to his cactus -patch. The first section was of the rude, prickly leaves I was so -familiar with on the desert; the next section less prickly and so on, -until at last, with a frolic, Mr. Burbank "dived" into the cactus, -rubbed his face and ears against the great leaves and demonstrated them -free from every vestige of a thorn. - -Then we saw flowers that he had completely changed, in size, color, -form, and odor, and when you ask how it was all done he declares that -any man or woman with the necessary patience and skill (and skill comes -with patience) can produce results as apparently marvelous as his own. -For the marvel is apparent and not real; it is nothing but the -understanding and application of natural laws; laws that Darwin and -others have well understood and enunciated. - -At Sebastopol I had the joy of seeing him work in the selection of plum -trees. Row after row of young bearing plum trees stood before us. With -two men following him, one with black strings, and the other with white, -he began. Picking a plum from the first tree, he bit into it. I did -likewise. To me it seemed a good plum. He rapidly commented upon: 1, its -appearance, shape, etc.; 2, color; 3, firmness of texture; 4, flavor; 5, -sweetness. Then he did the same with the tree: its extent of foliage, -shapeliness, etc. All these things had to be considered. The first few -trees he took very slowly and deliberately in order that I might clearly -comprehend what he was after. Then, almost as quickly as his eye fell -upon a tree, he had put his teeth into the fruit, his trained intellect -had decided whether the tree was worth keeping or killing, and as he -said "keep" or "kill," the attendants tied on the corresponding white or -black strings. To produce the plum he wanted he assured me he has -destroyed over a million trees. - -His apple trees are perfect marvels. Some of them bear upwards of two -hundred different kinds of apples, and he says it is comparatively easy -to produce an apple of any color, texture, size, flavor, and sweetness -desired. - -Think what Nature has taught to such a man. He is not what you would -call a supereducated man in books; but he has read Nature as few men in -the history of the world have done, and she has revealed many of her -most intimate secrets to him. And as you talk with him you find in this -quiet, unassuming, sweet-spirited, gentle-hearted man a breadth, a -largeness, a sweep of soul that are rare. - -And Nature gives this same largeness to a woman as well as a man. Women -who get into the bigness of the out-of-doors get away from feminine -pettinesses just as surely as men do from their narrownesses and -prejudices. I have two women friends in California (or had, until one -passed on), both of them expert and scientific florists. One lived at -San Buena Ventura, and the other at San Diego. The names of Mrs. -Theodosia Shepard and Miss Kate Sessions are known throughout the world. -Both women determined to devote their lives to a scientific study, _out -in the garden_, of plant life, and each has therefore done things, -achieved results that have made her world-famed. How much better this, -than to live the narrow, contracted life of most women. - -Another woman friend, Mrs. Sarah Plummer Lemmon, wife of the well-known -botanist, and herself a botanist known to the whole scientific world, -for years accompanied her husband in his expeditions throughout the -wildest parts of Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Mexico. I doubt -whether there is a person living who has so real and intimate a -knowledge of all this country as has this brave and intrepid woman, who, -when Apaches were on the warpath, calmly and steadfastly sustained her -husband in his scientific work. In storms and perils, in danger from -wild animals and wilder men, away from all luxuries and comforts and -often deprived of what most people call necessities, this woman communed -with Nature and has thereby grown into a large, commanding, powerful, -all-embracing soul, as much above the average woman in intellect as an -athlete is above a baby. - -I am no technical botanist, yet I have had pleasure untold when -wandering in canyon, mountain, plain, forest, seaside, and desert in -seeking to learn all I could of the flora of the region. When botanists -said that the _cereus giganteus_--the giant suahuaro--was not to be -found in California and I knew I had seen it growing on the California -side of the Colorado River, there was great pleasure in photographing -the few specimens I knew in this habitat and then in hunting for more. -How well I remember one day climbing up hill and down, over rocky ridges -and dangerous trails and places where there were no trails at all, every -now and again seeing fresh specimens, _in California_, of this cactus -"that did not grow in California." And when, at last, I stood on a -ridge, looking down into a secluded canyon, where there were a dozen or -more (which I photographed), I felt as if, humbly though it was, I were -being used as an instrument for increasing the botanical knowledge of -the world. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -RADIANCIES OF JOY, INSPIRATION, AND SERENITY - - -I want to radiate the healthfulness of joy. Joy is the sunshine of the -soul. Let it shine. If there is so much of it that it fills the soul, it -makes of it a luminous body that must radiate light and warmth and -health to others. The joyous man is the healthy man, and he that has -health should joy to give it to others, whenever and wherever he can. My -friend, Marshall P. Wilder, was a radiating center of joy as well as -fun. He was funny, but he was more--he was joyous. There was no enmity, -no malice, no unkindness, no cruelty in his fun; it was all healthful, -kind, sane, and joyous. - -A little girl once said of a certain man: "I like that man because he -always _shines_ at me." Don't you want to shine and make glad the -innocent heart of a child, the striving heart of the young, the -sorrowful and vexed heart of the middle-aged, and the weary heart of the -old? Well did Robert Louis Stevenson say: - - A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than a five-pound - note. He or she is a radiating focus of good will; and their - entrance into a room is as though another candle had been lighted. - - There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By - being happy, we sow anonymous benefits upon the world, which remain - unknown even to ourselves, or when they are disclosed, surprise - nobody so much as the benefactor. - -Make the most of your happiness, and the least of your sorrows. Use the -telescope at the enlarging end for the former and at the reducing end -for the latter, until you have learned what most of us have to -_learn_--how foolish and wrong it is to make our joys mere _incidents_ -while we make our sorrows _events_. - -I want to radiate a joy in the little things of to-day. Most people live -in anticipation. The things of to-day are not enough. It is, "Oh, -tomorrow--next week--next year--will surely bring me my heart's desire!" -Let us learn that _to-day_ is the fulfillment of the heart's desire. -Take to-day _all_ it brings, and it will make _to-day_ so full that you -will have no care for the joys of anticipation. Live _now_, so -intensely, so fully, that life _to-day_ will be compelled to deliver up -all its treasures _to-day_. Hence every day becomes a perfect joy. - -I want to radiate _inspiration_. I do not believe the idea that the -saints of old who wrote "the Bible," are the only examples of -inspiration. God inspires every good man and good woman, and all good -in all people comes from Him, for He is the original source. - -A self-centered life is a selfish life; a life that gives of itself -freely and fully to all with whom it comes in contact is a life of -inspiration--it is a radiating center of inspiration. It inspires to -courage, to higher endeavor, to larger achievement. I need all this for -myself, but I also long and desire to inspire it in others. Many a life -seems to have inspiration for the carrying out of its own dreams, -ambitions, desires, but none to give away. Yet the lives we touch may -need just the impetus, the propelling force--light or vigorous--that we -can give to enable the fulfillment in them of half dormant ambitions for -good, the attainment of noble endeavor. - -What would become of the chick in the egg if the mother hen did not -brood over it? She forgets her own desires to move about in the stronger -desire to bring into active being the hidden lives within the eggs. Let -us "brood" over the souls of men and women, young men and maidens, boys -and girls, and quicken to life the dormant powers of the weak, the -tender. Aspirations may have begun in them that can only be quickened by -warmth and love from outside. Oh, for wisdom, as well as love, to -"brood" aright. - -This implies a reaching out to others. It means an ability to feel even -the hidden or only half-felt thoughts of others, and love and sympathy -alone are delicate enough instruments to thus feel. The seismograph, -that registers the oscillations of the earth's crust, is one of the most -delicate of man-made instruments, yet the human heart that would respond -unerringly to every beginning of aspiration and longing for good in -every other human soul must be ten thousand times more sensitive than -the seismograph. Such a sensitive instrument let each seek to become. We -should hear the faintest beat of the human hearts near us and try to -inspire those faint beats until they are strong, regular, powerful, -certain. - -Lives often possess, unknown to themselves, the germ cells of great -powers and lofty ambitions that will never be developed unless some -outside influence impregnates and vivifies them into existence. With -thousands of people the seeds of good in their souls need to be -quickened from the outside, and the help, the food, the desire to feed, -must also be given from the outside, until they are born and nurtured -into active, self-reliant existence. To be this outside quickening power -is to be a radiant source of inspiration. - -In this connection I have found that every life that is growing, -expanding, enlarging, is a stimulation to every other life to grow, -expand, enlarge. I seek, therefore, to radiate growth by my own growth. -By _being_ something, _doing_ something, I want to help others _be_ and -_do_. Growth is the most natural thing in the world, but unfortunately, -men and women are far from being natural. How then can I best radiate -the inspiration for growth in them? By being natural myself--throwing -off the artificialities, the restricting and restraining bands that -prevent the best of myself from coming forth--by being real. This -demands that I think for myself, that I decide for myself, that I act -for myself. Once get into this habit and growth is certain and sure. The -storms may beat upon such a life but, like the sturdy oak, it is -thrusting its roots deeper into the soil in every direction--it is -living for itself--and storms and tempests only make it the more sturdy -and strong. This, in its turn, quickens other lives to growth, to -self-thought, self-decision, self-action. Too long the leaders have -tried to lull the power of thought in the masses. The church has said: -"We will think for you on matters of religion. Accept what we teach or -your immortal souls will be imperiled." The bar and bench have said: "In -matters of law we will decide what you must think and do. If you differ -from us your acts will be illegal." The colleges of physicians and -surgeons have said: "We will think for you in matters of health. If you -differ from us your bodies will become diseased and die." The schools -and universities have said about everything: "Think as we teach you, -for we have all knowledge and wisdom, and knowledge will die with us," -and the result is that to find a being who _dares_ to think and decide -and act upon his own thoughts is as rare almost as to find a dodo. -Thought is for you; growth is for you as well as for all the universe of -God. Teach yourself to think for yourself as naturally and unconsciously -as you breathe for yourself. Once and forever rise up in your manhood, -or your womanhood, and say: "Henceforth I will think, and decide, and -act for myself without reference to what other people think or say or -do." And then you will begin to grow as you never grew before. - -Doubtless at first you will grow "scraggly," and somewhat wild. But time -and experience will prune you. Better do that than never grow at all. It -is perfectly true that the way to learn to grow is by growing. We learn -to do by doing. Do not be afraid to reach out for growth because you -don't know how. If you reach out, and grow, you will soon learn the best -way how. - -There is another view-point to this question of growth. We have within -ourselves the power to quicken or retard our own growth. Too many of us -are lazy, physically, mentally, spiritually--yes, and cowardly. We don't -want the trouble of thinking for ourselves. It requires energy and -courage. It is so much easier for some of us to accept, to drift, to -cast off all responsibility. But growth cannot so come. We must row -against the tide to develop our muscles. If we accept what others say -and do let it be because our best judgment, after due consideration and -personal thought, has decided that it is the wisest and best thing for -us to do. - -Then, too, many of us do not grow because we are content with what we -have. The hindrance to life of smug and ignorant contentment, the -dwarfing power of self-complacent assurance, who can tell? This must be -shaken out of every mortal before he can grow, and this spirit is by no -means found in the ignorant and uneducated alone. Boston and New York, -Chicago and Minneapolis, are as full of it as Podunk and Milpitas, Four -Corners and Snigginsville. Indeed I do not know but that there is more -of it per capita in the great centers than in the country villages. And -how it retards growth. The complacent, correctly worded and phrased -Bostonian, the haughty and self-assertive, successful New Yorker, is -each assured that he has all there is of good to have, and that no good -thing can come out of any other place than his. Yet God made other -places and speaks to other people, and all should be humble and learn, -reverent and grow. - -Some do not grow because, having something, they are either too -indifferent, too lazy, too cowardly, or too fearful to make extra -exertion, to reach out after, to strive for more than they already have. -The man who hid his talent in a napkin is a type of this class. Let us -arouse from our indifference, our cowardice, our fearfulness, and seek -to become something larger, better, more useful than hitherto we have -been. To such there is no growing old. Gray hairs may come, wrinkles may -seam the face, yet the heart is ever nourished from the fountain of -perpetual youth. The life is ever fresh and full of exuberance, and -therefore is a radiating center of youth and energy. - -The older one becomes in years, the greater should become the growth of -the mind and the soul. - - Grow old along with me, - The best is yet to be; - -said Rabbi Ben Ezra, and he spoke the truth. What radiating centers of -spiritual growth in others are old men and old women, who have learned -the simple secret of constant growth in themselves, which is the secret -of perpetual youth. - -Growth means fruitage, growth brings flowers. The fruit and flowers of -life that nourish, refresh, and delight others come only to those who -grow. Roses always come on the new growth; fruit buds best on the new -branches; the best grapes are always on the new stems. And the older the -bush, the tree, the vine, the more beautiful, the more rare, the more -delicate the fruit and flowers. - -The life that is growing is constantly searching for nourishment. The -leaves of the tree absorb from the sun and the atmosphere, the roots -from the soil. If the sun does not shine directly upon the leaf it -reaches out, turns around, struggles until it puts itself in proper -relation to receive all that the sun has to give. If the root cannot -reach the nutriment, the moisture, it stretches and grows up, down, -around, over, under, _through_ obstacles until it gains that which it -needs for life and growth. - -Human lives are like trees. They must turn leaves to the sun, send out -rootlets and tendrils in every direction, for moisture and nourishment, -searching until they find, and demanding until they get all they desire. -And the glory of this searching and demanding by the human soul is that -there is a whole infinity of space and power, living, palpitant, -energized for it to search in. If it search it cannot search in vain. If -it demand it must receive, and receive abundantly. - -Above _all_ things, and in all things, at all times and under all -circumstances I would radiate a calm serenity. There is a rich fullness -to me that is wonderfully significant in that first line of John -Burroughs' _Waiting_. Look at it and let it sink in: - - Serene, I fold my hands and wait. - -Few are serene, fewer still can wait. We are all in a hurry, we are all -impatient, we are easily ruffled. How rare the man or woman of -self-poise--the being who has full command of his soul, mind, and body. -Anger, jealousy, misunderstanding, backbiting, lying, slander, hate, -praise, blame--all alike have no effect in disturbing the beautiful -calmness of the serene of soul, who are affable alike to friend and foe, -helpful alike to each, sympathetic alike to each. There is no -haughtiness in serenity, as some suppose, though there is much pride. -Yet it is not the pride of conceit, the pride of power, of possession, -of superiority, but the wholesome, joyous, happy sense of a full-flowing -life, every good channel of which is healthily full--healthily flowing -to healthy ends. _That_, to me, is serenity. The self-consciousness that -"all things are working together for good," and working to the full. -There is no walking delegate to dictate the length of the hours such a -life shall work, or live. It lives for the very joy of mere living, and -living means working, giving, doing for others, more than for self. - -I can see, dream of, long for, anticipate the possession of, some such -serenity, and my ideal of what it is and my reaching after it is what I -would radiate, though as yet I am but as one who seeks after rather than -as one who has already attained. - -Personally I am naturally the very opposite of serene. Physically I used -to be easily disturbed. A whisper in an audience of two thousand people -would distress me greatly, and render me intensely nervous. I have many -a time "called people down," in my own audiences and by sheer force of -will compelled silence, and when at concerts, have asked people (not -always either gently or kindly) to cease their rude whisperings, yet, at -the same time, I never once lost my calmness, the possession of myself, -without intense annoyance. I longed to be able to suppress the whispers -without a ripple in my own mind or soul, by the sheer force of right, -kindliness, courtesy, serenity. The more I possess serenity the more I -shall radiate it. It is a priceless boon, to be desired more than great -wealth, and, when possessed, to be prized and treasured more than all -the jewels of the world. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -RADIANCIES OF THE WILL - - -There are three things I wish to radiate as to my own will. We speak of -men being self-willed, strong-willed, weak-willed, and the like, but at -the outset I wish to radiate my desire to be "Divine-willed." By this I -mean I wish to recognize the world-wide--nay, the -universe-wide--difference between the great, all-powerful, all-wise, -all-beneficent, all-harmonious _will_ of the Great Creator, and the -oftentimes foolish, weak, wavering, irresponsible, ignorant, mistaken -will of the human being. Every real man and woman wishes his, her, life -to be a useful life, a life that accomplishes something, and that -something must be "worth while." It is essential, however, if one would -accomplish this that he start right. Now, here is the crucial -question--How can you know that you are right? The answer to this -question is what I would put into every young man's and young woman's -heart--into every boy's and girl's heart--so that, at the start, he, -she, may be sure a right start is being made. _The only sure way is to -drop your own will and become "Divine-willed."_ This by no means -signifies that you become a nobody, a cipher, an insignificant ant in -the world. It is just the reverse. It is allying yourself with the -right, the only right, the perfect right, the unchangeable right. -Suppose the case that a man starts out in life with the determination to -be self-willed about the multiplication table. He insists upon his -freedom, his individuality, his self-will, and refuses to be tied to any -table made by any one else, be that one God, angel, or man. Who cannot -see that such a man is a fool? It is impossible to reject, to "buck -against" the multiplication table. Every man, sooner or later, has to -swallow it, accept it wholly, completely, unreservedly, live by it, -swear by it, die by it, and more than that he has to do it gladly, -willingly, or it can never be a real part of himself. If he is all the -time protesting against it, and declaring that it ought to be changed or -abolished, or not quite so dogmatic in its assertions, he will all the -time be worried, distressed, irritated, because it pays no attention to -his wishes. Two times two make four, no matter who kicks, or is -irritated, or wishes it to be changed, and so with every other statement -of the whole table. - -What I am getting at is this, that, though we may not always see it at -first, or even at second or third sight, the moral world is governed by -a multiplication table as sure and certain, as unchangeable and fixed -as is the mathematical world. And it is the acceptance of the moral -multiplication table that I call being "Divine-Willed." A man may live -for years swindling his neighbors and giving them fourteen ounces for a -pound, and think he has fooled the multiplication table as easily as he -has fooled his customers, but the rate never changed; it was sixteen -ounces all the time. A man may fool his neighbors and himself in regard -to the _moral_ multiplication table, but sooner or later, here or -hereafter, in this incarnation or some other, he will have to learn to -accept, love, and live by it in every act, thought, and word. It cannot -be any other--there is no other door--this is the only salvation. _This_ -is accepting Christ--the Truth, the Way, the Life, living the Life He -lived, filled with the Divine-Will, the Divine Spirit, that filled him. -Whether you are a gambler, a sport, a liar, a cheat, a Sunday-school -superintendent, a fool, a drunkard, a senator, a professor of religion, -an agnostic, a wise man or a mere child in knowledge, you can never -enter the Kingdom of Joy, Peace, Blessedness, that we call Heaven, -unless you conform to the Divine Moral Multiplication Table. This is -what I am endeavoring to radiate--that I am trying to set aside my -imperfect human will, which sometimes kicks against the unchangeable and -immovable, and accept the perfect, complete, and unchangeable. - -But you ask: How am I to know this moral multiplication table? Easy -enough. Don't try to take it all in at once. Begin at the beginning. -Learn the "twos" first. Twice one are two, twice two are four, twice -three are six, and so on. Start on the Ten Commandments. Master and -_live_ them. Then absorb the Golden Rule. Then try the Sermon on the -Mount. - -There's enough to keep you busy for a few days, anyhow. But I suppose -some of you will say you can't do it. Nonsense! You've got to do it, and -you won't _really_ live until you do. You can't dodge the multiplication -table; nor can you dodge these. There is no escape. Divinity never made -any man or any woman who could get away from them. Creeds, church -dogmas, men's ideas about religion or what they call religion may be -true, or may not be true, but the fundamental principles of the life of -the Spirit always have existed, always will exist, and every man, sooner -or later, must come into perfect harmony with them. This is what I want -to radiate--my desire that I should become Divine-willed and that every -one else should be the same--quick, soon, now. - -Then, having _started_ right, one may have more confidence and assurance -in taking the next step, which is the second thing connected with the -will that I would radiate, viz.: I will to be good for something. What -is the purpose, the object of life? What are we here for? To eat and -drink, sleep and satisfy our appetites and then die like other mere -animals who do the same thing? I don't believe it. I never did. As -Browning puts it, a spark has disturbed my clod, and now I am -discontented to remain a clod--a mere brute beast, living, as does the -hog, merely for the satisfaction of my physical senses. I feel higher, -nobler, worthier aspirations within me. John Muir, the great California -Nature-lover, scientist, and poet, wrote when he was twenty-seven years -old a letter in which he said: - - A lifetime is so little a time that we die ere we get ready to live. - I would like to go to college, but then I have to say to myself "you - will die ere you can do anything else." I should like to invent - useful machinery, but it comes "you do not wish to spend your - lifetime among machines and you will die ere you can do anything - else." I should like to study medicine that I might do my part in - lessening human misery, but again it comes "you will die ere you are - ready, or able to do so." How intensely I desire to be a Humboldt, - but again the chilling answer is reiterated. But could we live a - million years then how delightful to spend in perfect contentment so - many thousand years in quiet study in college, so many amid the - grateful din of machines, so many among human pain, so many - thousands in the sweet study of Nature among the dingles and dells - of Scotland, and all the other less important parts of our world. - -Here were four noble and beautiful aspirations. 1. To go to college and -learn more. 2. To invent useful machinery. 3. To study medicine that he -might lessen human misery. 4. To be a Humboldt and explore the world for -the enlightenment of mankind. - -What do _you_ want to be? - -To go to college to have a good time (!)--save the mark--as some -students do? I was once riding on a railway train going to Boston, and -at New Haven twenty-seven young students got on board and every one -drunk. Do you think Muir had anything of that kind in mind when he said -he wanted to go to college? At one of the great universities of the West -I was present when the students made a great uproar because the faculty -had prohibited beer-wagons from coming upon the campus to deliver their -wares at the "frat" houses. I have seen university "men" celebrating -some baseball or other victory when the celebration has taken the form -of a drunken and sensual orgy. Can you imagine a man like Muir ever -having wanted to engage in such a disgraceful and degrading scene? - -Muir started out right. He began by seeking to be "Divine-willed," and -then by willing to be "good for something." - -A friend of mine, who radiates love and helpfulness to every human -being no matter how low and degraded, once helped a poor, ugly, besotted -son of the gutter, who had sunk about as low as he possibly could sink. -One day as he sat on his piazza enjoying the beautiful calm of a -glorious spring afternoon he saw his protégé approaching. Giving him a -glad welcome the two were soon in conversation and the gutter-waif -finally expressed his thanks for the help and encouragement he had -received, and, as is natural with every really awakened soul, wanted to -_do something_ in return for what he felt my friend had done for him. In -vain the helper of men protested there was nothing he wished to have -done, but the one who had been helped kept on insisting that he must do -something. He said, "I not only want to be good, but I want to be _good -for something_. Now, what can I do?" - -"Well," at last said my friend, "since you must do something, go out and -find somebody worse off, lower down, more needy than you were when you -first came to me, and help him." - -As he went away my friend settled down to an afternoon's study and -enjoyment of his books, and of Nature, but within an hour his protégé -returned wearing a smile that reached almost from ear to ear. As he -entered the gate he called out: "I've got him! I've got him!" - -"Got who?" - -"Why, the man you sent me for!" - -"What man?" - -"The man you told me to go and find and help. I've found him, and I -thought I couldn't help him better than by bringing him to you." - -"Where is he?" - -"He's waiting out here by the barn, for I couldn't persuade him to come -up until I had first seen and told you." - -"Bring him along!" - -As the two derelicts returned, the one towing the other up the walk, my -friend said the sight of the second vagabond and outcast was almost too -much for him. He was not only ragged and filthy, but thin to emaciation, -with that horrible look of long continued debauching degradation. The -principal feature about him was his nose--the large, red, pimply nose of -the habitual drunkard. Almost instinctively the _lower_ human in my -friend asserted itself. It rebelled against having anything to do with -so vile-looking and disgusting a wretch. "What's the use?" he exclaimed, -almost aloud. - -Then, suddenly, these thoughts came: "Inasmuch as ye did it unto the -least of these my brethren ye did it unto me." "This man is as much a -child of God as I am. The _real_ man in him is as Godlike as I. He is my -brother. We are both sons of God." "And," said he, "I instantly arose -and went to meet him, with outstretched hand of cordial welcome." - -To shorten the story I can only relate how, after he had had a hearty -meal and a long conversation, the outcast finally poured out his soul to -the man who had met him as a brother. - -"I was not always what you now see me. I was in a good position, -honored, respected. Had a beautiful family, a good home, was the -superintendent of a Sunday School, the leader of a church choir, and -happy in my home, my church, my friends. But I was tempted and fell. I -ran away from home and all my responsibilities, and went on falling -lower and lower, until this very morning I vowed that the next fall -would be into the river or a suicide's grave. But God must have meant me -for something or He would not have taken the trouble to get me here this -morning. I'm going to try to rise." - -With cheering words he was heartily and sincerely encouraged, with -neither rebukes nor cant. As he rose to go, he said, "What can I do for -you to show my gratitude for what you have done for me?" and he would -not take "No" for an answer. He was finally told he might mow the lawn -if he chose, and in telling the story, my friend said, with tears in his -eyes: "He was so sincere that he went over it four times. He really -seemed to have shaved, instead of mowed it." He was then allowed to -take a bath, and my friend fitted him out as well as he could with an -old suit of clothing. In the meantime a couple of hundred friends who -had been invited for an evening open-air social chat and singing began -to arrive. The organ was brought out from the parlor, one of the number -began to play, and then my friend called for a volunteer choir to come -and surround the organ to lead the singing. To his great surprise the -bathed and reclothed outcast gently sidled up with the rest. Some of the -elegantly dressed ladies looked upon him with suspicion and some fear, -which, however, dropped away in great measure, as he began to sing. For, -strange to say, though he afterwards declared he had not sung a note for -several years, the assertion of the purpose to live a new and clean -life, seemed not only to bring back the desire to sing, but actually -gave him back his voice. His rich clear tenor soared sweetly and without -effort over the voices of the others and then blended perfectly with -them in glorious harmony. - -A week later, when the friends came, he was there again, and the short -seven days of new resolve and high endeavor had so changed him in -appearance that no one knew him again. A job had been found for him, and -this was done in a remarkable way. Without seeing him, a gentleman, -filled with the helpful spirit, and desirous of being good "for -something," at my friend's request interested himself in finding him -occupation. His capacity was so quickly proven that he was put into a -responsible position where a two-thousand-dollar bond was required, -which he supplied. He worked so thoroughly and efficiently that he was -soon promoted, and ere many months had gone by his family, so long -separated from him, was with him in happiness and content. Before a year -of service he gained the special reward of $1,000 given each year by the -firm that employed him for the highest general efficiency shown in any -department, and is to-day honored, respected, back again in the high -estate from which he had fallen, but a far wiser, nobler, and better -man. - -Through tribulation and sorrow, pain and woe, wretchedness and despair, -sin and its consequences he had learned the lesson, that you cannot -shirk the moral multiplication table--that there is no short cut to -goodness, except to accept at once, instead of later, the will of the -Divine. - -Go back for a few moments to the first outcast, who brought this second -one to my friend. Had he gone away with the thought that now he must -make some money, he must take care of himself _first_, the second man -might have filled a suicide's grave. He started out right--to be -Divine-willed--to be unselfish, to be helpful to the rest of the world, -and those worse off than himself. Muir didn't want to study medicine to -become a great physician for the purpose of making money, but to relieve -the pain of unfortunate sufferers. He willed to be good "for something." -This is the spirit, the life, I would radiate on every hand, every day. -I do not mean that all endeavor for self-improvement, self-culture, -self-benefit is undesirable. By no means. But the nearer it approximates -to the unselfish ideal, the better it will be. When Walt Whitman was a -young man, he was a house-builder. He happened to strike a "building -boom," and made money so fast that, said he, "I was in danger of -becoming rich." And he decided to go and be an unpaid nurse in the Union -Army, rather than spoil himself by becoming rich. To gain riches is good -as far as it goes--but it goes a very short way in the road to manhood, -character, nobleness of life. So whatever you will to do and be, put a -high ideal before you, something immeasurably better than mere -money-getting. Make your profession a means of grace, of -character-building, of enabling you to benefit and bless the world. Mere -financial success can easily be attained, but you will surely not be -content with that. Hitch your wagon to a star, and soar upwards. Aim at -the high things. Will to do great, noble, beneficent things and that -will be willing to be good "for something." - -The third thing in connection with the human will that I wish to -radiate is what I might term "the insistence of the human will." After I -have willed to be "Divine-willed," and to "will to achieve a high and -noble purpose," I want to compel my will to keep on willing that which I -have already willed. It is comparatively easy to will to do, or be, -something, but alas! how far short some of us come from attaining that -which we have willed to be. When Jesus sent out His disciples He gave -them many warnings, much encouragement, informed them of the -difficulties they would encounter, and then incited them to persistence -of endeavor by assuring them that "He that endureth to the end shall be -saved." It is this thought of "endurance," or "persistence" that I would -ever radiate. I have set before me an aim, an object, worthy to be -achieved. Though it may be difficult to attain, I will to keep on -willing until it is attained. - -A short time ago I watched the students at the Physical Culture Training -School, in Chicago. It gives me a good illustration of what I would ever -radiate. - -I saw the leader of one of the classes do a particular act, and then the -students, one after another, tried to follow the leader in doing that -thing. Some of the men who tried, willed to do it all right, but they -did not succeed. Many times a man wills to do a thing when he does not -seem competent, but the real man keeps on until he makes himself -competent. So with some of these. They went back and tried again--and -went back and tried again, and the men who willed and then kept at it -until they became competent were the ones that achieved. - -One of the great lessons of all life is, not merely to learn to -will--that is easy enough--but to insist upon the will keeping at it -until we accomplish what we have determined to do. We "will" every day -to do things, and yet we do not do them. We say, "I am going to do this; -I am going to do that; or the other." We start out in life and we have -all kinds of ambitions and aspirations before us, and we say, "This is -going to be my achievement; I intend to accomplish this thing." But we -get to be twenty-five--thirty years of age, and we have not -achieved--that is, the great mass of people have not. - -Why? - -Because we have not learned this lesson of the Insistence of the Human -Will. We have determined to do a thing and then we have not had the -power or the courage or the determination or the endurance to keep on -willing until the thing desired was achieved. - -Let us suppose a case: A man starts in a race; he is on the ground ready -to spring forward at the firing of the pistol. The moment the pistol is -fired he makes his forward bound and goes ahead as hard as he can. Is a -good start all that is needed? I picked up a picture recently of a -runner who was coming to the end of his race. His face revealed clearly -what a struggle he was having. His mouth was wide open, and he was -laboring to the very extremity of his strength and power; he was -"enduring to the end." He made a good start, but now at the latter part -of the journey the race was more difficult; it was almost dangerous -because he was panting so hard he could scarcely get his breath. The -whole face, the whole body, seemed in pain and distress; but he was -_enduring_; he was going on. It is the man who not only makes the start, -but _he who endures_ that wins the race. - -It is not those who start in with the greatest hope, and faith, and -energy, and courage, but "He that shall endure to the _end_ shall be -saved." It is the enduring to the end. Hence let me urge upon you the -speedy learning of this important lesson of life. After you have willed -to do a good thing put your purpose before you; keep it clearly, -positively in sight all the time; then, every day and every hour, -resolve to _do_ that which you have _determined_ to do; in other words, -insist that you do what you have willed to do. - -I was once very much interested in watching Bernarr Macfadden, the -editor of _Physical Culture_ magazine. I was favored with opportunities -for coming in close touch with him. The way he insists that his will -shall endure; the way he takes himself by the throat, as it were, and -insists, is most interesting to me. One day I started out with him for a -walk. He was quietly and easily getting himself in training so that he -could walk fifty miles and be fresh and vigorous enough at the end of -the walk so that he could give a lecture. Certainly it is a delightful -and a profitable thing to be able to walk fifty miles without exhausting -fatigue. We started out together, but after walking twelve miles I felt -weary, and returned. But he went on, and when he returned that night I -found he had walked thirty-seven miles. Though he was doing all his -regular and arduous work, he was quietly insisting on these long walks, -and in a very short time he would accomplish his fifty miles daily with -comparative ease. He has mastered the idea--"The Insistence of the Human -Will." - -Take an inventor. No man ever invents anything unless he insists day -after day, in spite of discouragements, in spite of failures, in spite -of opposition, sometimes in spite of the stealings of people who would -rob him of what he has already accomplished. The man who has the real -desire to be an inventor keeps on and on, compelling his will to rewill -what he has already willed, and I could fill these pages with the life -stories of men who have determined, and of women who have determined, -and who have achieved because they have learned this lesson of the -insistence of the will. - -I once had the pleasure of talking with Thomas A. Edison, in his -laboratory, in Orange, N. J. I said, pointing to a mass of interesting -looking materials: "What is this, Mr. Edison?" He said, "Oh, I have been -working for thirty years on that thing." - -"How are you getting along with it?" - -He replied, "Well, sometimes I think we are making progress, and then -again I think we are not, but the only way we can achieve is by keeping -everlastingly at it, and when I can't work, I set my men to work on it, -and we are slowly getting results." - -And so Mr. Edison every once in awhile astounds the world with some -marvelous achievement. People suppose he stumbles on it--that he -discovers it in a moment, and perhaps he does, but that moment was made -possible by the thousands upon thousands of moments that were as steps -he had taken leading up to the place where the vision burst upon him. Do -you see the thought? It is the Insistence of the Human Will that compels -achievement. It is the man that never lets up that gains the reward. - -Fifty years ago a man named Judah set out to survey a railroad across -the great Sierra Nevada range of mountains, that vast barrier that -seems to separate California from the rest of the world. The people -practically said, "You are a fool to think of such a thing," but he -calmly replied: "I know I can put a road through; I am going to try it -anyhow." So he began to climb those mountain heights. He threaded the -passes one by one. He took his men and they worked day after day, week -after week, month after month, upon what seemed to be an impossibility. - -What was the result? He kept at it until he achieved. He made his plans -and made them so well that he ultimately succeeded in convincing the -House of Representatives and the United States Senate that such a -railroad was possible. - -Then four men, Huntington, Crocker, Stanford, and Hopkins, determined to -build the road that he had surveyed. Again the pessimists said: "It is -impossible; you will never raise the money to build a railroad over the -Sierra Nevadas." But the four men worked away, and little by little got -the money. As they built they were harassed on every hand. Labor -troubles in those days were terrible. The President of the company said, -"I don't know what we are going to do." Crocker, the man who had -undertaken to see after the actual building of the road, said: "I know -what I am going to do; I am going to get help to build that railroad -somewhere." And so he sent a man to China to secure a lot of Chinese -laborers. These were brought to this country, and the result was that -with those Chinamen, in defiance of the President of his company, who -had said that Chinamen should not be employed, Crocker built the -railroad. And now you can cross the Sierra Nevada range without a -thought of care because of the dominant, insistent will of that man and -his associates. - -The fact of the matter is, if you are going to achieve anything in life -you will have to be "drivers"--you will have to keep at it until you -succeed. You will have to be a slave driver, and you yourself will be -the slave, willingly, gladly, joyously, of your own purpose. Do you want -to be a slave to your own purpose? Do you want to _do_ the things that -you have willed to do? Some of us get the idea that bondage--to be bound -to anything--is always an unpleasant thing. Not at all! Bind yourself to -a high and noble purpose. Make yourself a slave to it in the sense of -conscientiously sticking to it. Now drive yourself, and compel yourself -to go ahead and do that which you have determined to do. - -When I think of the old pioneers who walked and rode across this country -to reach California; when I think of the many dangers, difficulties, and -hardships that faced those men; when I see that they were living -illustrations of this thought I am trying to bring out--I wish I had -only time and space to give a definite account, instead of a mere -synopsis of the kind of things they had to endure. They were surrounded -by hostile Indians; again and again their lives were in jeopardy. Now -and then they came to great sloughs and marshes, and their wagons and -animals were bogged. They had to find their way across the dangerous -quicksands; hard storms came and they had whirlwinds and floods to -contend with. Now and again they found themselves in the heart of -canyons, where there was no apparent way out; yet they went on, and on, -until they either died or reached the land for which they had started! - -A party of eighty set out to cross the great Sierra Nevada range, and -the difficulties they encountered can best be imagined when I tell you -that forty of them died on the way. The difficulties that beset the -forty that were left made it all but impossible for them to get out. One -of them told me about the terrible hardships they suffered. She said, "I -remember, distinctly, when the time came for us to get away, my dear -mother taking up the baby, and leaving me behind with the other baby. -She said, 'Now, Virginia, you stay right here!' She then went on with -the baby, and, after struggling step by step, in such a way that it -would break your heart to think of it, for about twenty paces, she put -down the baby and came back for the other baby and myself." And so, step -by step, step by step, that woman with her three little children, -started on that awful journey of scores of miles through deep snow. -Fortunately help came to her assistance and she finally achieved. She -reached California, though one would have thought it absolutely -impossible. There was the tremendous insistence of the human will. - -Let us say "I will!" and then insist upon doing the things we have said -we will do. - -I remember when I was a boy hearing some one recite something that I -thought was very foolish. A little piece of "poetry" it was called. It -was as follows: - - Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on! - Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on! - Go on, go on, go on! - -I have since learned that there is a great deal in that "poem." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -RADIANCIES OF CHEERFULNESS - - -I want to be cheerful and to radiate cheerfulness at all times, under -all circumstances, in all conditions and places. I want to do this -because I want to do it. Not because it is my duty, or because I shall -make some one else unhappy if I do not, but merely and simply because -there is a great joy in the fact of cheerfulness itself. - -I have a friend into whose presence I never come without feeling the -radiant cheerfulness of his nature. His face lights up with a beautiful -smile, his hand is immediately stretched out and my hand grasped with a -cordial clasp; kind words come to his lips with a sincerity that one can -never question, and in the most unaffected, genuine, and simple manner -he radiates the cheerfulness and gladness of his own soul. - -Did you never meet with such people who were always bright and sunny, -who always gave forth a cheery word, always radiated optimism? -Everything they say or do makes you feel with Browning: - - God's in His heaven; - All's right with the world. - -And all this is done without any flattery or conscious effort on their -part to make you feel good. Some of the severest rebukes I have ever -received were from this man of whom I have spoken, and yet they were -given in such a sweet, gentle manner and with such perfect sincerity -that not only was there no irritation aroused, but a sense of gratitude -implanted that I had such a real, sincere friend. - -I do not wonder that men demand cheerfulness in others. It seems -somewhat heartless to put up a notice in your office, as I have seen in -many offices, "I have troubles enough of my own. Tell yours to the -janitor," or as another version has it, "Don't tell your troubles to me, -I have enough of my own," yet it speaks of a fact that is all too -universal, namely, that each person does have his own large share of -burdens which sometimes seem as if they would swamp him. - -As Dr. Gulick once wrote: - - There is probably not one person in the world but has tragedy enough - and pain enough straight along to warrant--yes, absolutely to - warrant--pretty complete discouragement. And I imagine that there is - no person who is so perfectly adjusted by nature, so entirely - balanced in health, that there are not times when it is necessary to - hold himself by deliberate will power--to forget how he has been - hurt, to turn aside from some ugly thing in a friend's character, to - turn aside from the bad in his own character, for every one of us - has that which is bad in his character. Our characters are ugly - enough in part so that, if we were to dwell constantly on that part, - the prospect would seem pretty disheartening and justifiably so. - -All this has to be remembered in our association with men and women. And -when we remember, why should we not wish, instead of adding to their -burdens, to lighten or help remove them? - -That cheerfulness is possible in this world of woe and trial, there can -be no question, because every now and again, each of us has met with -some person who radiated this quality at all times. And we know that in -our own experience, when we have willed to be cheerful and to radiate -cheerfulness to others, we have accomplished far more in that line than -we otherwise should have done. - -Only the other day I picked up a trade journal and in it was a short -letter from one business man about another business man who had recently -passed away. Let me quote a part of it: - - Away back in the '80's I met him under the following circumstances. - I was then in Chicago and although an invalid was well enough to - assist my brother a little in his office work. - - One day a stranger came in who received an especially cordial - greeting from both my brother and his partner. It proved to be Harry - W. Sommers. - - He was, for a short time, a daily visitor and when he came in there - seemed to come with him a glow of sunshine. - - It made the same impression upon me as it does sometimes, after a - long period of rain and cloudiness, when the sun, in all its - brightness, suddenly bursts forth. - - One day he came to bid my brother good-by, and although it is - twenty-one years ago, the wave of his hand, the cheery smile and the - hearty good-by, as he looked toward me, still linger in my memory. - - Many a time since has he come into my mind, although I never saw him - afterward, accompanied with the thought that were there more Harry - Sommerses in this world, it would be a brighter and far happier - place to dwell. - -I would far rather leave a legacy like that behind me than to leave an -immense fortune over which my heirs would quarrel and go to law and -engender ill feelings and then possibly spend in an injurious manner. - -It is said of Sister Dora, the noble-hearted woman who gave her life to -the iron workers of the "Black Country" in England, that as she went to -and fro in the wards of the hospitals, her presence was like a glad -burst of sunshine to the poor sick men and women to whom she ministered. -Though they were rough, uncouth, even profane and wicked, she never -failed in her courtesy and bright cheerfulness, and the result was that -patients under her control regained their health far more rapidly than -those who were subjected to the depressing influences of moody, -cheerless, censorious persons. - -The same thing is said of Walt Whitman. When he was in the Government's -employ at Washington, with a salary of one hundred and twenty dollars a -month, he took forty dollars of this for his own use and spent the -other eighty dollars to provide comforts and luxuries for the poor -soldier boys in the hospitals. I have heard old soldiers tell of the way -they used to feel when he appeared. "It was like the coming of a young -Santa Claus." He carried a pack on his back which he would drop by the -side of a bed and reaching out his friendly hand, with a radiant smile -would say: "Well, how is it with you to-day?" and then, if the soldier -were a stranger, he would ask: "Do you use tobacco?" If the man said, -"No," he would reply, "That's good." If on the other hand he said, -"Yes," Walt's reply would be the same, and he would dive down into his -pack and bring out a little tobacco, which he would give with a few kind -and cheery words to the poor bed-ridden soldier. If the invalid didn't -use tobacco there was a book, a game, or something else that would bring -cheer and forgetfulness. Thus he would pass up and down the wards, -radiating brightness and good cheer on every hand. There is no wonder -that as he passed outside every eye followed him, every heart felt an -instinctive "God bless you," and every voice called out, "Come again, -soon." - -There surely are enough conditions in Nature to help the soul that wants -to be cheerful and radiate cheerfulness. Every morning the sun arises -with radiating light, brightness and beauty, illuminating and glorifying -even the darkest and dullest of the things of earth. The stars shine -nightly in all their sincere and calm beauty, radiating the assurance of -Infinite power and perpetual care. - -In radiant Nature, the butterfly skims the air in its light and -fascinating flight, attracting the eye and charming with its exquisite -coloring. The dew of morning, receiving the golden rays of the sun, -makes the grass and trees appear as if blossoming in millions of -diamonds, each a globe of radiating, scintillating brightness and -beauty. The birds sing day and night, rain or shine, in sunshine or -storm, radiating their cheerfulness and constant optimism. The trees -awaken to the caressing touch of the sun and rustle to and fro, speaking -in unmistakable language their joy of mere living, and glistening back -and forth their appreciation of the gift of warmth and brightness. The -flowers grow as freely in the wilds as in the cultivated gardens of -man--blossoming evidences of Nature's power to produce gorgeous and -resplendent color, perfection in beauty of form and exquisite -deliciousness in odor. Even the snail crawls along expressive of delight -in the morning, and the worm comes forth from the clod to express its -appreciation. - -I have watched the mountains with their snow-crowned, virgin-pure peaks -soaring into the blue of the heavens and the massive rocks of the mighty -canyons of the West basking restfully in the glorious light of day, and -even these majestic rock-giants spoke the unmistakable language of joy, -and called upon men to be cheerful. - -We find exactly the same spirit and influence, if we will but look for -it, in mankind. Too often we see but the sordidness, the greed, the -selfishness, the cruelty, the rapacity of men, yet we all know that this -is but one side, and it is not the reality, it is only the shadow of the -real man, that the _real_ man is kind, sympathetic, helpful, generous, -true-hearted, and pure. If we fix our eyes upon one tiny spot the size -of a dollar that is speckled or black, we can soon shut out all the -brightness, beauty, and sweetness outside. I well remember one of the -sentimental songs that was current in my boyhood days. It probably had -as much of the mock sentiment as any other of these songs, but two lines -of the refrain I have never forgotten, and whenever I hear one speaking -of the unkindness of humanity, I feel like quoting them: - - But speak not so untruly, - There are kind hearts everywhere. - -In spite of the strenuousness of our modern life, as we look around upon -the social settlements, the orphan asylums, and the thousands of men and -women who adopt helpless orphans, the prisoners' aid societies, where -business men actually make a point of finding their help, where -possible, from those who have served a term in prison or the -penitentiary, and the thousand and one other institutions which show -that the Golden Rule is actively in operation in the hearts of men and -women--I say these things make me happy and cheerful, and I feel like -singing for joy, that innate beauty is as much in evidence, and more, in -the hearts and minds of men as it is in Nature. - -So I want cheerfulness to be the constant habit of my mind and soul. I -do not wish to be cheerful occasionally or semi-occasionally. I would -prefer to be a man of one mood and that mood, with its variations, to be -a mood of habitual cheerfulness. I regard a cheerful disposition as one -of the most precious possessions. It is like a pair of spectacles that -have the power of luminosity within themselves. It sees clearly enough -but lightens up the darkest and most dreary spots of earth. Cheerfulness -is not only a duty, but a philosophy, a religion, a wisdom. The cheerful -man is the perpetually wise optimist. A cheerless or gloomy man is the -perpetually unwise pessimist. And years ago I learned to test all -philosophies and religions by practical life. No philosophy, no religion -was good that could not satisfy every-day life. Optimism never fails at -any time, but pessimism is worse than a broken reed to lean upon. - -Take the pessimists you know, and I can pretty nearly stake my life -upon it you will find nearly all of them dyspeptics, with poor -circulation, shivering on a cold morning with their hands in their -pockets, complaining that they were not awakened early enough, finding -fault because the breakfast was not served just right, railing at the -car service, ranting about the rottenness of men in public life. They -seem to take a pride in believing, as did Dickens' Mantalini in -_Nicholas Nickleby_, that "We are all going to the demnition bow-wows." -What a contrast there is between this man and the Cheeryble Brothers of -the same book, those great and simple-hearted human reservoirs of -cheerfulness and optimism, radiating sweetness, happiness, content, -wherever they went, blessing and benefiting every heart willing to -accept the sweetness and purity of theirs. - -Pessimism is not a working theory of life. It is the substitution of -gloomy, deep-blue spectacles for the beautiful luminous ones. As Dr. -Gulick says: - - Pessimism is negative, denial, believing that the evil is more than - the good, that life is not worth while; it is a dampening down of - life. Pessimism tends to its own annihilation, because it takes away - life's motives, life's vigor, life's power. - -On the other hand, optimism cheers, encourages, brightens, beautifies, -glorifies, blesses, helps. And I long ago learned that that man, that -woman, who succeeds in helping and benefiting and blessing mankind is -essentially an optimist. - -The other day I saw the act of an optimist. He and a friend were seated -in a street car. It was Saturday night, the car was crowded, and by and -by two well-dressed men got in, one of them with an unmistakable look of -refinement, the other somewhat coarse looking. Both had evidently been -drinking heavily. The more refined and elder of the two could barely -stand upright, as the car whirled around the curves. The optimist looked -up, saw the state of affairs, and in the sweetest, gentlest manner arose -and extended his hand and bade the elderly gentleman take his seat. -There was no look of reproach or disgust, and yet I know that he was a -rigid abstainer and strong temperance worker and one who hated every -form of indulgence in alcoholic liquors. The companion of the man who -had taken the seat, began to talk in the ordinary mumbling, rambling, -effusive style of the drunkard, and the other without either impatience -or any sign of disapproval, quietly entered into the conversation, and I -speak only the fact when I state that without any preaching or -fault-finding, his few earnest, sincere, optimistic words so won the -heart of that large, coarse-looking, drunken man that he seemed -absolutely sobered and responded to the higher call of the soul. - -This is what optimism and cheerfulness do for mankind, hence I want to -radiate it more and more. - -Mark Twain was full of this spirit of radiating cheerfulness. In one of -his darkest hours in San Francisco, before he had gained name or fame, -things had gone wrong and a lady friend passing along a street saw him -standing beside a lamp-post with a cigar-box under his arm. "Cigars?" -she asked. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" "I'm m-o-o-v-i-n-g," -drawled Mark, at the same time displaying the contents of the box which -consisted of a pair of socks, a pipe, and two paper collars. Even in his -darkest hours he was able to look out upon the bright side, and out from -those hours of gloom came some of the brightest pieces of wit and -cheerful philosophy to irradiate and bless the entire world. - -If I were an employer of labor and could get the right men and women to -do the work, I would employ a half dozen for my factory or workshop to -teach my employees to be cheerful, to laugh and sing at their work. It -would be a good paying investment. I would get a great deal more work -out of my employees and of a great deal better quality. A hearty laugh -is better than a bottle of medicine; a volume of Mark Twain or Marshall -Wilder, better than a library of pessimistic philosophy of high sounding -phrases. - -Cheerfulness takes the jolts out of the rutty road of life. It is an -extra pair of springs to the wagon. It is an automobile shock-absorber. -It resists the encroachments of the grouch and bids the blue devils -avaunt! - -The old-fashioned methods of kings having a clown to keep them and their -court laughing during meal time was a profound piece of philosophy and -wisdom, for the stomach's sake, if for no other reason. The folly of the -clown caused laughter, promoted genial humor which increased the flow of -all the digestive juices and thus contributed to good digestion and -perfect assimilation. The uncheerful father or mother who sits down to -the table like a thundercloud and suppresses the bright, happy -exuberance of childhood ought to be taken down to the dentist and pumped -full of laughing-gas until he or she would laugh for a week. I would -make such people laugh until their sides ached and they had to go to bed -to get over it, and every time a frown or gloomy look came over the face -I would have somebody lift a warning finger (but also a laughing face) -and threaten them with another week's dose of laughing-gas. - -"But," says the gloomy one, "life has gone wrong with me. How can I be -cheerful when I am out of work and sick and have no friends?" Your case -is hard, my friend. I recognize it with sympathy, but let me tell you -this, that every grouchy look and word will make it harder for you to -get work, and will put friendship further away from you. Even as a -business proposition, it does not pay. _Make yourself laugh_ and be -cheerful, whether you can be or not, for very few men are willing to -surround themselves with those who appear to be gloomy, depressed and -grouchy. Learn the lesson that it does no good to indulge in self-pity. -Whatever the adverse circumstances of life may be, face them like a man. - -Years ago I had learned this lesson of refusal to pity myself, and I -then wrote: - -"I want to radiate a spirit that refuses to pity itself for any of its -woes, its afflictions, its misfortunes, its sorrows. There is no -weakness so weak as the weakness of self-pity; there is nothing so -spiritually debilitating as to brood over one's own sorrows. It is a -kind of melancholy selfishness; it neither helps one's self nor others; -it is depressing to all concerned. I happened to read to-day in a -popular novel a sentence that most truthfully expresses what I believe -upon this subject: 'The most absolutely selfish thing in the world is to -give way to depression, to think of one's troubles at all, except of how -to overcome them. I spend many delightful hours thinking of the pleasant -and beautiful things of life. I decline to waste a single second even in -considering the ugly ones.' - -"It is just as easy to form a habit of dwelling upon the sweet and good -and beautiful and happy things of life as upon the bitter and evil and -ugly and unhappy things. Brooding enlarges whatever it exercises itself -upon, whether it be good or evil, joy or woe. So brood on the good -things, cast out the others, and so live that you radiate this joy and -determination not to recognize the evil and unpleasant things. - -"Self-pity takes the backbone out of one. It robs one of his manhood, -his courage, his daring to go on and face all the difficulties before -him. It is self-pity that makes the suicide. He looks at his woes, his -difficulties, until he cannot bear them, and so goes and takes the big -plunge into the dark. - -"Brother, sister, quit your self-pitying. There is another side to the -darkness. Look up, not down. Remember that, in the words of Robert -Browning, 'God's in His heaven, all's right with the world.' So I have -long resolved to radiate cheerfulness as much when I am _down_, as when -I am _up_--when misfortune glowers upon me, as when fortune smiles. It -is so easy to interpret our material good as a proof of God's favor, and -our material ill as a sign that He is displeased with us. Those who went -to Jesus and asked, when the tower of Siloam fell and killed eighteen: -'Were they not sinners above all others because this thing happened to -them?' are not without their myriads of counterparts in the world -to-day. When a man strikes a new gusher in an oil region, or a good -flow of water in a desert country, or his grainfield gives him seventy -bushels to the acre, it is easy enough to believe that Providence is -smiling upon him, and, therefore, his faith is strong and unquenchable. -I have enough of that kind of faith. I can radiate that without an -effort or thought. But I desire above all things to radiate a like sure -and definite faith when my neighbor strikes a gusher and I do not; when -my _enemy_ finds a fine flow of water and _my_ crops are being -parched--I want as strong a sense of contentment when Fortune _smiles -upon the other fellow_, as when it smiles upon me." - -This leads to another practical radiance. It is that of absolute -certainty that things do not _happen_. There is no such thing as a -"happenstance" in the world. - -"Nothing happens," is a word often on my inner lips. There is no evil, -no wrong, no misfortune to the man who consciously lives with power ever -surrounding him. In our short-sightedness, we dream, we think of evil, -or ill, or wrong, or misfortune, but if our faith's eyes were always -open, we should see nothing but good--and that all circumstances are -good in their ultimate results upon us. - -Some years ago I met a lady who possessed this spirit of radiant -cheerfulness, and yet she was in a sanitarium and had undergone several -severe surgical operations. - -In conversation with her, I learned that some years before she had found -herself afflicted with a tumor in her breast. The surgeon said that -nothing but the knife would remove it. This seemed almost like a -sentence to death, and my friend and her husband, children, and friends -were deeply saddened by the necessity. They all went through a period of -deep gloom, of darkness, of despondency. Then there came to her the idea -that it was contrary to Nature that she and her loved ones should waste -their time, energy, and strength in such repining and sorrow. She -remembered the words, "Be careful for nothing, but in everything by -prayer and supplication make your requests known unto God," and then -there came to her the joy of the promise that followed: "And the peace -of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds" -in what is sure to be the spirit of peace and love. - -So she began to look upon the duty of cheerfulness. She soon saw that it -was the only path for her to walk in. The operation was performed. It -was serious, and for three years she and her loved ones had to struggle -hard to be cheerful and optimistic. But the results more than repaid for -the efforts expended, for, when at the end of the three years, the -tumor again appeared, even more serious in character, and she had to go -to the hospital again, she found that, after the first few dark hours, a -great peace stole over her whole being, and as a result of her cheerful -radiancy, her husband and children were "adorably cheerful and loving." -She has since said: - -"I went to the hospital feeling sure that I could find peace in -suffering, pleasure in pain, contentment through it all. When I was put -upon the operating table this sense of peace and content and lack of -fear enabled me to take the anesthetic easily, and after the operation -was over, when the pain was terrible, to fight my battle with a happy -heart. I faltered a little once or twice when the pain seemed to pile -mountains high during the first few days, but when my nurse found that I -meant to make the best of everything, she took hold in the right way -with a spirit of determination to help me, so it was not long before I -really seemed to rise, by means of the very mountains of pain that at -first appeared as if they would overwhelm me, to summits of joy, content -and satisfaction I could not have known without them. - -"As I looked out of the windows, the trees seemed to be putting forth -their leaves in richest beauty all _for me_. The birds--the robins and -bluebirds--seemed to come and sing _for me_. The air grew daily more -balmy and sweet, and as I contemplated these things, I found even the -tremendous noises of switching cars and the disagreeable sounds of the -engine, combined with the racket of the wagons that came rattling over -the cobble-stones, came to be quite bearable. Peace and joy were in my -heart. I was content, full, satisfied." - -And she certainly looked it. She was a radiating reservoir of these -glorious and uplifting qualities. How could she be otherwise? So, with -this woman's experience in mind I again urge you to be cheerful. Be -happy. Acquire _the habit of the effort_. It soon grows easy. Believe -implicitly in the power of Good--and that the apparently bad is contrary -to Nature's laws and wishes (being a result of some transgression or -ignorance), and that whatever happens is good, for it works out for the -best in the end. - -And now, to conclude, or as our preacher friends say, "one more word." -In my radiancy or cheerfulness, I want to remember to radiate all the -time and to all people. It is easy enough to be cheerful in the presence -of our superiors and with our companions and equals. But I notice that -it is a very different matter with many people to be cheerful with those -whom society and the world call their inferiors--the elevator boy, the -bell boy, the valet, the chambermaid, the clerk, the stenographer, the -laborer, the coachman, in other words, all those whom we call -"servants." Many people feel that they are not under any obligation to -be cheerful to them, but, oh, what a joy they miss, what a privilege -they throw away. Why not especially radiate cheerfulness to the fullest -possible extent to those who have less of this world's goods than -ourselves? Why not help them bear the burdens of life by your radiant -optimism? Let your cheerfulness be real, sincere, honest, manly. Try to -concern yourself in their interests and understand somewhat of the -battles they have to fight. It does not take up much time or require -much effort. It is the _spirit_ of the thing that is felt and that -counts. So, be cheerful at all times and radiate your cheerfulness to -all sorts and conditions of men. Thus you will go through the world -leaving a blessed path of sweetness, brightness, and sunshine behind you -which will illuminate, cheer, and bless all who walk therein. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -RADIANCIES OF MORAL COURAGE - - -I want to radiate moral courage. Who that has read the life of Emerson -cannot appreciate the moral courage that controlled him at all times. He -was incapable of cowardice. Timid, sensitive as the most delicate plant, -shrinking from notoriety, he yet did and said things that brought down -upon him the censure and concentrated fury and hatred of thousands. He, -so gentle and kind, spoke words that hit and smashed and crashed through -the entrenched ideas of the world like red-hot cannon-balls. Though -never a politician, he spoke words on the principles involved in the -slavery question that surpassed in fervid eloquence and effective power -anything ever said by Wendell Phillips or William Lloyd Garrison. On one -occasion he faced a mob of fiery sympathizers with the other side and -declared the highest, purest truths of the brotherhood of man, and when -remonstrated with for daring such an assemblage he calmly and quietly -replied: "Had I been dumb, I would have gone and muttered and made -signs." - -When men worshiped certain ideas and believed that they were religion, -and that it was needful to believe them in order to live aright on earth -and win the favor of a heavenly hereafter, Emerson arose and smote them -into the dust by the calm, relentless, passionless logic of one who sees -and knows--the divinely ordained prophet--and one result of his daring -was that he was cast out from his pulpit and from the sweet and hallowed -communion he and his grandfathers for eight past generations had enjoyed -in the church. What a wrenching of heart strings, what a tearing away of -old ties, what an isolation of oneself, what a bringing down of the -avalanche of abuse, of slander, of harsh words and unkind deeds! Yet he -never hesitated. The oversoul called to the sacrifice, and at the same -time pointed to the recompense of the spirit, and he never saw, never -knew, never felt the contumely, the scorn, the ostracism, the abuse. - -Is it not glorious to live in such a realm of high spiritual courage? To -do unconsciously? To _be_ unconsciously? Not to have to work your -courage up to the daring point; to nerve yourself for the plunge, but to -plunge anyhow, trusting, knowing that in doing the highest, the noblest, -the best thing conceivable to you, you can never fail? What does -starvation of the body mean to the man whose soul is uplifted into the -presence of the Most High? Such an one can live for forty days or forty -years, if necessary, without more food than would feed a sparrow. What -does isolation from his fellows--preachers, doctors, lawyers, every-day -men and women--mean to a man who communes daily with angels, archangels, -and with God Himself? Does he feel slighted, hurt, neglected? Such a -courage as this I myself desire, so that I may live it, radiate it every -moment. - -It was this courage that made John Brown march on that most quixotic of -all marches--with a handful of men to free the slave. It was rebellion, -anarchy, unlawful invasion, the breaking of man's law--of course it was. -But he saw a higher vision than man's outlook, he felt a higher call -than man's demand, and he knew no law of man in the obedience of his -soul, body, life, _his all_, to the call of the Spirit. And though a -rude Kansas pioneer and farmer, he had the soul-courage to obey. -Forward! March! He marched to his death! - -Did he? No! He marched to the death of his body, but he began a -triumphant march in the heavens forever brilliantly illuminating the -minds and souls of men, and lifting them up into a higher state of life, -making them less sordid, less afraid of position, life, honor, less -easily influenced by the keen censure and scorn of the blind world. - -Talk about battlefields and batteries, forts and forlorn hopes and the -courages of the Charge of the Light Brigade, or of the Stand of the Old -Guards at Waterloo, or of Dewey sailing into Manila Harbor; what were -those acts of physical courage compared with the moral heroism that -leads a man to dare the stake, the cross, or the tortures of the bigot? -Read Mark Twain's _Life of Joan of Arc_, and feel your heart throb to -the high-souled, divinely inspired courage of that girl of eighteen; not -only physical courage, as when she led, in person, the charges of the -French army against the English, who had been victorious in France for -almost a hundred years, but when she dared the great ecclesiastical -courts that badgered and baited her, as she sat unaided, alone, -unbefriended, undefended, unadvised by man, for weeks at a time, when -the cowardly hounds were determined to send her to the stake. Where did -her heroism and courage come from that she, a mere country peasant -child, who had never even ridden a horse, or seen a battlefield, who -never had read a book, or knew the first thing of guiding and -controlling soldiers, or setting an army in battle array; I say, where -did her courage come from, that she could dare to go into the proud -presence of nobles and warriors and demand that they give her a guard to -take her to the King of France, where she assured him that she would -soon drive out the English and have him duly crowned king of his -reconquered provinces? Here was the radiant life in actual, potent -exercise. She radiated courage and faith, just as the sun radiates -heat--in such abundance that men sweated with it, men were fired to the -intense heat and fervor of new life and courage with it. So that, from a -cowed, disheartened pack of whipped men, who fled from the mere sound of -approach of a small body of English soldiers, raw recruits, as well as -seasoned veterans, shouted to be led against the foe, and when once in -the conflict hammered away regardless of wounds, even of death, until -victory was theirs. - -Whence came this radiant courage and power? It was simply because she -dared to listen to the voices speaking to her soul, and _nothing else -counted_. That's the life I want to get hold of. That is the courage and -the life I wish to radiate. Afraid of men, of starvation, of opposition, -of censure, of hatred, of ostracism? No! Why should we be afraid to lose -a few cents, when our hands are filled with diamonds, and rubies, and -pearls, and nuggets of gold? Why should we fear men, when we have the -courage of our convictions? - -Let us look not down, but up, and seek to draw from the heavens above -the inspiration, the courage, the bravery, the heroism of the soul. - -There has recently passed away in despotic Russia a man whose life for -years has radiated moral courage throughout the world. Tolstoi had the -courage of his convictions. He felt that social distinctions were -wrong. Immediately he did the practical thing--put himself on the plane -of every common laboring man by personally becoming a tiller of his own -soil. "What a fool!" exclaimed the aristocratic world to which, by -birth, he belonged. "Does he think he can change our opinions by that -silly act?" they cried. No! He knew it would have little or no effect on -them, but he was compelled to clear his own soul. So he braved their -laughter and scorn, their contumely and contempt, that the world might -know for certain what he really did think and feel. - -He came to the conclusion that the Government of Russia, and the conduct -of the ministers of the Greek Church--the established church of -Russia--were neither in conformity with true religion nor true -brotherhood. Though the former was despotic, and the latter as -"hide-bound and dogmatic as rigid adherence to dead forms and creeds -ever makes men," he fearlessly expressed his inmost convictions against -both and called upon them to change, reform, amend their ways and -actually become what they professed to be. The state threatened him with -Siberian banishment unless he kept silence, but never till death -silenced him did he heed the threatening command; the church cast him -out, and then he wrote a book, _My Religion_, that gave newer and more -exalted conceptions of religion to the world, even though possibly it -would be hard to find a single man who accepts everything just as -Tolstoi set it forth in that book. - -He came to the decision that the fine clothes and luxurious surroundings -of the rich and noble were neither Christian nor humane. They caused -envy and bitterness in the hearts of those whose lives were one long -struggle with poverty. So at once he cast off his gorgeous apparel, -denuded his own rooms of all unnecessary and elaborate furnishings, and -thus, again and further, placed himself where men could feel the truth -and power of his utterances about human brotherhood. - -When Russia declared war against Japan, Tolstoi wrote a letter to the -Emperor, the state officials, and the Russian people that was a loud -trumpet blast heard throughout the world calling upon them in the name -of their Creator and down-trodden humanity to stop! and declare peace. -Many a man had been sent to Siberia for life--nay, sent to be speedily -tortured to death--for far less than this, but this fearless old man let -his voice ring out with a power that convinced thousands as never before -that war at its best was but a relic of barbarism and a disgrace to -every professedly progressive nation. - -Oh, for a courage like Tolstoi's--true-hearted, brave, simple-minded, -pure, that never failed when called upon. Granted he was "queer," -"quixotic," "unbalanced," "impracticable," was not his queerness and -impracticability at least on the side of the moral forces of the world? -Everybody knew where and how he stood; where his sympathies were; and -his life has strengthened the backbone and put new vigor into the weak -knees of hundreds of thousands, for moral courage radiates with power -that increases according to the square of the distance. It does not grow -less; it enlarges; for each man who feels it becomes a new generator and -transformer and thus enlarges and increases its radiating power four-, -eight-, twelve-fold. - -Henry Bergh was another of these heroic moral-courage radiators. His -tender heart was cut to the quick day by day by seeing the cruelties -perpetrated upon the poor dumb brutes of the city of New York. He -determined to do what he could to stop these barbarous practices. He -agitated and wrote, spoke and interviewed until he succeeded in getting -ordinances and acts passed which gave him power to prevent whatever -cruelties he saw. How he was jeered; how he was cursed, when he sought -to interfere with a brutal driver who would cruelly whip his horses to -compel them to drag loads beyond their strength! The newspapers said he -stood in the way of business, and they sarcastically called him "the -knight of the doleful countenance," not realizing that it was the -cruelties perpetrated by so-called men upon their younger brothers--the -dumb animals--that had so frozen the pain and anguish of his heart upon -his face. But his heart never failed, his courage never wavered. -Threatened, mobbed, his life often in peril, he fearlessly waged -constant warfare against cruelty, and to-day the very city that hated -and scorned him is building monuments to his honor in every -street-watering trough they erect. And his radiant influence has reached -every civilized city _in the world_, such is the penetrating radiancy of -a loving and true heart. - -Before I proceed to a further consideration of this radiancy of a -large-hearted, moral heroism, I want to answer the objection raised to -what I have already written by a young man to whom I read it. He said: -"But I am not an Emerson, or a Wendell Phillips, or a John Brown, or -Tolstoi. What chance do I have of exercising moral courage?" - -A very pertinent question, and one I am glad to try to answer. I do not -believe there was ever a man, a time, or a place which did not, -sometime, somehow, call for the exercise of moral heroism. And -especially in these days of lax principle, breaking down of old -standards, political graft, and worship of material success. What -minister is there in no matter what church who is not called upon, now -and again, nay, often, to speak fearlessly upon some practical subject -upon which people are looking for light? Is he a moral hero who taboos -such subjects, who refrains from discussing them in the pulpit because -they are not "gospel" subjects? What gospel subject can surpass in -interest and in human and divine appeal to the soul of man the -"white-slave" question, and a host of other subjects upon which ordinary -well-to-do men and women need enlightenment? That minister is endowed -with the radiant power of moral courage who, even though he offend some -of the smug, comfortably righteous members of his congregation, dares to -denounce the church people who rent their houses and lands for immoral -purposes, for breweries, for saloons, for any and all things that -destroy men's bodies and souls and bring suffering to innocent women and -children. Take the child-labor question, especially in the communities -where men live who have become rich by using child labor, whether in -cotton factories, glass factories, tobacco, or any other factories. -Should not such men hear the gospel plainly and without equivocation? -Who is to give it? The minister of the Christ who came to seek and save -the down-trodden, the injured, the forsaken, the lost. Then all honor to -the man who dares to speak out, dares to be true to the inward voice, -though he lose caste, position, salary. - -The same courage is required of the politician. How often the public -clamor for, or against, the very opposite of that which is right. In -California a few years ago there was a great fight for the exclusion of -the Japanese and Chinese. How about the doctrine of the brotherhood of -man? Can we play fast and loose with eternal principles? No! Let the -true politician stand by the truth and let the poltroon sacrifice his -principles for temporary advancement and gain. - -There is not an employee who at some time or another is not called upon -to exercise moral courage. Some are asked to do dishonest, mean, -disreputable, contemptible things--for their employers. Some have one -temptation, some another. Stand firm for the highest truth. Be morally -brave and courageous. Dare to refuse. Dare to risk losing your job -rather than your character. Dare to be poor rather than mean. - -One of the great temptations of men and women to-day is to appear better -off than they are. We are all as good as everybody else--so we say--and, -therefore, we must dress as well, dine as well, live as well, and show -off as much. What is the result in many cases? Financial worry or -disaster at best; criminality at worst. For many a man to-day is in the -penitentiary because he and his wife did not have the moral courage to -dare to live within their income; she did not dare to wear her -last-year's hat, or a made-over gown, and he did not dare say No! when -she insisted upon having new and expensive things, or would not deny -himself when his "set" indulged in an expensive pastime which he could -not afford. Oh, the pity of it! Let your courage have a chance to grow. -Plant the seeds of moral heroism early, so that when the testing time -comes you will find the tree already grown to which you can cling. - -Every boy and every girl--no matter how young--has times when -temptations come which it requires moral courage to resist. Better teach -your boy the duty, pleasure, and benefit of this resistance than have -him win every other prize of excellent scholarship. Are you radiating -such courage so that your children feel it? That they are influenced by -it? Happy you, if you are, for it will return to you in the beauty, -strength, nobility, and grandeur of your boy's, your girl's, life in -after days to your benediction and joy. - -The world is cold for want of moral courage. Turn on the radiator. Call -on the great source for a full supply and help make the world warm with -the heroism, the bravery, the moral courage it needs. - -Possessed in any degree, however small, of this heroism of the soul, I, -myself, want to radiate the consciousness that my _natural and proper -place is in the forefront of every movement that makes for human -progress_. Most men are laggards in human progress. Of comparatively -only a few is it said in such things: "He is abreast of his times." Of -only the less than few--the solitary, the individual soldiers--is it -said: "He is ahead of his times." Here I want to find my place. These -are the men and women with whom I would stand. And I would so radiate -the spirit of advancement and progress that every awake and alert soul -and also every quiescent and sleeping soul will feel and know it when we -come in contact. - -In November, 1910, there was held in the city of Chicago an anniversary -celebration of the life and work of Theodore Parker, a New England -Congregational clergyman who lived from 1810 to 1860. When professional -philosophers, reformers, and preachers were discussing, in an academic -fashion, the question of human freedom, while under our banner of -professed "human rights for all," the shackles were on the hands of four -millions of slaves, while professional statesmen were temporizing with -this iniquitous system and proposing compromises, all of which affected -slave owners, and none of them made the slave free, Theodore Parker, in -season and out of season at times appropriate and inappropriate, was a -flaming firebrand of passionate utterance against the hideous hypocrisy -of our national pretense while the rattle of these shackles was in our -ears. It was nothing to him that the solid South was against him; it was -of no weight to him that many of the "respectable moneyed men" of New -England were engaged in the slave trade, and that "practical men of -affairs" counseled moderation, toleration, and caution in dealing with -so "delicate" a subject. He saw only the horrible facts of human -slavery, and that this slavery existed in a land on whose national -banner were inscribed the words: "We believe it to be a self-evident -truth that _all men_ are created free and equal," and the only delicacy -he felt was that the national conscience should be aroused to its -hypocrisy, self-deceit, inconsistency, and dishonor, and that the -slave-holding and slave-trading business should cease in this "land of -the free and home of the brave." We, to whom the Emancipation -Proclamation has been familiar ever since its promulgation, cannot -conceive the terrible stir, the bitter antagonism, the fierce hostility -Parker's clear and ringing words caused at the time of their utterance. -In vain his fellow-preachers begged him to be more cautious, to adopt a -more conciliatory tone. Like Campanello, who took a bell for his crest, -and for his motto the words, "I will not keep silent," he quietly but -firmly, calmly but resolutely, refused, and rang out all the louder and -more insistently his call to the drugged conscience, sleeping honor, and -deadened humanities of his fellow citizens. It was he who inspired in -Lincoln that memorable phrase made forever world-famed by his glorious -Gettysburg speech: "Government of the people, by the people, for the -people." Lincoln spoke November 19, 1863. Parker had written in -November, 1846, these words: - - Let the world have peace for five hundred years, the aristocracy of - blood will have gone, the aristocracy of gold will have come and - gone, that of talent will also have come and gone, and the - aristocracy of goodness, which is the democracy of man, the - government _of_ all, _for_ all, _by_ all, will be the power that is. - Democracy is direct self-government over all the people, by all the - people, for all the people. - -By way of parenthesis, it is interesting here to add that in _The -Christian_ (a London, England, weekly paper), for September 17, 1910, -there was a letter giving an even earlier use of the phrase, as follows: - - SIR: In your report of Principal Carpenter's striking speech at - Budapest, you cite his reference to the well-known fact that "It was - from Parker that Abraham Lincoln borrowed his famous phrase, - 'Government of the people, for the people and by the people.'" But - the further fact should be remembered that Parker himself borrowed - it--doubtless through his perusal of the current _Monthly - Repository_--from Rev. Robert Aspland, our once-famous Hackney - minister. It occurs in Mr. Aspland's speech at the great Whig - banquet of 1828, which celebrated the repeal of the Test and - Corporation Acts, and at which, amongst many distinguished speakers, - Mr. Aspland, by common consent, bore away the palm of eloquence.--AN - EX-M. P. - -These facts in the history of a great phrase I am glad to present, but -the most important fact is not the name of the originator, but the names -of the men who made the phrase live in the hearts of their fellows as -biting, stinging, awakening truths. Parker was one of these. Lloyd -Garrison, Wendell Phillips, John G. Whittier, Lowell, John Brown, -Lovejoy, Lincoln, were others. And you and I, friendly reader, are -to-day basking in the fuller and larger sunlight of freedom let into the -house of our common humanity by the fearless, uncompromising, daring -courage of these men. - -Let us not be laggards in the army of human progress; nor content even -to be abreast with the times. Let us be athirst for deeper waters, -clearer streams. Let us get nearer the mountain top than either of these -two crowds. Let us drink of the fountain spring itself and know nothing -else but the fundamental principles of human relationship, and, drinking -of them to the full, go forth and radiate them in their original purity, -sweetness, and power, diluted only by our imperfect human expression. -Let us, in this and all similar matters, make the words of Browning -ours, that we may ringingly declare to the world as well as quietly -radiate them: - - What had I on Earth to do - With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly? - Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel--Being--who? - One who never turned his back but marched breast forward, - Never doubted clouds would break, - Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph, - Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, sleep to wake. - -Let us not merely come in for the rewards of life's conflicts in which -the few battle for the rights of the many. Let us be in the forefront of -the battle array; even if only as standard-bearers, or buglers, or -drummer boys in the forefront of the advance army, and though our hearts -are often shaken by human cowardice, let our souls triumph and keep our -faces towards the foe, courage at fighting pitch, resolution -indomitable, purpose invincible, so that, if fall we must, we shall fall -with eyes heavenward, and breast fearlessly exposed to the fire of the -enemy. - -I know of no conflict now as severe as the fight for the abolition of -the slave, yet I am in the fight to help women gain the suffrage, and in -the temperance reform. I have been abused by my scientific friends as an -anti-vaccinator and anti-vivisectionist; have been threatened with a -thrashing several times for interfering with brutal teamsters and others -who were cruel to animals and children; have lost caste and position -(with a few people) because I would rebuke corporate injustice, greed, -and tyranny; I have cast behind me much money because it was offered me -in exchange for my independence and freedom. These are small things as -compared with the heroic acts of the giants of past days, but they are -the deeds my soul has been called to face. And I mention them not in -boasting, but as another "declaration of principles," principles I wish -to radiate on every hand, under all circumstances, to all people. - -For I am anxious and determined that, according to the best of my -ability, I will do my share of the work of my time for the benefit of -the future. What would we be to-day without the advantages of Magna -Charta, of the Bill of Rights, of the Declaration of Independence, of -the Emancipation Proclamation? Who won these charters of our liberty? -The heroes of the past. Then the questions I constantly ask myself are: -"What are you doing to add to these liberties to hand on to future ages? -You have received freely; how are you giving? I want to help make the -future more glad and blessed, just as my present has been made glad by -the actions of the heroes of old. I have been inspired to high resolves, -heroic endeavors, blessed ambitions by what they achieved. Am I doing -anything to pass on these high inspirations to endeavor and ambition? -These men met obloquy, hatred, shame, contumely, contempt, danger, -financial loss, physical peril, and in John Brown's, Lovejoy's, and -other cases, death, because of their daring advocacy of unpopular -movements. Shall I be any the less a man than they? Shall I have -received so much, and then be craven and pass on so little?" - -I believe that each generation must pay interest _in kind_ on all their -heritage of the past, or they mark the period of a nation's decline. -Unless we are better, nobler, truer, more advanced, more free, more -progressive, more generous, more philanthropic, more daring, courageous, -lion-hearted than our forefathers, we have defaulted in our interest. -And defaulters are always cowards if nothing worse. Let us not be -cowards. - -In California there are strong movements against the Japanese and the -Chinese. It is easy to join the popular side, but it takes strength of -heart and courage of mind and body sometimes to stand on the other side. -I want to radiate my firm and unshakable conviction of the truth of -human brotherhood, regardless of color, nationality, prejudice, or -selfish and personal interest. Though the Japanese and Chinese, in open -and honest business competition, take away my work, even then I want to -radiate my firm belief in the _universal_ brotherhood of man. And I want -to do it without hesitation, as well as without fear. Hesitation too -often means temporizing, evasion, shuffling, and I do not want to place -myself open to any temptation to these things. Hence I would be prompt -and outspoken in my adherence and advocacy of the fundamental principles -of human brotherhood regardless of personal consequences and indifferent -alike to praise or blame. - -I believe in human democracy, in human freedom, in the equality of men -and women; in morality, government, and household control; in resisting -all tyrannies, whether of law, medicine, theology, or society; in the -uplift of all the criminal and downtrodden; in the fair division of the -profits of all labor; in the jealous preservation of the independence of -every man and every woman; in the right of every child to be well born -and welcomed, and of every woman to determine, without dictation from -any one, whether she shall bear a child or not; in the abolition of all -war; in the disarmament of all nations; in the abolition of land -monopoly; in submitting every question to the test--the greatest -possible good to the greatest number. These, as I now recall them, are -the cardinal principles of my belief, my adherence to which I would -fearlessly, without hesitation or equivocation, ever and always -radiate. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -RADIANCIES OF CONTENT AND DISCONTENT - - -I want to radiate a spirit of content. The dictionary says that to be -content is to be "held full." If one is full, that is enough. He is -satisfied. He has peace of mind. All this is implied in the word -content. I want to radiate this sense of fullness, of satisfaction. I -want people to feel that I am full of physical health, full of mental -vigor, full of spiritual power, and, with the exceptions that I shall -note later on in this chapter, that I am satisfied. - -I want to radiate a large-hearted contentment with things as they are. I -am content with the world as it is. Its glories, its beauties, its -charms, its allurements, its variety, satisfy me. There is nothing in -scenery that the mind can conceive that I cannot find; every sort of -climate is offered to me. I can surround myself with people or I can -dwell in the virgin solitudes. I can live under the gray skies of the -East or under the cerulean blue of the West. The snow-covered heights of -the Himalayas are mine or the wastes of the Sahara. I can toss on the -stormy ocean or bask in the sun-kissed gardens of the South. It is a -glorious, beautiful, blessed world. - -Yet I hear people complaining on every hand. It is too hot, or they wish -it hadn't rained. Why does the wind blow so fiercely? The snow has just -come at the wrong time. Then, too, they find fault with the every-day -occurrences of life. They are angry because they missed a train, have -failed to carry through a business transaction, were delayed and lost an -important appointment. The other day I met a young man holding his -wrist, and with a look of severe pain on his face. In doing some work in -the gymnasium he hurt his hand and wrist. It is hard to radiate -contentment under the annoyance and pain of such things as this and the -circumstances I have mentioned. Yet in these, as in all other things in -life, I believe with Shakspeare: - - There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, - Rough hew them as we may. - -Many a time it is the best thing in the world to have lost an -appointment, to have missed a train, to have sprained one's wrist. The -wet weather is as good as the sunshine, and the storm equally beneficent -with the calm. Hence I want to be content and to radiate my content with -things as they are. Discontent is a burning acid. It eats away the -happy, blessed things of life. It destroys the beauty of an otherwise -perfect life. It takes away the smile and substitutes a frown. It -injects bitterness into words that would otherwise be sweet. It changes -the kind word into an angry curse. And it burns and corrodes far deeper -than one imagines. - -I once had a surgical operation in which a severe corroding substance -was injected into a certain part of my body. My physicians, men of -wisdom and men who loved me, thought they knew how much that corrosive -substance would burn. But it burned far more severely and destroyed much -more tissue than they conceived, and my life came near to paying the -penalty. Discontent works in exactly the same way, only worse. Its -burnings are of the mind, and, therefore, more seriously injurious. Its -burns are deep and uncertain. To put it in another way--it sours the -milk of human kindness. It turns the butter rancid. It pulls down the -shades and shuts out the sunlight. It turns the steam off from the -radiator. It shuts out the fresh air. It banishes the fairies of -jollity, healthfulness, happiness, and content. - -Do not radiate discontent, therefore, but radiate a glorious, buoyant, -exuberant contentment. Think of the books we have to-day, as compared -with those possessed by people who lived a few hundred years ago--the -poems, the dramas, the essays, the histories, the novels, the accounts -of adventure and travel, the revelations of science. Think how cheap -they are, how easy to obtain. Think of the public libraries established -in almost every city, town, and village of the civilized world. In many -states they have now established a method by means of which the library -systems may become county-wide in their influences instead of confined -to the cities and towns. Books are being sent to the remotest farmhouse, -to the shack of the lumberman, the moving home of the sheep-herder, the -log hut of the miner, anywhere, everywhere that a human hand is seen -stretched forth for a book, the new library system seeks to reach. - -Think of the music of to-day! The great bands, the marvelous orchestras, -the soul-inspiring choruses, the wonderfully equipped opera companies, -the cheapness of the organ and piano, the universality of the -graphophone, with its records of music of every character that can be -heard in the humblest home. - -Think of the multiplication of the opportunities for hearing the drama, -some good, some indifferent, some bad, but all more or less revealing -artistic power and calling forth the satisfaction of the onlookers. - -Think of the spread of educational opportunities, the public schools, -the colleges, the universities, the correspondence schools, the women's -clubs and leagues. I went through a high school the other day that was -ten times better equipped for the higher education, as far as it went, -than the universities were a hundred years ago. - -Think of the ease with which we travel--electric cars, railway trains, -automobiles, flying machines. - -Think of the annihilation of distance in conversing with our friends, -the telephone, the telegraph, the telepost, the wireless. - -Think of the opportunities of enjoyment and education offered to the -poor in our large cities by means of the parks, the children's -playgrounds, the free museums, and the art galleries. - -Think of the improvements during late years in the conditions of home -life--the application of gas and electricity for lighting, heating, -cooking, ironing, and, now, even for sweeping and cleaning up. - -Think of the improvements of the condition of lives of our farmers and -their laborers in the remote districts. Little by little the conditions -of life are being made easier for them. Labor is being lightened and the -hours shortened, uncertainties are being eliminated, results made more -sure. - -Think of the growing spirit of freedom and true democracy, of -brotherhood and comradeship that are welding the world together in the -bonds of humanitarian brotherhood; treaties between nations, -federations of nations, world's fairs, the Red Cross movement, The Hague -Peace Tribunal, arbitration instead of war, and agitation for the -reduction of armies and navies.[D] - -[D] This was written prior to the breaking out of the war of 1914-15, -when "hell was let loose in Europe." Yet I do not feel inclined to -change one single line of what I then wrote. During 1915, I was engaged -speaking daily to large audiences at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in -San Francisco--I estimate that I addressed not less than 300,000 people -during that time. In many of these addresses I expressed my thoughts -about the hideousness, the needlessness, the waste, the devilishness of -war, with open frankness, and without a single exception my -denunciations of the system of war were received with hearty applause. I -refer to this merely as an index as to what I believe is the general -thought of all intelligent people on the subject. All except war-mad and -war-hypnotized people hate war and desire to see it abolished, and the -higher standards of brotherly and amicable conference and equitable -adjustment of difficulties take its place. That nations were urged into -the European conflict is no proof that they love war. It is rather a -proof that they hate war enough to die to make future wars impossible. -This, I sincerely hope and confidently expect, will be the tendency of -the result, if not an actually accomplished result. - -One has but to study the changes that have taken place in our -civilization since Dickens began to write, for instance, to see how -wonderfully the world has progressed. He wrote _Nicholas Nickleby_ to -call attention to the horrible abuses existent in boys' boarding -schools, where boys, who for any reason were desired out of the way at -home, were put in charge of human fiends in the guise of -"schoolmasters." Step-children, heirs who were in the way, natural -children, and those whose parents had no natural affection for them, -were put into these dens, and so cruelly abused that they often died; -and at the best they dragged out their miserable existence afraid of -what each hour of the day might bring forth and finding only in their -troubled sleep the relief from the active cruelties they were made to -bear. - -_Little Dorrit_ graphically pictured the horrors of the "prison for -debt" system, and in the wonderfully painted character of Little -Dorrit's father, Dickens showed how every human trait and feeling, every -noble passion and emotion was dwarfed, twisted, distorted, and perverted -by the action of this unnatural, cruel, and monstrous law. - -_Barnaby Rudge_ called equally vivid attention to the laws which placed -political disabilities upon Jews and Roman Catholics, rendering them -incapable of voting and holding office throughout the British dominions, -and sought to remove the hatred, prejudice, and dissensions which -unnatural acts of Parliament always caused. - -In _A Tale of Two Cities_ the curse of caste is revealed; the inevitable -results of giving special privileges to a so-called aristocratic class, -and while its teachings were veiled as being connected with incidents in -the French Revolution they were a wonderful help to the forwarding of -true ideas of pure democracy and genuine recognition of the doctrine of -the brotherhood of man. - -In _Martin Chuzzlewit_ the theme is the horrors of the "Circumlocution -Office"--that vast, hideous, monstrous juggernaut that rode rough-shod -over all justice, truth, honor, right, decency, and sincerity, by its -evasions, quibblings, dodgings, twinings, twistings, and deliberate -perversions of the truth. - -Other writers made their novels the themes of similar crying abuses that -needed reform. Henry Cockton wrote his _Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist_ -to expose the hideous dealings of private mad-houses, where helpless men -and women were confined by law, who were perfectly sane, yet who were in -the way of dishonest lawyers, judges, administrators, heirs, or -relations. I can never forget the powerful and terrible impression this -story made upon me, though it is nearly forty years since I read it, -especially where the author described what it is said he himself had had -to pass through, when he was driven into temporary insanity by being -strapped to his cot while fiends in human form mocked and taunted him -and at the same time "tickled his feet" until he was a raging maniac. - -To the people of to-day the term "Chartist" means nothing. Nine-tenths -of the population of the United States possibly never heard the term. -Yet it is only a few generations since men were sentenced to "Botany -Bay" and other penal settlements for twenty, thirty, and more years, -and sometimes "for life," for joining in this reform which demanded -certain rights that _we_ have enjoyed without a thought ever since we -were born. One of these grand old warriors for man's greater freedom -used to visit at my father's house when I was a lad. He was an -intellectual giant who had won the honor and fame the world freely -accords to those who do not take it by the throat too severely, and once -in a while he could be induced to tell of the days of his earlier -conflict;--how that he and his compeers fought for a repeal of the corn -laws--laws which made it almost impossible for a poor man to get -bread--and for the right of a man to sell the products of his own labor -from door to door to save himself from starvation. He was imprisoned and -sentenced for a long term of years and while in prison wrote a poem of -tremendous power and influence. How my heart burned to the old warrior, -and I then and there declared that - - I live to learn their story - Who've suffered for my sake, - To emulate their glory, - And to follow in their wake: - - * * * * * - - For the cause that lacks assistance, - For the wrong that needs resistance. - -Then, too, how I recall the fight for religious freedom in England--some -of it before my time, but some of it under my own eyes, and in which I -had the joy of bearing a small part. The Lord George Gordon riots, -described by Dickens in _Barnaby Rudge_, were provoked by religious -hostility. When I was a boy, no Jew or Catholic could hold office in -England--I think I am correct. This act, passed in the reign of Charles -II--I write from memory--was thus in operation for two hundred years; -two hundred years of injustice, prejudice, fostering of religious hatred -and separations. Yet Benjamin Disraeli made a great premier, and was one -of the most brilliant statesmen of Europe, and the Howard family, -Cardinal Manning, and Cardinal Newman, all of whom were Roman Catholics, -were loved and revered on every hand for their enlightened patriotism -and the help they gave to everything that had the welfare of England at -heart. It was a glad day for England that saw the removal of the -disabilities from such good citizens as these, merely because they chose -to exercise their perfect God-given right of freedom of choice in -religious belief. And still, even as late as the ascension to the throne -of George V, son of King Edward, and grandson of that progressive and -liberal-minded Queen, Victoria, there remained in the oath a hateful -spirit of narrowness and intolerance against Catholic beliefs. Thirty to -forty years previously Charles Bradlaugh was refused his seat in the -House of Commons because he desired to "affirm" instead of "taking the -oath." He was an "unbeliever," and claimed his right to be such, and yet -to take his seat as a representative of the people without being -compelled to swear to an oath in which he did not believe. He was fought -an every hand, and with physical violence; yet he kept resolutely on -with the conflict, until I saw him myself, with joy, take his place -before the speaker of the House, victorious. Yet I am not an unbeliever, -nor do I accept Bradlaugh's conclusions as to God and the making of the -universe. Nor is it necessary. Equally so it is not necessary that I -should attempt to force my ideas down his throat and if he refuse to say -that he swallows them should seek to keep him from exercising his -political rights. - -To us, living to-day, it seems impossible that a great civil war was -necessary ere the shackles were shaken from the limbs of four millions -of slaves; it seems incredible that New Englanders as well as -Southerners were engaged in fostering the iniquitous slave trade--the -murderous trade in human flesh and blood. Grant everything the South -claims to-day as to the difficulty of handling the negro problem, that -does not alter the fundamental principle of the Declaration of -Independence that "all men are created equal; that they are endowed by -their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are -life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." To us it seems incredible -that honest and honorable men, clear-sighted, clear-brained religious -men who knew the value of words and their meaning, could have so -befuddled their intellects, let alone their moral nature, as to dare to -read these words and at the same time own slaves. Yet it was so, and not -until the heroes whose work led ultimately to the Declaration of -Independence for the slave, called the Emancipation Proclamation, set -their faces against this great iniquity, was anything done to mitigate -its evils. - -How well do I recall the endeavors of many Englishmen to induce the -Government to interfere with the Turks and prevent further infliction of -horrible and murderous atrocities upon the Bulgarians and other subject -people, because of religious differences. But "politics stood in the -way." And yet I heard the words of Cleveland ring around the world when -he bade England: "Hands off," from Venezuela. Again was I thrilled when -McKinley justified the prophecy of Joaquin Miller, uttered nearly thirty -years previously, in his _Cuba Libre_, where he declared: - - She shall rise, by all that's holy! - She shall live and she shall last; - - * * * * * - - She shall rise as rose Columbus, - From his chains, from shame and wrong-- - Rise as Morning, matchless, wondrous-- - Rise as some rich morning song-- - Rise a ringing song, and story, - Valor, Love personified. - Stars and stripes espouse her glory, - Love and Liberty allied. - -The time came when we "flashed her lights of freedom," as we had done -before, but this time there was an admixture of personal feeling in -which the cry, "Remember the _Maine_," bore a large part. Yet the main -issue was raised, viz., the intervention of a strong power to prevent -another strong power from too seriously oppressing a confessedly weak -power. This is a step in the right direction. The bully, whether in -school, in the street, in business, or among nations, should be taught -that his bullying is unsafe, and that if he must fight he must choose a -"fellow of his own size." - -While I do not close my eyes to the facts that nations are human and -liable to err, I hail this as a great forward step, and was filled with -rejoicing when the United States Government refused to accept any -indemnity from China for its share of the expense of putting down the -last great Boxer Rebellion. - -In our National and State governments there is a growing spirit of -righteous intervention. In his last presidential message, President Taft -voiced this spirit in his recommendation of an enlarged measure of -protection for railroad employees, and states and cities are moving -more rapidly than ever before in the enactment of laws and ordinances -for the protection of those least able to protect themselves. - -Reforms in law procedure are progressing. In his 1910 message, President -Taft thus spoke: - - One great crying need in the United States is cheapening the cost of - litigation by simplifying judicial procedure and expediting final - judgment. Under present conditions the poor man is at a woeful - disadvantage in a legal contest with a corporation or a rich - opponent. The necessity for this reform exists both in United States - courts and in all state courts. In order to bring it about, however, - it naturally falls to the general government by its example to - furnish a model to all States. - -This is a great step in the right direction. The honest and manly -recognition of a crying evil is often the beginning of its removal, and -I sincerely hope to live to see the day when our laws, and legislative -procedure, will truthfully be equally for the poor and the rich. - -The activity of the Federal Government in pursuing the nefarious -malefactors who are conducting the "white slave traffic," is also a sign -of marked improvement in affording protection to those who are helpless -and often unable and incompetent to know what to do for their own -welfare. - -And how I hail with joy the movement so energetically furthered by Mr. -Bok, of the _Ladies' Home Journal_, the Bishop of London, the _Physical -Culture_ magazine, _Collier's_, and others, for the education of the -young of both sexes as to the sacred relations of sex and all they -imply. The W. C. T. U. has done a little, the magazines and physical -culture movement more, and now the better schools--such as the -Polytechnic High School of Los Angeles, and the High School in Pasadena, -California--are giving definite and specific instruction upon these -matters to boys and girls whose parents have been remiss in neglecting -this all-important part of their _home_ education and training. - -The pure food bill is another step forward in our national progress; the -great conservation movement and the work of the United States -Reclamation Service, which is providing means for irrigating the soil -and thus rendering possible the establishment of thousands of homes on -lands that otherwise would be arid and useless--these are gigantic -strides of advancement. The postal-savings bank and parcels post are -already facts, thus demonstrating that, little by little, the powers -that have controlled our Government, for the benefit of the few, instead -of for all the people, and especially those who need such benefit the -most, are gradually losing their hold. Soon, let us hope, we shall have -the "penny postage"--one cent for a letter instead of two, as now. The -extension of the eight-hour day law; the honest endeavors now being -made to give labor a fair opportunity to state its needs and -requirements and thus help bring oppressive employers to time, are also -forward steps. Granted that labor often makes unreasonable and unjust -demands, let it not be forgotten that it is only within the last few -decades that they have been allowed to have a voice at all. For -centuries they have been "chained to the wheel of labor," - - The emptiness of ages in their face, - And on their back the burden of the world. - -What if, now that "whirlwinds of rebellion" are shaking the world and -these hitherto "dumb terrors" have found, or are finding, a voice, they -speak a little too loudly, or too harshly, or ask more than they ought? -Whose fault is it? Who has kept them in bondage so long? They will -learn, by and by, to speak more rationally, but this will come only by -speaking, so I hail with delight the fact that "the rulers and lords of -all lands" are recognizing their right to be heard, and are more or less -respectfully listening to what they have to say. - -It is another grand sign of universal progress that the owners and -landlords of vile tenement houses, of the horrible kennels in which -human beings in the past used to be penned as in pigsties, are no longer -allowed to reap monetary rewards from such abominable and cursed holes. -Boards of health, civic improvement bodies, tenement reform associations -are taking upon themselves the work of protecting the poor, helpless, -and often unfortunate dwellers in these plague spots and compelling that -they be made decent, healthful, and sanitary--often seeing that they are -razed and entirely removed. What though oftentimes the people who dwell -in these places are brought thither by their own misconduct? Are men, -women, and innocent children to be "damned" on this earth--as well as in -the future--because morally they have been weak and unfortunate? The -greater the weakness and the lower the fall, the greater the cry and -need for help. Jacob Riis was a brave and heroic leader in New York, -William Booth and his gallant army in London and the thousand and one -other cities of the world, and the day is dawning when there will be no -"slums" in any decent, self-respecting city, when such books as _How the -Other Half Lives_, _The Submerged Tenth_, _If Christ Came to Chicago_, -and _The People of the Abyss_ can no longer be written, for the -true-hearted, loving, brotherly, and sisterly, will have been aroused to -do their plain, simple, and manifest duty and "slums," "abysses," and -"plague spots" will cease to exist. - -There are many other excellent things I might comment upon that help -bring content to the soul. They betoken a glorious and blessed -improvement upon the "days of things as they were" and they should lead -every man to get into line, to find the step and keep it, marching on -with this vanguard of human progress, which seeks the best possible -condition of body, mind, and soul for all men. - -Yet, in spite of this large-hearted contentment with things as they are, -and with the way the world generally is progressing, which I would -radiate, I would equally radiate a great discontent with many things as -they are. When I look at my own faults and failings, my inadequacies and -incompetencies, my blindness and stupidity, my ignorance and -willfulness, I find much of my content disappear like the airy visions -of a dream. I certainly do not want to be content with these things and -so I call up as often as I can a mighty discontent which is a constant -urge to the higher, nobler, truer, better life. I am as self-willed as -other men, and yet I well know that human will is both ignorant and -blind, and that only when it is made subject to the Great Controlling -Will of the Universe will it lead me aright and in the paths of -ultimate, permanent success. And by success, I do not mean the paltry -thing most men regard as success. I certainly wish to radiate discontent -with what men generally regard as success. Mere money, fame, honor, -social distinction, count for little unless character, divine sympathy -with one's needy fellows, and an enlarged conception of the brotherhood -of men accompany them. - -And how can I do other than radiate a large and tremendous discontent at -the suffering and woe of the unfortunates of life? It is little or -nothing to me what causes their misfortune. I have learned that the -judgment of sociologists, theologists, and reformers generally is of -little account in interpreting the causes of things. As a rule, they -look only on the surface and see nothing of the hidden springs of action -and therefore know little of the movement of hearts of men and women -whose condition they so complacently and conceitedly imagine they can -change. - -Some years ago, Jack London wrote a book entitled, _The People of the -Abyss_. It was severely censured and criticised and some critics went so -far as to assert that it was full of untruths. It told of the dismal -lives of London's poor, who daily find themselves with nothing but one -meal, two meals, three meals between themselves and starvation--poor -wretches to whom the "wolf at the door" is an ever present reality, and -who tremble every time their employers look towards them with a frown or -speak with a voice that threatens dismissal. What a frightful, -pitiable, pathetic position for men and women--my brothers and -sisters--to be in. I certainly do not wish to radiate contentment at the -fact of their unfortunate condition. I want somehow to take some of -their burdens upon my life. I want to realize something of the spirit -that led Walt Whitman to exclaim, "I will take nothing for myself that -cannot be given upon equal terms to all men." - -When I read the stories of child labor and learn of the many cruelties -practiced upon helpless little ones, in the name of business; when I see -those boys and girls of tender age in the cotton mills of the South, -owned by wealthy men of the North, plodding back and forth, hour by -hour, behind the whirling spindles; when I see them, as I have often -done, so utterly weary that when the noon hour came, they would stretch -out on the bare floor and try to gain a little snatch of forgetfulness -of their weariness in sleep, rather than eat their inadequate lunch, I -have certainly felt, as I now feel, that I wish to radiate a tremendous -amount of discontent that such inhuman facts can exist. When I see the -private palace car owned by the many-times millionaire, and catch -glimpses of the extravagant and wasteful luxury in which he and his -family live, and realize that this prodigal wastefulness is made -possible by the life-destroying labor of poor, anæmic children in the -glass-blowing factories of New Jersey, I wish I had the power to send a -great wail of discontent through the country that would thrill the -hearts, awaken the senses, and arouse the consciences of every man and -woman in the nation. - -When I realize the inadequacies of our legal system to do justice alike -to all men and women, the poor as well as the rich, the innocent and -confiding as well as the crafty and cunning, I feel nothing but -discontent and long for the time to come when justice and mercy shall be -of higher value in the courts of our land than precedent and legal -procedure. - -It often takes moral courage to radiate real living discontent with -these injustices and crimes against our needy and defenseless fellows. I -long to possess this moral courage in fullest measure, and to radiate it -on every hand. In view of the need for strong protest against the smug, -contented betrayers of the poor and needy, I would radiate a spirit that -has not inaptly been termed that of _contemporaneous protest and -rebellion_. By this I mean that present spirit of protest and rebellion -against wrongs that exist _now_, so that my protest will be -contemporaneous with the evil. - -It is easy enough to line up with the winning side and shout Hurrah! -with the victors in any conflict. Even the English of to-day agree that -the American Revolution was a good thing and that the acts of George III -were indefensible tyranny. But it required considerable courage to join -one's forces with those of Washington when money was scarce and men few, -when the day seemed dark and gloomy, and the prospects of success were -doubtful. - -It is easy enough to-day to Hurrah! for the principles of Lincoln, but -many a great statesman like Henry Clay felt it was better to compromise -than face the fierce antagonism of such men as Calhoun, Jefferson Davis, -and others who believed in the opposing ideas. - -What I desire with all my heart is to radiate not only my _readiness_ -and _willingness_ to line up with the unpopular cause, _but the fact -that I am already lined up_. That, without being asked, people will know -what my position is sure to be; that I naturally belong on the side of -the "under dog," and that in any conflict against entrenched power and -wrong, where the weak and oppressed are fighting for rights which are -inherently theirs, that as soon as I hear the battle-cry my "HERE!" will -ring out immediate, bold and clear. - -Nor do I always want to wait to be called upon. I may not have either -the wisdom and discretion or the ability to be a leader and I have no -desire to thrust myself forward as such. At the same time, I do not want -to be cowardly and hang back when I see that which I feel is inherently -wrong. Even though I stand alone, I want to stand in protest and -contemporaneous rebellion against the wrong that I see. - -Nay, further, I want to radiate as _my habitual attitude of mind_ that I -am ever on the alert to _seek out opportunities for rebellion_ against -any and all systems of wrong, no matter how powerful, that I may gladly -take upon my shoulders some part of the burden of helping forward the -real progress of the entire human race. - -James Russell Lowell expressed the passionate desire of my heart in his -_Present Crisis_. In that majestic poem he shows the need for this -contemporaneous rebellion: - - Backward look across the ages, and the beacon-movements see, - That, like peaks of some sunk continent, jut through Oblivion's Sea; - Not an ear in court or market for the low foreboding cry - Of those Crises, God's stern winnowers, from whose feet Earth's chaff -must fly; - Never shows the choice momentous till the judgment hath passed by. - Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record - One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word; - Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne,-- - Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown - Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own. - -The whole poem is full of this passionate great-hearted, manly, God-like -sympathy, _now_ and _here_, with the needy, the oppressed, the helpless -of today. The crises are here now, those stern winnowers that test and -try men's souls, that discover whether they are wheat or chaff, ashes or -gold. Oh, for men who have made already the "choice momentous"--while -the battle is raging, when there is danger, risk, peril, possible death -in the conflict. Is he a true man who waits, pauses, hesitates, wavers -in such conflicts, "till the judgment hath passed by"? - -I would radiate, again let me say it, my readiness to march at the sound -of the drum, to advance with the front ranks, to fight at the first -word. - -History affords us many noble examples and "beacon lights" of those who -have lived in accordance with the principles herein laid down. - -Stephen Langton and the barons of England protested against the -tyrannical power of King John. They did so at the peril of their heads. -Yet they were possessed of this spirit of contemporaneous rebellion, and -they fought against John and won from him that great charter of the -liberties of men, that has been the basis of all proclamations of -freedom ever since. - -Cromwell, Hampden, Pym, Milton, and the other great commoners and -democrats of England were in a state of contemporaneous protest and -rebellion against the undue pretensions of King Charles I. Their -protests might have cost them their lives--yet they protested. And they -won a victory that has made republics possible throughout all time. - -So with the leaders of the French Revolution. There were many awful and -bloody events connected with that great act of contemporaneous protest, -but that the ultimate outcome upon mankind has been good most -true-hearted thinkers agree. Yet the protests were made by the earlier -agitators under great danger. - -When Patrick Henry, Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Washington, and the -other American revolutionists protested against King George's tyranny, -and when the noble band met at Philadelphia and signed the Declaration -of Independence, they knew they did it at the peril of their lives--yet -they protested and won for mankind the victory that Joaquin Miller calls -"Time's burst of Dawn." - -Had Langton, Cromwell, the French Revolutionists, Washington, and the -signers of the Declaration of Independence failed, they would all have -forfeited their lives for their temerity. It was an act of great moral -courage to rebel. - -When Galileo rebelled against the dictum of the ecclesiastic authorities -in regard to the movement of the earth, it meant his imprisonment, yet -he rebelled and thus ushered in a new day of advancement in astronomical -knowledge. Darwin did the same. Both men required daring and courage, -yet they did not hesitate or falter. - -There are evils to-day that should be fought; fashions, customs, -entrenched wrongs in existence _now_ against which manly men are called -to be in contemporaneous rebellion. Those of us who live to-day are -reaping great and blessed privileges, freedom, liberties, won for us as -the result of the protests, rebellions, warfares of the moral heroes of -the past; so should we further the progress of the world by protesting -and fighting the existing wrongs, in order that future generations may -be freer than we are, and may push on still further the glorious chariot -of human progress. - -Henry George was a recent heroic example of contemporaneous protest -against current evils. Garibaldi, Mazzini, Victor Hugo, Kossuth, were -all noble and inspiring examples of the like spirit. Ruskin's life was a -perpetual protest against the sacrificing of beauty, peace, harmony, and -brotherhood for the rush and show of material prosperity. William -Morris's life, work, voice, and pen were ever in active, open, -contemporaneous hostility and opposition to the damnable spirit of -modern competition, and demoralizing commercialism which destroyed -artistic labor, banished fellowship, and substituted therefor the rule -of the jungle where the strong devour the weak. Thank God! the ranks of -the morally courageous have always found glad and willing recruits; men -willing to spend and be spent for the benefit of humanity; willing to be -rebels and accounted and treated as such that they might help gain -larger victories of freedom for their fellow-men. - -We sometimes think that there was more moral heroism in the days gone by -than there is to-day. I do not believe it! In this matter of moral -heroism and contemporaneous rebellion against entrenched wrong, we have -many fine and noble living examples on every hand. I could mention a -hundred of them in as many minutes. A few must suffice. - -When Edwin Markham wrote _The Man with the Hoe_, he showed his spirit of -contemporaneous protest and rebellion. Here was no reflection upon labor -or its dignity, as some thoughtless critics have affirmed, but it was a -tremendous and powerful onslaught upon the "Kings and Rulers of All -Lands" who permit employers to chain the laborer to the "wheel of -labor." Markham's poem is a direct challenge and throwing down of the -gauntlet to those who contend that they have a right to purchase labor -in the open market at any price, however demoralizing to mankind. It is -a contention that manhood is more than money; that the laborer is more -than the labor; and that the employers who value the labor done more -than the men who do the labor are unworthy the honor and respect of -decent men; are unworthy to be called real men because of their -tyrannical abuse of their helpless brothers. - -William Booth, president of the Salvation Army, Jack London, the -socialist novelist, Jacob Riis, the New York newspaper idealist, Maud -Ballington Booth, the leader of the Volunteers of America, Charles -Montgomery, of San Francisco, the prisoner's friend, and Dana Bartlett, -of Los Angeles, the brother of poor "Dagoes," Portuguese and Mexicans, -are all more or less widely diverse examples of contemporaneous -rebellion and protest against existing social conditions. Each works in -his own way to ameliorate these conditions, but the work of each is a -protest against those laws of supply and demand, of competition, of -worship of material things, that allow it to be possible that some men -can gain more wealth than they can ever utilize, even if they lived to -be ten thousand years old, and never earn another cent, whilst others -can earn barely enough to keep body and soul together and who live every -day in dread of the future because they are capable of earning no more -than enough to keep them one, two, or three meals away from starvation. - -In a copy of his book, _The People of the Abyss_, which Jack London sent -to me, which truthfully portrays the life of the submerged tenth of -London, he wrote something like this on the title page: "Dear -James--With the facts of these pages before me, I may agree with you in -your favorite quotation from Browning, that 'God's in his heaven,' but I -cannot agree with you that 'All's right with the world.'" - -It is the fashion with certain people to decry Jack London's socialism, -but I happen to know that he has personally sacrificed thousands of -dollars to his principles in this matter, has lost the friendship of -many wealthy people who would have showered their gifts upon him had he -been complacent towards what he calls "predatory wealth," hence I hail -his acts of contemporaneous rebellion and his taking upon himself of the -battle for these, his weaker brothers and sisters, as heroic, and fully -worthy of the highest esteem of all good men, whatever they may think of -the methods by which he would bring about the desired changes. - -All through his life there has been a strong current of contemporaneous -rebellion and belligerent sincerity in the work of the poet of the -Sierras, Joaquin Miller. He was brought up as a Quaker and taught to -believe in non-resistance, hence he preached peace at the beginning of -the Civil War until his printing office was wrecked and his life -threatened. When the world at large was condemning the Indian, he went -and stood by his side, and when he believed him to be in the right, -fought battles on his behalf. All through his life he has boldly stood -for man's larger freedom, and against entrenched tyranny. When England -made war upon the Boers, he denounced the warlike and jingo politicians -with a power and strength seldom surpassed in poetry, in spite of the -fact that the English had always been his best friends and the largest -purchasers of his poems. - -While he lived in California, not far from San Francisco, and California -was a hotbed of the sentiment that demands the exclusion of the Chinese -and Japanese, he ever fearlessly and in unmistakable terms denounced -this action as opposed to the fundamental principles of the fatherhood -of God and the brotherhood of man, and demanded of his fellow citizens -that they adhere strictly to these never-failing and abiding truths. - -These men are but few of the many I might mention, but they will serve -as types. They have been and are willing to suffer for the general good -of mankind. Therefore, in the presence of their moral heroism and -courage, let us cry with George Linnæus Banks: - - I live to learn their story - Who've suffered for my sake, - To emulate their glory, - And to follow in their wake; - Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages, - The noble of all ages, - Whose deeds crowd history's pages - And Time's great volume make. - - I live... - For the cause that lacks assistance, - For the wrong that needs resistance, - For the future in the distance, - And the good that I can do. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -RADIANCIES OF SINCERITY - - -We need more of the virtue of belligerent sincerity. What the world -needs to-day is bold, outspokenness for principle. It is not enough that -we hold principles in the quietude of our own homes and discuss them in -the sanctity of our bedrooms. We need a belligerent sincerity of -fundamental principles in the mart, the store, in the counting house, in -the bank, on the board of trade, and the stock exchange. The tendency of -men in office and men in employment is to be subservient for the purpose -of their own advancement. It is so easy to yield a principle to gain an -increase in salary or to win the support of a swaying party vote. In -this age of great aggregations of capital, when corporations are -conducting gigantic enterprises, it is so easy for subordinates to place -all the responsibility of conscience upon their chiefs and to refuse to -accept responsibility for acts of which they themselves are the -instruments on the plea, "I am but a servant and carry out the will of -my superior." Relentless crushing out of competitors, secretly securing -rebates, unjust discrimination in discounts, the utilization of -official information for personal advantage or that of one's friends, -the writing of editorials contrary to one's principles because the -policies of the paper require it, in other words, the whole realm of -truckling subserviency, yielding, cowardice, obsequiousness, surrender, -fawning, servility, sycophancy, toad-eating, pliancy, should be weeded -out of the garden of the soul and belligerent sincerity planted in their -stead. - -At the same time, I want to radiate my abhorrence of all the truckling -subserviency that seeks to gain its ends and make secure its own -position by cringing, fawning, and flattery upon those whose favor it -seeks. - -Most men have their pet vanities. Few are free from weaknesses and -frailties. It is so easy to flatter, so natural to "kow-tow," so -profitable to pander. The reason that the world so laughs at the -delineations of the open, bold, corrupt, parasitical, pandering Falstaff -is that they find the echo in their own meannesses of soul. Like Henry -VII, many men have their Falstaffs, who seek to eat, drink, and be merry -at their expense. - -By this I do not mean to decry and impeach the integrity and sincerity -of those who express sympathy and appreciation of those who are engaged -in large enterprises. It is natural for those conducting such to seek -and require such sympathy in their lieutenants, but to such lieutenants -I would cry mightily and constantly, "Sympathize and commend by all -means, but when you do, be sure your purest virtue is on guard over your -heart and your lips. Say nothing that you do not absolutely mean." Be -"belligerently sincere" with your own soul and speak no words to your -employer because he enjoys them that you would not _as freely and gladly -say if he had dismissed you from his employ_. - -I would also radiate my appreciation of those who, occupying what we -call a subordinate position, speak out with frank, plain, direct -simplicity the thoughts of their hearts. I have sometimes found in -business, employers who sought by undue flattery, scheming, plotting, -chicanery, and fraud, all stealthily exercised, to "work" their -employees and secure from them a meed of service for which they were not -willing to pay a full and just price. In dealing with such employers a -frank, open, simple-hearted, and honest employee is often at a great -disadvantage. Being used to tortuous, underground, secret, plotting -methods himself, such an employer regards with suspicion the simple -actions of his employee. He sees in his frank openness nothing but -deeply laid plots. He finds in his candid sincerity craftily planned -schemes. The more open the one, the more certain the other is that -there is something hidden, deep, far-reaching, cunning, and deceitful -underneath his acts. - -To these open-hearted souls I would radiate a tonic that is -stimulating--quickening to their moral fiber and stiffening and -strengthening to their moral spines. To such I would come as a cold -shower bath to stimulate the nerves and muscles to greater tension. -Stand by your truthfulness, stand by your frankness, stand by your -openness until you teach these burrowing, crafty, stealthy, sly, -evasive, sneaking creatures that openness is better than secrecy, light -better than darkness, truth better than falsity, candor better than -craft, and an open enemy better than a secret, fawning, sycophantic -foe. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -RADIANCIES OF SERVICE - - -I want to radiate by thought, word, and act the joy and blessedness of -service. What a privilege it is to be able to do something for your -fellows! How great and constant is the joy of ministering! How ready we -are to run with willing feet to do some little or big thing for those we -love! The lover will climb dangerous Alpine heights to get the rare and -richly treasured edelweiss for his beloved. Leander gladly and joyously -braved the dangers of the Hellespont that he might cheer and encourage -his Hero. The lover has always cried, in all ages, to his loved one, -asking her to send him on some difficult errand. He would gladly go -anywhere, to any service, however arduous and dangerous, to prove his -love. The records of chivalry are full of daring deeds accomplished by -men in order to please the women they loved. - -Against this kind of service I have nothing to say. At the same time, -this is not the kind of service of which I now write. I would radiate -the thought that in our service we should treat all men and women with -the same willing gladness of ministry that the lover has for the -mistress of his heart. I desire to be ready and willing to fly on the -wings of helpfulness to do service for the meanest and most despicable -of human kind, if thereby he, or she, may be benefited. I would radiate -the belief that our willing service belongs to humanity, all men, all -women, not to a select few, not to the small and chosen circle whom we -call our loved ones and friends. I would radiate the spirit of service -that possessed and animated the strong, pure soul of William Morris, -that led him to place his precious time and service at the disposal of a -committee of men, not one of whom knew enough to appreciate his -exquisite and beautiful devotion, and under whose control he was ready -to go and speak words of cheer, fellowship, and brotherhood in the -lowest and most degraded parts of London. He was imbued with this -passion for service and it was service to the whole of mankind--not the -chosen few. - -I once picked up some socialistic newspaper with which I was not -familiar, but in it was an account of the life of a man who had recently -died. According to the story of his biographer, this man was carried -away with this passion for human service to the lowest and most -degraded, and he had spent his active and busy life in ministering to -those who, as a rule, are ignored by their more fortunate brothers and -sisters. It was a story that thrilled me to a higher and nobler -endeavor. - -Many a time I have bowed my soul in reverence and humility before a -group of Salvation Army lasses who, with sweet, gentle ministrations, -have cheered the dwellers in the wretched hovels of London, New York, -and other cities. I know one maiden, delicately constituted, and reared -in a home full of wealth and luxury, who felt this passionate call of -service so strongly, that, in spite of the protests of her relatives and -friends, she went to London, united with the Salvation Army, and with -her own beautiful and gentle hands, down upon her knees, has scrubbed -into cleanliness the floor of a drunken wife and drunken husband whose -children had never known a clean floor in the whole of their dirty and -wretched lives. I have helped her clean out the accumulated filth, of -what seemed to be months, in similar wretched places, and all this, as -well as the more refined ministrations of the mind and soul, were -offered with a sweet and gentle insistence that no one could take -offense at, and without an air of conscious self-approbation that one so -often finds in those who are seeking to minister to others. - -But it is not only in this larger and devoted sense that I would radiate -my desire to serve and minister to my fellows. It is in the small and -every-day things of life, no matter what my work or surroundings may -be, that I would radiate this ministering spirit. What a pleasure it is -to do things for others. What a joy to realize that your friends love -you enough to want you to do something for them. - -I find, however, that in the mind of many is the idea that certain -service is menial, and that they would not serve if they were not -obliged to do so for the money it brings. I have a deep and profound -pity in my soul for those who look upon life with this perverted vision. -If I were a waiter in a cheap restaurant, it seems to me it would be my -joy to serve the cheap meals as quickly and as cheerfully as I possibly -could. Surely ministering to the bodily wants of men and women is a -service which ought to be blessed. If I were a housemaid I feel that I -should find joy in making and keeping everything as orderly and tidy as -possible. - -I have several times stayed in a semi-public institution where a great -number of nurses were employed, and I have watched both men and women -engaged in this beautiful service. In this particular place they all -seemed full of this passion for service. There was no impatience at the -often exacting calls and demands of the querulous and unreasonable -invalids. Their very lives were a dedication. - -Sometimes we meet with those who will refuse to do certain things -because they regard them as more menial than those they were engaged to -perform, as, for instance, the case of a bell boy who refused to take -away a coal-scuttle when asked to do so because that was not in the list -of his duties, and a man "lower down in the scale" was supposed to -attend to work of that kind. Now, while I recognize that there must be -for convenience's sake, a division of labor, I want to radiate the -feeling and belief that there is no higher, no lower, in this call of -personal service. It is just as honorable to be a street sweeper or a -scavenger of the meanest kind (so-called), to be a farm laborer, to be a -kitchen drudge, to be a factory hand, as it is to be a minister of a -church that pays a salary of $20,000 a year. The real blessedness of -life of all grades of service from the scavenger to the expensive pastor -is determined by the _spirit_ behind the service, and the kitchen drudge -who does her work with the consciousness in her own soul that she is -gladly, merrily, cheerfully undertaking her work and doing it well for -the comfort, benefit, cheer, and blessing of her employers is of more -benefit to mankind than the services of the expensive pastor of the -exclusive church who regards his ministry as a proof of his own -intellectual worth, and as a means of asserting his high social -position. - -Who can ever forget the wonderful picture of that sturdy Scotch Doctor -depicted by Ian Maclaren in his _Bonnie Brier Bush_, whose passion of -devotion and ministry was so pure that it reached every soul in the -whole region. - -Frances Hodgson Burnett, in her _Dawn of a To-morrow_, tells of a -degraded street waif who yet had this passion of ministry in her soul, -and I have come to the conclusion that wherever it is found, it is -divine, and therefore blessed. Hence I would radiate it at all times, -under all conditions, and under all circumstances to all classes and -conditions of men. - -Where would have been the work of Judge Lindsay of Denver, Golden Rule -Jones of Toledo, McClaughery of Elmira Penitentiary, Chief Kohler of -Cleveland, Governor Hunt and Warden Sims of Arizona, if they had worked -only for the worthy? It was the very openness of the unworthiness of -those for whom they strove, that made the appeal to these large-hearted -men. - -It is so easy to criticise men of this stamp because they have dared to -break away from the conventional rendering of service only to the -worthy. It is so easy to cry that they are doing more harm than good. -But those who know the work and know the hearts that are constantly -being touched and molded into betterment by it are better able to judge -of its higher results. - -Shall I hesitate to render service because I myself am not perfect? -Shall I refuse to give the shivering and hungry beggar on the street a -twenty-five cent meal ticket because I myself am not free from debt? -Shall I refuse to guide the lost wayfarer because I myself do not know -all the winding pathways of life? - -By no means! Let me do the best I may while I may, and seize every -opportunity that arises. It was a Christian minister that dared to -rebuke Father Damien by claiming that he was not immaculate in his -service to the repulsive and loathsome lepers of Molokai. And it was -Robert Louis Stevenson who showed that Christian minister what true -Christianity would have led him to say instead of what he did say. -Father Damien's ministry was self-sacrificing, noble, and divine, even -though,--granting for the moment the truth of the minister's -slander,--his service was touched of the earth, earthy. Yet the -beneficence and blessedness of it was so supremely above the smug, -self-satisfied, standing-aloofness of the "immaculate" ministerial -critic that Stevenson's colossal rebuke to the latter found perfect echo -in the heart of every decent man and woman throughout the world. Joaquin -Miller expresses the same thought in his beautiful and strong poem on -Father Damien when he says: - - Why do ye not as he has done? - -If we can do so much better than those we criticise, why, in the name of -heaven and suffering humanity, do we not go ahead and do it? Let us do -our best regardless of our own infirmities and weakness and the -consequent criticisms of others. - -So I want to radiate to the needy and unworthy my readiness, nay, my -anxiety to serve them whenever and wherever I possibly can. And though -my service be not unmixed gold, though there be in it some of the dross -of imperfection, I would not withhold my hand on that account, but I -would serve the more readily and gladly in the hope and assurance that -by suffering with the needy and unworthy in their need and unworthiness -the fire of their pain and sorrow may help refine away the dross in me -and leave only that of pure gold. - -"Give to the needy! _worthy_ or _unworthy_!" should be the battle cry of -him who wishes to be a blessing to his fellows, and the more unworthy -the needy are, the more loving and wise the service should be. When Walt -Whitman was shedding blessing, benediction, comfort, and joy on every -hand throughout the hospitals of Washington, he had little or no money -to give. He asked no questions when he went to the bedside of the sick -and dying soldier boys as to whether they were worthy or not. They were -needy and that was enough for him. He stayed and soothed their weary -hours by telling them stories, reading to them, writing letters home -for them, and in a thousand and one little and big ways seeking to make -their sick beds more tolerable during the long hours of enforced -confinement. - -One of his rules for the making of a true poet was that he should "give -alms to all who ask," and that he should "stand up for the stupid and -crazy." I have a friend in Chicago who seeks absolutely to live these -two rules in his daily life. Even though he may often give to the -unworthy, he feels he can better afford to do that than to miss once -giving to a really needy person lest he might be giving to some one who -was neither needy nor worthy. - -A poet, whom I am very fond of quoting, once wrote: - - In men whom men condemn as ill, - I find so much of goodness still; - In men whom men account divine, - I find so much of sin and blot; - I hesitate to draw the line between the two; - Where God has not. - -It is impossible properly and wisely to differentiate, and because a man -is unworthy is all the more reason that his fellows should seek to help -him into a state of worthiness. - -How I wish I could imbue all with the spirit that moves Charles -Montgomery, the prisoner's friend of San Francisco. He goes to the state -penitentiaries at San Quentin and Folsom, and arranges to give help to -the prisoners as soon as they are released. Nay, he provides places for -them and then goes before the board of parole and secures their release. -He takes a true brother's interest in the men and seeks to win them to a -nobler life. Doubtless he is often deceived, but in scores of cases he -starts the men on the up-grade. What is one failure or ten, to one -success or ten? If it were _my_ son that was saved I should be most -grateful even though he saved but one. It would make his work glorious -and blessed to me. Then try to feel what it must be for some other -father or mother to learn that his, or her, son is saved from the life -of hell, to the life of heaven, here and now, and do as much for that -son as you would for your own. - -I doubt not that some of the boys Judge Lindsay seeks to save in Denver, -are not all they ought to be, and that sometimes he is disappointed in -the results. But does this make him lose heart, or cease to work for the -new cases that come? By no means! It makes him more determined than ever -to reach their hearts. He is more tender, more long-suffering, more -patient, more sympathetic, more loving. The greater the need the greater -the endeavor. - -The other day I sat down to the dinner table with a friend who outlined -to me a project in which himself and four others are interested. It is -to buy a farm, on the shores of a small but beautiful lake, a few miles -out from one of our great cities, and there establish a home and a -school for needy children. These five devoted young people are now -working hard and each one is saving every cent he can out of his own -earnings that, without calling upon any one else, they may be able to -buy the farm. I had asked my friend why he did not go to hear the great -actress Bernhardt. The reason was that he preferred to put the three -dollars that a ticket to hear Bernhardt would have cost into his "child -farm fund." Here was self-denial with joy, for the privilege of service. -And whom will he serve? There will be no question asked as to the -worthiness or unworthiness of the children that will be received into -this home when established.[E] - -[E] Since these pages were written this farm-school has become an -established fact, and is doing excellent and beautiful work for needy -children. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -RADIANCIES OF HUMOR - - -I want to radiate humor and my appreciation of it. But it must be -natural, genuine, kind-hearted, sweet, and pure. The humor that has a -sting for some one else, that is unkind, unjust, malicious, cruel, or -unclean is not for me. And, furthermore, I do not want that any one -should ever feel that I can or would enjoy such humor. I want to radiate -such a spirit, give forth such an "aura" that no one will ever come to -me with unkind or unclean humor, or expect me to want to hear it. - -No, true humor is gentle, kind, humane, and human. I think little of any -man or woman who cannot enjoy a good hearty laugh. I believe in -laughter; in joking, in fun, in wit, in humor--in the things that -provoke laughter. Laugh heartily, laugh loud, laugh long, and you will -oftentimes laugh away dyspepsia, the blues, and worries. Laugh at your -own misfortunes, your own mishaps. My dear friend, Burdette, used to -clap me on the back and exclaim in his bright, cheery voice: "Be your -own funny man." He once illustrated it by saying, in effect: "You've -laughed many a time watching a man chase his hat when a windstorm ran -away with it, but how do you feel when it's your own hat? Take a look at -yourself. See the spectacle you make--the bewhiskered, the dignified, -the long-legged--as you rush frantically after the fleeing tile. Can't -you see the fun in bending down, making a dive for the hat, just at the -moment an extra gust comes and--flip, flop--the hat scoots on and you -grasp the empty space. Laugh at yourself, my boy, and you'll get hold of -the world by the tail and conquer it!" - -How true it is! - -The greatest humoristic after-dinner speaker in America to-day is Simeon -Ford. How often have I laughed at and with him. Study his humor. Half of -it is making fun at himself, his "bizarre, gothic style of -architecture," and that kind of thing. He pokes fun, slyly, at himself, -and watches the effect on other people. Instead of "guying" other, and -sensitive, people--(notice, I say sensitive, _not_ sensible),--he guys -himself, and the more absurd the picture he can draw of himself the more -he seems to enjoy it. He is original, quaint, individualistic, truly -funny, not a mere retailer of old chestnuts, warmed over at the brazier -of his wit, but a creator, a real _maker_ of humor, and the result is -people sit and laugh and laugh, and then laugh some more, and when it -is all over go away wondering what it was all about. But there is no -sarcasm, no sting, no malice in the fun, no one is hurt, everything is -as harmless as the frolics of a young lamb. - -So it was with dear little Marshall Wilder. Dear Marsh! how I loved him! -Handicapped with a distorted body, his mind was as quick as lightning. -How well I remember running in upon him in his bedroom in a hotel in -Buffalo one morning and asking him to come down to a breakfast table of -friends who had assembled to give me a "Good-by." Though he was not -well, he hastily threw on his clothes, came down, and for an hour -brightened our circle, with some of the most flashing, bright, and -spontaneous wit I ever heard. Everybody was charmed, delighted, -thrilled, for he sprang from gay to grave, laughter to tears, jollity to -pathos so startlingly quick as to keep us with one hand to our eyes, -wiping away the tears, when we had originally raised them to hide our -wide-open, laughing mouths. He loved to make others happy; he was ever -ready to plunge deep into the pool of simple-hearted pure fun. Who will -ever forget that day when he, Elbert Hubbard, Von Liebich, with half a -dozen or more of the brightest minds of the Continent, who were visiting -at Roycroft together, planned to go to the Pan-American Exposition at -Buffalo. I was privileged to be of the number. We planned to go as a -lot of country joskins, real "Hicks," with hayseed in our hair, and -carrying our carpet-bags with us. As I was the only bewhiskered man of -the "bunch," I was made the victim. I was to dress in country style, go -down the "Midway"--or whatever the street of shows was called--and -attract the attention of the "barkers" and draw their fire. Then the -others were to saunter up and we, in turn, would open up our fire upon -the barker. Can you imagine the results? We carried out the plan exactly -as contemplated. I ate liquorice and let the juice flow down from the -corners of my mouth, so that it looked like tobacco juice, I gaped at -everything, and listened with wide-eyed wonder, I felt like a -countryman, so now I looked like one, and I became, immediately, the -butt of the jokes and jests of the "spieler" of the show before which I -stood. I think I can fairly hold my own in such a combat, and the -audience that was assembled, generally seemed to think so, but imagine -the way the fur began to fly when Hubbard arrived and chipped in, and -Marshall and Von, and Bert II, and each of the others. Talk about a -stranger dog set on by a dozen home dogs--it was nothing, compared with -the fun we had badgering and baiting that over-confident spieler. Then I -moved on to the next stand, far enough away, however, so that no one -was aware of our plot. The crowd soon "tumbled" and followed, and we -repeated the game to the infinite amazement of the discomfited -"barkers." It was the wildest revelry of good-natured, good-humored, -spontaneous fun I have ever engaged in, and a thousand years can never -efface its memory. - -Dignity! What had we to do with dignity? We were fun-makers, -delight-makers, like the old-time Indians of the cliff-dwelling days, -and we went into the game with vim, energy, earnestness, abandon, and -enthusiasm. - -And I learned a wonderful lesson, once, from Marshall Wilder, that was -worth many a long-winded sermon for practical usefulness in meeting the -hardships, the woes, the pains of life. I was on the stage of a theater -with him, just preparatory to his "act." He was suffering excruciating -agony--as he often did, from his frail and deformed body--and sweat was -pouring down his brow and cheeks. "Put your arms around me, and love me -tight, George!" he gasped, "hold me tight," and I held him, clasping his -hands also in mine. He gripped me with fierce intensity, clearly -indicating the pain he was in, and thus we stood, until the call came -for him. Then, wiping his brow and face, with a smile that was at once -ghastly and sweet in its pathos, he rushed before his audience, and had -them laughing at his merry quips and quirks, his jests and jokes, -before I could recover from the sympathy I felt for his deep suffering. -Brave, courageous, plucky Marsh. Ready to make fun for others in spite -of his own pain. How often when men come to me with long drawn-out tales -of their woes, _their_ pains, _their_ sufferings, _their_ trials, -_their_ hardships, do I feel like saying to them: "Cut it out! Go and do -as did Marsh Wilder. Make some one else laugh. Make some one else happy, -and you'll forget your own troubles!" For it is true. The very effort of -concentration upon making others laugh, or add to their happiness, -largely, if not completely, leads to a forgetfulness of one's own woes. - -Then, too, the man who can laugh at himself wins a hearing from the -world that nothing else can gain for him. There is an appeal, somehow, -in this fact, that is irresistible. Bishop Peck, of the M. E. Church, -was a Falstaffian build of man. Indeed, it is said that he weighed a -full pound for every day in the year. A man with three hundred and -sixty-five pounds of corporeal presence naturally possessed an -aldermanic "front" of compelling proportions. On one occasion the Bishop -was called upon at the General Conference (which, I believe, that year -met in Baltimore), to represent the church upon the Pacific Coast. The -good bishop had a habit of always stroking, or smoothing down his vest, -when beginning his address, and at this time, as he arose, and began his -deliberate strokings of his vast and protuberant rotundity, he -accompanied it with the words: "Brethren, the Pacific Slope greets you!" - -His amazement, as a perfect roar of laughter greeted him and shook the -building, can well be imagined, yet he did not lose his _sang-froid_. In -another moment he had grasped the fun of the situation, and laughing -with the vast audience, seized upon that as a theme upon which he played -with eloquence, fervor, and power in an extemporized speech which, as -many who heard it say, he never surpassed in his life. - -Suppose his "dignity" had prevented his joining in the laugh at himself! -What an opportunity he would have lost. - -I saw a similar event once in the Free Trade Hall, in Manchester, -England. That great assembly hall was crowded, awaiting the coming upon -the platform of the Conference of all the Baptist Ministers of Great -Britain. We had been waiting some time and I, for one, was young enough -to be impatient as the time announced drew near. It was in the days of -Moody and Sankey's great revivals in England, and Sankey's hymn, "Hold -the Fort!" had captured the church-going ear. To pass away the time I -started the song. The audience caught on. We sang the first verse and -the chorus with vim and fervor. Then, just as we began the second verse, -the body of ministers began to march on to the platform, led by their -gray-haired president. Recall the lines and imagine the result as the -words of the marching ministers were united in our thoughts! - - See the mighty host advancing - Satan leading on! - -Some of us shrieked with laughter. One man near me nearly had a fit of -hysterics. They say Englishmen can't see a joke. I never saw an American -audience "catch on" any quicker than did that Manchester one. In a -moment the singing stopped and the place was in an uproar of wildest -laughter. The good president at first seemed nonplused and confused, but -some one must have explained it to him, for before the ministers had -scarce taken their seats, he advanced to the edge of the platform, -secured silence, and began to the effect: "Beloved friends! If we seem -like the hosts of evil, marching with Satan at their head, we belie our -looks. The Evil One has blinded your eyes. We are the army of the other -side. We are Christian soldiers, engaged in a never-to-cease conflict -with that army of evil that we shall assuredly conquer," and so on, -giving one of the most pertinent, direct, spontaneous, and truly -eloquent of addresses. - -He rose to the occasion--joined in the laugh upon himself, won his -audience, and then used the sympathy he had gained, to strike home some -deep and important truths. - -This is what I want to live, to radiate: love of humor, readiness to -laugh at it even though it be laughing at myself, ready to make it when -I can for others, ready to join in other people's appreciation of it. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -RADIANCIES OF THE "ETERNAL NOW" - - -Is there any past, any future, in our lives? If I look back upon the -past, or anticipate the future, whether with joy or pleasure, do I not -do it in the _now_? To-morrow never comes, for when it arrives it is no -longer to-morrow,--it is _now_. Life is one _eternal now_. The great -trouble, however, with most people, is that they have not learned that -fact. They do not live in the _now_, they sit down and lament over the -past; weep that its joys are gone, its glories faded, altogether -oblivious of the resplendent beauties that now surround them, the -radiant joyousnesses that environ them, NOW. Or, they sit in fond -anticipation, in expectation, with impatient waiting for to-morrow, for -next week, for next year, ignoring the immediate and present sweet -singing of the birds, the exquisite daintiness of the flowers, their -delicate fragrance, the majesty and sublimity of the snowy mountain -peaks, the upright stateliness of the trees, the supernal clarity of the -sky, the pellucidness of the atmosphere, the champagne-like quality of -the air, NOW. - -What time we lose, waste, pervert, by forgetting the duty, the joy, the -delight of living in the Eternal Now. Take your joys as they come along. -It is the Divine plan that every moment shall be filled with His -joy--the joy of living, of being. - -Eyes are given to see with _now_! Are you using them now? Do you gaze -upon the grass, the trees, the flitting butterflies, the busy insects, -the bees, the beautiful birds, the clouds, the sky, the sea, the -rippling cascades, the _everything_ of Nature, NOW, and enjoy their -many-formed, many-hued, many-graced splendors. - -Ears are given for hearing _now_! - -Are yours alert for all the sweet, the pleasant, the comforting, the -joyous, the sublime sounds that might come to them now? Or are you like -the "fools and blind" who will sit at a Boston Symphony concert and -gabble gossip or retail slander? - -Palates are given to taste with _now_! - -Are you tasting the apples, the rare lusciousness of grapes, peaches, -oranges, plums, and the thousand and one delicate fruits _now_, or are -you regretting the lost truffles, the sauces, the spices, the wines, the -stimulating things of yesterday, or longing for the Lucullus repasts of -to-morrow? - -Oh, the content and happiness of taking joys as they come, in their -simpleness and naturalness, in their every-day, common, normal order; of -looking for them, expecting them, anticipating them, going out, as it -were, to meet them. - -Is it only a walk of ten blocks (or five) to the store, or office, or -school? Are you ready as you step out of your door to inhale the -fragrance of the morning air, or enjoy its own peculiar delight if the -morning is wet, misty, foggy, rainy? Do you see the moving and sun-lit -clouds; the clear sky, the rustling leaves of the trees; the hopping of -the happy birds; the joyousness of the children walking to school? - -Be alert, receptive, ready. Seize the _small joy of the now_, and you -will find it far more delightful than all the anticipations, and even -the realizations of what seem to be the _large joys of the to-morrow_. - -One of the saddest pictures on canvas to me is one called "The Pursuit -of Pleasure." It represents a female figure as _Pleasure_, floating -through the air, and followed by an eager crowd of men and women, of all -ages and conditions in life. Reaching, grasping, breathless, regardless -of their tramplings upon each other, indifferent that some of their -whilom companions are fallen and cannot arise, and that hopeless despair -is depicted in their eyes and faces, each and all of the remaining -strugglers fix their eyes upon the phantom though alluring figure. And -thus the pursuit goes on continuously; there is no reaching her; she is -ever illusive and evasive, a delusion and a snare, ever beckoning yet -ever retreating. - -In her sculptured fountain at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, Mrs. Harry -Payne Whitney expresses the same idea, but even more forcefully than -does the picture. Here are thirty-seven figures nearly all intent upon -reaching their goal of happiness. They cannot even see what it is. Yet -the eagerness depicted upon the faces, in the straining attitudes, the -strenuous striving in that one direction, all typify the desire, the -intentness, the resolute pursuit of happiness. Then, alas, when the -doors are reached, they are both found closed, guarded by Assyrian and -Egyptian figures, that suggest the occult mystery of the beyond, and -that look down sternly and unyieldingly upon the two figures at their -feet, long strivers, evidently pleading for the admission that is denied -them. There are two definite, distinct, and different ways in which -these two allegories can be interpreted. One is that mankind ever lives -in the world of the senses, pursuing the gratifications of the now, the -feastings, the drinkings, the carousings, the pleasuring, the wantonings -of the sense-life, the sensual life, and that such a pursuit is ever -doomed to failure, for man--the spiritual, created in God's own -image--can never be satisfied with the temporary things of earth and -sense. - -The other interpretation is that man is ever seeking for some _far-off_, -great, _extraordinary_ pleasure, joy, or satisfaction, something in the -future, rather than living in the smaller joys of the _now_. The child -longs to be the youth or maiden, enjoying "sitting up at nights," "going -to parties," "eating candies," "going out with the boys," "smoking like -a man"; the youth eagerly works for the time when he shall be his own -master, control his own business; the maiden, have her lover, marry -successfully, become the mistress of her own house; the grown man looks -forward to and works desperately for the time when he shall have "made -his pile," and the woman to "an assured place in society." These, and a -thousand and one "_pursuits_" engage men and women. - -In my own life I am eagerly desirous to radiate the opposite of both of -these conceptions. I certainly do not wish to belong to the class -pictured in Christ's parable of the rich man; he who thought only of the -so-called good things of this life which he would enjoy now--he who -said: "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die." The -slightest observation of life, of the men and women one meets daily, -soon convinces one of the hollowness, the dissatisfaction, the -incompleteness of all earthly things. The subject is too trite to need -any amplification. Yet, the wonder of it is, that, in spite of this -fact, the great majority of people still thus strive for wealth, place, -power, honor, social success, possessions, attainments. Why is it that -this _ignis fatuus_ has such power of allurement? Why is it that men -and women are so foolish, so slow to rule their actions by their own -inner spiritual awakenings, rather than the habits and fashions followed -by others? - -I have no desire or ambition for fame, for honor, for success, for -place, for power, _as such_. They are useless to me save as I may use -them for the benefit, the happiness, the pleasure of my fellows. I am -slowly awakening to the realization of what I believe now to be a primal -fact, viz., that all a man can really hold and enjoy in his living hand, -in his soul, in his life, is that which he gives away, shares, -distributes among his fellows. - -Elsewhere I have quoted Joaquin Miller's lines from _Peter Cooper_: - - For all you can hold in your dead, cold hand, - Is what you have given away. - -I now wish to radiate my belief in the enlargement of that idea as -stated above. Even knowledge can give no real satisfaction unless -shared, given to others; the joy of a picture owned is lost unless -others can enjoy with you. In other words, the possession of anything -_for self alone_ is destructive of happiness. One learns slowly but -surely that even in these things of the mind and the soul: - - That man who lives for self alone - Lives for the meanest mortal known. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -RADIANCIES OF EXTREMES - - -Life is made up of extremes and everything that comes between them. -There is the North Pole and there is the South Pole. There is the heat -of the fiery furnace and the cold of the Arctic Zone. There is the -height of heaven and the depth of hell; the voice of the thunder and the -whisper of the gentle zephyr. - -Man is a singular being. He is as diverse as is the manifold face of -Nature upon which he gazes. His likes and dislikes are many and varied. -Men of equal intelligence and equal powers differ in their ways of -looking at the same thing. The poet Browning effectively states this -when he says: - - Ten men love what I hate, - Shun what I follow, slight what I receive; - Ten, who in ears and eyes - Match mine. - -In the face of such facts one is compelled to the conclusion that -personal idiosyncrasy or individual preference alone can decide what it -wants, needs, and must have, in this large diversity that is offered -it. - -The fact that ten men who have equal powers of observation and -reflection as myself love the things that I hate, and reject the things -that I receive, has absolutely no influence in deciding me in regard to -the things that I hate and receive, any more than the fact that I hate -and receive things to which they have the antagonistic feeling -influences them; hence it is useless for me to attempt to enforce my -likings and antipathies upon others, even as it is useless for them to -attempt to force theirs upon me. - -So I have been led to accept the philosophy, which I wish to radiate to -all men, that it appears to me the Divine Wisdom has provided for these -personal idiosyncrasies of human nature by giving to us the extremes of -things with everything that lies between. So, regardless of my own -preference, I believe that the strong wind is as much a beneficent force -of Nature as is the zephyr; the thundering cataract of Yosemite as the -placid Mirror Lake; the avalanche as the snowflake; the thunder as the -violet; the earthquake as the rippling rill; the blazing meteor as the -Milky Way; the flaming sun-spots as the sparkling dewdrop; the fiery -volcano as the quiet glowworm; the giant sequoia as the tiny -forget-me-not; the thundering breakers of ocean as the gentle pattering -raindrop; the fiery boiling geyser as the silently flowing fountain; the -dazzling comet as the serene fixed star; the rugged Grand Canyon as the -flower-besprinkled sward; the monster whale as the tiny gold-fish; the -giant elephant as the timid mouse; the blaring trumpet as the soothing -guitar; the startling kettle-drum as the smoothly flowing 'cello; the -clanging cymbals as the seductive oboe. - -I firmly believe and wish to radiate my belief that God has as much use -for the man of the farm as for the man of the drawing-room; the rudeness -of "The man with the hoe" as the smoothness of the man with the higher -education. He needs the arid desert as well as the fertile plain; the -wild ruggedness of the ravine as well as the cultivated garden; the -colorless abysses of the glacier as well as the flower-besprinkled -foothills. He has use for the snowy plains of the north as well as the -rice fields of the south; the cactus as well as the orchid; the giant -suaharo as well as the shrinking gilia; the prickly pear, as the velvety -peach; the sword-fish, as the nautilus; the shark as the flying-fish; -the flaming sunrises and sunsets, as the tender tints of the lily, and -the night-blooming cereus; the deep purples, as well as the blush rose; -the glowing yellows as the softer blues; the piercing greens as the -quieter violets. The bluffs and promontories that thrust their heads out -into the ocean are as much a part of God's great out-of-doors and of as -much use as are the placid landscapes; the mountain heights as much -needed as are the flower-bespangled levels; the vast reaches of prairie -as the secluded and confined valley. The piercing cold of the Arctic has -as much a place in Nature as the alluring mildness of Southern -California or the Riviera; the monster tides of the Bay of Fundy as the -ripples of the placid pool. - -The sturdy and warlike Viking has as much a place in history as the -diplomatic and artistic Italian; the Negro as the Caucasian; the -Chinaman as the French; the Oriental as the English; the Japanese as the -American. - -El Capitan and Gibraltar are not exquisitely carved statues by Canova or -Thorwaldsen, but they have just as much a place in the history of the -world's development. - -The wilds of the high Sierras, in all their rude and majestic splendor, -rugged and tremendous vastness, where clear-eyed, horny-handed, -strong-oathed, and rudely clad men wander and labor, are very different -from the city drawing-rooms,--those places of pink teas and white -kid-gloved men and women; those breeding places of superficial -conventionality and effete conceptions of people and life, but I doubt -not that the high Sierras have produced more of benefit to mankind than -all the drawing-rooms of all the civilizations. - -I love the pastoral and quiet landscapes of the Connecticut River -Valley, of placid Killarney, of the quiet vale of Avoca, of picturesque -Normandy, but the passion, power, majesty, sublimity, solitude, -dreariness and desolation of the far-reaching Colorado Desert, deep -descending Grand Canyon, bold escarpments of the Red Rock country, and -other tremendous and solitary places of Nature command me, allure me, -appeal to me, and dominate me quicker than the quiet places of beauty. - -What, in Nature, to some men is the end of things to others is the -beginning. The sacred writer says that God even "maketh the wrath of men -to praise him," as well as their love and tenderness. - -Life is not all comprised about a slender figure and transparent -profile; faultless coils of hair; soft, rich, clinging garments; laces -falling over taper fingers; graceful and dignified demeanor; low and -sweetly modulated voice, and the perfection of faultless manners. There -may be a place for the rude, uncouth clodhopper with disfigured -features; tousled hair; clad in homespun or cheap denim; rags taking the -place of lace; boorish and clumsy demeanor; a voice like a steamer -foghorn; and the apotheosis of all that is blundering and awkward in -manner. - -I do not, for one moment, defend any unnecessary boorishness or -uncouthness of manner, and must not be understood as doing so, but at -the same time, in spite of these things, I am impelled to state my -conviction that the latter class is more needful to the real progress -of the world than the former. I notice that several times in the history -of the world, canal-drivers, shepherd-boys, wood-choppers, and -rail-splitters have made wonderful pilots for the Ship of State. - -God has use in His world for the rough as well as the polished; the roar -of the thunder as well as the coo of the dove; the stentorian -trumpet-tone as well as the still, small voice. John the Baptist came -from the desert robed in skins and camel's hair; his voice, doubtless, -was not soft and well-modulated as were those of Herodias and Salome. He -was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness." His call contained the -thunder tones of the storm and wild cry of the lonely eagle seeking its -solitary aerie; the strength and the roar of the lion. It was neither -refined, pleasing, nor cultured, but it possessed life and power and it -was chosen to herald the coming of the Messiah. - -Nowhere have we been told that Elijah, Jeremiah and Daniel were noted -for the soft and dulcet tones of their voices, yet they were the chosen -instruments of the Divine in overthrowing dynasties and changing the -history of nations. Peter the Hermit was not a sweet-voiced singer in -Israel, but he started a movement that led to the civilization of -Europe. I doubt not that the charges of the British against Joan of Arc -that she cried in a coarse military voice when she led the armored -hosts of France were true, but she drove the foreign invader from the -soil of her beloved France where they had held footing for nigh upon a -hundred years and no one else had been able to win a victory from them. - -I doubt not there were times when Grant's voice did not possess the -mellow and refined quality of the drawing-room exquisite, but he won -victories and made a united people possible. John Brown was rude, rough, -uncouth, boorish, when compared with the refined and polished cavaliers -of the South. They called him a bandit, an invader, a revolutionist, an -anarchist, and they captured and hanged him, but to thousands of men his -crazy dream of the invasion of the South to forcibly compel the freedom -of the slave is being more and more seen by hundreds of thousands of -wise men to have been one of the most practical and effective means of -calling the attention of men to the moral principle involved in the -question of slavery, as to whether men of one color of blood or skin had -the right to hold in bondage men of a different color. - -When Theodore Parker was denouncing the iniquities of any and all -slavery, his voice was not as soft and gentle and sweetly modulated as -that of Longfellow, yet it played as important a part in the history of -the development of mankind and stirred men to higher endeavor on the -part of their suffering and down-trodden fellows. - -What, then, is the upshot of the whole matter? It seems to me it is -this: Listen to the voice that appeals to your own soul; that lifts you -from the lower to the higher; that thrills you to deeds of heroism, that -stimulates you to acts of nobleness, that calls you to a life of helpful -self-sacrifice; and while doing this, cease to criticise, to find fault, -to censure the kind of voice to which you do not care to listen. The -strong, vigorous, robust, red-blooded man of the out-of-doors generally -will not speak nor act with the perfect restraint and conventionality of -the man born in the atmosphere of the drawing-room, but his message may -be just as helpful to the world, and as divinely inspired as that of his -more refined and dignified prototype. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ABSORPTION IN RELATION TO RADIATION - - -Most important factors in Living the Radiant Life are Living the Life of -_Possession_ and Living the Absorptive Life. To radiate one must -possess, and to possess one must absorb. To give largely and well, one -must receive largely and well. The Absorptive Life is as essential as -the Radiant Life. Out in the great silences are the eloquent voices of -God ready to speak to the attentive soul; out in Nature a million voices -are ready to impart knowledge to the ignorant. All one has to do to -receive is to "ask"; not with the voice but with the whole being. As a -sponge absorbs water up to the limit of its capacity, so should man -absorb, and then, unlike the sponge, which must be squeezed from without -ere it will give off that which it has received, man should radiate from -within all that he has received. - -There are few people in the world who are true absorbers. We are so full -of prejudices, conceits, notions, that we refuse to receive from this, -that, or the other source, because, forsooth, we in our pride deem the -source unworthy. The true life receives from every source. Call nothing -unclean. All things are yours. God is over and in all. Prove all things. -Open your heart to all good from whatever source. Stand humbly before -God ready to receive. Keep your hands open; your eyes, your ears, your -nostrils, your whole nature in a state of active receptivity. Be afraid -of nothing. Some one comes and tells you that in this or that he has -found spiritual life and help. You, however, have been taught to regard -that as a dangerous thing, so you are afraid of it. Arise and be above -such fears. Are you a man, a woman, a human soul, made in the image of -God and given powers of thought, of discernment, of decision? Or are you -a mere puppet to be worked by the string of other men's thoughts, other -men's ideas, other men's opinions? Listen for yourself; think for -yourself; decide for yourself; act for yourself. If a thing seems right -to your own soul do it though the heavens fall and you suffer the -condemnation of all mankind. True and rapid progress will never come to -the race until individual men learn that they alone are the arbiters of -their own destiny. - -Go out into Nature, into the silences, into the workshops and the marts -of trade _and absorb_. Listen to every good voice that speaks, and if -you are not sure whether the voice is good or not, listen anyhow and -"prove" it by the infallible tests of purity, unselfishness, and uplift. - -Every human soul may be a wireless telegraph receiver. God is flashing -out messages every moment from His million and one instruments all over -the universe. They are all kinds of messages--but all from the one -spirit, and therefore all spiritual. They appeal to the bodies, the -minds, the souls of men, and all you have to do to receive them is to -have your receiving apparatus of body, mind, and soul attuned to the -sending apparatus of the Loving Sender. Get in tune. Cry out to God: I -want all there is. I cast aside all prejudgments, all conceits, all -ideas. Let me hear direct from Thee. Go out into the fields and receive -from the spirit that is in, over, and about Nature. Every tree, flower, -grass, bird, insect, animal, cloud, storm, rock, stream has a message -for you if you will but hear it. Love alone can open your heart to -receive; it is the key with which the soul and mind and body are set in -tune. Get yourself into _relationship_ with Nature. Feel your kinship. -God is the Father of every tree as much as he is your Father. Go and -claim your family. And claim all the good they possess as your own, for -it is yours and merely awaits your taking. As a child you did this with -your mother. The nourishment of her breasts, the gentle hush of her -voice, the soothing touch of her fingers, the brooding yearning of her -love; all these were yours the moment you cried out for them. Mother -Nature is as full of the spirit of Love as your physical mother. Indeed -the latter is one in spirit with the former. Call out then. Demand, with -the simple expectancy of the child, all that you need. Call for it -confident that it will come. Expect it, and according to your expectancy -it will be given unto you. - -But to do this you must be a true child of your Nature Mother. You must -confidently lean on her breast, you must confidently blend yourself with -her, you must let her touch you as your mother used to touch you when, a -helpless babe, you lay in your cradle. Her hand went all over your body, -from head to foot, with loving, soothing caress. Let the sun and the -breezes touch your body in like fashion. Their fingers will soothe with -mesmeric power and at the same time bring health and strength and vigor, -and withal, peace. Go and lie down on the bosom of the Earth Mother; -feel her pulsating heart, and in time, when you have forgotten your -artificiality and pretension, your so-called civilization and culture, -and found anew your kinship with the Earth, you will feel the whole -power of Nature pulsing through your veins; the fever of your unhealthy -blood will be soothed and it will flow naturally and coolly as the sweet -sap that ascends to the nourishment of the topmost branch and leaf. - -And when life has wounded you, cut you, torn you almost limb from limb, -and you feel and see yourself only an almost dismembered trunk, Nature -will soothe and heal you. Your wounds will soon be scarred over and the -trees, the ferns, the birds, the grasses, the squirrels, the bees, the -buds, the blossoms, and the butterflies,--all--will associate with you -on equal terms. They will neither laugh at you nor repel you, but as -loving friends come and associate with you in sweet and dear kinship. -You will walk through the aisled forest temples of God repentant and -forgiven for sins of the past, and shame and sorrow will flee away, -replaced by the calm joy of the peace that flows into the receiving -heart like a river. You will undress and bathe in the sunshine and the -pools, the creeks and the rivers, fearless and unabashed, for you will -have exposed your soul to the soul of things; real shame has nothing to -do with externals. - -But, you ask, how am I to begin to observe and thus absorb the good -gifts of God into my very life in order that I may live and radiate them -to others? Let me help you to begin! - -To be satisfied is to stagnate and petrify. In his _Rabbi Ben Ezra_, -Robert Browning has three pregnant lines: - - What I aspired to be, - And was not, comforts me: - A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale. - -The aspiring soul is the one reaching out to absorb. One might be a -satisfied brute by closing all the avenues of aspiration and high -ambition, but it is immeasurably better to be an unsatisfied, aspiring -man rather than the satisfied low-minded brute. - -Aspiration is the hunger of the soul. Hunger implies need. So -foster--cultivate--your hunger. The hungry seek for food, and food gives -new life, new growth, new strength, new power. The Universe of God is -full of food for man's mind and soul. And it is of infinite variety, -capable of nourishing myriads of soul-powers that now lie dormant in -your nature. Awaken to your needs. Be on the lookout every moment for -the free gifts of God that hang from the trees of life that grow in -every back yard as well as on high mountains and in every fertile -orchard. - -There is a great deal more in this expression, "cultivate a hunger," -than at first sight appears. People who satisfy their lower appetites -know nothing of the true hunger of the soul. And consequently when they -see the food designed by the Almighty Love and Wisdom to satisfy to the -full all the demands of true hunger, these grossly contented minds pass -them by, their eyes are closed so that they see not; their senses are -dulled so that they smell not, hear not, feel not, taste not. I have -seen people fast from every kind of food, solid or liquid, for ten, -twenty, thirty or forty, and in one case even for eighty days. At the -end of these fasts, the fasters related with delight their keen pleasure -and satisfaction at realizing what real hunger was as differentiated -from the mere appetite for food that they had felt prior to their fasts. -As a rule we eat too much. We satiate ourselves upon foods that are not -always good for us, and thus destroy the true normal appetite for pure, -good, healthful, simple foods. - -Among these people who fasted were several who were thin and poorly -nourished, and yet who had abnormal appetites and ate far more food than -those who were robust, hearty, vigorous, and strong. The physician said, -what was self-evident, that the more food they ate, the less nourished -they became, because they overloaded themselves with food and much of it -was the wrong kind. It was hard work for these people to fast, but at -the close of the fast, their abnormal and unnatural appetite had -disappeared and in its stead had come a true, normal hunger which -revealed to them the right kind of food that they should eat to satisfy -the demands of the body and which, when they did eat, was immediately -assimilated. The result was that within a month or two, after having -learned what real hunger was as differentiated from perverted appetite, -they were fat and rosy, plump and vigorous, beautiful and energetic. - -It is exactly the same in our mental and spiritual life. We feed upon -the grosser foods to satiation and repletion and the result is that we -suffer from mental and spiritual dyspepsia and are pale, thin, anæmic -and weak, where we should be beautiful, vigorous, energetic, and strong. -Quit stuffing and craving the lower foods. Stay away from the theater, -the vaudeville, the cheap show. Quit reading the sensational novel, the -trashy story of excitement. Give your brain, your mind, your soul, a -rest. Fast a while. Do as Elijah did, as Jesus, as Mahomet. Go into the -desert, the solitude, and for forty days and nights rest, body, mind, -and soul, until real hunger takes possession of you. Then come forth and -begin to absorb from all the great wealth of God that surrounds you. - -There are three chief sources of purest mind and soul supply and I wish -briefly to consider each one of these. They are: 1. Observation. 2. -Reading. 3. Intuition. - -This may not be a scientific classification, but it suffices for my -purpose. I have not put the most important first, but observation is the -one man most relies upon. - -1. Observation is God's method of filling up the inner supply of man's -knowledge through the senses. He sees, feels, hears, smells, tastes, and -through these avenues receives mental impressions. One can observe the -lower things or the higher. Every day as I ride on the train or street -cars, I observe men reading their newspapers. As a rule I can tell in a -few minutes what a man's mental hunger is by watching him read. He -chooses the pink sheet and devours with avidity the stories of prize -fights. He turns to the pages devoted to courts and reads the accounts -of murder trials or of scenes where lawyers quarrel or jangle and where -witnesses testify to disgusting and loathsome things. Another man is -interested in clean athletics and reads with interest of college -football, Marathon games, and the like. Still another is absorbed in the -news of a higher nature, a meeting of the Hague Peace Conference, the -endeavors of statesmen to bring about a better understanding between the -North and the South, between nations. In other words, a man takes what -his appetite craves out of the newspaper. Just so it is with all life. -Men take whatever their appetites crave. If the appetite is false, -unnatural, abnormal, they take injurious food. Only when the depraved -appetite becomes changed into natural, normal hunger, is the right kind -of food sought and found. Yet there is immeasurably more of the pure, -good food to satisfy the perfect, normal hunger, than there is of the -carrion which the vulture instincts in us crave. - -2. Reading. While I have put this under a separate head, it really -belongs under the head of observation, for the reading of books is but -observation of the observations of other men. Yet, as I shall show -later, this is a special field which one should endeavor to glean with -care. - -3. Intuition. To the really normally hungry soul, this is the chief, -indeed, the only source of spiritual food. It is what Emerson called the -"Oversoul," and what Doctor Buck meant when, in speaking of Walt -Whitman, he said he possessed the "cosmic conscience." It is -receptiveness to universal truth, Divine truth, that truth which knows -no time, no place, no boundaries of nationality, no difference in creed, -in sect, in sex, in color, but that, like the sun, shines alike upon -all, whether bond or free, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, black, -white, brown, or red, savage or civilized. It is the spirit that -possessed--in varying degrees--Gautama, Buddha, Confucius, Mahomet, -Jesus, Joan of Arc, Emerson, Browning, Whitman, all great souls who have -seen the truth universal and recorded it for the uplift and ennobling of -mankind. - -May I here suggest a few ideas as to how you should begin to absorb the -good things of God in order to get the fullest benefit from them, and -then let us go out together and absorb some of the things that will make -one a newer, fuller, more vigorous and truly radiant being. - -Get into the habit of looking out of your bedroom window at the skies -each night before you retire to rest. Is it clear? Study that brilliant -scheme of stars and planets. What grander sight could you ask for? Yet -every common man and woman may see it from the smallest attic or -hall-bedroom window. Is the moon in the heavens dimming the stars but -flooding the earth with dream-light? Can you see the great wonderful -clouds floating about in the night's silences away up under the light of -the moon or against the sparkling of the far off stars? Or is the sky -dark and lowering with black clouds so that you can see nothing as yet? -What a wonderful thing that cloud screen is; that soft, moist vapor -piled in great billows above us, shutting out the heavens and their -wonders from our gaze. How dark it seems on the earth beneath. How shut -away from the brightness and serenity of the stars. Yet we know that the -clouds are but temporary, that they will soon pass over, and that we are -perfectly safe nestling here on the quiet bosom of mother earth. - -Look up to the heavens _every night_ for some intellectual and spiritual -food, just as you go to the dining-room, _only more so_. Form the habit! - -Study the stars as David did. They are as free to you as they were to -him. The poorest beggar and the most degraded sot have as much claim to -the stars as the king on his throne or the most divine man that ever -lived. What a wonderful drama is being nightly played in the skies. How -much more interesting and attractive to the seeing and understanding eye -than the puppet shows of the theater, where there is so much of the -glare, the tinsel, the sham, the shoddy. - -The Passion Play of Oberammergau is well worth seeing. To witness and -hear the dramas of Wagner is worth while, especially soul-stirring -_Parsifal_, but here in the heavens is the great mystery of the Creator, -watched over, guarded, protected by these bright armored knights,--the -stars and the planets, the comets, the nebulæ, the milky way,--with a -vigilance which is as keen as it is eternal. - -A thoughtful girl once wrote me to the effect that after she first began -to realize the glories of the stars, she prayed to a different God from -the God she had always associated with formality, churches, prayer -books, creeds, and the communion service. She said, in effect, that her -prayer became less glib, less wordy, less ready, for the stars inspired -her with the sense of majesty and awe of the Great Creator, so that she -came before Him with words that meant more even though they came with -less smoothness of utterance. Awe will take the place of smug -self-satisfaction; the obeisance of the soul to mere bending of the -knees; an all-sweeping passion for uplift rather than vain repetitions -and selfish cries for more of the baubles of life to play with. There is -no doubt whatever that Tennyson had some such thoughts in mind when he -wrote in _Locksley Hall_: - - Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest, - Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West. - Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade, - Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid. - -Longfellow, too, has an exquisite poem on _The Light of the Stars_: - - The night has come, but not too soon; - And sinking silently, - All silently, the little moon - Drops down behind the sky. - - There is no light in earth or heaven - But the cold light of stars; - And the first watch of night is given - the red planet Mars. - - Is it the tender star of love? - The star of love and dreams? - O no! from that blue tent above, - A hero's armor gleams. - - And earnest thoughts within me rise, - When I behold afar, - Suspended in the evening skies, - The shield of that red star. - - O star of strength! I see thee stand - And smile upon my brain; - Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand, - And I am strong again. - - Within my heart there is no light - But the cold light of stars; - I give the first watch of the night - To the red planet Mars. - - The star of the unconquered will - He rises in my heart - Serene, and resolute, and still, - And calm, and self-possessed. - - And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art, - That readest this brief psalm, - As one by one thy hopes depart, - Be resolute and calm. - - O fear not in a world like this, - And thou shalt know ere long, - Know how sublime a thing it is - To suffer and be strong. - -So study the stars, get from them all you can. Let their serenity sink -into your soul, and their calm peace speak peace to your troubled and -restless spirit. Yield to your imagination as to whatever they bring -you, and be thankful for every suggestion of largeness, bigness, power, -and love. - -In his _Saul_, Browning has David tell how the stars suggested to him -the life of the people far away, who dwelt far beyond the possibility of -his ever seeking them. How could he, the poor and humble shepherd lad, -ever hope to see and know these people? Yet he could picture them. So -can you. Let your imagination grow! Let it roam! Enjoy all it gives to -you of good and inspiration. Think of the life you might live if you had -the power some of these people have, and then seek to live worthy of -that larger life even in the restricted sphere in which you are placed. - -But there are other things in the heavens, almost as common as the -stars, that may become a great and glorious inspiration to you. - -I once saw a display of lightning that came to me as a revelation from -God. It was so vivid and intense that the friends who were with me, old -Arizona pioneers who had braved hundreds of storms, were afraid, and -like myself hid their faces in their blankets. But by and by the -absurdity of this act struck me;--as if we were safer with our heads -covered than if we were taking in the sight in all its sublimity and -terrible splendor. So I resolutely cast my blanket aside, and although I -had not yet gotten over the shaking of my knees, I stepped to the cabin -door and enjoyed the splendid scene to the full. - -Who could hope to describe this display so that others can see it, or to -be believed if he even attempts to picture the intense and vivid -brilliancy of that evening's marvelous fire-works? For a few moments we -were enveloped in a "darkness that could be felt," and then, in a -moment, what seemed to be hundreds of millions of darting, zig-zag forks -of lightning struck downwards through the heavens in every direction. We -were encircled in these myriad flashes of vivid violet light that almost -blinded us with their brilliancy. For an hour or more this display -continued. But it was a sight that I can never forget, and it gave me a -new insight, and new thoughts about the glory of God. - -I have sat in the grass on a summer night or have walked many a mile -both in the South and in the West watching the scintillating, yet soft -and delicate, light of the fireflies as they sparkled and twinkled at my -feet and in the air all about me. With a sort of irregular yet rhythmic -movement they opened and closed their tiny lanterns, and interested, -fascinated, and thrilled me by the perfection of their simple beauty. - -With equal fascination I have watched the phosphorescent glow on the -ocean beach, as the great foam-crested breakers curved over and dashed -shoreward, gleaming with that peculiarly weird brilliancy, altogether -different from any other light known to man. It is even more fascinating -when seen in the amethystine waters of the Gulf of Mexico, as the -steamer plows its way through the yielding waters and casts the -gleaming and phosphorescent spray from side to side in the otherwise -dark and silent night. - -Talk about the beauties of Nature! Once begin on such a theme and there -seems to be no end. A thousand and one things crowd upon the mind -begging, clamoring for utterance in this record, but space forbids. Do -not say you cannot see, do not say there is nothing in your immediate -surroundings for you. You cannot take a step without glimpsing beauty of -some kind if your eyes are awake to observe and your heart to absorb. -Only this morning the maid in "doing up my room" in the city of Chicago -pointed out the beauty of the black trunks and branches of the trees in -the avenue contrasted against the pure white of the snow which had just -fallen. Then she remarked that even the smoky buildings were changed -into something beautiful and harmonious when the snow came, and she -commented upon the fact that she found beauty here that charmed, -thrilled, and stimulated her soul, just as much as she did amid the -much-described and certainly more glowing and picturesque scenery of -California. - -Here is the true spirit! Do not repine for the things that are away off -and that you cannot have. Take from what you can get, or go resolutely -to work to get the more desirable surroundings. But _wherever you are_ -absorb that which is _now_ and _here_ presented to you, and thus you -will learn to know and appreciate greater and grander things when -opportunity places them before you. - -2. _Absorption through Reading._ - -It must not be understood that because I am constantly urging my readers -to rely upon their own observations of Nature that I do not fully -appreciate the benefit books may be to them. Books form a large place in -my own life, and I would regret to be separated from them. They bring -into my life the inner life of all the observers, thinkers, orators, -seers, poets, and prophets of the ages, and yet what are books but the -records of men's observations and their thoughts upon those -observations? All books are not good. There are books and books. And -just as some associates are injurious, so are many books. Do not waste -your time on the cheap, the trashy, the useless, and injurious. Select -only those books from which you are sure you can absorb those things -that will be helpful and beneficial. - -Some people say they read simply for entertainment. There are times when -it is well to read with this object in view. If one is weary in mind or -body, the brain has been overtaxed, trouble distresses one, then it is -well to seek entertainment. For entertainment and the forgetting of -one's cares, troubles, and weariness will mean rest and recuperation. -It is well to be able to absorb such from a book that takes away -thoughts from one's self. But even at such times, choose the best books -from which you may absorb those things that will enable you the better -to take up the battle of life with renewed energy and courage. - -Do you try to keep up with all the latest books? Why? Do you read simply -to say that you have read, to be able to give expression to the usual -fashionable gabble on so-called "current literature"? It is not the -amount you read, but the amount of good, ennobling, and uplifting -influences that you gain from your reading that makes reading worth -while. No person that lives can read book after book in rapid succession -and absorb therefrom anything worth while. As well sit down and eat from -six o'clock in the morning until twelve o'clock at night and expect the -body to be healthful as to read continually and expect the mind to be -healthful. It is not eating but assimilation that builds up the body. -Just so, it is not reading but mental absorption that informs the mind -and strengthens the soul. One book a year, thoroughly mastered, out of -which you have absorbed helpful, stimulating, invigorating, -health-giving, power-producing thought and action is worth more than a -thousand books swallowed whole without thought or digestion. - -Joaquin Miller says that "Books are for people who do not think." Very -often this is a correct statement. While it is a good thing to desire -the knowledge we can gain from books, it becomes an evil thing when we -gain all of our knowledge of the world around us in this fashion. If the -only thoughts we have are the thoughts we get from books, books are an -injury instead of a blessing; a crutch instead of an invigoration. - -In his early life, Edwin Markham, the poet, had but three books, the -Bible, Shakspere, and Bunyan. Yet from these three books and the -contemporaneous study of the mountains, valleys, canyons, plains, -orchards, gardens, ocean, sea-beach, and valleys by which he was -surrounded, he absorbed thoughts and saw things that enabled him to -write poems that have thrilled and benefited the world. - -Sir John Lubbock a few years ago chose from all the millions of books -that have been published one hundred which he claims comprises all the -best literature of all the ages, and more recently still, President -Eliot of Harvard compressed upon a five-foot shelf all the books that he -deems necessary for the really thoughtful man to possess. - -I am not prepared to accept these or any other limitations as to the -books I shall possess and read, and yet I do want to urge the principle -involved in them upon my readers. Learn to do your own thinking rather -than take your thoughts at second hand from what some one else has -written. At the same time I would urge upon you the reading of the -writings of our great poets that you may absorb from them their love of -Nature. In this way it may be that you will be won to the love and -appreciation of that which you have never before known or enjoyed. Just -as the artist on his canvas sets forth for us a beautiful scene out of -the great world that surrounds us and thus focalizes our attention upon -it, and teaches us to see the beauty which hitherto we had passed -unobserved, so does the poet focalize our attention upon that which -hitherto we had passed by and neglected. - -Let us read, therefore, by all means, but not as an end in itself. Let -us read that thereby we may be stimulated to go out into Nature to see, -feel, and absorb for ourselves. Many of the books that are "worth while" -were written by men and women who have been close observers of Nature. - -It is by observation that we absorb the facts and lessons of Nature. -Some of the most helpful and beautiful books have been written as the -result of the exercise of this faculty combined with the reflection that -always comes to the truly thoughtful. The sciences are based upon -observation, and as soon as one becomes interested in any particular -line of study it is amazing how many fascinating things begin to crowd -upon his attention. The great scientist, Agassiz, said that he could -find enough to thoroughly and completely fill the whole of a life of -eighty years in as much as he could cover with his one hand. I have -spent night after night with astronomers whose whole vocation was to -study the heavens and learn the wonderful lessons revealed thereby. One -of the happiest epochs of my life was to spend two months in the High -Sierras of California with Joseph Le Conte, the great geologist, and his -keen and trained eyes revealed to me things in Nature that I had never -seen before, and life has ever since been richer and fuller because of -the experience. - -Darwin studied the facts of development of plant and animal life until -he wrote a book which has completely revolutionized the thought of the -world. He spent years in studying the movements and influences upon the -ground of the common earth-worm and showed us how great a friend to -humanity is this apparently insignificant and useless creature. - -Sir John Lubbock, the eminent statesman and philosopher, busy with the -affairs of city and nation, spent years in studying the actions and life -of the tiny ant and has given us most fascinating accounts of what he -saw with philosophical deductions therefrom. - -The Audubons spent their lives in studying the animals and birds of -North America and their books have been a source of intense delight and -instruction to all those that have been privileged to read them and see -their marvelous illustrations. - -Michelet, the great French scholar, studied the bee and then wrote a -book about this busy insect that is as fascinating as a romance and as -thrilling and interesting as a drama. - -John Ward Stimson studied the various forms of snow crystals, salts, of -rock substances; the natural forms of leaves, their systems of veins; -the spines of the various cactuses; the marking on the furs of animals -and the backs of reptiles, snakes, lizards, toads, etc.; indeed, all the -multi-form shapes, spirals, curves, angles, lines, etc., of Nature, and -wrote a book on them entitled _The Gate Beautiful_ which one great -critic and poet affirms is the greatest book, outside of the Bible and -Shakspere, the world has ever known. And thus might I go on page after -page, merely suggesting what men with the seeing eye and understanding -heart have given to the world as the result of their observations of -Nature. - -Who would not observe in this fashion? Who would not like thus to fill -up the mind and the soul with such wonderful facts and beautiful truths -deduced therefrom? - -Henry D. Thoreau, John Burroughs, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, John Muir, -John C. Van Dyke, and W. C. Bartlett have studied Nature in the trees, -grasses, the birds, the animals, and the sunrises and sunsets until they -have been able to thrill the world with the record of those things that -they have seen and felt. - -Ernest Thompson Seton, W. J. Long, and C. G. D. Roberts have studied the -wild life of animals until they have written books that have charmed -perhaps millions of readers by revealing to them phases of animal life -that they had never believed existed. - -Jack London goes up into Alaska and with trained eye observes the wild -wastes of snow and winter desolation and comes back and writes books -that win him fame and wealth, because of his power to see and tell what -his seeing makes him feel. - -This world is full of beauty, of knowledge, of joy, to the hungry mind -and soul, and its treasures are all free, are all to be had merely for -the asking, for the seeing, for the reaching out. - -Nothing repays every effort more abundantly than does Nature. She -preaches more eloquently, because more simply, purely, and directly than -any divine that ever occupied pulpit. She is the direct voice of God to -mankind, ordained by the Infinite himself. Few men in sacerdotal robes -ever come to us with this divine song upon their lips. Joaquin Miller -never wrote truer words than: - - The woods keep repeating - The old sacred sermons whatever you ask. - -It may be that as you read over what I have said of the observations and -achievements of the scientists and others that you will say that you -have no such opportunity for wide observation as this. It is not -necessary that you should have. Let me suggest to you how to begin the -development of your powers of observation in order that you may in your -way reap as beautiful a harvest as those men have in theirs. - -David was only a poor shepherd boy, but while out tending his flocks by -day and night he learned the wonderful lessons that he afterwards -incorporated into the Psalms. It was his observations, without -scientific knowledge, without observatories, without telescopes, or -other scientific instruments, that gave him such clear knowledge of the -stars that he was able to sing those wonderful words that have thrilled -all mankind ever since they were uttered, "The heavens declare the glory -of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork." While a shepherd boy -without training, without education, he so observed the things about him -that when, later in life, the power of expression came, he was able to -sing messages that will live so long as man lives. - -So, like David, begin to study the common things about you. Observe the -flowers. Observe their loveliness. Study the infinite variety of their -form, color, fragrance; compare them one with another; ask yourself why -one appeals to you more than another; wherein the special beauty and -attractiveness lies of one flower over another for you. No one can study -the flowers and not realize that the Divine Creator loves beauty, for -the infinitude of varieties that are presented, from the delicate -orchids and cactuses of the tropical forests and barren deserts down to -the plainest sunflower and dandelion, are all rich in a beauty and -attractiveness all their own. - -Ina Coolbrith, the California poet, in one of her sweetest songs, says: - - I will out in the gold of the blossoming mould - And sit at the Master's feet, - And the love my heart would speak, - I will fold in the lily's rim, - That the lips of the blossom more pure and meet - May offer it up to Him. - -See what a beautiful conception! Her heart was full of desire to lift -her prayer of thankfulness, praise, and supplication up to God, but -feeling her own inadequacy and incompleteness, and realizing the perfect -purity of the delicate lily, she felt that she might wrap her prayer up -in the rim of the flower and thus make it acceptable to the God of -purity and immaculate whiteness. - -There never was a flower yet that was not a miracle to the observing eye -and thinking mind. How does it shape all that beauty? From whence does -it gain those delicate tints, tones, and colors? From what laboratory -does it extract those exquisitely delicate and delicious odors? - -Oh, wake up to the beauty of the common grass, the common flowers, the -common trees. Open your eyes to see, open your hearts to feel, cultivate -your hunger for these common things and then absorb and assimilate them. - -But the flowers and trees are but merely a part of the great world of -Nature from which one may absorb things beautiful and grand. - -People who live by the sea or by an inland lake have wonderful -opportunities for the observation of grandeur, sublimity, and beauty. -Joaquin Miller once stood by the seashore and wrote these words of -poetry: - - The sun lay molten in the sea - Of sand, and all the sea was rolled - In one broad, bright intensity - Of gold and gold and gold and gold. - -He saw the gold of beauty which in this materialistic age few men deem -of value. But when all the gold of commerce has disappeared, the gold of -beauty is a treasure stored up in one's soul that will accompany him -through all the ages of eternity. The one is ephemeral and useful only -to provide the food, clothing, and shelter we need for the body, the -other, permanent, enduring, lasting, that clothes the mind with -brilliant images and the soul with helpful and stimulating aspirations. - -It is one of the mistakes of life to overlook the apparently small, -trifling and near-by things, in the vain desire to see some great, -large, important thing. The things about us are the essential things of -our life. Too often we deem them unimportant. We are so accustomed to -seeing them that we pay no attention to them, yet these things were -worth the thought of the Almighty Creator. Every blade of grass, every -leaf of every tree is a revelation of some thought of God, hence can -never be beneath the notice of mankind. This careless and unobservant -attitude of mind shows our ignorance and our unwisdom. God's mysteries -are before us and we refuse to read them. As Walt Whitman says: "Our -streets are strewn with leaves from the book of God and we see them -not." We pass them by. Let us learn to pick up these divine mysteries -and in their sweet, beautiful simplicity read their sublime lessons to -our own hearts. - -Who would think of learning anything from the mists? Yet Joaquin Miller -once wrote these words: - - Behold the silvered mists that rise - From all-night toiling in the corn, - - The mists have duties up the skies, - The skies have duties with the morn; - While all the world is full of earnest care - To make the fair world still more wondrous fair. - -In one of his poems, one of our great poets tells the story of a number -of poor people who came to see their king who was to approach with his -gayly dressed bands of music and all the pomp and ceremony attendant -upon kingship. The story goes, however, that the Captain of the Province -drove the poor people away and refused to allow them to be present when -the king passed through. - -Let the poet now tell his own story: - - Lo, then a soft-voiced stranger said: - "Come ye with me a little space. - I know where torches gold and red - Gleam down a peaceful, ample place; - Where song and perfume fill the restful air, - And men speak scarce at all. The King is there." - - They passed; they sat a grass-set hill-- - What king hath carpets like to this? - What king hath music like the thrill - Of crickets 'mid these silences-- - These perfumed silences, that rest upon - The soul like sunlight on a hill at dawn? - - Behold what blessings in the air! - What benedictions in the dew! - These olives lift their arms in prayer; - They turn their leaves, God reads them through; - Yon lilies where the falling water sings - Are fairer-robed than choristers of kings. - - - Lift now your heads! yon golden bars - That build the porch of heaven, seas - Of silver-sailing golden stars-- - Yea, these are yours, and all of these! - For yonder king hath never yet been told - Of silver seas that sail these ships of gold. - - They turned, they raised their heads on high; - They saw, the first time saw and knew, - The awful glories of the sky, - The benedictions of the dew; - And from that day His poor were richer far - Than all such kings as keep where follies are. - -Have you experienced these blessings in the air? Have you felt these -benedictions in the dew? Have you seen the exquisite robes of the -lilies? Have you seen the ships of gold sailing through the silver seas? -And the bars of gold that build the porch of heaven? - -You have rushed to see the pomp of kings. You have rushed to see the -glitter and tinsel of the circus procession. You have struggled with -desperation that you and your wife might mingle with the gayly dressed -throng at some fanciful revel. Why be so eager for these vain shows and -yet not see the true beauty, real gorgeousness, undying splendor of -these other outward manifestations of the thoughts of God? - -Eager desire for the vain pomp and circumstance of things reveals the -abnormal and depraved appetite just the same as the glutton's and -drunkard's cravings do. The more they are fed the more fiercely their -fires rage and the less satisfied one becomes. It is only real things -that will satisfy the hunger of the immortal soul, and then one of the -remarkable things is how the trivial and small things will produce -satisfaction. - -As George Macdonald says in his fascinating story, _Sir Gibbie_: - - It is wonderful upon how little those rare natures capable of making - the most of things will live and thrive. There is a great deal more - to be got out of things than is generally got out of them, whether - the thing be a chapter of the Bible or a yellow turnip, and the - marvel is that those who use the most material should so often be - those that show the least result in strength or character. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -RADIANCIES OF DEATH - - -For centuries the human mind has been afraid, disturbed, distressed, at -the thought of death; the uncertainty of the beyond; "shall we know each -other there?" and the thousand and one questions that have arisen as to -what life, if any, there is beyond the grave. Years ago, in my own -innerness, all sense of fear, of disturbance, of distress at the thought -of death vanished, never again to appear. I have no resentment at the -thought of death, either for myself, or those I love. I expect it for us -all, and am neither surprised nor hurt when it comes. There may be the -sense of physical loss, but that is all. There is no sense of _real_ -loss of anything except the temporal, the physical, that which, in the -very course of Nature, must pass through the change we call Death. - -Hence I feel I have definite and positive radiancies upon this subject, -which I am assured will bring comfort and peace to those who can enter -into the spirit of them, and accept the same assurances that have come -to me. - -The first of these that I would radiate with clearness and fullness is -that _man is a spiritual being and not physical_. Much of the fear, -dread, distress, pain of death has come from the mistaken belief that -man is physical. Death has come and robbed us of the life of the -physical. The flesh has become cold, inanimate, lifeless, therefore dead -and lost to us. The mother has grieved herself into sickness and a -ruined life because of the death of her babe. Husbands have wept long -for the wives they thought they had lost. Sorrow, grief, sadness, -woe--these seem the natural accompaniments of death. Our customs, our -language, our literature, our poetry, our art, are full of the -expressions of this thought--the trappings of woe, the solemn -countenance, the hushed voice, the somber garments, the widow's weeds, -the black band of bereavement, the hearse, the funeral marches, the -watch of the dead, the lighted candles, the solemn funeral addresses, -the tears, the grief that will not be comforted, all speak of the -sadness attributed to death. Tennyson's _In Memoriam_, Browning's _La -Saziaz_, and hundreds, thousands, of lesser poems have been written on -the woe, the grief, the cruelty of death. - -While I long for the physical presence of my beloved ones as much as do -other men, I would radiate my belief, my restful assurance, in the love -that exists, _persists_, _lives_, after what we call the death of the -body, and that, therefore, to me, save for the loss of the physical -presence, there is absolutely no death, no need for sorrow, grief, pain, -or woe. - -As birth itself is a death of the embryonic life, so is death a birth -into the life beyond--the life of the spirit, the life, free, -unhampered, unhindered by the flesh. Browning expresses it perfectly in -his wonderful _Pisgah Sight_, where he stands and looks "over Jordan" -into the Promised Land: - - Good to forgive, - Best to forget; - Living we fret, - Dying we live. - Fretless and free, soul, - Clap thy pinion, - Earth have dominion, - Body, o'er thee. - -The Indians' attitude towards death is very beautiful to me. They regard -it as a natural change; a something to be expected, to be looked for, -and therefore to be met with bravery, courage, and fearlessness. While I -know they grieve deeply at unexpected deaths by accidents, sudden -disease, in war, etc., and make a loud show of their grief, that is -merely the child part of their nature asserting itself. When a man, a -woman, has lived out the natural term of years and he, she, feels death -approaching, retirement is made to some quiet and solitary place, where -Death is awaited with calmness, serenity, and fearlessness. This is -what I would radiate, both for myself and those whom I love. I believe -with all my heart in the great goodness of God; in the progressiveness -of the human soul towards the godhead possible for us. - -I look forward with confidence and eager anticipation to the adventures -new and brave that are to meet me when I go beyond. I have had a grand -and glorious time here. In spite of hardships, sorrows, griefs, pains, -sickness, bereavement, poverties, and the pains that come from a -recognition of my own mental and spiritual imperfections, I have had a -wonderfully rich, joyous, and blessed life. I am thankful for it all. As -I look back upon it I regret only those things wherein I have brought -pain and sorrow to others. As for myself, all the pains and distresses -are gone and forgotten; the joys and delights, the pleasures and -happinesses, only, remain, and for these I am thankful beyond all power -of expression. - -Shall I, then, be afraid that the Supreme Power who has so blessed me in -this life will be unable, or unwilling, to equally bless me in the one -to come? Fearless and unafraid I await the issue, nay, with glad -confidence I will welcome it when it comes. - -Hence, again to quote Browning, whom I love and revere for his great -helpfulness: - - I would hate that Death bandaged my eyes, and forbore, - And bade me creep past. - - No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers - The heroes of old; - Bear the brunt, in a minute pay, glad, life's arrears - Of pain, darkness and cold. - -I want to meet death in just that spirit; open-eyed, in full possession -of my senses, if that be possible, that I may have full cognizance of -the experience as I pass through it. But let it come as it may, I want -to be ready to meet and greet it. - -In many of his poems Walt Whitman fully expresses my conceptions, and -Joaquin Miller's many sweet poems reëcho the thoughts that come to me, -again and again, as I contemplate the sleep that has no earthly -awakening. Take his beautiful _River of Rest_: - - A beautiful stream is the River of Rest; - The still, wide waters sweep clear and cold, - A tall mast crosses a star in the west, - A white sail gleams in the west world's gold: - It leans to the shore of the River of Rest-- - The lily-lined shore of the River of Rest. - - The boatman rises, he reaches a hand, - He knows you well, he will steer you true, - And far, so far, from all ills upon land, - From hates, from fates that pursue and pursue; - Far over the lily-lined River of Rest-- - Dear mystical, magical River of Rest. - - A storied, sweet stream is this River of Rest; - The souls of all time keep its ultimate shore; - And journey you east or journey you west, - - Unwilling, or willing, sure-footed or sore, - You surely will come to this River of Rest-- - This beautiful, beautiful River of Rest. - -And elsewhere he says: - - I go, I know not where, but know I will not die, - And know I will be gainer going to that somewhere; - For in that hereafter, afar beyond the bended sky, - Bread and butter will not figure in the bill of fare, - Nor will the soul be judged by what the flesh may wear. - -Here is the spirit in which he describes and meets death: - - Come forward here to me, ye who have a fear of death, - Come down, far down, even to the dark waves' rim, - And take my hand, and feel my calm, low breath; - How peaceful all! How still and sweet! The sight is dim, - And dreamy as a distant sea. And melodies do swim - Around us here as afar-off vesper's holy hymn. - This is death! With folded hands I wait and welcome him. - -Thus, in very deed, and very truth, would I await and welcome him. And -so I would radiate, now and ever, being sorry for my failings and -failures, but thankful beyond measure for any small degree of -helpfulness, joy, happiness, blessing I may have brought to others, and -with only one great desire towards the earth and its inhabitants, viz., -to be remembered as one who loved and sought to bless his fellow men. - - - - -BOOKS BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES - - - PALOU'S LIFE AND APOSTOLIC LABORS OF PADRE FR. 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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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Living the Radiant Life - A Personal Narrative - -Author: George Wharton James - -Release Date: January 4, 2018 [EBook #56306] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE *** - - - - -Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Christopher Wright and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net -(This file was produced from images generously made -available by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<p id="half-title">LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE</p> - -<div class="break-before"></div> - - <div class="bbox"> -<p class="ph2">LATEST BOOKS BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES</p> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>CALIFORNIA, ROMANTIC AND BEAUTIFUL. Handsomely -bound, gilt top, with 8 full page illustrations -in colors and 64 in duogravure. In silk cloth, $3.50, -postpaid $3.75; in half morocco $7.00, postpaid $7.50.</p> - -<p>INDIAN BLANKETS AND THEIR MAKERS. With 32 -pictures in color of rare and unique blankets, and -more than 200 other illustrations. Handsomely bound -in cloth, boxed $5.00, express paid $5.50.</p> - -<p>THE LAKE OF THE SKY, LAKE TAHOE. Handsomely -illustrated. $2.00 net, postpaid $2.25.</p> - -<p>OUR AMERICAN WONDERLANDS (See America First). -Illustrated, $2.00 net, $2.25 postpaid.</p> - -<p>QUIT YOUR WORRYING. $1.00 net, $1.10 postpaid.</p> - -<p>LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE. 300 pages; $1.00 net, -$1.10 postpaid.</p></div> - - -<p class="ph3">TO BE PUBLISHED IN 1916 OR LATER</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>THE PREHISTORIC CLIFF DWELLINGS OF THE -SOUTHWEST. Fully illustrated, and with maps and -diagrams. Price, possibly, about $4.00 net.</p> - -<p>ARIZONA, THE WONDERLAND OF THE SOUTHWEST. -With 12 full-page illustrations in color, and 48 -duogravures; $3.50, cloth, net; $3.75 postpaid; half -Morocco, $7.00 net; $7.50 postpaid.</p> - -<p>RECLAIMING THE ARID WEST. The story of the work -of the U. S. Reclamation Service. Fully illustrated, -$2.00 net, $2.25 postpaid.</p> - -<p>CALIFORNIA LITERATURE. A Text Book for High -Schools and Colleges, with copious illustrative quotations.</p></div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>For further list of books see end of the book. Any of -these books will be autographed by the Author, on request, -if the order be sent direct to him, 1098 W. Raymond Avenue, -Pasadena, California.</p> -</div> - -</div> - -<div class="break-before"> -</div> - -<h1>LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE</h1> - - -<p class="ph3">A PERSONAL NARRATIVE</p> - - -<p class="ph4">BY</p> -<p class="ph2">GEORGE WHARTON JAMES</p> - -<p class="ph4">Author of "Quit from Worrying," "What the White<br /> -Race May Learn From the Indian," "The Story<br /> -of Scroggles," "The Heroes of California,"<br /> -"The Grand Canyon of Arizona," "Lake<br /> -Tahoe," "The Wonders of the Colorado<br /> -Desert," etc., etc.</p> - - -<p class="mt2 ph3"> -PASADENA, CALIF.<br /> -THE RADIANT LIFE PRESS<br /> -1916 -</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="mt2 ph4"> -Copyright, 1916<br /> -<span class="smcap">By</span> EDITH E. FARNSWORTH</p> - -<p class="mt2 ph4"> -J. F. TAPLEY CO.<br /> -NEW YORK</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph3">TO ONE</p> - - -<p class="ph4">who, in all the years I have known her, never once<br /> -has failed to radiate that which is sweet,<br /> -pure, helpful, unselfish, humane, sincere,<br /> -beautiful and true, with thankfulness<br /> -for the blessedness of<br /> -my association with her</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - - -<table class="toc" summary="Contents"> -<tr> - <td></td> - <td></td> - <td class="pag">PAGE</td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="rom"><span class="smcap">Foreword</span></td> - <td class="cht"></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_ix">ix</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom"><span class="smaller">CHAPTER</span></td> - <td class="cht"></td> - <td class="pag"></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">I</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Nature</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">II</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">The Radiant Aura</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">III</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">A Few Words in Passing</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">IV</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Varied Radiancies</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">V</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Individuality</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">VI</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Conflicting Radiancies</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">VII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Fear</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">VIII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">The Radiancy of Rebuke</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">IX</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">What I Would Radiate to the Wrong Doer</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">X</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">The Radiancies of Toleration</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XI</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Out of Door Radiancies</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Joy, Inspiration, and Serenity</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XIII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of the Will</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XIV</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Cheerfulness</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XV</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Moral Courage</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XVI</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Content and Discontent</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XVII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Sincerity</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XVIII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Service</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XIX</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Humor</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XX</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of the "Eternal Now"</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XXI</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Extremes</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XXII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Absorption in Relation to Radiation</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="rom">XXIII</td> - <td class="cht"><span class="smcap">Radiancies of Death</span></td> - <td class="pag"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>FOREWORD</h2> - - -<p>From the standpoint of religion the lives of -"good" men and women may be divided into two -great classes, viz., those who do no active wrong, -whose conduct is based upon the "thou shalt -nots" of the Bible, the law, and society, and those -whose every thought is to do some active good.</p> - -<p>I am far more interested in the latter than the -former class. I am not content simply to forego -doing wrong. I want to <em>do</em>, to <em>be</em>. Hence when -the idea of <em>Living a Radiant Life</em> took hold of -me, it sank deep, and is now part of my inner -self. It was natural, therefore, that I should -seek to formulate my thoughts as to what I desired -to radiate. This seeking soon taught me -that I already was a radiant being; every thought, -every act, every word written or spoken was a -radiant act, having its influence for good or evil -upon my fellows, and that, therefore, I must decide -speedily what I wanted to avoid radiating, -and that which I would radiate.</p> - -<p>The following pages are some of the results of -my earnest cogitations, deliberations, reflections, -and decisions. Consequently they partake strongly -of personal preachments applied to myself. They -may be regarded as a record of personal aspirations -and longings, of spiritual hopes, of living prayers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> -and desires. And they are purposely written -in the personal form in the sincere hope that -they will help others to put into similar form their -own half-formed thoughts, desires, and aspirations.</p> - -<p>This book is not offered as a complete manual of -life. It is merely a suggestion to others of the -larger, wider, better, nobler thing they may do for -themselves. It is my desire to arouse thought, to -stimulate ardent longings for something beyond -the gratification of the senses, to lead my readers to -strive more earnestly for unselfish living, and to encourage -them in their endeavors to find, realize, and -live those spiritual truths which redeem human beings -from their mortal inheritance of imperfection.</p> - -<p>The main test of any system of religion or code -of life is: Does it work? If it is not practical; -applicable to all the events of daily life; enabling -one to cope with problems as they arise; making -one more helpful to mankind, less selfish, less censorious, -less vain, less proud, less obstinate, less -cruel, less thoughtless, less despondent; and, on -the other hand, exciting and stimulating one to -be more humane, more tender and compassionate -with sinning humanity, more humble and ready -to learn, more amenable to the suggestions of the -wise and good, more kind, more considerate, more -generous, more noble, more aspiring, then, indeed, -has it proven itself to be a broken reed, instead of -a tried staff upon which one may lean.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p> - -<p>No longer to me is religion a question of "Thou -shalt not." The "don'ts" of life are of far less -importance than the "dos." He whose life is -occupied with doing good has little time or thought -for doing harm. Christ's method of living was -positive and active, rather than negative and passive. -He <em>went about, doing good</em>. He said: -"<em>Do</em> unto others as ye would have them do unto -you." He taught love in action: Love your -enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to -them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully -use you, and persecute you.</p> - -<p>Hence I earnestly hope that every one of the -following pages will contain some helpful thought -for all who are seeking the more perfect life; and -also for those who are sitting in the darkness of -discouragement, under the depressing temptation -to regard life as a "failure." There is no man -living, no matter how low in body, mind, or soul, -but can be helped into happiness; no woman so -utterly lost to all good who may not live to feel -the sprouting of angel wings because of the birth -within her soul of helpful, unselfish love.</p> - -<p>Goethe's cry was for "more light," and as life -comes with light in the material world, so light -and life are inseparably connected in the mental -and spiritual world. There is no real darkness in -life. There may be a temporary withdrawal of -solar light, but we know that as surely as all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span> -days of the past have dawned, so the sun will shine -again to-morrow. And through all the seeming -mists of doubt, fear, and pain the true spiritual -light forever shines to give immortal life. Let us -take Life then as God's gift, and as we progress -daily to a more perfect expression of freedom from -all that would wrongfully enthrall us, let us seek -diligently to "let our light shine" upon those -around who seem to live in the shadows.</p> - -<p>I would come, in these pages, as the glorious -sun, bringing warmth, healing, and purification. -I would come as the stimulating breeze that vivifies -and refreshes—the breeze that has its birth on -the vast Pacific where all impurities are scrubbed -out of it in a thousand miles of storms, then floats -gently over the orange and lemon groves, the rose -gardens and violet beds, the sweet scented blossoms -of ten thousand times ten thousand shrubs -of California; then, laden with sweet odors and -charged with the bromine and ozone of the ocean, -climbs over the steep Sierran heights and becomes -cool and filtered through the vast pine and juniper -forests, and adds the balsams of health and -strength, distilled from a million trees and shrubs, -ere it falls to the desert and is there rendered -aseptic and antiseptic. Like such a health-laden -breeze would I come to weary men and women, -tired and exhausted with the battle of life, sick -of its complexities and frivolities, longing for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span> -spiritual as well as physical health, and seeking -the happiness that comes alone when we live for -the happiness of others.</p> - -<p>My desire is to send forth a message that will -bless body, mind, and soul, just as a triple song, -whose melodies blend in perfect harmony, carries -healing, strength, and inspiration. For he indeed -is thrice blessed who knows the joy of life in its -threefold manifestation, who has a body that is -vigorous and healthy, a mind alert and active, -quick to observe and reflect, to discern and classify, -and a soul whose emotions and aspirations -are ever to help, encourage, comfort, and purify -humanity.</p> - -<p>The conditions for such a life are in the -"Everywhere" waiting to be born into the -"Here," and God's time is <em>now</em>.</p> - -<p>Many of these chapters originally appeared in -the pages of <cite>Physical Culture Magazine</cite>, and to -my good friends, its editor and founder, Bernarr -Macfadden, and the present editor, John Brennan, -I tender my cordial thanks for the privilege of reprinting -which they have generously accorded.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_xiii.jpg" alt="" /> -<div class="caption">George Wharton James</div> -</div> - -<p class="indent">Pasadena, Calif.</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>PRAYER</h2> -</div> - - -<p>OH, ALMIGHTY GOD, Thou radiant -source of all power, life and love, -Thou free giver of sun and earth, clouds -and wind, flowers and trees, fruits and -birds, bees and butterflies, work and play, -tenderness and unselfishness, sympathy -and love, so fill us with Thyself that we -shall become radiant beings like Thyself. -Make us innocent as little children, simple -as the young animals of the hills and -fields, beautiful in soul as are the flowers, -heaven-aspiring as are the trees, soothing -as are the gentle breezes of night, warming -as is the sun, fluid to meet all needs as -water, restful as night, eager for work as -the dawn, joyous in all life as the birds, -and thankful for labor as the busy bees. -Give us the needy to bless, the loveless to -love, the sinful to stimulate and encourage -to goodness, purity, and truth, the orphan -to father, the degraded to uplift, and -at the same time the wise to be our teachers -and the serene to lead us into peace. -Be Thou our Constant Vision, longing and -aspiration—nay, be Thou our never-failing -companion, counselor and friend. So -shall we become radiant, true children of -Thine, possessed of Thy likeness and radiating -the glory and beauty of Thyself.</p> - -<p class="right">—Amen.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE</h2> -</div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">THE RADIANCIES OF NATURE</p> - - -<p>Everything in Nature is radiant. Use the -term in its broad sense and there is nothing to -which it does not apply. The sun radiates light -and heat, and without it life would be impossible. -The moon radiates light, but practically no heat. -Its light is reflected and of an entirely different -character from that of the sun, so that no one -ever mistakes the one for the other. The stars -have a light all their own which they, though so -many millions of miles away from us, radiate in -varying intensities. And many of these stars are -so individualistic in their radiancies that each -one, though perfect, is different from each other -one, and may readily be detected by its own peculiarities. -Every flower that grows, from the -night-blooming cereus on the desert to the most -perfect amaryllis developed by Burbank, radiates -its own colors, odors, and general appearance. -One familiar with them may close his eyes and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> -detect in a moment, by the odor of each—the -violet, rose, lily, cosmos, verbena, and a thousand -others, and there are those whose olfactory nerves -are highly sensitive who can discern, by smell -alone, the varieties of each flower.</p> - -<p>Every species of tree radiates its own qualities, -so that, to the student, they become growingly -wonderful in what they give out. A distinguished -botanist whom I know is so familiar with the radiancies -of the various pines of the Pacific Slope -that he can sketch and perfectly describe the complete -tree as soon as he sees the cone, or, blindfolded, -smells its odor.</p> - -<p>Every rock has its own radiancies of color, texture, -weight, and density. One of John Ruskin's -most useful and beautiful books is his <cite>Ethics of -the Dust</cite>, and those who have not read it should -do so to understand how many things a wise and -good man has felt radiated from the rocks.</p> - -<p>Shakspere felt the potency of this truth or he -would never have written that he saw "tongues -in trees; books in the running brooks; sermons in -stones, and good in everything."</p> - -<p>Every landscape radiates its own personality. -Some are quietly pastoral, as the valleys in Connecticut. -The prairies of Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska -are wide and impressive; the wastes of the -Colorado Desert are vast and appalling; the -varied colorings of the Painted Desert are weird<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -and startling. The orange, lemon, and other -orchards of Southern California delight the senses, -the forests of the north and the High Sierras stir -the soul by their expansiveness, and the groves of -Big Trees overpower by their height and size. -The ocean is restless and resistless; the stars pitiless -at times, soothing at others. Each scene, -whether pastoral, picturesque, wild, rugged, grand, -or weird, has its peculiar radiancies, and some -scenes possess many qualities, all of which are felt -or perceived by the sensitive onlooker. For instance, -as one stands on the rim of the Grand -Canyon he feels the radiancies of overwhelming -vastness, profound depth, far-reaching length, expansive -width, vivid and extraordinary coloring, -bizarre and strange carvings, and, in the lower -depths of the Inner Gorge, where flows the solemn -and sullen Colorado, a strangeness and mystery -found nowhere else in the known world.</p> - -<p>In his <cite>Kreutzer Sonata</cite>, Tolstoi contends that -certain music radiates damning influences, and -though I do not agree with him (perhaps because -I have never felt or seen such evil), his attitude of -mind serves as a further illustration of my proposition. -We all are aware of certain radiancies of -certain kinds of music, even though unaccompanied -with words. The <cite>Dead March in Saul</cite>; the -<cite>Threnody</cite> in Bach's Passion Music; the <cite>Death of -the King</cite> in Grieg's <cite>Peer Gynt</cite>, and Chopin's <cite>Fu<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>neral -March</cite>, all radiate the solemnity and sadness -of death, while Sousa's various marches, Chopin's -<cite>March Militaire</cite>, and a hundred other similar -compositions radiate the arousement either of active -life or passionate war. The <cite>Glorias</cite> of Mozart -and Pergolesi, and Handel's <cite>Hallelujah Chorus</cite> -speak—even though the words are unheard—of -the joy of the world at the Savior's birth, and the -<cite>Requiems</cite> of Verdi, Bach, and Gounod of the sadness -of soul felt at His cruel death.</p> - -<p>Every picture radiates the spirit of its artist -at the period of creation, and every piece of -music the influences that overpower the soul of the -composer; and even every piece of furniture radiates -to some extent the spirit of the age in which it -was created, or the animating spirit of its creator.</p> - -<p>It should not be overlooked that, although these -radiant properties are possessed for all persons -alike, they are not discerned by all alike. All -people are not equally receptive, equally sensitive, -equally apperceptive. Human beings are like soil—some -is stony ground and the seed takes no -root, other is thorny, and the seeds, springing up, -are choked, other still is good ground and bears -fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred -fold. In other words the state of our own responsiveness -determines the effect upon us of the -radiancy of the objects with which we come in -contact.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> - -<p>The quartz picked up from a ledge may be full -of valuable mineral, but to the ignorant it is "a -piece of rock and nothing more."</p> - -<p>The ordinary traveler on the desert sees a large -black beetle. Knowing nothing of beetles, it is to -him "only a bug." But the scientific entomologist, -seeing the same beetle, is carried away with -delight, for he recognizes the rare <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Dinapate -Wrightii</i>, one of the least seen and most rare -of American beetles.</p> - -<p>Most travelers seeing the cactuses of the desert -note but a few varieties, but the trained observer -revels in hundreds of differences in <i>mammillaria</i>, -<i>opuntias</i>, <i>echinocactuses</i>, and <i>agave</i>.</p> - -<p>Some see no beauty in them, some delight in -their many and diverse charms; to some their -thorns are hideous and repulsive, to others both -interesting and beautiful in their arrangement and -design.</p> - -<p>According to our receptivity do these objects -of Nature affect us—some in one way, some another. -The more sensitive our minds and souls -are to what they perceive, the more we receive, -absorb, gain, and, therefore, the more we in turn -radiate to others, but we must remember that the -character and quality of that which we receive will -be reflected, therefore it is necessary to be constantly -in that attitude of mind which is receptive -to good only.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">THE RADIANT AURA</p> - - -<p>Swedenborg, who was one of the most eminent -of scientists and engineers, as well as the -founder of the religious system that bears his -name, asserted that various "aura" surrounded -all living beings, and that the mental or spiritual -state radiates, just as light and heat radiate from -the sun, and cold from the snow. When one was -angry, he said, he gave out the aura of anger -which enveloped him as a cloud. Hatred had its -aura, as well as love, sympathy, purity, impurity, -kindliness, charity, jealousy, courage, justice, and -the like.</p> - -<p>He also asserted that, to those who were simple, -natural, and unspoiled by false reasoning—those -who were spiritually inclined—these varied aura -were clearly perceptible, and were as certainly -felt or seen as were heat, cold, whiteness, blackness -by the senses.</p> - -<p>Rudyard Kipling bases his story, "They," -which appeared some years ago in <cite>Scribner's -Magazine</cite>, upon this statement of Swedenborg's, -and in this light it becomes an extra fascinating -story to read.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<p>A great modern French scientist has made many -exhaustive studies of these aura, and claims to -have photographed them.</p> - -<p>In the Panama-Pacific Exposition, one of the -exhibits contained a series of interesting pictures, -or diagrams, which purported to be exact representations -of the various aura of people under different -mental conditions. In an article on this -subject, written by a well-known authority, we are -told that:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>It is not around the human body alone that an aura is -to be seen; a similar cloud of light surrounds or emanates -from animals, trees, and even minerals, though in all these -cases it is less extended and less complex than that of man.</p></div> - -<p>The occultists assert that the aura is extremely -complex in its character, in other words, that -there are several aura superposed one upon the -other. The first appearance is of a luminous -cloud, extending some eighteen inches or two feet -from the body, assuming a somewhat oval shape. -Careful study, however, reveals that this first appearance -is resolvable into several component -parts, or separate aura, of different degrees of -tenuity, and, apparently, superposed. Five of -these have been defined. The first, or most material, -is that pertaining to the physical body. In -a state of health this is composed of separate, -orderly, and nearly parallel lines, which radiate -from the body in every direction.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> - -<p>When one suffers from disease the lines in the -neighborhood of the part affected become erratic, -and radiate less actively but in the wildest confusion, -or, if the whole body be affected, all the -lines are consequently erratic.</p> - -<p>For a long time it was not known what kept -these lines straight and approximately parallel in -the case of the healthy person, until a second -radiating aura was discovered. This comes from -a healthy body in pulsating waves, with such vigor -as to compel the rigidity of the health lines. -These waves may be compared to the pulsations -of the heated air which rise from the ground on -a very hot day. Baron Reichenbach made experiments -with certain sensitives who declared they -could see these radiations, and he called them "the -magnetic flame."</p> - -<p>When these "waves" come from a sickly or -weakly body they not only lose power, but seem -to give a confused direction to the health lines.</p> - -<p>Many observations also have led to the conclusion -that when the lines are kept straight by -the force of the pulsating waves from a healthy -and vigorous body, "it seems to be almost entirely -protected from the attack of evil physical influences, -such as germs of disease—such germs being -repelled and carried away by the outrush of the -life-force: but when from any cause—through -weakness, through wound or injury, through over-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>fatigue, -through extreme depression of spirits, or -through the excesses of an irregular life—an -unusually large amount of vitality is required to -repair damage or waste, within the body, and -there is consequently a serious diminution in -the quantity radiated, this system of defense -becomes dangerously weak, and it is comparatively -easy for the deadly germs to effect an entrance."</p> - -<p>The third aura is that which expresses one's -desires—a kind of mirror in which every feeling, -every desire, every thought almost, of the personality -is reflected. This changes constantly, in -some people, accordingly as they are swayed by -their impulses. Its colors, brilliancy, rate of -pulsations, alter from moment to moment, or minute -to minute. "An outburst of anger will -charge the whole aura with deep-red flashes on a -black ground; a sudden fright in a moment will -change everything to a mass of ghastly livid -gray."</p> - -<p>Connected with this, and yet, seemingly, of a -separate character, are the radiations of the aura -that express the progress of the personality into -higher and better appreciation of the things of -mind and spirit. The more intellectual and spiritual -one becomes the more steady and beautiful -are the colors and radiations of this aura, and the -variations and distressing manifestations of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -evil desires of the third aura become less apparent -and distinct.</p> - -<p>The fifth aura is the highest at present discernible. -It manifests the spiritual development of -the individual and is of almost inconceivable delicacy -and beauty. It seems to be a cloud of living -light—the word cloud being used for want of a -better term.</p> - -<p>In the concrete examples of aura that were -presented at the Exposition, that which radiated -from a wise mother showing her protective love -for her infant, was in the form of outspread wings -of a beautiful rosy tint, the wings held together at -the articulations by a sheaf-like mass of golden -yellow.</p> - -<p>Selfish ambition, sudden fear, explosive anger, -selfishness, grasping animal affection, greed, jealousy, -jealousy mixed with anger, gloom, murderous -hatred, were all displayed in peculiar, hideous, -and repulsive forms and colors.</p> - -<p>Pure, radiating affection, on the other hand, was -represented in the form and color of a round body -exhaling rays as from a rosy sun. Strange to -say, though I had never read anything explicit -upon this subject before, I had always conceived -of pure affection as giving forth radiations of this -exact appearance.</p> - -<p>Whether this "occult" explanation of the radiation -of aura be a true one or not, it serves to give<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -one a beautiful conception, viz., that every soul -may strive so to live within that he sheds upon his -fellows glorious rays of light, serenity, warmth, -comfort, blessing, joy, happiness that help them -to the attainment of like felicities.</p> - -<p>In the earlier part of this chapter Swedenborg's -assertion will be recalled that those who were unspoiled, -real children of Nature, could actually -perceive these aura, and that their acts were guided -or influenced by them just as ours are by the perceptions -of our five senses.</p> - -<p>When I began to visit the Hopi Indians in -Northern Arizona, who celebrate that wonderfully -thrilling religious ceremony known as the -Snake Dance, I found that their lives conformed -exactly to this aura assumption. They handle -deadly rattlesnakes with fearlessness, putting -small ones into their mouths so that nothing but -their heads protrude, and larger ones, up to five -feet in length, in their teeth, head on one side of -the mouth, the writhing, wriggling body on the -other. Young boys, from three to six and ten -years of age—neophytes of the Antelope Clan, -which, with the Snake Clan, has charge of this -ceremonial prayer for rain—hold these snakes -during a part of the ceremony with an indifferent -carelessness that is appalling to most onlookers. -On the other hand those who are alive to the dangers -attending the handling of snakes assert posi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>tively -that the reptiles must have their fangs removed, -as otherwise they would bite, and either -cause death or dangerous sicknesses.</p> - -<p>Yet both classes of observers are in error. The -snakes are not handled carelessly, nor are their -fangs removed. Apparent carelessness is often -the result of years of training, the ease and readiness -that come with much experience. Fearlessness -is another result of experience and knowledge. -But, once in a while, a member of the Snake Clan -is afraid, and at such times he is not allowed to -dance. In this exclusion is a strong suggestion -that the Hopis fully believe that not only do the -aura of our mental and spiritual states surround -us, but that even to the lower animals they are as -perceptible as light, heat, and cold. It may be -true that the truly occult, or clairvoyant, by pure -and simple living, return to the clarity of spiritual -perception of the child and the lower animals, and -they likewise see and understand. In the case of -the snakes, the Hopis believe that if a dancer is -afraid it makes the snake afraid. In other words, -the reptile sees or discerns the "fear aura," and, -at once, its own fear is awakened. When afraid -it assumes the defensive, for that is its only mode -of protection. It coils ready to strike, and rattles -in warning: Beware!</p> - -<p>On the other hand, when the dancer is unafraid -and handles the reptile in the true Hopi spirit, viz.,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -as his <cite>Elder Brother</cite>—for, according to Hopi -mythology, the Snake Clan originates with the -Snake Mother, and therefore all members of it are -younger brothers to all snakes—the aura of -friendliness and brotherly kindliness surrounds -him, which, being perceived by the snake, it is at -once soothed and allows itself to be handled with -restfulness and assurance of safety. And in the -thirteen times that I have witnessed the Snake -Dance (and several times been privileged to see -and take part in the secret ceremonials of the underground -chambers where the snakes are handled -and washed), only twice have I known any one to -be bitten.<a name="Anchor_1" id="Anchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote A.">[A]</a></p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">A FEW WORDS IN PASSING</p> - - -<p>Perhaps the majority of human beings do not -really <em>live</em>: they merely <em>exist</em> for a time in the flesh -and for the flesh. And as all are constantly reminded -that such existence is temporary and fleeting -it is a very common belief that only in youth -can one "have a good time." Old age is dreaded -because we have been taught to expect a greater -or lesser degree of decrepitude, pain, and physical -disability when we shall pass the so-called "Bible-limit" -of three-score years and ten, and, therefore, -we anticipate losing our powers of enjoyment. -Fathers and mothers encourage their children -to "make the most of their youth," and to -"get all out of life they can while they have the -opportunity," thus fostering and cultivating a -high state of nervous tension in young people that -is demoralizing in every way.</p> - -<p>I believe this attitude is wrong, and yet I believe -fully in "having a good time." I believe -God intended that all living beings should be -happy, and that it is possible to order our lives—our -habits, actions, thoughts, desires, and ambi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>tions—so -that every conscious hour of every -day will be full of real joy. I believe in the -buoyancy, the happiness, the radiancy, the perfection -of life. Browning expresses my thought -in <cite>Rabbi Ben Ezra</cite>, and in <cite>Saul</cite>. In the latter he -says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Oh, our manhood's prime vigor! No spirit feels waste,</div> - <div class="verse">Not a muscle is stopped in its playing nor sinew unbraced,</div> - <div class="verse">Oh, the wild joys of living!...</div> - <div class="verse">How good is man's life, the mere living, how fit to employ</div> - <div class="verse">All the heart and the soul and the senses forever in joy!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And in <cite>Rabbi Ben Ezra</cite> he says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Grow old along with me!</div> - <div class="verse">The best [of life] is yet to be.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And why should not old age be the best part of -life? Does experience count for nothing? Can -we not learn as the years roll along? Do we grow -more foolish as we grow old? If so it might be -advisable to let the facetious suggestion of the -celebrated Dr. Osier be carried out in order that -all men might be chloroformed at the age of fifty. -If, however, history and experience teach us that -the intellectual faculties and reasoning powers of -a man in normal health do not decrease with age, -let us protest vigorously against the false and -injurious statement that youth is the best part of -life, and let us advocate that we should all possess -greater mental and spiritual ability at ninety than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -at thirty, with physical powers of endurance -ample for every need.</p> - -<p>It is recorded in the Bible that many of the -ancients lived to be several hundred years old, and -some of them were vigorously active at great age. -We are told that Cornaro lived many years more -than a century, and I have personally known Indians -of great physical power and keen mentality -who were over one hundred years old. Doubtless -all are familiar with instances of great mental and -physical ability at an advanced age, and this is an -encouragement for us to believe that health and -happiness and usefulness are not confined to the -early decades of human life. My words, therefore, -are not addressed merely to the young, but -to those of all ages, for it is never too late to -gain more of that mental health which strengthens -body, mind, and soul—the real life which is manifested -in love, joy, and all goodness, and constantly -radiates life-giving qualities. Radiancy -is a condition of all life, as I use the term in these -pages. No person can rightly live and retain -within himself that which he possesses in abundance. -We must give out in order to live. Christ -never spake a truer word than when He declared: -"He that loveth his life shall lose it." Those -who are so careful to keep all of their lives for -themselves, who never give of themselves to others, -who know nothing of the joy of self-sacrifice, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -service, of helpfulness—these people defeat the -very object of their selfishness by losing that which -they are so determined to retain. On the other -hand, "he that hateth his life in this world shall -keep it unto life eternal." Or, as Joaquin Miller -exquisitely and forcefully puts it in his unequaled -couplet:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For all you can hold in your dead, cold hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is what you have given away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>So, then, radiation of the good of ourselves becomes -an essential condition in itself of real life. -This law of radiation is apparent everywhere in -life. For, consciously or unconsciously, willingly -or unwillingly, each man and woman radiates what -is within. The moment you come into the presence -of some men you feel their uprightness, their integrity, -their truth. Other men impress you in a -moment as untruthful, dishonorable, and unreliable. -Some radiate confidence, so that the weak -and uncertain rely upon them; others the hesitancy -and fear of incertitude. Others are radiant -centers of conceit and overweening self-esteem, -which is an entirely different radiancy from that -of self-confidence and true self-reliance combined -with good sense and modesty. Some people radiate -gluttony, others drunkenness, others impurity, -others dishonesty. You have not been in the presence -of some persons five minutes before you feel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -that they radiate "Every man has his price." It -is a great temptation when I come into the presence -of such people to ask, "What is your price?" -and then myself to give the answer: "Thirty -cents, and it is twenty-nine cents too dear."</p> - -<p>During a recent little outing trip I could not -help witnessing the varying radiancies of a friend -and the thirty students that he invited to accompany -us. One young man was full of physical -energy, good nature, and helpfulness. With keen -eye he was prompt to notice any failure to keep -up in the less strong of the girls, and, with jollity -and jest, but with real consideration and helpfulness, -he aided the weaklings whenever and wherever -possible. One of the girls radiated an abundance -of joyous healthfulness that made it a pleasure to -watch her. Another was a thoughtless go-ahead -young miss, who led a large part of the group a -mile or two out of the way. Two of the girls -were fault-finders, three were radiators of efficient -initiative when time came for preparing lunch, and -half a dozen were "ready to help," but had no -idea how to go to work until directed by some one -else. One was able to determine somewhat the real -character of the persons by that which they radiated. -Of course, that is not always a sure guide, -for one may pretend, or affect the possession of -qualities that are not inherent. Yet if we lived -the true life and never dulled the keenness of our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -sense perceptions, we should be like the animals -and able to rely absolutely upon what we felt of -the radiancies of others. Who has not seen the -keen readiness of a horse to "sense" the mental -condition of the man who was driving him? Suppose -two men sit in the buggy. One holds the -lines, but is unused to driving and especially nervous -in a city. He radiates nervousness and fear, -uncertainty and hesitancy. The horse feels these -radiancies and himself is nervous, fretful, fearful, -hesitant, and uncertain. Seeing this, his friend -takes the lines. Almost instantly, though the -horse has "blinders" on and cannot possibly know -by any ordinary sense perception that a change -has taken place in his driver, he calms and quiets -down, and goes ahead without further fear, hesitancy, -or nervousness.</p> - -<p>With dogs, every one knows that to be afraid -of a barking, yelping, aggressive cur is to invite -him to bite you. But if you advance upon him -boldly and without any fear he will retreat in -snarling dismay, and if you make a bold dash at -him he turns tail like the veriest coward and runs. -In my many visits to Indian villages and camps I -have tested this again and again. I have had a -dozen dogs run out as if they would tear me to -pieces. Had I turned and run there is no doubt -that, unless their owners had interfered, I should -have been bitten. But, knowing the nature of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -ill-bred curs of the Indians, I advanced boldly -upon them, kicking to left and right, if the animals -were more than usually persistent, and invariably -following into his own place of refuge the -animal that seemed to be the leader, and there giving -him one or two sharp blows or decisive kicks. -The result was always the same. So long as I -stayed in that camp I was never bothered again. -They readily and quickly understood the radiancy -of boldness and that of kindness when they ceased -their fierce aggressiveness, and never pestered me -again.</p> - -<p>This same radiant power of others is often recognized -by lawless men and by criminals. A fearless -woman can go into places of great danger -with absolute safety, and a fearless and honest -officer can arrest the most desperate and dangerous -men far more easily than can a dozen fearful -and dishonest ones.</p> - -<p>Thus it will be apparent that:</p> - -<p>Every person, animal, and thing, consciously or -unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, radiates -good or evil.</p> - -<p>As human beings we radiate that which we possess, -or that which possesses us, and we influence -those with whom we come in contact by our radiancies.</p> - -<p>The questions, then, that every true-hearted man -and woman must, and will, ask are: "Am I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -radiating good or evil? If evil, why? If good, -am I radiating as much as I might and should?"</p> - -<p>For myself I want every man and woman I meet -or shake hands with, to feel that I am physically -strong, healthy, and vigorous; that I have vigor -and health of mind; that I think for myself, rather -than accept the opinions of others, and that in -character, in spirit, in soul, I am healthy, vigorous, -sincere, pure, true; that my emotions, my -aspirations, my ambitions are noble and upward. -I want to radiate spiritual health. Do you?</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">VARIED RADIANCIES</p> - - -<p>Man is a part of Nature, but he is more than -that which we mean by the words, "mere Nature." -He is Nature plus. There is given to him more -than is possessed by sun or flower. He has within -him that spirit which renders him nearer the divine -than sun or flower. Mind and <em>soul</em> make him a -superior being. Hence it is the divine plan that he -should radiate in his enlarged sphere as the sun -and flower do in theirs.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, while we are in the body, our -imperfect and evil qualities are radiated as well -as our good. This is our misfortune, and should -be our distress. For certainly every true man -and woman would desire to radiate only truth, -purity, sincerity, courage, good judgment, self-control, -stamina, or perseverance in good endeavor, -energy, love of knowledge, mental capacity, -justice, tact, ability, executive power, regard -for the rights of others, kindliness, individuality, -self-reliance, readiness to avail one's self of the -wisdom of others, self-dependence, attractiveness -of person, companionable qualities, good manners,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -good taste in dress, attractiveness of mind and -soul (this as differentiated from mere attractiveness -of person), cheerfulness, optimism, and altruism, -readiness to see and have faith in the good -of others, and good humor.<a name="Anchor_2" id="Anchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote B.">[B]</a></p> - -<p>Who could ever resist the radiating influences -of a Mark Tapley, such as Dickens so vividly pictures? -Such radiancies penetrate so deeply that -nothing can obliterate them. The greater the -cause for wretchedness and misery, the greater the -opportunity to "come out strong" and show that -his spirit of cheerfulness was greater than any untoward -circumstance. Happy is that man or -woman who gives out such radiancies, and blessed -are those who come in contact with them.</p> - -<p>Certain men and women radiate gloom and the -abnormal recognition of their physical ills. You -greet them with a cheery "Good morning" and -they respond with an explicitly detailed wail of -their ailments. Their rheumatism is "so bad," -and their liver is out of order. Their backache -is worse, and their headache is "simply frightful."</p> - -<p>Brooding over their pains and aches has magnified -them so that they overshadow all things else -in the universe. An earthquake and fire that destroy -a great city are of less importance to them -than the recital of their own woes.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> -<p>How different the cheery radiancies of the happy -man—like Dickens's Cheeryble Brothers—who -gives out breezy healthfulness on every hand. -The clasp of the hand radiates physical vigor that -in itself is a tonic to the body; their bright and -cheerful words brace up the mind; and their God-like -optimism and altruism lift up the soul so that—above -the mists and fogs of mortal error—we -see God and enjoy His smile.</p> - -<p>Some persons radiate selfishness. I was riding -in the train the other day. A woman had two -whole seats, that is, her suit case took up one and -she sat on the other. The car was filled with -people; every other seat occupied. At the next -station eight or ten people came aboard, and all -found places by the side of some one else, except -one woman. Walking down to where the whole -seat was occupied by the suit case she asked the -owner if she might have the seat. "I suppose if -there's no other you can have it!" she replied in a -surly and gruff tone. God save us from radiating -selfishness like this!</p> - -<p>It is an almost daily occurrence to see a tired -man or woman get upon a street car and no one -makes a move to give a seat, when that is all it -needs—just a little sitting nearer. This may be -thoughtlessness, but all the same it is selfishness; -a forgetfulness of the sweet privilege of helping -others, no matter who.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - -<p>The wife of Sir Bartle Frere once sent a servant -to meet her husband, who was just returning from -Africa, an illness preventing her from going. -The man did not know Sir Bartle, and he asked -for a description. "The only description you -will need," said his wife, "is this: Look out for -a fine-looking man who is helping some poor woman -carry a baby, or a basket, or a load." And, sure -enough, when the train arrived he found the distinguished -diplomat, the great statesman, helping -a poor laundry woman carry her large basket of -soiled linen. Ah, Sir Bartle, I greet you a nobleman -indeed, for you have radiated unselfishness, -thoughtful helpfulness, to me, and through me, to -others, and thus out and on forever.</p> - -<p>Some persons radiate cynical distrust of their -fellows. "There are no honest men!" "I -wouldn't believe in the integrity of that man under -oath." "Believe every man dishonest until he has -proven himself honest, and even then, watch out. -He'll be liable to catch you if you nap." "Do -others as they would do you, but do it first," said -David Harum. "A profession of religion is but -a cloak for evil." "If your bank cashier is a -Sunday-school Superintendent, watch him!" -"Look out for the man who has no open vices."</p> - -<p>These are the catchwords of this class of persons. -How pernicious and evil are their radiancies.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - -<p>Commend the fearless bravery of a Roosevelt, -the unpopular decisions of an upright judge, the -single-heartedness of a labor leader, the integrity -of a railroad official, and you are met with the -sneer of the lip, the cynical glance of the eye and -the scornful words: "He's only waiting for his -price."</p> - -<p>Far rather would I meet the converse of this -cynic in the optimist who believes that every man -is as good as he professes to be. For such an -abounding faith in mankind, freely radiated, has -the effect of calling forth faithfulness, and thus -creating what it expects.</p> - -<p>I know a woman who, though abundant in good -works and very kindly in some ways, who seeks opportunities -for helping the helpless and distressed, -yet, when others fail to measure up to her own -standard, is harsh, censorious, bitter, and fault-finding -to a degree that many find it impossible -to listen to her without distress. Thus her kindly -deeds are overlooked and ignored and she radiates -to a large degree discomfort, unrest, and irritation.</p> - -<p>At our house we were once privileged to know -a woman, recently widowed, who had a crippled -and almost helpless son of about a dozen years of -age. When her husband was alive she was the -president of the leading woman's club in her State -and also the president of the State Federation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -Women's Clubs—a woman of executive ability -and strong mentality, though shy and unassuming.</p> - -<p>Her husband was a well-known Governmental -specialist in plants, trees, etc., and she had aided -him, in some of his investigations, to such a degree -that she was almost as expert as he. Unfortunately -she was afflicted with deafness. When her -husband died she was left with only a few hundred -dollars. Her deafness prevented her taking any -of the positions her mental qualifications so eminently -fitted her to fill. Her crippled son must be -cared for. Bravely and fearlessly, yet cautiously -and studiously, she determined to make the living -for herself and son. She bought a small ranch, -planted it out in vegetables and small fruit, and, as -the crops matured, personally drove to town and -marketed them. Yet with all this arduous work -and care she found time and strength to read to -her boy (whose eyesight was poor), to help him -in his studies and sympathize with him in his boyish -endeavors to accomplish something as an electrician. -There was no complaining, no weeping -at her hard fate—simply a brave recognition of -her position and a cheerful facing of the responsibilities -thrust upon her. The sorrow and pain -she felt keenly, yet one saw no sign of suffering. -One day she came to our home and would have -said nothing of her difficulties had we not pressed -her to tell us about her affairs. She made no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> -claim for sympathy because of the way Fate had -tried her, but when we offered it, in our simple and -unpretentious fashion, she accepted it in as simple -and unaffected a way. Her uncomplaining courage, -her fearless grappling with the hard problems -of life, radiated inspiration to all who came in -close enough contact to know her. We were all -benefited and blessed by her presence and the helpful -radiancies she shed upon us.</p> - -<p>Here is another case. We are honored and -blessed with the friendship of the widow of an -Episcopal clergyman. For over twenty-five years -she and her husband lived in marital oneness, and -seven boys and girls crowned their happiness. -She awoke one morning to find him dead by her -side. The shock was crushing and few would have -blamed her had she been incapacitated for a while -by its sudden awfulness. But in an instant she -leaped to meet her burdens and responsibilities. -Religion was real to her. Her husband was with -God. He was safe. It was her duty now to be -both father and mother to her children. A struggle -then began which is as pathetic as it is heroic. -I have watched every battle and known the courage, -the patience, the fidelity, the failures, the successes. -A house, partially built with funds contributed -by friends, was eventually lost to the -mortgagees. The oldest daughter, after years of -brave and cheerful struggle with poverty and ill-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>health, -passed away. A few years later, within a -week of each other, two of the noble sons, one -about twenty-seven years of age, the other nineteen, -the former the most Christ-like youth I have -ever known, also died. Then the third daughter, -happily married, died after giving birth to her -third child, and, in a short time, owing to some -strange perversion which it is hard to understand, -the son-in-law took it into his head to refuse the -grandmother the privilege of seeing the children. -The one remaining son, who had studied with honors -at the California State University, went East -to complete his special studies at Yale, suddenly -collapsed mentally, and was cared for for a long -time in an Eastern hospital.</p> - -<p>Think of the tragedies and sorrows thus -crowded into one life in the short space of twenty -years! Yet during the whole of this time, though -I have been as close to the family as though I were -an uncle or older brother; though all their affairs -have been regularly and fully unfolded to me, -there have been absolutely no wailings, no repinings, -no complaints, and only the few tears that it -is a relief to let flow when loving hearts sympathize. -Instead, this brave woman, her heart fortified -by an abiding faith in and love for God, has -been "abundant in good works." She is the -"right hand support of her clergyman," and every -poor and needy person in the parish has experi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>enced -her practical interest, help, and loving sympathy. -Though unable personally to contribute -of material things, she has interested those who -could, and has thus made her sympathy practical -and genuine. Her home for many years was the -rallying ground for homeless young men—mainly, -of course, belonging to her own church—who -have been immeasurably blessed by her motherly -sympathy, loving counsel, and helpful advice.</p> - -<p>There radiates from her and her family a living -belief in the goodness of God, an assurance that -"all things work together for good to them that -love God," and that faith in God produces a living -courage, and daily strength, a power to overcome -affliction that is nigh to the marvelous. To some -it might appear almost like indifference; yet those -who know, as I do, can testify to the keenness of -the inner feeling, the longing for the companion -whose dear presence was so awfully and suddenly -removed, the heart-crushing losses of children, the -terrible burden of the mental disturbance of the -brilliant-minded and noble-hearted son. To be -brave, cheerful, helpful to others, and strong to -do under such burdens is to prove one's self possessed -of the power of the living God. It is the -radiation of the truths of religion more potent -than all the arguments of all the theologians of -all the ages.</p> - -<p>Still another case comes to mind while I write.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> -It is of a woman who braved disinheritance by a -stern father in order that she might marry the -man she loved. She came to the United States -with him, and on a vineyard in California they -struggled happily together, with a poverty that -was almost sordid in its piteousness. After two -children were born the husband died, leaving the -wife with these little ones, together with another -child whom she had practically adopted, and a -mortgage at heavy rates of interest upon the -home place. The house in which they had lived -for several years was poor and altogether devoid -of comfort, but shortly before the husband's death -it had been made comfortable by the addition of -several good rooms.</p> - -<p>Without a word of complaint this delicately -nurtured, refined woman, who, in her English home, -had been the organist and director of the choir of -a large church, took up the burden of running a -California fruit farm. Heavily in debt, interest -imperatively demanded every three months, knowing -little of the practical working of such a place, -she personally took hold and learned. She milked -cows night and morning, took them back and forth -to pasture, bred calves for the butcher, made butter, -raised chickens, drove weary miles summer and -winter giving music lessons, and yet kept home -more comfortable for her growing brood than does -many a woman well provided with funds and help.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> -In time the mortgage was paid off, and a windmill -and water tank added to the equipment of the -place. The children helped as they grew up, and -yet they were kept at school.</p> - -<p>When apricots and peaches were ripe I have seen -her for days and weeks at a time cutting and pitting -them for drying, until a half score or more -of tons were lying in their drying trays on the -alfalfa. For hours at a time, in the hot sun, she -sorted raisins and stacked them up in the sweat-boxes, -and did it happily, cheerfully, uncomplainingly, -in memory of the husband she so much loved.</p> - -<p>Can one come in contact with such a life without -feeling its blessed radiancies of courage, -energy, triumph over unpleasant circumstances, -cheerful doing of disagreeable work, and the power -of love to sweeten all things? To know this -woman is to be helped, strengthened, and blessed. -The bravery of such heroines far surpasses that of -much lauded military and naval heroes, and a few -such women are worth more to the race, in my -judgment, than all the Napoleons, Pompeys, -Cæsars, and Nelsons that ever lived.</p> - -<p>Certain men impress you with their calm self-reliance. -They are not disturbed by precedents -or adverse judgments. They do what they deem -to be right and refuse to be swerved from the path -they have laid out for themselves. Ruskin radiates -this influence, so do Carlyle and Browning.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> -Every man who has dared to make innovations, -deviate from the "ways of the old," has had to be -self-reliant. Every reformer of every age and in -every field has had no other staff to lean upon -than the assurance of his own soul. Galileo in -his astronomical deductions; Savonarola in his -criticisms of the existing political conditions; -Luther in his fulminations against the evils of the -church; Cromwell in his stand against the doctrine -of the "divine right of kings"; Jefferson, Washington, -and the whole of our fathers, who, according -to English <em>law</em>, were rebels and revolutionists, -in the Declaration of Independence; Lincoln in his -war measures and Emancipation Proclamation—all -these and a thousand others radiated such self-reliance -upon the principles they enunciated and -advocated as to convince their followers.</p> - -<p>Every political party based upon real principles -(rather than upon a desire for spoils), is organized -as the result of the radiation of those principles -held in the self-reliant hearts of a few men. Every -school of thought, in philosophy, theology, medicine, -law, ethics, or political economy, is based -upon the radiation of ideas from self-reliant men.</p> - -<p>Yet there is a marked difference between this -quality and that of self-conceit. When Carlyle -said of the grammarian who criticised his grammar, -"Why, mon, I'd have ye ken that I mak' -language for such men as ye to mak' their gram<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>mar -books from," he stated a fact. He was self-reliant, -but not conceited. So with Ruskin, when, -in response to my question as to what literature I -should read to cultivate a pure style of English, -after commenting on the worth of several masters, -concluded somewhat as follows: "And there are -those who say you should read what I have written, -and I agree with them, for I believe I have written -more carefully than most men." That was critical -self-judgment, not self-conceit. Still we are -all more or less familiar with the conceit of ignorance, -the assumption of men and women who do -not know the mere alphabet of the subjects they -profess to be experts on. Recently, on our sleeping -car, when a few people got together to sing, -one of the passengers, with a self-conceit that was -as ludicrous as it was ignorant, spoke of the baritone -voice of one of the women and discoursed -learnedly upon the bass of the man who was singing -tenor.</p> - -<p>We have a writer in California who knows so -well that he knows, that some of us think he knows -"by the grace of God," without study or effort. -His whole radiancy is one of cocksure self-conceit.</p> - -<p>Who has not felt the radiancy of the miserliness -of some men and women! Those who would -"squeeze the eagle on a penny until the poor bird -screams."</p> - -<p>In his <cite>Tom Brown at Rugby</cite>, Hughes shows<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> -that Arnold always radiated his full appreciation -of all the good in all the boys under his care. -Maud Ballington Booth is a wonderful illustration -of training to perceive the good radiancies in men -and women in whom most others can see and feel -only evil.</p> - -<p>Is not this a quality of soul to be highly desired? -How beautiful, how helpful, how comforting to -others long used to feeling that only the evil of -them is radiated to others, to feel the sympathy -of a large-hearted, pure, beautiful soul which has -responded to the weak radiancies of the good that -struggles for life within.</p> - -<p>For, just as I have shown elsewhere that we -must be alert to receive the radiancies of animate -and inanimate nature, so must we be receptive to -that which our fellow beings radiate. We should -train ourselves in receptiveness to that which is -good. All prejudice, narrowness, conceit, over -self-confidence, cocksureness, tend to ward off the -good radiancies of others. There are odors so -subtle that the olfactory nerves of most people -are incapable of recognizing them. There are -notes so refined that ordinary ears cannot hear -them, and we are all familiar with the fact that -there are infinite depths of space that the largest -telescopes fail to penetrate. The expert violinist -cherishes his sense of touch that he may not vitiate -his playing, and the engraver, the watchmaker, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> -the workers in a score and one other trades cultivate -and preserve high sensitiveness of touch in -order that they may become more expert. The -piano tuner's ear recognizes variations in the vibrations -of the strings he is tuning that most of -us fail to appreciate, and the ear of a Theodore -Thomas, Carl Muck, Charles Halle, or any other -masterly conductor, recognizes fine shades of expression, -harmony, and tastefulness in the playing -of an orchestra that but few can appreciate. -Browning in <cite>Rabbi Ben Ezra</cite> speaks of things that -God takes note of in measuring the man's account -that men ignore:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">All instincts immature,</div> - <div class="verse">All purposes unsure;</div> - <div class="verse">Thoughts hardly to be packed</div> - <div class="verse">Into a narrow act.</div> - <div class="verse">All I could never be,</div> - <div class="verse">All men ignored in me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This I was worth to God.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>We may not be able to discern these "instincts -immature," these "facts that break through language -and escape," but we can assuredly discipline -our minds and souls to see, hear, feel, and touch -many beautiful things in our fellows which we too -often ignore.</p> - -<p>Reader, what are you radiating? I cannot answer -that question. Your friends and your enemies -may tell in part. You alone can tell all.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> -Sit down some day, many days, and study yourself. -Weigh yourself. See how much good you -are doing, how much evil. Write out a balance -sheet. It will help you in your efforts to know -what you most need to seek to radiate in future, -and what to avoid radiating.</p> - -<p>You surely do not <em>want</em> to radiate evil.</p> - -<p>You surely <em>want</em> to radiate only good.</p> - -<p>Is it not better consciously to radiate that -which you wish than unconsciously (or thoughtlessly) -to radiate that which you do not wish?</p> - -<p>As, consciously or unconsciously, we radiate -that which is within us, whether good or evil, -should we not aim consciously to radiate the best -of which we are capable, and thus evidence that -we are striving to overcome all the evil that may -be within us?</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF INDIVIDUALITY</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate individuality. I want to -be myself and none other. If I see in others -things to emulate, things that will more fully make -me what I want and ought to be, then emulation -becomes a joyful duty—the something in another -becomes part of myself through my desire, my -emulation, my longing to attain. Hence in the -right seeking to be myself I seek also to be like all -the good in others which appeals to me. Herein -is no destruction of my individuality. It is a -perfecting of it. I take what is my own, no matter -where or how I find it.</p> - -<p>It is so well known as to be trite that men and -women are mere sheep. We follow our leaders. -We are anything but individual. In religion, in -medicine, in law, in speech, in dress, in amusements, -in architecture, in literature, in food, in -everything, custom and fashion dominate us.</p> - -<p>I would radiate a healthy resistance to the dictates -of fashion. Why should fashion ride rough-shod -over the wisdom of men and women? The -hoop-skirt, the stove-pipe collar and hat, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> -camel's hump of fifteen or twenty years ago that -the ladies wore as an extra adornment, the -chignon, and a thousand and one other foolish -things that once domineeringly dared us to defy -them have disappeared. Why should we ever have -yielded to them? What is fashion, anyhow? She -is a fickle damsel, generally proud of her money, -whose good looks are often the result of powder -and paint and chalk and rouge instead of good -health, vigor, and love. She is a mere flirt, carried -away for a few hours with anything as a whim -to pass away the time; without heart, feeling, sensibility, -brain, or knowledge. Her fads are more -likely to be wrong than right, and when right are -generally the result of a lapse into sensibility by -relinquishing any pretense at thought into the -hands of some one who can think for her. Fashion, -a heartless, conscienceless, soulless jade whose -friendship and favor are a curse, whose flatteries -are hollow, insincere, and corrupting, and whose -only use for any one or anything lasts merely so -long as her own selfish pleasures are attained or -desire for novelty satisfied.</p> - -<p>Why let fashion dictate what we shall wear? -Radiate your distrust of its judgment. Radiate -your refusal to submit to its dictates. Radiate -your full and calm determination, without argument, -to live in your own way. If a certain -"style" of dress, which is structural, honest, neat,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> -is suited to you to-day, it is suited to you to-morrow -and for all time. Be yourself and <em>wear that -style</em> regardless of the fluctuations of fashion. -Why should fashion say that a man's overcoat -this year shall fit him tightly and keep him warm, -and next year fit him loosely and send him into -the cold, through a storm, shivering and chilled? -What sense, what manliness, what dignity, is there -in allowing a "fashion-designer" to thus have the -opportunity of ruining our health? Let us radiate -our positive repudiation of such insane follies, -of such sins against our bodies, and in our dress, -our food, our social customs, be ourselves in a -kindly, unselfish, unobtrusive manner.</p> - -<p>Wherever fashion dictates in matters of dress, -of personal custom, there you find at once a restricted -and "provincial" people. For fashion -compels adherence to her silly commands, hence -picturesque individuality disappears. A few -years ago the clever editor of the New York <cite>Journal</cite> -wrote an editorial against men's wearing -whiskers. One part of his argument was that the -hairs were carriers of disease-germs, and that, -therefore, a man with whiskers was dangerous and -to be shunned. Thousands of the poor people of -New York read and believed this man's preposterous -screed, and were thus made unhappy and miserable, -and by mental suggestion rendered more -liable to the attacks of disease than they would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> -have been had these foolish words never been -penned.</p> - -<p>It was fashion—not a care for health—that -dictated those words. We Americans so love the -intellectual conversation and edifying monologues -of our barbers that we allow them to dictate to us -whether we shall have hair on our cheeks or not, -whether we shall have our necks shaved, and how -much and whose "restorer" we shall put upon our -hair.</p> - -<p>I use the barber here merely as a type. He by -no means stands alone.</p> - -<p>I am determined to radiate a quiet but forceful -protest against having my life or that of my -fellows dictated to, in purely personal matters, by -any one, whether he be priest, doctor, lawyer, barber, -or editor. Let each live his own life, within -reasonable bounds, and let each <em>expect</em> every other -to be himself. In nature there are no two things -alike, yet fashion would have us <em>all alike</em>; and, it -might be added, therefore, all foolish.</p> - -<p>In seeking for the expression of yourself do not -for one moment think it is necessary for you to -think out something new, original, startling, or -strange. That is not the idea at all. Your life -may be <em>yours</em>—purely individualistic, and yet -everything you do and say and think and feel be -as old as the hills. The idea is this. No matter -where you get the thoughts from that incite you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> -to action, <em>make them your own</em>; <em>let them become -a part of yourself</em>, then your life will be yours indeed; -an expression of your own soul, and not that -imitation of another that Emerson so truthfully -says is suicide.</p> - -<p>But in the radiating of my own individuality I -must be so filled with the true spirit of individuality -that I shall in no way interfere with that of -others. Too often men and women in seeking to -be "individual" have seriously trespassed upon -the rights, the joys, the comforts of others. This -is a fundamental error. The first law of individualism -is this: "What I claim for myself I -<em>thereby freely accord</em> to all others." Note the -word "thereby." In the very fact and act of -claiming I <em>thereby</em> freely recognize <em>to the utmost</em> -the right of every one else to claim the same right. -There is no selfishness in individualism; there are -no "special" privileges in its exercise. It is the -habit of a few to believe that <em>they</em> should have -"special" privileges accorded them. True individualism -recognizes no such special rights. In -<em>taking</em> we <em>give</em>. In claiming we avow the right of -others to claim.</p> - -<p>The trouble with mankind is that it has not -learned that souls are individuals; that the diversities -seen between plants, the differences that exist -even between blades of grass, so that there are no -two blades exactly alike, is but indicative of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> -individualism of the human soul. There is a family -likeness, for we are all created in God's image, -but God is so large, so great, so diverse, in Himself, -that each soul is a different image. Hence -each soul must be itself and not another. Each -soul must develop in its own lines and not in those -of others.</p> - -<p>The great errors have come in when men have -said: "I have found the way of life; it is the -only way; all men, therefore, must walk herein." -It is a very human error, yet error it certainly is. -That Roman Catholicism is "the way" for many -human souls no one can question, but that it is -"the only way for all human souls" many millions -have questioned and doubtless for ever will question. -Every church, every creed, every philosophy -has those for whom it is "the way," for the -time being at least, and it is well that they walk -therein. But in thought religion, as in everything -else, progress is the law of life, not standing still. -In religious thought, as in all life, let us say with -our whole souls:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So welcome each rebuff</div> - <div class="verse">That turns earth's smoothness rough,</div> - <div class="verse">Each sting that bids not sit, nor stand, but go.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Onward, forward, is the cry. The law of evolution -has demonstrated that there must ever be the -disturbance of the equilibrium on the lower plane -in order that there may be the readjustment upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> -the higher. Every soul that sits still and rests -content is retrogressing. There must ever be a -godly discontent—a reaching out, a following -after, as Paul puts it, if that we may apprehend—take -hold of—the things for which Christ Jesus -has taken hold of us.</p> - -<p>Every soul-field must be plowed and harrowed -after each harvest. Crops do not volunteer very -often, and a volunteer crop is never so good as one -that is carefully prepared for; ground thoroughly -nourished, plowed, drained, harrowed, rolled, -seeded with the best of seed, watered, weeded, and -properly harvested. Is a soul's harvest to be left -to chance, while farmers take anxious thought for -field-harvests, where only a few dollars' worth of -produce are the outcome? Let us be wise for our -own souls.</p> - -<p>I can only radiate individuality when I am individualistic.</p> - -<p>Is there no infallible, certain, sure way of doing -things? Of learning things?</p> - -<p>I know not what others have found, I only know -for myself <em>that there is but one way, and that is -the way of personal test and experience</em>.</p> - -<p>Cardinal Newman, one of the greatest, simplest, -purest, and sweetest minds of the last century, had -to put his life's guidance into the hands of the -church—the Mother Church, to him—the -Roman Catholic Church. His piteous cry has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> -voiced the cry of millions of human souls since; -souls groping in the dark, seeking for light, desiring -above all to <em>know</em>.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Lead, kindly light, amid th' encircling gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lead Thou me on;</div> - <div class="verse">The night is dark, and I am far from home,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lead Thou me on.</div> - <div class="verse">Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see</div> - <div class="verse">The distant scene; one step enough for me.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>It was his desire to know that led him to write -the hymn.</p> - -<p>What a profound truth Emerson said when he -wrote: "A man should learn to detect and watch -that gleam of light which flashes across his mind -from within, more than the luster of the firmament -of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without -notice his thought, <em>because it is his</em>."</p> - -<p>The italics are mine. Why will men rely more -upon written words than upon the flashes of illuminated -truth that come to their own souls? God -and His truth are as much for me as for any man. -There is as much truth, wisdom, knowledge in the -universe for me as for all the wise and learned of all -the ages. It is outside of me, waiting to come in, -anxious to come in if I will allow it to do so, and -yet I allow a Board of Bishops, a College of Medicine, -a Bench of Judges to dictate to me as to what -of God and His truth I shall receive. While it is -my duty and privilege to study reverently all which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> -these people would present to me as the truth, I -want to radiate with all the power of my nature my -belief that every soul must find truth for itself. -There is no patent truth extractor that suits every -human need. Conventional thought which professes -to express "the truth" is merely man's -sign-board to point out to you the way some one -else has found truth. Too often, alas, it is used -as a restricting bond to tell you beyond which -bounds you must not go. Let no man bind you. -God is over all and in all. His truth is everywhere. -<em>Seek in spirit and in truth</em> and you will find,—<em>for -yourself</em>. But be careful, when you have found for -yourself, that you do not make the common mistake -of most human beings, and endeavor to force -your truth, appropriate and suitable for you, down -the mental and spiritual throats of every one else -as the appropriate and suitable truth for them. -Leave to every other soul the right, the privilege, -the joy, the necessity of finding truth for himself, -herself. Tell what you have found, if you like, but -tell it reverently, as a gift to you, not as a divine -light for every one else.</p> - -<p>This, therefore, is the individuality I would -radiate. I would have the Hindoo, the Hottentot, -the Hopi, the Roman Catholic, the Mormon, the -Chinaman, the Methodist all feel that I revere and -respect their individuality even as I revere and respect -my own. But, further—and here is the im<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>portant -thing—I would so radiate that they will -respect and revere mine as I respect theirs. When -the Methodist says either in words or acts, "I am -a Methodist and therefore you should be one," he -violates the law of individuality as of moral freedom. -So with the Hopi, the Catholic, the Hindoo.</p> - -<p>I would have it clear, therefore, that individualism -is not "toleration." What is there in my -exercise of a God-given right and duty to be myself -that should call for the assumption of my fellow -being that <span class="smcap">HE</span> will "tolerate" these rights? -Therefore, I do not want to be "tolerant" to my -fellows. I would radiate the individualism which -goes ahead and thinks and acts according to the -dictates of personal conscience. It is all very well -to say that we should learn from the combined wisdom -of the ages. I am not so sure of much of it, -after all! I accept the astronomy of to-day, but -by no means believe our astronomers have said the -last word, any more than I believe that the great -and humble Newton said the last word when he -declared that man had gained the summit in the art -of telescope making. Just four years after he -made that foolish assertion John Dolland invented -the achromatic telescope which has revolutionized -the astronomical science of the world by adding -infinitely to the astronomer's seeing power.</p> - -<p><em>Nothing</em> in human life is yet complete. There -is <em>no</em> absolute truth carried out to its ultimate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> -When numbers were first discovered our forefathers -thought they had gone as far as it was possible, in -discovering that two and two make four. Then -geometry was discovered and Euclid changed the -arithmetic of the world, and the teachers said we -had gone as far as it was possible. Then algebra -was discovered and the world found out the teachers -were wrong in limiting the science of arithmetic. -Yet foolish people would not learn from the folly -of the past. They wisely and sagely declared that -<em>now, at last</em>, the ultimate had been reached. But -Newton comes along and with his "Calculus" -opens up new worlds in arithmetical science. -NOW we have got it all, declares the teacher of -<em>fixed</em> truth. Yet in the year of Our Lord, one -thousand nineteen hundred and six, there comes a -Japanese, and in his <cite>Handbook of Chess</cite> demonstrates -as great an advance in arithmetical science -as Newton did in his Calculus. We are yet children. -We shall ever be learning so long as we are -human. The knowledge we have so far gained is -vast, apparently, when compared with the knowledge -held in the Dark Ages, but, as compared <em>with -what there is yet stored away for us to know</em>, I -verily believe it is so insignificant, so slight, so -small, so puny, so infinitesimal, as to excite the pity -and the contempt of any superior beings who look -down upon us and see us strutting in our doctor's -mortar-boards and gowns in our assumed wisdom.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> - -<p>God forbid that any arrogant pretension of mine -should ever prevent one truth from entering a human -soul. I want to radiate my acceptance of all -there is, but my expectance for the large <em>more</em> that -is yet to come.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">CONFLICTING RADIANCIES</p> - - -<p>There are few, if any, human beings in the -world who radiate only evil, or, on the other hand, -only good. Man is a <em>human</em> being, not divine. -Humanity implies a lower stage than divinity, and -whether what we call evil be but manifestations of -the imperfect and incomplete, or deliberate wrong -choice for which one is personally responsible, we -are all compelled to admit that there are few people -with whom we meet who radiate toward us and all -others only that which is good. Sometimes these -"not good" radiancies have no immoral intent in -them, though they produce bad results.</p> - -<p>For instance, it is a well-known fact that many -a man is driven to drunkenness by an unhappy -home life, yet probably no member of the household -has the deliberate intention of producing such -a result. It may be that he is equally to blame for -the conditions in his home, for all are imperfect, -yet if the appetite for drink has been formed, or -environment supplies great temptation, the complaints, -taunts, or anger of his unhappy family do -not increase his powers of resistance, but rather<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> -weaken them. There are men, also, who frankly -confess to a reckless impulse to do wrong whenever -they come under any very depressing influence. -It may be true that some peculiarity of temperament -renders them liable to be thrown out of mental -balance. There may be inherent weakness, or -hereditary tendency, which renders them unusually -susceptible to depressing radiancies, but the results -are just as deplorable.</p> - -<p>Doubtless many a woman, too, warped and -twisted out of normal conditions by disappointment, -ill-treatment, and mental suffering, becomes a -tongue-lasher, goes to the bad, or commits suicide, -when different influences and environment would -have saved her from such consequences. There -may not seem to be any immorality in the nagging -of a husband, or a wife, or a parent, yet the persistent -nagging of some person, whose intent was -only good, has produced direful effects in various -ways.</p> - -<p>These and a thousand other tendencies of the -human being point to our present imperfection or -subjugation to error, out of which we must rise.</p> - -<p><em>I know a poet.</em> His words have thrilled millions -to a nobler and better life. His pen has -never incited to a mean or ignoble thought or -action; it has always written high and noble truth—peace, -good will to men, the dignity of labor, -the joy of helping, the blessing of purity, the never-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>failing -help of God—and yet in his personal life -he sometimes radiates the degradation of drunkenness -and the awfulness of impurity.</p> - -<p><em>I know a writer.</em> He is one of the most brilliant -men of his State. His knowledge is profound. -He devotes more time, unselfishly, to the good of -his adopted city and State than any other man I -know. His work is untiring in its fervid zeal for -the preservation of historic landmarks that without -his efforts would possibly have disappeared; -and also for a museum for the accumulation of evidences -of past civilization. Yet he radiates a vindictive -jealousy and fierce hatred of those whom -he does not like that makes even his friends afraid -of him and fearful lest they incur his anger.</p> - -<p>Shelley, Byron, Poe, Bret Harte, Leigh Hunt, -Landor—and thousands of others, including the -Psalmist David, the Hebrew king whom God loved—radiated -grand, sublime, divine truths, yet they -also radiated weakness and moral wrong.</p> - -<p>What should be our mental attitude toward -those who give such conflicting radiancies? Shall -we ignore the evil and see only the good? How -<em>can</em> we? How <em>dare</em> we?</p> - -<p>Shall we ignore the good and see only the evil?</p> - -<p>Again I ask, How can we? How dare we?</p> - -<p>There are good people, I know, who do both of -these, to me, impossible things. I want to do -neither. I will do neither if I can possibly help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> -it. I will not stultify <em>my own</em> sense of right and -wrong by ignoring what I deem to be wrong in -another. I will reprobate it, for myself, and -earnestly strive to be kept free from it, but, at the -same time, I will see the good in all its beauty and -power and will glorify it and accept it, and thank -God that so much good does exist.</p> - -<p>The whole question thus resolves itself to me: -Shall I refuse to accept the good of certain men -because they do many evil things? Shall I refuse -to accept good except from those who are perfect? -If so, from whom shall I gain good? From you, -reader? Are you perfect? If you take that position -you had better drop this book, here and now, -for you cannot receive good from me, for too sadly -do I know that neither the book nor its writer is -perfect. Joaquin Miller perfectly expresses this -thought in the introductory lines to his poem on -Byron:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In men whom men condemn as ill,</div> - <div class="verse">I find so much of goodness still,</div> - <div class="verse">In men whom men account divine,</div> - <div class="verse">I find so much of sin and blot,</div> - <div class="verse">I hesitate to draw the line between the two,</div> - <div class="verse">Where God has not!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Let us be fearless, honest, just, frank. Too -often we condemn people who have as much good -as evil in them—or more—because we are afraid -if we do not condemn the evil that they do, openly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> -and loudly, people will think we tolerate evil because -we ourselves are evil. Hawthorne wrote his -<cite>Scarlet Letter</cite> to teach us different. The harsh, -stern, vindictively pure and good people—in my -humble judgment—have many and grave sins to -answer for as well as those whom they so mercilessly -condemn. I condemn all that which appears -evil to me, and I seek to avoid it, but I condemn no -man, no woman. That is not my privilege, my -work. Judgment belongs to God who knows all -circumstances and understands all hearts. I know -and understand very little, for I am very short-sighted -and ignorant. How can any of us look -with so severe an eye upon the sins of our brothers -and sisters when we, too, are imperfect, ignorant, -prone to wrong. John Wesley taught the people -of his denomination very differently, though they -haven't yet learned the lesson. One of his hymns -says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">To hate sin with all my heart</div> - <div class="verse">And yet the sinner love.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And the Lord of the whole Christian Church -spoke in no uncertain terms when He said, "Judge -Not," and in His action to those who brought the -adulterous woman to Him clearly showed us what -our attitude should be. Joaquin Miller wrote a -much-needed lesson for this age, this civilization, -this people (the puritanic American and Anglo-Saxon), -when he took this incident in Christ's life<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> -and made it the theme of his poem, <cite>Charity</cite>. -May its high and sympathetic truths sink deep, -so that henceforth you will be able to stand side -by side with the Divine in dealing with sinful men -and women, and while condemning the sin be able to -say: "Go, and sin no more." And, remember, -it is not for you to say which sin is most sinful in -God's sight. You may know which is of greater -horror to yourself, but it may be that the "darling -sin" you cherish in secret, or the "weakness" of -your life may be regarded by the Divine as of great -culpability as well as the "horrible sin" you so -much deplore and feel you must condemn so bitterly -in another.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF FEAR</p> - - -<p>Fear is the greatest enemy of mankind. It is -the creator of evil, for many people sin through -fear. It is the maker of cowards and moral weaklings, -the foe of all progress, the barrier to advancement, -physical, mental, spiritual. He who -is afraid dares not, and he who dares not, knows -not, feels not, enjoys not. The fearful do not live; -they merely exist, in bondage to a terror that leaves -them neither night nor day. They know few of -the delights of achievement, for they are afraid to -dare. Fear throttles endeavor, stifles hope, murders -aspiration. It is a hydra-headed monster of -protean forms. It is a liar and a coward, a beguiler -and a thief, a sneak and a poltroon, a slanderer -and a cur. It comes in a thousand guises—sometimes -as caution, then as tact, again as consideration -for others, but ever and always as a -deceiver and a destroyer.</p> - -<p>If there is one thing above another that I wish -I had learned in earliest youth, and I wish I had -known enough to teach my children in their earliest -days, it is perfect fearlessness. The only thing I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> -fear to-day is fear. To go through life afraid of -this and that and the other, is to take away all -joy, all spontaneity, all freedom, all aspiration, all -endeavor.</p> - -<p>I used to believe and teach that we should "fear -God." But the word "fear" as here used is not -the abject, groveling, contemptible feeling that so -many people imagine it to be. God has made us -in His own image. He wishes us to stand upright, -and greet Him as filial beings should, proud and -glad to come to Him as "Our Father."</p> - -<p>Fear makes us whine and whimper before God, -and go to Him in the same spirit of dread that -leads the Indian to feel he must always be propitiating -the powers that be. If he does not pray -and sing and dance and smoke the good powers -will be offended, and will injure him, and the evil -powers will be made more evil and do him more -harm than they otherwise would. Hence month in -and month out, because of fear, he seeks by his -dances, and smokings, and songs, and prayers to -protect himself from evil by soothing their possible -anger and quieting their fury against him.</p> - -<p>There is much of this same spirit in our old-time -theology, and our present-day life. We are -afraid of God. God doesn't want us to be afraid. -Every man should therefore stand upright, afraid -of neither God, man, nor devil. God is no tyrant -to be turned from His purposes by sycophantic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> -worship, or by "much speaking" and importunity. -He is a reasonable God, a loving God, a just God, -a merciful God, and abject fear will never change -His plans as to His treatment of any human being.</p> - -<p>As to being afraid of men, why should one man -ever be afraid of another? Let us stand upright -as men—one man just as good as another—<em>if he -is as good</em>, and if he isn't as good, knowing that all -the potentialities of godhead are within his own -soul. We are gods, says Browning, though but as -yet in the germ. Let us fearlessly develop the -germ, or give it opportunity for development.</p> - -<p>And as to being afraid of the devil, I have long -since learned that the proper way to deal with what -I suppose to be the devil—or his henchmen—is -simply to straighten up my back, look him squarely -in the eye, and definitely and positively bid him -"Go to hell!" Even the most modest and refined -of preachers, whether of the new or old type, will -agree that that is the only place for the devil and -his myrmidons.</p> - -<p>I would have my children, myself, and the world -afraid of nothing but of evil—and by evil I mean -those sins that I myself know are evil—selfishness, -pride, uncleanness, as well as the sins of the decalogue. -But even here I would not let it be a fear -that dreads falling into these sins. I would not -anticipate or expect anything of the kind. Hence, -in one sense I would not have them afraid of evil.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> -Resist evil and it will flee from you. Harbor it -not, do not dread it, but resolve to slay it by its -opposite good. The evil is null if you live its -opposite. There is no need for an unselfish man to -fear selfishness. A man who gives freely never -need fear that he will become a miser.</p> - -<p>Yet people go through life afraid, and teach -their children to be afraid, and thus lose nine-tenths -of the love and joy and power and blessing of -life.</p> - -<p>Fear holds a large and powerful grip upon the -human race. Scarce one woman in a thousand of -the so-called civilized portion but is afraid of -child-birth—a perfectly natural process that -should be attended with all the angels of Love and -Joy and Welcome, instead of the horrible demons -of Fear. From the time of birth until its body -falls into the grave the mortal is taught fear. We -pay preachers, teachers, lawyers, and doctors, and -much of their work consists of fostering our fears. -I have a picture before my mind's eye now of one -of the noblest and best women that ever lived. -Her whole life was a self-sacrifice, an unselfish devotion -to others, yet, such was the theology that -had been taught to her that she was constantly in -dread lest she had done wrong, she was ever sitting -on the stool of repentance, and life was a gloomy, -somber, awful thing to her, because of her "dread -of an angry God."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p> - -<p>Thousands of people fear death because they -have been taught that when they die they may "go -to hell" for sins done on earth.</p> - -<p>A mother was telling me only a few days ago of -the perfect fearlessness of her boy until (when -about six years of age) he went to a Sunday -school, where they taught him their ideas of the -devil and hell and God's method of punishing sin. -That night he dared not go to bed without a light -and woke up several times crying that he was -afraid of sinking into hell.</p> - -<p>Whatever preachers may feel it to be their duty -to teach of hell and God's anger to grown men and -women, I deem it monstrously cruel to put such -fears into the plastic and trustful souls of the -young.</p> - -<p>Teachers, lawyers, and doctors are as bad as the -preachers. We must avoid "night air," and -draughts, and getting our feet wet, and not eating -enough, and eating too much. We must not eat -this and that, and must not do that or the other. -Fear is instilled into our minds all along the pathway -of life until if we are not healthy enough to -throw it away and live our own fearless life, we -are weighted down by the burden of our needless -and senseless fears. All quack doctors work on -the foolish and ignorant fears of the people, or -their nostrums would never sell enough to pay a -thousandth part of what their advertising costs.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> -Fear is the club that scoundrels use to beat the -ignorant into paying tribute to them.</p> - -<p>I do not believe in these fears—to me they are -all bad, and nothing but bad. I would banish -every one of them from the human heart.</p> - -<p>But, says an objector, you surely would not let -your child go and handle a deadly rattlesnake, or -send your growing and innocent girl into the company -of expert <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">roués</i>, or willfully sleep in a miasmic -atmosphere, or inhale the poisonous gases of a -badly cared-for plumbing system? Of course not. -But neither would I be afraid of them. There is -all the difference in the world between <em>knowledge of -danger</em>, and <em>fear</em> of that danger. Let a child be -taught definitely and positively the danger of -handling a rattlesnake, but do not fill his soul with -fear of it; impress forcefully and strongly the wisdom -of avoiding evil company upon your daughter, -but teach her to be absolutely fearless in the -presence of the debauchee; seek to the full how to -avoid all miasma and deadly plumbing, but be -fearless about them. Fear is the product of ignorance; -fearlessness of knowledge. If my child -knows all the harm a rattlesnake can do, and all -the power it possesses, he can avoid it as easily as -not. Therefore why should he be afraid? The -feminine fears of mice, rats, spiders, and snakes are -evidences either of ignorance, or of a developed -hereditary tendency to fear. In the former case<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> -the fearful one should be trained so as to remove -her fear, in the latter she should resolutely set her -will to work to overcome it, in which all her friends -should sympathetically aid her.</p> - -<p>Fear has ever been the foe of progress. Every -advance step in all life has been taken by him only -who had throttled his fears. Fire was conquered -for the human race by the man who dared brave -the strange and weird flames that grew and then -disappeared. Prometheus—the fearless—is the -type of all who have helped the race to progress. -It is the same in every field of endeavor, on every -plane of thought. Galileo, Newton, Savonarola, -the barons of King John's time, Cromwell, Luther, -Bacon, Captain Cook, Washington, Lincoln are -but a few of the thousands of names of men who -have dared, who have bid their fears depart, and in -so doing have advanced the human race.</p> - -<p>Joaquin Miller in his grand poem <cite>Columbus</cite> -clearly shows what would have become of him and -the discovery of the new world had he let the fears -of the mate and his sailors affect him. Read it -carefully with this thought in view. Indeed it is -well worth memorizing as a standing lesson against -fear.</p> - - -<p>COLUMBUS</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Behind him lay the gray Azores,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Behind the Gates of Hercules;</div> - <div class="verse">Before him not the ghost of shores;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before him only shoreless seas.</div> <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> - <div class="verse">The good mate said: "Now must we pray,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For lo! the very stars are gone.</div> - <div class="verse">Brave Admir'l, speak; what shall I say?"</div> - <div class="verse indent2">"Why, say: 'Sail on! sail on! and on!'"</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">"My men grow mutinous day by day;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My men grow ghastly wan and weak."</div> - <div class="verse">The stout mate thought of home; a spray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek.</div> - <div class="verse">"What shall I say, brave Admir'l, say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If we sight naught but seas at dawn?"</div> - <div class="verse">"Why, you shall say at break of day:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">'Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!'"</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until at last the blanched mate said:</div> - <div class="verse">"Why, now, not even God would know</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should I and all my men fall dead.</div> - <div class="verse">These very winds forget their way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For God from these dread seas is gone.</div> - <div class="verse">Now speak, brave Admir'l; speak and say——"</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!"</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">"This mad sea shows his teeth to-night.</div> - <div class="verse">He curls his lip, he lies in wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With lifted teeth, as if to bite!</div> - <div class="verse">Brave Admir'l, say but one good word:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What shall we do when hope is gone?"</div> - <div class="verse">The words leapt like a leaping sword:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!"</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And peered through darkness. Ah, that night</div> - <div class="verse">Of all dark nights! and then a speck—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A light! A light? A light! A light!</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> - - <div class="verse">It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It grew to be Time's burst of dawn.</div> - <div class="verse">He gained a world; he gave that world</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!"<a name="Anchor_3" id="Anchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote C.">[C]</a></div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Sydney Smith once well said: "A great deal of -talent is lost to the world for want of a little -courage. Every day sends to their graves men -who have remained obscure because of timidity. -The fact is that, in order to do anything in this -world worth doing, we must not stand shivering on -the brink and thinking of the cold and danger; but -jump in and scramble through as well as we can. -It will not do to be perpetually calculating risks, -and adjusting nice chances. It did very well before -the flood, when a man could consult his friends -upon an intended publication for a hundred and -fifty years, and live to see its success for six or -seven centuries afterward. But at present a man -waits, and doubts, and hesitates, and consults his -father, brother, cousin, friends, till one fine day he -finds he is sixty-five years of age. There is so -little time for our squeamishness that it is no bad -rule to preach up the necessity of a little violence -done to the feelings and of efforts made in defiance -of strict and sober calculation."</p> - -<p>Too often elderly friends, with the best of inten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>tions, -inculcate this fear into the hearts of the -young. Never was there a greater mistake or <em>real</em> -unkindness. It is nothing that the intent is good. -One's intent may palliate any judgment rendered -against the offender, but, the unfortunate result, -the implanting of the fear, cannot so easily be -forgiven. Oh that I could prevail upon older -people to refrain from this terribly demoralizing -habit of giving advice to the young that inculcates -fear. Let me illustrate:</p> - -<p>A young man is a clerk in an office. He sees an -opening to which his heart and brain strongly impel -him, but there is a little, perhaps a great deal, of -risk connected with it. He goes for advice to his -older friends. They, with their life-work practically -finished, valuing their rest and content -more than desiring to reënter the battle of life, -naturally are wary about an uncertainty. "Why -not leave well enough alone? Why run the risk? -What will you do if this fails? You will have -given up a certainty for an uncertainty," and -so on.</p> - -<p>Ah! worldly wise though it <em>seems</em>, it is the most -injurious and harmful advice that the young could -possibly receive. Where would progress and advancement -be to-day if many had not totally disregarded -such smug, self-contented, unheroic advice! -Thank God, youth is the time for adventure, for -striking out, for <em>making mistakes</em>, for learning,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> -for testing, for "proving <em>all</em> things," and holding -fast to that which is good. Old age has had its -day. It has made its mistakes and profited by -them. Let it keep its hands off the young. Let -them have their opportunity.</p> - -<p>Herbert Spencer tells of throwing up a good job -as civil engineer in order to experiment with a matter -that a fortnight proved to be utterly impossible. -Yet fifty years later he thus reviewed this -apparently self-injurious act: "Had there not -been this seemingly foolish act, I should have -passed a humdrum and not very prosperous life -as a civil engineer. That which has since been -done would never have been done."</p> - -<p>In other words, the act that shook him out of -the rut, the contented, common, mediocre path, -compelled him to find a new path for himself, and -this called upon all the resources of his great and, -to him and others, unknown nature, and he developed -into the transcendent genius, the profound -philosopher, whose writings had greater influence, -perhaps, upon his century than those of any other -man.</p> - -<p>Hence I want to radiate the spirit of complete -fearlessness, not only for myself, but for my young -friends of both sexes, all the sons and daughters -of men. I would calmly watch them plunge overboard -into the ocean of life, trustful and confident, -having first taught them the first few strokes of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> -swimming—the principles of true and godly living—and -then stand, fearlessly, and watch them -strike out for themselves. I swam,—why should -not they? God is in His heaven to-day watching -the sparrows fly just as He was a score, a hundred, -a thousand years ago.</p> - -<p>In the mental world how fearful people often are -of breaking away from old ideas. Only the other -day a friend wrote me that he had been to a funeral, -conducted by an orthodox clergyman. He said: -"I imagine his is a very orthodox denomination, -if he is a fair sample of what they believe. Glimmerings -of a soul that hungers for larger things -than its creed allowed was evident in his talk, however. -Is it not pitiful, and more, is it not tragical, -how people allow their soul-instincts and natural -outreachings to be killed, or hampered, or stilled by -what their befuddled brains or the brains of others -have decided is proper, or accepted as proper, to -believe?"</p> - -<p>I can remember when good Methodists and Congregationalists -were "kicked out of the church" -for daring to hope that all men would ultimately -be saved, and I have heard preachers and doctors -fulminating against Christian Science and everything -else that did not conform exactly to what -they believed, and seeking to work upon the fears of -their congregations to prevent any investigation. -This kind of fear is unworthy the human soul.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> -Be in a daring, a receptive, an investigative state -of mind. I would radiate a readiness and willingness -to listen to anything that has proven, or seems -to have proven, a truth to another. I want to -welcome truth from wherever it comes, whether -popular or unpopular, wanted or unwanted. I -would broaden my horizon, heighten my aspirations -and deepen my conceptions of truth and be -glad to receive from any source. I well remember -John Ruskin saying to me: "Never read that -book or listen to that sermon which you know beforehand -you will agree with. By so doing you -deepen the ruts of your own mentality." I want -no mental or spiritual ruts. Good roads are never -"rutted." I wish to be a broad, wide, well-paved, -solid road, over which all truth may run, welcome, -free, untaxed, life-giving.</p> - -<p>In his <cite>Memory and Rime</cite>, Joaquin Miller in -speaking of poets refers to them as "these men -who have room and strength and the divine audacity -to think for themselves."</p> - -<p>When a man strikes out for himself, in thought -and action, he does have to be audacious, in the -higher sense of the word. He has to dare his fellow -men, dare their criticism, dare their disapproval, -dare to shock them, dare to grieve them, -perhaps. He has to dare himself, throw down -the gauntlet to himself in his struggle to become -completely what he believes to be highest and best.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> -It takes a great deal of courage to do all that, a -great deal of resolution—an initiative that may -seem impudence, a fearlessness that may seem recklessness.</p> - -<p>The strength that makes it possible to do this -must be a strength like to the divine strength. A -strength ordained from the foundation of the earth -as a part of man's birthright, to become a part -of himself, when he begins to try for himself to -conceive of higher good and to live it. The man -who thinks only as other men think, dares act only -as other men act, is as a babe in swaddling clothes, -helpless, dependent. One can never be strong until -he learns to walk alone, independent of another's -hand to cling to or another's strength to steady -himself by. One must learn to stand on his own -feet, learn to keep his own balance, learn to step -by his own volition. If he does not he becomes a -cripple. Most lives are as the lives of cripples, -and we help to make them so by our continued -trying to force people to cling to us and our ideas, -frightening them into believing that they are in -great danger if they try to step alone. A little -trembling of the legs as one first stands alone is -nothing to be alarmed at. A few falls and bumps -as we first step out never seriously injure us.</p> - -<p>It is only when a life has strength to stand out -alone, independent of its fellows, that its soul -can take hold of God.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> - -<p>And I fancy that it is only when a life thinks -and acts for itself, and allows its fellow men to -think and act for themselves, that it is in a condition -to really give help and to receive help, really -in a state of mind to fulfill the commandment: -"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."</p> - -<p>It is one thing to be brave enough to do something -which is hard to do but which your fellow -men will approve of your doing, and an entirely -different thing to do something hard but which -your fellow men will not approve of your doing. -Therefore I want to radiate into actual, living -potentiality my belief that life consists in expression -and not repression. By many this is taken to -be a plea for license and want of self-control. Do -not believe it! That is not what I mean. The -expression of evil is not the expression of myself, -for I long to do only good. Read what St. Paul -says on the subject. And by "I," I mean my real -self, as Paul did—not my lower self, my evil heredity, -or whatever it is that seeks to drive away the -good from me—I, the real I, the self which is, and -which may not appear to the world, want to express -all that is in that real self. That means that -I must control, slay, kill, drive out all the evil that -comes to me and demands that I express it as part -of myself. It is not a part of my spiritual self, -and if I express evil then I am not myself in that -sense. But I want to have such perfect, such abso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>lute -control over all outward expressions that I -shall ever and at all times express nothing but that -which is good; and that which will be felt to be good -by all people.</p> - -<p>And yet we must determine what we should express. -The thinking man and woman make their -own standards. These standards, in certain great -principles of honor, truth, nobleness, purity, are -practically alike, yet most men and women are controlled -by fashion, custom, society, rather than by -their own cool, deliberate judgment. I want to -radiate my protest against this state of affairs. I -will be my own judge and not place the responsibility -for my own moral life upon the judgment -of any person, society, clique, class, or church. I -must be saved by my own belief and life, not by -the belief and life of others.</p> - -<p>For years I endeavored to "avoid the appearance -of evil." When at last, however, I discovered -that the "appearance of evil"—the determination -of what it was, rested upon the average quality of -the minds of the community by which I was surrounded, -and not always upon right, or truth, or -justice, I made up my mind that for me, at least, -God had a higher mission. I resolved, therefore, -in His strength fearlessly to radiate a higher conception -of things. An evil mind sees evil where -none is; a filthy mind sees filth where is only innocence -and sweetness. Was I to shape my life and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> -conduct to meet the ideas of those who deem innocence -and trustfulness, natural simplicity, and -true-heartedness as "appearances of evil"? God -forbid. Rather, by far, would I suffer in the judgments -of men and women, cruel and untrue though -they would be, than forego the life of natural -trust, simple uprightness, that alone mean <em>life</em> -to me.</p> - -<p>And this is what I desire to radiate,—a positive, -powerful, healthful, aseptic moral quality that -will refuse to allow people to see evil where none -exists; that will lead them to prefer to see, to hope -for, to believe in, the good rather than the evil in -men. Better trust and be deceived, than live a -life of horrible mistrust. I know men and women -are imperfect, and, like myself, composed of good -and evil, therefore I am determined to radiate my -belief in the good in them rather than radiate my -belief in the bad of them.</p> - -<p>It is worth while to re-read George Eliot's <cite>Mill -on the Floss</cite>, to see how poor Maggie Tulliver was -misjudged and cruelly treated purely on what people -<em>supposed</em> was her wrong-doing. And I shall -never forget the influence the following words had -on me when I first read them. I would that the -lesson they contain might be burned into the inmost -consciousness of every reader of this book.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Even on the supposition that required the utmost stretch -of belief—namely, that none of the things said about Miss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> -Tulliver were true—still, since they <em>had</em> been said about -her, they had cast an odor around her which must cause -her to be shrunk from by every woman who had to take -care of her own reputation—and of society. To have -taken Maggie by the hand and said, 'I will not believe unproved -evil of you; my lips shall not utter it; my ears shall -be closed against it; I, too, am an erring mortal, liable to -stumble, apt to come short of my most earnest efforts, your -lot has been harder than mine, your temptation greater; -let us help each other to stand and walk without more falling;'—to -have done this would have demanded courage, -deep pity, self-knowledge, generous trust—would have demanded -a mind that tasted no piquancy in evil speaking, -that felt no self-exaltation in condemning, that cheated -itself with no large words into the belief that life can have -any moral end, any high religion, which excludes the striving -after perfect truth, justice, and love towards the individual -men and women who come across our own path.</p></div> - -<p>It is my earnest desire that I may radiate this -spirit of courage, deep pity, self-knowledge, generous -trust, and all that follows. And this, not in -an abstract or theoretical way, but in the real concrete -cases that one meets with in life. I am not -too good to associate with the found-out wrong-doer -if he is striving against his wrong-doing, and -aiming to be better. I would not look down on -any human being because of any sin. Though I -want to grow to hate sin more and more as the -manifestations of that which separates us from the -Infinite, I want the sinner to feel that I am one -with him in all desire to be free from evil, to -be possessed only by the spirit of truth, purity, -and love.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> - -<p>All great victories whether of peace or war have -been won by the fearless, the unafraid. We honor -the heroes of the past, of Thermopylæ, and the -fearless and brave of all nations and all time. -Tennyson's <cite>Charge of the Light Brigade</cite> appeals -to our love and respect for the virile, the manly, -the courageous, the fearless, and it is the same -spirit that thrills us when we read or hear <cite>Curfew -Shall not Ring To-night</cite>. To save her lover the -shrinking maiden was filled with high born courage -and dared to hang on to the bell. Whether we -agree with his beliefs or not we admire the bravery -of Luther that led him to exclaim: "Were there -as many devils in my way as tiles on the house tops -yet would I go to Worms." Whether we approve -of his ascetic life or not we thrill at the bravery, -the simple-hearted daring of Francis of Assisi, who -resolutely cast aside his patrimony and dared his -father's anger that he might serve God in his own -way.</p> - -<p>Every advanced thinker, whose life and action -spell progress for the race, has to be a daring -pioneer. He must be an iconoclast; he must be -self-contained, self-assured, self-confident. He -must stand aloof from his fellows in the very spirit -of the message he brings, for he dares—imperfect, -weak, even sinful though he be—to be a teacher, a -leader of others. And how natural, human, it is -for those who live with or near him, seeing and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> -knowing as they do, all his foibles, weaknesses, -littlenesses, failures, sins, to magnify these things -and by them hide the beauty and grandeur of the -lesson God has given him to teach the world.</p> - -<p>Our poets have given us some wonderfully -vivid pictures of the fearless. Perhaps the greatest -in all literature is Shelley's <cite>Prometheus</cite>. It is -worth reading a score of times in order that its -spirit of fearlessness might be absorbed. Joaquin -Miller's <cite>Columbus</cite>, which I have already quoted, -gives a marvelously vivid picture of the great admiral -when even hope had gone from his own heart, -when he could not pierce by faith the darkness of -his own soul.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,</div> - <div class="verse">And peered through darkness. Ah, that night</div> - <div class="verse">Of all dark nights!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Yet though it was all darkness <em>to</em> his own soul, -and <em>in</em> his own soul, he kept on. His orders were -"Sail on!" And his courage and bravery -brought him to the light of the new world.</p> - -<p>Browning in his <cite>Prospice</cite> opens with the bold -and daring interrogative: "Fear death?" and, -after showing what there is to fear, exclaims as in -an ecstasy of fearlessness:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forebore</div> - <div class="verse">And bade me creep past.</div> - <div class="verse">No! let me fare like my peers, the heroes of old.</div> - <div class="verse">In a minute pay, glad, life's arrears</div> - <div class="verse">Of pain, darkness, and cold.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> -<p>I want to radiate the active consciousness even -when I am storm-tossed, beaten down by fierce -winds, compelled to stay my journey by the sand-laden, -hot sirocco of the desert, dashed upon the -cruel rocks by tempestuous waves, frozen by the -blizzards of the North, that I have nothing to fear, -that nothing can harm me save myself, that God is -over all and in all. As David called upon mountains, -and all hills, fire, and hail, snow and vapors, -stormy wind, to praise Him, fulfilling His word, so -would I call. And in calling I would rest and be -at peace.</p> - -<p>And I want to radiate to others my fearlessness -for them. They need not fear though the heavens -fall. Many a man fails in the fierce conflict raging -in his own soul because he has been taught to -fear the fierce judgment of an angry God. I want -with all the vehemence of my nature to radiate a -spirit that will kill and bury forever such fear in -human souls. Let no one daunt you by such -teaching. Under all circumstances, brother, keep -your face up!</p> - -<p>Look ever to the stars!</p> - -<p>If, in the conflict, you lose heart, do not let your -face down so as to be covered by the mud into -which you are sinking. Battle on, though you are -finally swallowed up—or fear you will be. Go -down face up, and let the last thing your expiring -gaze rests upon, be the stars above. Though the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> -mud and mire cover your mouth so that you cannot -cry out,</p> - -<p>Look up to the stars!</p> - -<p>Though it rise higher, and cover your nostrils -so that you cease to breath,</p> - -<p><em>Look up to the stars!</em></p> - -<p>Though it flows into your very eyes,</p> - -<p><em>Look up to the stars!</em></p> - -<p>My word for it, my soul for yours, the God of -men will take that last expiring glance of yours -and make it the lever that shall pull you out of the -mire and set your feet upon the rock and establish -your goings, and</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Put a new song into your mouth</span>.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">THE RADIANCY OF REBUKE</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate the ability to rebuke without -offense, although this may appear to be a singular -desire. One night I sat with a friend enjoying the -exquisite music of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. -During one of the most subtle and delicate -passages a "lady" in the seat behind me began to -whisper to her escort. It was as the thrusting of -a bottle of sulphuretted hydrogen under my nose -when I was enjoying the subtle essence of a violet.</p> - -<p>Four times that evening did that "cultured" -Boston savage outrage my susceptibilities by her -rudeness, by her theft of my power and right of -enjoyment.</p> - -<p>I wanted to rebuke her, and I did not know how, -without giving her offense. I used to offend such -offenders and glory in my share of the offense. I -hope I have learned better,—yet, all the same, I -do wish to administer some rebuke, that will be -effective. As I have said elsewhere, I want to do -this so that my own serenity is preserved. Thus -shall I radiate serenity and not offense. If I am -disturbed, offended, outraged, I radiate those vibra<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>tions -of unrest and disturbance. I would reprove -kindly, but surely and effectively, and that is best -done by bringing the offender into sympathy with -the best that I desire for him as well as myself.</p> - -<p>I would that I could rebuke every boy who keeps -a seat in a car when an elderly or aged man or -woman stands by unseated.</p> - -<p>I would that I could rebuke every parent who -fails to teach his or her child his duty in this -regard.</p> - -<p>I would that I could rebuke every parent who -fails to require absolute and explicit obedience to -authority—his own and all other proper authorities—on -the part of his or her child.</p> - -<p>I would that I could rebuke every irreverent person -whether in Catholic Cathedral, Episcopal -Church, Methodist Chapel, Congregational Meeting-house, -Navaho Hogan, Hopi Kiva, or Chinese -Joss House, who laugh, sneer, talk aloud, or in -other vulgar way show their irreverence. All are -sacred to some one—all should alike be reverenced.</p> - -<p>I would that I could rebuke every haughty -purse-proud woman or man who <em>demands</em> service, -not through love, but by power of money or fear.</p> - -<p>And my rebuke list would include the politician -who uses his office for graft, the senator who sells -his vote, the legislator who hesitates to give his -interest and vote to all bills that seek the true -welfare of the common people. It would include<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> -every purveyor of adulterated foods for the people, -every user of child labor, every employer of sweated -labor, and every "bargain-counter" fiend who -hunts for the product of the sweat-shop. It would -include every newspaper owner who allows prejudice -to control his columns rather than fairness, -and makes himself a party to the willful deception -of the people; every lawyer who values fees more -than justice; every physician a case more than -health; every preacher a fat salary more than -truth.</p> - -<p>And it might include you, reader, did I know -you as well as I know myself, whom I rebuke constantly.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">WHAT I WOULD RADIATE TO THE WRONG DOER</p> - - -<p>For two years I was the chaplain for two homes -where women who had led evil lives were sheltered -and cared for. During part of this time I helped -organize and conduct a midnight mission in one -of the most degraded parts of a large eastern city. -I have had a large and varied acquaintance with -criminals of both sexes, of all ages and conditions, -and have been the recipient of many strange and -startling confidences of men and women whose integrity -has never been questioned, and yet who, if -their inner life were known, would have been execrated -and ostracized.</p> - -<p>As a result of these varied experiences and the -knowledge that has come to me I am compelled to -assert that I believe our present system of treatment -of wrong-doers is not only unchristian but -unwise and foolish, and that it fosters and cherishes -some of the very wrongs we seek to prevent.</p> - -<p>The attitude we take—that every evil doer -loves his evil doing, sins because he wants to sin, -is a criminal for his own pleasure—is absurd and -foolish. And what wicked cruelties such an atti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>tude -leads us to commit. Socrates saw clearer -than that centuries ago when he said: "It is -strange that you should not be angry when you -meet a man with an ill-conditioned body, and yet -be vexed when you encounter one with an ill-conditioned -soul!"</p> - -<p>Most of us have a lot of maxims or rules that we -apply to those wrong-doers who come under our -ken, forgetful of the fact that the strange thing -about human nature is that it doesn't fit your, or -my, or any one's ideas or notions. It cannot be -bounded, as you bound a sea or an island. It cannot -be plotted or catalogued as you plot a lawn or -catalogue a library. The only way you can read -men and women is with sympathy and love—sympathy -for their failures to measure up to your conceptions -of manhood and womanhood; love for the -undoubted good that you perceive.</p> - -<p>All moral judgments must remain false and hollow -that are not checked and enlightened by a perpetual -reference to the special circumstances that -mark the individual lot.</p> - -<p>Christ did not in the least abrogate the Seventh -Commandment when he said to the woman <em>taken in -the act</em> of adultery: "I do not condemn thee. -Go and sin no more." In my opinion He wished to -teach the lesson that the self-righteousness and -hypocrisy of her accusers were also crimes.</p> - -<p>All men that are drunkards are not equally cul<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>pable, -deserving of hell-fire and to be swept there -by quoting the Hebrew scriptures: "No drunkard -shall inherit eternal life." The special circumstances -must be considered, and God only is competent -to do this. Whenever I hear these ready -quotations, whenever I am tempted to use them in -my dealings with my erring fellow-men and women -I recall what George Eliot wrote in <cite>The Mill on -the Floss</cite>.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>All people of broad, strong sense have an instinctive repugnance -to the men of maxims; because such people early -discern that the mysterious complexity of our life is not to -be embraced by maxims, and that to lace ourselves up in -formulas of that sort is to repress all the divine promptings -and inspirations that spring from growing insight and -sympathy. And the man of maxims is the popular representative -of the minds that are guided in their moral judgment -safely by general rules, thinking that these will lead -them to justice by a ready-made patent method, without the -trouble of exerting patience, discrimination, impartiality,—without -any care to assure themselves whether they have -the insight that comes from a hardly earned estimate of -temptation, or from a life vivid and intense enough to have -created a wide fellow-feeling with all that is human.</p></div> - -<p>The true brotherhood of man is that which takes -upon itself all the weaknesses, all the burdens, all -the woes, all the sins of the world of men and -women. This is what Christ did! Ah, that we -might perceive and realize it! This is what makes -Walt Whitman so great a poet,—that he tries to -teach us this lesson. This is what gave to Ernest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> -Crosby his power, gave to Golden Rule Jones his -influence. They felt the brotherhood, truly, really, -deeply, even though imperfectly. Christ felt it -perfectly. Can we not try to feel it? Whenever -we behold sin in others it behooves us to remember -that Paul said, "<em>All</em> have sinned and come short of -the glory of God," and that whenever we condemn -sin in another we condemn some sin in ourselves. -We are all sinners in some way or another. There -are those who feel the oneness of human relationship -so keenly that they have declared that when -another did a wrong they felt it as if it were their -own personal act. While I have not yet come to -so close a recognition of my brotherhood to all men -and women as that, I can deeply sympathize with -the feeling. We all know how a brother feels if -one of his own family—sister or brother—"goes -wrong." He is grieved and disgraced. A burden -is placed upon him. When we fully recognize the -brotherhood we owe to all men and women I doubt -not we shall then feel this personal sorrow and -disgrace, which will lead us to seek our brother's -speedy reclamation, with helpful sympathy and -loving encouragement.</p> - -<p>Only those touched with the essential spirit of -the love that belongs to the Divine, or those who -have sinned much, can know the great secret of -human tenderness and long suffering towards the -wrong doer that alone, <em>at times</em>, can help him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> -Oh for more of this human tenderness and sympathy, -this long suffering and patience, this active -principle of Divine Love that burns through all -crusts and coatings of evil into the most secret corners -of the heart where the good is enshrined, -though forgotten.</p> - -<p>I have just been talking with a prominent editor -about a man in his office, competent, thorough, reliable, -manly, a systematic worker and able to get -the best results out of those in his department, yet -who, once in a while, goes off on a terrible debauch. -He will drink up all the money at hand, then draw -out whatever he has saved in the bank (sometimes -nearly a thousand dollars), engage an automobile, -surround himself with dissolute companions, squander -his money on them, then borrow from his -friends, who, knowing that when sober he will pay -back every cent, cruelly lend it to him, and thus -"go the pace" until either money gives out, or -physical endurance can no longer stand the strain. -Then his true friends come and pick him up out of -the gutter, or care for him in a hospital until he -recovers.</p> - -<p>As soon as he is sane and sober again he is overwhelmed -with remorse and sorrow. He knows that -he is ruining himself in every way and from every -possible standpoint, yet there is that in him that -seems to render him incapable of resisting these -temptations to periodical sprees. He listens with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> -true penitence to the cautions of his employers, -his fellow workers, and to the heart-broken pleadings -of his aged mother who fairly idolizes him—still -he drinks.</p> - -<p>What shall I radiate to such a man—to all such -men? Can I ignore the degradation of their debauchery? -Certainly not! Can I ignore the fact -that, as a rule, when the downward path is once -begun, the sober intervals grow shorter after each -debauch, and that by radiating friendliness to such -a man I am tying myself to one who will ultimately -disgrace himself and me? Shall I cease to be his -friend, in order to protect myself?</p> - -<p>God forbid! To radiate friendliness is not -enough. Seek to possess more than this, that you -may radiate more. Greater than friendship is -love. Love your friend as yourself. He is having -a desperate struggle. Give him your love, your -thoughtful, considerate, protective love. If necessary -treat him as you would an insane person, for -the highest medical experts now concede that -"while alcoholic excess is a prolific source of disease -and mental instability, <em>disease and mental instability -are even more provocative of the alcoholic -habit</em>." The greatest possible kindness to such an -one would be to lovingly, tenderly, sympathetically -<em>lock him up</em>. The insane man must be kept from -doing himself and others an injury. Society must -protect itself from the evil doer, regardless of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> -moral responsibility, but the "how" of that protection -is one of the most important things in the -development of the human race. As we now protect -ourselves we show the barbarity of the aborigine, -the cruel vindictiveness of the savage.</p> - -<p>I am fully satisfied that the time will come when -we shall so radiate Christian love one to another, -and especially to our weaker brothers and sisters—whether -their weaknesses manifest themselves in -alcoholic excess, sexual sins, gambling, theft, drug-manias, -or any other form of wrong-doing—that -we shall prepare for them places where they may be -properly cared for, and especially whenever they -fear they are in danger of succumbing to their -weaknesses. This method would not apply to -those who are so enthralled by sin that they think -they find great pleasure in the gross gratification -of the senses, for such are doomed to suffer until -they are forced to see their errors and turn from -them with loathing, but there are others who are -unwilling victims to appetite and evil habits. The -burdens which weak humanity carries are many -and complex, and sometimes even mysterious. It -is known to the medical world that many wrong -deeds and even serious crimes are committed by -men and women under temporary abnormal mental -conditions. In Scriptural times doubtless it -would have been said that they were possessed -with demons, but the modern expert calls such con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>ditions -<em>manias</em> of various kinds. Whatever the -subtle cause of this species of insanity, it is -generally admitted that the attacks are of a periodical -nature, and that during the intervals the -victims conduct themselves in accordance with ordinary -standards. Condemnation and ostracism -cannot remedy such evils, but true Christianity -should prompt a method of treatment that will -encourage and sustain rather than induce despair. -Even ordinary so-called "sinners" are not reclaimed -by avoiding them utterly. Those who go -down into the slums and plague-spots of our cities -would never rescue any of the "perishing" if -they went grudgingly, and holding themselves -daintily aloof in self-righteous superiority. No, -they brave the pestilential radiation in perfect -safety and carry hope to the fallen because they -possess the mind of Christ, which is purity and -love. This does not alter the fact that the pure -and good naturally shrink from depravity and -degradation, nor that it is expedient to protect -the ignorant and innocent from association with -those who radiate impurity, oftentimes, but since -it is well known that society contains many men -and some women whose private lives would not -stand publicity, the only safeguard is to be fortified -within with that purity and goodness which -involuntarily resists evil and imparts good.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">THE RADIANCIES OF TOLERATION</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate my conception of what, in -religion, is commonly termed "toleration." To -me the term is a misnomer. Its use is based upon -a gross and small-minded misunderstanding of the -right, inherent to each human being, to live according -to the dictates of his own conscience in -all things that do not militate against what the -majority conceive to be the public good.</p> - -<p>What is religion? My own definition is that -<em>it is the highest within myself reaching out to -the highest I can see or conceive outside of myself</em>. -In this "reaching out," this "following after," or -"apprehending," as St. Paul calls it, I alone must -determine that which I will seek for. Others may -aid me in my search, others may point out to me -and for me that which they have reached, or are -striving to reach, and in that way they may aid -and help me. But for another to say, "<em>This</em> is -that alone for which you should strive," or "That -is the supreme end of all effort," and to refuse me -any right of appeal to my own judgment is to -stultify my own God-given powers and to make a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> -mere puppet of me. Hence I stand, or fall, on -the platform of individualism in religion. I affirm -that it is a purely personal matter, that there can -be no coercion, no forcing of any individual to -adopt a <em>general</em> plan which another individual -asserts that all must follow to their eternal well-being, -or disregard to their own damnation.</p> - -<p>The attitude I would radiate is this. For myself -I know, or am learning, what I must believe, -what I must strive for, what I must seek to become. -So long as this belief, this striving, this -aim, does not interfere with the exercise of the -belief, the striving, the aim of others, and is not -subversive of the public good, I demand my inherent -right of individual belief, individual striving, -individual aim. When one who differs from -me offers me his "charity," or his "toleration," -I regard his offer as an insolence and small-minded -impertinence. I want no charity, I refuse all toleration, -for I own as many inherent rights as the -one who thus presumes to offer me his charity and -his tolerance. He needs my charity and tolerance -to cover his individualism as much as I need -his. I have as much right to offer mine to him -as he to offer his to me. Hence, boldly, fearlessly, -restful in my God-given right, I believe, I strive, -I aim to reach God as best I may. But in the -very self-assertiveness of this right it is an essential -condition of my perfect freedom that I abso<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>lutely -accord it to all others, no matter how -diverse from mine their beliefs, their strivings, -their aims. There must be no mental reservations, -no subterfuges, no playing with one's own intellect -or conscience. The freedom to others must -be as large and complete as the freedom I demand -for myself, for, wherein I limit, even in my most -secret mind and heart, the freedom of my neighbor, -I am giving to him the right to limit me. "With -what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you -again."</p> - -<p>I resent any interference with my right to believe -as I choose. My friends, G—— and S——, -are Catholics. In the exercise of their God-given -right they accept a different faith from mine. -They are equally earnest, equally intelligent, -equally sincere in their profession of faith as am -I. Just as I resent any interference with my own -right to believe as I choose, so do I resent, with -equal, and even stronger fervor, any interference -with G——'s and S——'s rights to believe as they -choose.</p> - -<p>I say with "even stronger fervor." You may -ask, "Why with stronger fervor?" The reason -is this. I find, within my own soul, a greater -readiness to demand freedom for myself than I do -to accord it to those who differ from me. Hence -honor demands that I watch with even closer -scrutiny the rights of my neighbors than I guard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> -against encroachments upon my own. Selfishness -will care for my own. Indifference to my neighbors -<em>may</em> lead me to be careless of theirs.</p> - -<p>Other neighbors, P—— and X——, are Christian -Scientists; still others, A—— and J——, are -Unitarians; others, D—— and C——, are Universalists; -and I have friends, dear to my heart, -whom I love with true, pure fervor and who, I am -assured, love me with an equal sincerity, who are -Jews, Hopis, Wallapais, Havasupais, Apaches, -Greeks, Mohammedans, Hindoos, Theosophists, -Spiritualists, Atheists, Shakers, Agnostics, Communists, -and Mormons. Take these beliefs and -non-beliefs with the one I profess and the others -I have referred to, and there is as perfect a hodge-podge -of diversities and differences as one can -possibly imagine. Do I attempt to reconcile -them? No! Do I agree with them all? No! -Can I harmonize them all? No! It is neither -my business to reconcile them, agree with them, -nor harmonize them. I am not sent to earth to -make all men's minds and souls alike, any more -than Burbank is sent to make all flowers and -plants, shrubs and trees alike. My business is to -develop and live my own life, in harmony with -my own beliefs, aims, and strivings, to the utmost, -and seek the utmost good for my fellow. And in -no way can I better do that than by aiding him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> -to live his highest beliefs to the utmost, helping -him in his strivings, make clearer to him the -beauty of his own aims. Hence, even as I want -all good men and true to bid me a hearty, an -earnest, a sincere "God-speed!" in my own strivings, -so do I, with all my heart, bid my many and -diverse-believing, diverse-aiming friends God-speed -in their endeavors.</p> - -<p>If, for the public good, I should ever be called -upon to pass judgment upon any of the actions -that are the result of the beliefs of my neighbors -and friends, and I, with my fellow jurors, deemed -these actions subversive of the public good, I could -unite with my fellows in suppressing these actions. -But this would be done with a perfectly open -heart, without malice, without censure even, without -any presumption, without any interference -with the <em>principle</em> I have sought clearly to state -and exemplify. It would be done as the result of -our united judgment upon a matter of public policy—not -a fixed, established assurance of right -or wrong, but as a matter wherein, for the benefit -of others, we regarded the restriction of an inherent -and God-given freedom a justifiable act.</p> - -<p>Herein, to my mind, lies the power of the argument -of the political prohibitionists. They seek -to prohibit men from the exercise of their undoubted -right to manufacture and sell alcoholic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> -stimulants—their undoubted right provided it -could be done without injury to the bodies and -souls of their fellow-beings. No one can claim -an inherent right to injure his neighbor willfully -and deliberately. No one can claim a God-given -right to transgress God's own laws. Those who -believe in God believe He has ordained laws for the -government of all that He has created. The interpretation -of the "moral law" as handed down -to us in the Scriptures is, in the main, similar in -all creeds in Christendom, and practically the same -among all who, without so-called creeds, believe in -the brotherhood of man.</p> - -<p>Upon those points wherein men have conscientiously -differed there have been instances where -the ruling majority has restricted or taken away -the rights of the minority to put their beliefs into -practice, because the consensus of opinion has -decided such acts to be contrary to public policy -or public good, but it does not necessarily follow -that the interference was based upon incontrovertible -ideas of right or wrong.</p> - -<p>My contention is that no man or body of men -has the inherent right to interfere with the beliefs -and acts of their fellow-beings who are sincerely -and conscientiously seeking to love God with all -the heart and their neighbors as themselves, but in -all countries where the majority is supposed to -rule it is expedient to submit to prevailing cus<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>toms -and laws unless conscience imperatively demands -otherwise. In any case, however, it does -not necessarily follow that the majority is always -in the right and the minority in the wrong, especially -in religious matters.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">OUT OF DOOR RADIANCIES</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate a constant, never-failing -love for God's great out of doors at all times, in -all seasons, under all conditions, in all moods. I -want to understand Nature, to be one with her, to -feel with her, expand with her, be reserved with -her, be exuberant with her. I want to realize and -radiate my kinship with everything that exists in -Nature; I am a part of this great whole, all of -which is an expression of a great thought of the -great God. By making myself a part of Nature -I am able to make allies of all the forces of Nature, -and this fact I want to radiate with power -and emphasis. I would teach both by word, influence, -and unconscious radiation that we are able -to ally ourselves with all the powers of God as -manifested in the world around us. I have learned -that, no matter for whom else the sun may shine, -it shines expressly for me. I would have you -learn that it shines expressly for you. Whatever -its power it belongs to you. Claim it! And so -with all the forces. The winds blow for you, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> -flowers bloom for you, the stars glisten for you, -the fruits grow for you, the trees clothe themselves -in beauty for you, the birds sing for you, the -sunsets are glorious for you, and the sunrises -gild the mountain tops with reddish gold for you, -the grass grows for you, the creeks sing, the rivers -flow, and the seas roar for you; the forces of good -are all yours, you are allies with them, and what -they are you are, what power they possess, you -possess.</p> - -<p>What marvelous vivification comes into the -body, mind, and soul of man when he realizes this -stupendous fact. He no longer stands alone on -the earth. God, to many men and women, is far -away, unseen, unknowable, but through His world -in Nature we can touch Him, realize Him, learn -to know Him, and while we are learning this greatest -of great facts we are becoming stronger, more -self-reliant, more full of power, more optimistic, -more sure of our own footing on earth.</p> - -<p>A man may not say of a palace, a house, a garden, -a yacht, a fortune, this, these, are mine, but -we may each and all—the vilest drunkard, the -most wretched harlot, the near-suicide, and the -nigh-insane, as well as the poverty-stricken and -the oppressed—say and know "the sun is mine, -the stars, the rain, the sweetness of the flowers, the -blessedness of God's great gift of life. Therefore, -I am not poor, I am not forsaken, I am not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> -forgotten. I own much. I will take and utilize -these for my eternal blessing."</p> - -<p>And as you utilize what you have you become -both capable and worthy of larger things. Only -those who use receive more. "To him that hath -shall be given," and these are the things that all -may have and that bless more abundantly than -any other things mankind may possess.</p> - -<p>Most of us go through life missing what Nature -has for us.</p> - -<p>In one of Sienkiewicz's books he makes one of -his characters say of his betrothed,</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>I gaze on Nature, too, and feel it; but she shows me -things which I should not notice myself. A couple of days -ago, we all went into the forest, where she showed me -ferns in the sun, for instance. They are so delicate! She -taught me also that the trunks of pine-trees, especially in -the evening light, have a violet tone. She opens my eyes -to colors which I have not seen hitherto, and, like a kind of -enchantress going through the forest, discloses new worlds -to me.</p></div> - -<p>Reread these two sentences: "She shows me -things which I should not notice myself," and -"She opens my eyes and discloses new worlds to -me." The world's beauty is so common to us that -we forget it. Nothing is commoner than the stars, -yet nothing more mysterious, wonderful, and attractive; -the grass is so common that we trample -it under foot, yet its beauty, its varied features -will repay long hours of study, and it is a joy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> -unspeakable to those who have learned to love it. -It is in the common things that we should look for -beauty, for lessons in color, in art, in criticism. -One of the great students and teachers of art of -our country once wrote a book entitled <cite>The Gate -Beautiful</cite>. It was the result of a life of concentrated -study upon true art. Whence comes true -art? What is it? How shall one know it when -he sees it? The result of all Dr. Stimson's study, -placed in that wonderful book, summed up in short -is—study Nature, and you will there learn more -than all the books and teachers of art can tell you -in a thousand years. The author shows by remarkable -illustrations spiral vibrations made by -the voice, the natural forms of mineralogy, mechanics, -astronomy, seeds, fruit, vegetables, fish, -reptiles, insects, birds, beasts, flowers, and humanity. -He shows the exquisite beauty of snow crystals, -and of the minute forms of earliest life, found -in the diatoms. He sets forth the beauty of leaf -and stem in the commonest trees, in shells, etc., -until one wonders where his eyes have been, where -his appreciation of beauty, in all the years that -these things have not appealed to him. Nature is -so flooded with beauty that more than one lifetime -will be necessary for any one man to discover the -half of it. So because of its beauty I want the -men and women who come in contact with me to -feel in me a pulsing, living, active, irresistible love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> -for Nature which will draw them out into it; -arouse in them an insatiable longing to see and -know, to feel and comprehend more of the rich -beauty so freely exposed out of doors.</p> - -<p>The out-of-doors, too, is full of beauty of color -as well as beauty in form. Oh, the sunrises and -sunsets at sea, and on the desert, and in the canyons, -and on the mountain heights, and on the -great plains of Arizona and New Mexico and Utah. -What colorist of earth can ever equal them? -Titian? Tintoretto? Velasquez? Turner? La -Farge? Reid? Why waste words asking the -questions? How tame is Titian's greatest color-effects -side by side with a sunrise on the ocean, -or a sunset on the desert! Bostonians are proud -of Reid's magnificent paintings in the State House. -I enjoy them myself and do not wonder that visitors -are struck by the powerful color-handling of -the interesting historical subjects. But Mr. Reid -himself is not so foolish as to imagine that his -greatest paintings are more than futile attempts -to put on canvas the colors his eyes have seen, his -soul has felt, out in the open. So, for color I -would radiate a love for out-of-doors.</p> - -<p>And I would radiate a love for all of out-of-doors -at all times. Winter, Summer, Spring, -Autumn, in rain and sunshine, in storm and calm, -there is something in every condition, every mood -for the men and women who are receptive. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> -I see newly born infants shut out from the pure -air, their faces covered, "lest they take cold," I -am filled with amazement at people's fear of out-of-doors. -My babies were put to sleep out-of-doors -half an hour after they were born. The -latest and most approved methods of treating tuberculosis -is to make those afflicted with it sleep -out of doors. There are camps in Michigan and -in the snowy regions of New York, in the Adirondacks, -where, throughout the Winter, patients -sleep out of doors with the best of results. Be -not afraid. Go out of doors as does the Indian. -Learn of him and be wise. He is a believer in the -virtue of the outdoor life, not as an occasional -thing, but as his regular, uniform habit. He <em>lives</em> -out of doors; and not only does his body remain -in the open, but his mind, his soul, are ever also -there. Except in the very cold weather his house -is free to every breeze that blows. He laughs at -"drafts." "Catching cold" is something of -which he knows absolutely nothing. When he -learns of white people shutting themselves up in -houses into which the fresh, pure, free air of the -plains and deserts, often laden with the healthful -odors of the pines, firs, and balsams of the forest, -cannot come, he shakes his head at the folly, and -feels as one would if he saw a man slamming his -door in the face of his best friend. Virtually he -sleeps out of doors, eats out of doors, works out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> -doors. When the women make their baskets and -pottery, it is always out of doors, and their best -beadwork is always done in the open. The men -make their bows and arrows, dress their buckskin, -make their moccasins and buckskin clothes, and -perform nearly all their ceremonials out-of-doors.</p> - -<p>I wish I could radiate to every human soul what -I mean by having one's mind, one's soul, live in the -open. Words fail to convey what I mean. The -sense of largeness, of expansion, of breadth, depth, -width, and height are as tangible in soul-results as -in those of body. None can live in the open all -the time and become sordid money-grubbers. If -they are to become rich they do it in a large, expansive, -virile way that commands respect. It is -only the shut-in man that can add to his millions -by cheese-paring methods, by grinding the face of -the poor, by counting up cents and nickels and -dimes wrung from the labor of the children of the -poor.</p> - -<div class="break-before"></div> -<p>Read these lines from a wonderful poem of the -out-of-doors by Edwin Markham, and see how -much you can make it mean to yourself:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I ride on the mountain tops, I ride;</div> - <div class="verse">I have found my life and am satisfied.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I ride on the hills, I forgive, I forget</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Life's hoard of regret—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All the terror and pain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the chafing chain. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Grind on, O cities, grind;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I leave you a blur behind.</div> - <div class="verse">I am lifted elate—the skies expand;</div> - <div class="verse">Here the world's heaped gold is a pile of sand.</div> - <div class="verse">Let them weary and work in their narrow walls;</div> - <div class="verse">I ride with the voices of waterfalls!</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I swing on as one in a dream—I swing</div> - <div class="verse">Down the airy hollows, I shout, I sing!</div> - <div class="verse">The world is gone like an empty word!</div> - <div class="verse">My body's a bough in the wind, my heart a bird!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Never in a thousand years can one get such -pure, sweet, pulsing, living and stay-long-with-you -delights as these, in a city. Granted there are -pleasures in the ballroom, and they are doubtless -great, but can they begin to compare with the delights -of out-of-doors? Languor next day, ennui, -jealousies, heart-burnings, gossiping, cruel slandering, -ruination of health, too often come with -these city pleasures. Then, too, the ballroom in -its desirable form is only for the rich, while the -poor may enjoy everything good of the great out-of-doors. -The city has its theaters, operas, concerts, -lectures, and the like, but they are generally -at night, compelling people to be out when they -should be in bed, turning day into night, and reversing -the natural order of things. And the artificial -is never equal to the real, the unnatural -to the natural.</p> - -<p>Then, too, the out-of-doors is such a teacher; -and not a teacher of the arid, formal, dry, em<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>balmed -knowledge, but the real living facts. As -Robert Louis, the well-beloved, says:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>There is certainly some chill and arid knowledge to be -found upon the summits of formal and laborious science, -but it is all round about you, and for the trouble of looking, -that you will acquire the warm and palpitating facts -of life.</p></div> - -<p>Book knowledge can never equal living knowledge. -He whose mind is stored with what he has -read too often only thinks he knows, while the one -whose facts are gained at first hand from the real -objects themselves knows that he knows. A man -in a factory as a rule, in these days of specialization, -is only a cog in a wheel, a part of a great -machine. Be he a woodworker, he does not make -any complete piece of furniture. He saws on one -part; another on another; a third on still another; -a fourth, who knows nothing of shaping the parts, -assembles the whole, and a fifth puts them together; -a sixth sandpapers; a seventh stains or -varnishes; and an eighth polishes and finishes. -So with watchmaking and everything used by human -hands. Nobody, nowadays, has the joy of -"doing it all."</p> - -<p>But in the country a man plows, harrows, sows -the seed and cultivates, and during it all he is in -the open, seeing all the wonderful phenomena of -Nature pass before him in everchanging panorama -each hour. That is, of course, providing he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> -not been ground down by too many hours of hard -physical labor until he has become a mere "brother -to the ox," and the stolid and stunned creature so -powerfully described by Edwin Markham in his -<cite>Man with the Hoe</cite>.</p> - -<p>Every man needs something both of the city -and the country. Rubbing up against his kind -sharpens his wits; often makes him more selfish -and indifferent to the rights and needs of others; -and again prepares him more thoroughly to enjoy -what the country offers. So, city man, with all -your senses sharpened by contact with mankind, -go out into the country to get your soul enlarged. -For Nature is the great soul expander.</p> - -<p>Read John Muir's <cite>Mountains of California</cite>, -and see how the out-door-life enlarged him, made -him bigger, grander, nobler than he could ever -have been had he stayed in the narrow confines of -a city's walls. In one chapter he tells of his experience -in a storm in a Sierra forest. Perched -high on the mountains a great storm swept over -the range. Most men would have remained indoors, -afraid of the fierceness of the wind and the -beating of the rain. Not so he! There were experiences -to be had out there that could come to -him in no other way; so out he went. After -scrambling through underbrush, climbing hilly -slopes, until his blood was fairly a-tingle in response -to the power of the storm, watching the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> -swaying of the trees, hearing the crash, every few -moments, of a falling tree, he finally decided to see -the whole thing from the top of a tree. So selecting -a suitable tree he climbed to its topmost -branches, and there, swaying to and fro like "a -bobolink on a reed," he watched the wind playing -with the gigantic trees and the tiny leaves, and -listened to such an æolian concert as few men -have ever dreamed of.</p> - -<p>John Muir's experiences and development are -not peculiar to him. Most men who live the larger -out-of-door life, who engage in out-of-door occupations -have a largeness and expansion about -them that is stimulating and inspiring. Read the -life of the fishermen—the Gloucester Folk, and -the Folk of all the shores of the sea, who gain -their livelihood by battling with storms and circumventing -them. What brawny arms and shoulders -and backs; what tremendous power; what -deep breaths in powerful lungs! See the pilots -who come out to meet the transoceanic steamers; -what brave, powerful, massive men they are! Ordinary -men are dwarfed in their presence—not -merely physically, but mentally and spiritually. -See the captains of these same great steamers, and -all sea-going vessels, and the very sailors; there -is a strength of body and a largeness, an openness -of disposition, that is good to come in contact -with. Who that has climbed the Swiss mountains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> -with an Alpine guide but has felt the strength -and power developed by ages of conflict with snowstorms, -avalanches, and other great Nature forces. -Even the loggers in the forest swing their axes -or handle the huge logs with an ease and power -that stagger the ordinary city man. Think how -the old time stage-drivers used to handle their six- -and eight-horse teams with ease and elegance, -guiding and directing their movements as gracefully -as a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">grande dame</i> promenades in her ballroom. -Who has not been thrilled with the doings -of the live-saving service, and the lighthouse keepers? -What city girl could have dared do as did -Grace Darling, the lighthouse keeper's daughter, -who insisted upon her father rowing with her to -rescue a shipwrecked crew in the face of a howling -storm? What delights I myself have enjoyed -out on the plains, prairies, and foot-hills, riding -with the cowboys. Well do I remember several -<em>rodeos</em> I united with in Nevada, where we rode -madly after the wild cattle and horses, over and -through the sagebrush at break-neck speed, now -dodging to the right, now to the left, now jumping -a piece of brush that could not be dodged. We -went up hill like the wind, and then started down -hill at equal or greater speed, and once, getting -into a grove of trees, I had to learn to bend down -flat on the horse's back to avoid being swept off. -"Let your horse go where he will. He under<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>stands -his business, and you don't," were the instructions -I had received, and well it was that I -was not required to guide my animal. I had -enough to do to keep my seat. Talk about rough-riders! -I was soon a rough-rider, indeed. And -how tired out and weary I was that night, but -how I slept! I had been dyspeptic, sleepless, and -anæmic. Three weeks of this shook me up so that -my liver worked as it had never worked in my history -before. I got until I could eat and digest -anything, and my sleep was sweet, sound, dreamless, -and refreshing. Would that I had had sense -enough then and there to resign the pastorate of -my church; quit being an indifferent and unhealthy -parson; become a cowboy and gain health, vim, -vigor, strength, life.</p> - -<p>I suppose I had to come to it slowly, but come -I did to the most important facts, viz.: that I -could never be healthy indoors, and that I must live -in the open. And as I got out more my intellect -and spirit expanded as my body grew healthier, -and I began to learn more from the objects around -me than I had from all my schooling, all my books, -and all my theological training and study.</p> - -<p>Nowadays there is no out-of-door occupation -that does not appeal to me; a ditch-digger, a -navvy on a railroad, a roustabout on a dock, a -deck-hand on a steamer, a brakeman, a road -mender, a plowman, a carter, a teamster—even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> -these, the lowliest of the out-of-door callings, show -to me men of rugged strength that delight and -appeal to me.</p> - -<p>How one's very soul thrills in sympathy as he -thinks of the marvelous achievements of the great -explorers—all of them men of the out-of-doors; -Columbus, Magellan, Capt. Cook, Kane, Sir John -Franklin, Peary, Sven Hedin, Capt. Burnaby, -Burton, Livingstone, Stanley, Major Powell, and -a host of others. How the mere thought of them -and their lives radiates the very spirit of energy, -strength, courage, daring, independence, self-reliance! -In their physical or spiritual presence -you feel you are in contact with an entirely different -set of earth's mortals than ordinary men, for -they radiate unconsciously the largeness, the expansiveness, -the majesty and strength of the vast -out-of-doors.</p> - -<p>Rudyard Kipling in his <cite>Captains Courageous</cite> -fully explains what I mean about this largeness -and nobleness of soul that come from the out-of-door -life, in telling of the fishermen of the New -England coast. In his vivid English he pictures -their daily life, what their work is, how they have -to brave the perils of the deep, the dangerous fogs, -the uncertain storms, the sudden death that comes -when a great vessel looms through the fog and cuts -them down. Yet they go ahead as a matter of -course. Their life enlarges their faith and trust;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> -either it is that or they become used to looking in -the face of danger and death and then calmly continue -in their work. No man does this without -deepening and broadening his life.</p> - -<p>When it comes to gardeners I fairly envy them. -Think of the wondrous life that is theirs. To -learn and know the life-habits of plants and flowers, -and to see them growing from tiny seeds, or -slips, or cuttings into all their rich and perfect -beauty. I never knew a despondent gardener. -His profession forbids it; his experience rebukes -it. So of late years, in my crude way, I have been -trying to become a gardener, when I am at home -and have time.</p> - -<p>What an unspeakable joy there is in all this -work. How it occupies one's brain and body, and -drives away all despondency, care, blue-devils, and -worry. Out in the garden I am a king, a proud -monarch, robed in blue flannel shirt and overalls, -my scepter a spade, and my right to rule demonstrable -by my strong muscles, steady nerves, -strong lungs, healthy skin, and clear eyes. Who -would not reign in such a realm?</p> - -<p>More than all else I feel when living this life -that I am lifted above all the petty meannesses of -men and women. I am dealing with creative forces—things -direct from the hands of God—sunshine, -air, water, soil, growth, development, life. -And how such feelings expand the soul!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p> - -<p>Then I begin to think of the wonderful work -in flowers, fruits, and plants performed by Hugo -de Vries and our own Luther Burbank, and as I -recall their achievements I feel the opening up of -a new realm before me. Never can I forget the -joy of a couple of days with Burbank at his home -at Santa Rosa, and his "proving grounds," at -Sebastopol. I there saw his winter rhubarb, and -as we walked along we came to his cactus patch. -The first section was of the rude, prickly leaves I -was so familiar with on the desert; the next section -less prickly and so on, until at last, with a -frolic, Mr. Burbank "dived" into the cactus, -rubbed his face and ears against the great leaves -and demonstrated them free from every vestige of -a thorn.</p> - -<p>Then we saw flowers that he had completely -changed, in size, color, form, and odor, and when -you ask how it was all done he declares that any -man or woman with the necessary patience and -skill (and skill comes with patience) can produce -results as apparently marvelous as his own. For -the marvel is apparent and not real; it is nothing -but the understanding and application of natural -laws; laws that Darwin and others have well understood -and enunciated.</p> - -<p>At Sebastopol I had the joy of seeing him work -in the selection of plum trees. Row after row of -young bearing plum trees stood before us. With<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> -two men following him, one with black strings, and -the other with white, he began. Picking a plum -from the first tree, he bit into it. I did likewise. -To me it seemed a good plum. He rapidly commented -upon: 1, its appearance, shape, etc.; 2, -color; 3, firmness of texture; 4, flavor; 5, sweetness. -Then he did the same with the tree: its extent -of foliage, shapeliness, etc. All these things -had to be considered. The first few trees he took -very slowly and deliberately in order that I might -clearly comprehend what he was after. Then, -almost as quickly as his eye fell upon a tree, he had -put his teeth into the fruit, his trained intellect -had decided whether the tree was worth keeping -or killing, and as he said "keep" or "kill," the -attendants tied on the corresponding white or -black strings. To produce the plum he wanted -he assured me he has destroyed over a million trees.</p> - -<p>His apple trees are perfect marvels. Some of -them bear upwards of two hundred different kinds -of apples, and he says it is comparatively easy to -produce an apple of any color, texture, size, flavor, -and sweetness desired.</p> - -<p>Think what Nature has taught to such a man. -He is not what you would call a supereducated -man in books; but he has read Nature as few men -in the history of the world have done, and she has -revealed many of her most intimate secrets to him. -And as you talk with him you find in this quiet,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> -unassuming, sweet-spirited, gentle-hearted man a -breadth, a largeness, a sweep of soul that are rare.</p> - -<p>And Nature gives this same largeness to a -woman as well as a man. Women who get into -the bigness of the out-of-doors get away from -feminine pettinesses just as surely as men do from -their narrownesses and prejudices. I have two -women friends in California (or had, until one -passed on), both of them expert and scientific -florists. One lived at San Buena Ventura, and -the other at San Diego. The names of Mrs. -Theodosia Shepard and Miss Kate Sessions are -known throughout the world. Both women determined -to devote their lives to a scientific study, -<em>out in the garden</em>, of plant life, and each has therefore -done things, achieved results that have made -her world-famed. How much better this, than to -live the narrow, contracted life of most women.</p> - -<p>Another woman friend, Mrs. Sarah Plummer -Lemmon, wife of the well-known botanist, and herself -a botanist known to the whole scientific world, -for years accompanied her husband in his expeditions -throughout the wildest parts of Arizona, -New Mexico, California, and Mexico. I doubt -whether there is a person living who has so real -and intimate a knowledge of all this country as -has this brave and intrepid woman, who, when -Apaches were on the warpath, calmly and steadfastly -sustained her husband in his scientific work.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> -In storms and perils, in danger from wild animals -and wilder men, away from all luxuries and comforts -and often deprived of what most people call -necessities, this woman communed with Nature and -has thereby grown into a large, commanding, powerful, -all-embracing soul, as much above the average -woman in intellect as an athlete is above a -baby.</p> - -<p>I am no technical botanist, yet I have had pleasure -untold when wandering in canyon, mountain, -plain, forest, seaside, and desert in seeking to -learn all I could of the flora of the region. When -botanists said that the <i>cereus giganteus</i>—the -giant suahuaro—was not to be found in California -and I knew I had seen it growing on the -California side of the Colorado River, there was -great pleasure in photographing the few specimens -I knew in this habitat and then in hunting -for more. How well I remember one day climbing -up hill and down, over rocky ridges and dangerous -trails and places where there were no trails at all, -every now and again seeing fresh specimens, <em>in -California</em>, of this cactus "that did not grow in -California." And when, at last, I stood on a -ridge, looking down into a secluded canyon, where -there were a dozen or more (which I photographed), -I felt as if, humbly though it was, I -were being used as an instrument for increasing the -botanical knowledge of the world.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF JOY, INSPIRATION, AND SERENITY</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate the healthfulness of joy. -Joy is the sunshine of the soul. Let it shine. If -there is so much of it that it fills the soul, it makes -of it a luminous body that must radiate light and -warmth and health to others. The joyous man is -the healthy man, and he that has health should -joy to give it to others, whenever and wherever he -can. My friend, Marshall P. Wilder, was a radiating -center of joy as well as fun. He was funny, -but he was more—he was joyous. There was no -enmity, no malice, no unkindness, no cruelty in his -fun; it was all healthful, kind, sane, and joyous.</p> - -<p>A little girl once said of a certain man: "I -like that man because he always <em>shines</em> at me." -Don't you want to shine and make glad the innocent -heart of a child, the striving heart of the -young, the sorrowful and vexed heart of the middle-aged, -and the weary heart of the old? Well -did Robert Louis Stevenson say:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>A happy man or woman is a better thing to find than -a five-pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> -will; and their entrance into a room is as though another -candle had been lighted.</p> - -<p>There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of -being happy. By being happy, we sow anonymous benefits -upon the world, which remain unknown even to ourselves, -or when they are disclosed, surprise nobody so much as the -benefactor.</p></div> - -<p>Make the most of your happiness, and the least -of your sorrows. Use the telescope at the enlarging -end for the former and at the reducing end for -the latter, until you have learned what most of -us have to <em>learn</em>—how foolish and wrong it is to -make our joys mere <em>incidents</em> while we make our -sorrows <em>events</em>.</p> - -<p>I want to radiate a joy in the little things of -to-day. Most people live in anticipation. The -things of to-day are not enough. It is, "Oh, tomorrow—next -week—next year—will surely -bring me my heart's desire!" Let us learn that -<em>to-day</em> is the fulfillment of the heart's desire. -Take to-day <em>all</em> it brings, and it will make <em>to-day</em> -so full that you will have no care for the joys of -anticipation. Live <em>now</em>, so intensely, so fully, -that life <em>to-day</em> will be compelled to deliver up all -its treasures <em>to-day</em>. Hence every day becomes a -perfect joy.</p> - -<p>I want to radiate <em>inspiration</em>. I do not believe -the idea that the saints of old who wrote "the -Bible," are the only examples of inspiration. God -inspires every good man and good woman, and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> -good in all people comes from Him, for He is the -original source.</p> - -<p>A self-centered life is a selfish life; a life that -gives of itself freely and fully to all with whom it -comes in contact is a life of inspiration—it is a -radiating center of inspiration. It inspires to -courage, to higher endeavor, to larger achievement. -I need all this for myself, but I also long -and desire to inspire it in others. Many a life -seems to have inspiration for the carrying out of -its own dreams, ambitions, desires, but none to -give away. Yet the lives we touch may need just -the impetus, the propelling force—light or vigorous—that -we can give to enable the fulfillment -in them of half dormant ambitions for good, the -attainment of noble endeavor.</p> - -<p>What would become of the chick in the egg if -the mother hen did not brood over it? She forgets -her own desires to move about in the stronger desire -to bring into active being the hidden lives -within the eggs. Let us "brood" over the souls -of men and women, young men and maidens, boys -and girls, and quicken to life the dormant powers -of the weak, the tender. Aspirations may have -begun in them that can only be quickened by -warmth and love from outside. Oh, for wisdom, -as well as love, to "brood" aright.</p> - -<p>This implies a reaching out to others. It means -an ability to feel even the hidden or only half-felt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> -thoughts of others, and love and sympathy alone -are delicate enough instruments to thus feel. The -seismograph, that registers the oscillations of the -earth's crust, is one of the most delicate of man-made -instruments, yet the human heart that would -respond unerringly to every beginning of aspiration -and longing for good in every other human -soul must be ten thousand times more sensitive -than the seismograph. Such a sensitive instrument -let each seek to become. We should hear -the faintest beat of the human hearts near us and -try to inspire those faint beats until they are -strong, regular, powerful, certain.</p> - -<p>Lives often possess, unknown to themselves, the -germ cells of great powers and lofty ambitions -that will never be developed unless some outside -influence impregnates and vivifies them into existence. -With thousands of people the seeds of good -in their souls need to be quickened from the outside, -and the help, the food, the desire to feed, -must also be given from the outside, until they are -born and nurtured into active, self-reliant existence. -To be this outside quickening power is to -be a radiant source of inspiration.</p> - -<p>In this connection I have found that every life -that is growing, expanding, enlarging, is a stimulation -to every other life to grow, expand, enlarge. -I seek, therefore, to radiate growth by my own -growth. By <em>being</em> something, <em>doing</em> something, I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> -want to help others <em>be</em> and <em>do</em>. Growth is the -most natural thing in the world, but unfortunately, -men and women are far from being natural. -How then can I best radiate the inspiration for -growth in them? By being natural myself—throwing -off the artificialities, the restricting and -restraining bands that prevent the best of myself -from coming forth—by being real. This demands -that I think for myself, that I decide -for myself, that I act for myself. Once get into -this habit and growth is certain and sure. The -storms may beat upon such a life but, like the -sturdy oak, it is thrusting its roots deeper into the -soil in every direction—it is living for itself—and -storms and tempests only make it the more -sturdy and strong. This, in its turn, quickens -other lives to growth, to self-thought, self-decision, -self-action. Too long the leaders have -tried to lull the power of thought in the masses. -The church has said: "We will think for you on -matters of religion. Accept what we teach or -your immortal souls will be imperiled." The bar -and bench have said: "In matters of law we will -decide what you must think and do. If you differ -from us your acts will be illegal." The colleges -of physicians and surgeons have said: "We will -think for you in matters of health. If you differ -from us your bodies will become diseased and die." -The schools and universities have said about every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>thing: -"Think as we teach you, for we have all -knowledge and wisdom, and knowledge will die -with us," and the result is that to find a being who -<em>dares</em> to think and decide and act upon his own -thoughts is as rare almost as to find a dodo. -Thought is for you; growth is for you as well as -for all the universe of God. Teach yourself to -think for yourself as naturally and unconsciously -as you breathe for yourself. Once and forever -rise up in your manhood, or your womanhood, and -say: "Henceforth I will think, and decide, and -act for myself without reference to what other -people think or say or do." And then you will -begin to grow as you never grew before.</p> - -<p>Doubtless at first you will grow "scraggly," -and somewhat wild. But time and experience will -prune you. Better do that than never grow at all. -It is perfectly true that the way to learn to grow -is by growing. We learn to do by doing. Do -not be afraid to reach out for growth because you -don't know how. If you reach out, and grow, you -will soon learn the best way how.</p> - -<p>There is another view-point to this question of -growth. We have within ourselves the power to -quicken or retard our own growth. Too many -of us are lazy, physically, mentally, spiritually—yes, -and cowardly. We don't want the trouble of -thinking for ourselves. It requires energy and -courage. It is so much easier for some of us to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> -accept, to drift, to cast off all responsibility. But -growth cannot so come. We must row against -the tide to develop our muscles. If we accept -what others say and do let it be because our best -judgment, after due consideration and personal -thought, has decided that it is the wisest and best -thing for us to do.</p> - -<p>Then, too, many of us do not grow because we -are content with what we have. The hindrance to -life of smug and ignorant contentment, the dwarfing -power of self-complacent assurance, who can -tell? This must be shaken out of every mortal -before he can grow, and this spirit is by no -means found in the ignorant and uneducated alone. -Boston and New York, Chicago and Minneapolis, -are as full of it as Podunk and Milpitas, Four -Corners and Snigginsville. Indeed I do not know -but that there is more of it per capita in the great -centers than in the country villages. And how -it retards growth. The complacent, correctly -worded and phrased Bostonian, the haughty and -self-assertive, successful New Yorker, is each assured -that he has all there is of good to have, and -that no good thing can come out of any other -place than his. Yet God made other places and -speaks to other people, and all should be humble -and learn, reverent and grow.</p> - -<p>Some do not grow because, having something, -they are either too indifferent, too lazy, too cow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>ardly, -or too fearful to make extra exertion, to -reach out after, to strive for more than they already -have. The man who hid his talent in a napkin -is a type of this class. Let us arouse from -our indifference, our cowardice, our fearfulness, -and seek to become something larger, better, more -useful than hitherto we have been. To such there -is no growing old. Gray hairs may come, wrinkles -may seam the face, yet the heart is ever nourished -from the fountain of perpetual youth. The life is -ever fresh and full of exuberance, and therefore is -a radiating center of youth and energy.</p> - -<p>The older one becomes in years, the greater -should become the growth of the mind and the soul.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Grow old along with me,</div> - <div class="verse">The best is yet to be;</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>said Rabbi Ben Ezra, and he spoke the truth. -What radiating centers of spiritual growth in -others are old men and old women, who have -learned the simple secret of constant growth in -themselves, which is the secret of perpetual youth.</p> - -<p>Growth means fruitage, growth brings flowers. -The fruit and flowers of life that nourish, refresh, -and delight others come only to those who grow. -Roses always come on the new growth; fruit buds -best on the new branches; the best grapes are always -on the new stems. And the older the bush, -the tree, the vine, the more beautiful, the more -rare, the more delicate the fruit and flowers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> - -<p>The life that is growing is constantly searching -for nourishment. The leaves of the tree absorb -from the sun and the atmosphere, the roots from -the soil. If the sun does not shine directly upon -the leaf it reaches out, turns around, struggles -until it puts itself in proper relation to receive all -that the sun has to give. If the root cannot reach -the nutriment, the moisture, it stretches and grows -up, down, around, over, under, <em>through</em> obstacles -until it gains that which it needs for life and -growth.</p> - -<p>Human lives are like trees. They must turn -leaves to the sun, send out rootlets and tendrils in -every direction, for moisture and nourishment, -searching until they find, and demanding until they -get all they desire. And the glory of this searching -and demanding by the human soul is that there -is a whole infinity of space and power, living, palpitant, -energized for it to search in. If it search -it cannot search in vain. If it demand it must receive, -and receive abundantly.</p> - -<p>Above <em>all</em> things, and in all things, at all times -and under all circumstances I would radiate a -calm serenity. There is a rich fullness to me that -is wonderfully significant in that first line of John -Burroughs' <cite>Waiting</cite>. Look at it and let it sink -in:</p> - -<p> -Serene, I fold my hands and wait. -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> - -<p>Few are serene, fewer still can wait. We are all -in a hurry, we are all impatient, we are easily -ruffled. How rare the man or woman of self-poise—the -being who has full command of his soul, -mind, and body. Anger, jealousy, misunderstanding, -backbiting, lying, slander, hate, praise, blame—all -alike have no effect in disturbing the beautiful -calmness of the serene of soul, who are affable -alike to friend and foe, helpful alike to each, sympathetic -alike to each. There is no haughtiness -in serenity, as some suppose, though there is much -pride. Yet it is not the pride of conceit, the pride -of power, of possession, of superiority, but the -wholesome, joyous, happy sense of a full-flowing -life, every good channel of which is healthily full—healthily -flowing to healthy ends. <em>That</em>, to -me, is serenity. The self-consciousness that "all -things are working together for good," and working -to the full. There is no walking delegate to -dictate the length of the hours such a life shall -work, or live. It lives for the very joy of mere -living, and living means working, giving, doing -for others, more than for self.</p> - -<p>I can see, dream of, long for, anticipate the possession -of, some such serenity, and my ideal of -what it is and my reaching after it is what I would -radiate, though as yet I am but as one who seeks -after rather than as one who has already attained.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> - -<p>Personally I am naturally the very opposite of -serene. Physically I used to be easily disturbed. -A whisper in an audience of two thousand people -would distress me greatly, and render me intensely -nervous. I have many a time "called people -down," in my own audiences and by sheer force of -will compelled silence, and when at concerts, have -asked people (not always either gently or kindly) -to cease their rude whisperings, yet, at the same -time, I never once lost my calmness, the possession -of myself, without intense annoyance. I longed -to be able to suppress the whispers without a ripple -in my own mind or soul, by the sheer force of -right, kindliness, courtesy, serenity. The more I -possess serenity the more I shall radiate it. It is -a priceless boon, to be desired more than great -wealth, and, when possessed, to be prized and -treasured more than all the jewels of the world.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF THE WILL</p> - - -<p>There are three things I wish to radiate as to -my own will. We speak of men being self-willed, -strong-willed, weak-willed, and the like, but at the -outset I wish to radiate my desire to be "Divine-willed." -By this I mean I wish to recognize the -world-wide—nay, the universe-wide—difference -between the great, all-powerful, all-wise, all-beneficent, -all-harmonious <em>will</em> of the Great Creator, and -the oftentimes foolish, weak, wavering, irresponsible, -ignorant, mistaken will of the human being. -Every real man and woman wishes his, her, life to -be a useful life, a life that accomplishes something, -and that something must be "worth while." It is -essential, however, if one would accomplish this that -he start right. Now, here is the crucial question—How -can you know that you are right? The -answer to this question is what I would put into -every young man's and young woman's heart—into -every boy's and girl's heart—so that, at the -start, he, she, may be sure a right start is being -made. <em>The only sure way is to drop your own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> -will and become "Divine-willed."</em> This by no -means signifies that you become a nobody, a -cipher, an insignificant ant in the world. It is -just the reverse. It is allying yourself with the -right, the only right, the perfect right, the unchangeable -right. Suppose the case that a man -starts out in life with the determination to be self-willed -about the multiplication table. He insists -upon his freedom, his individuality, his self-will, -and refuses to be tied to any table made by any -one else, be that one God, angel, or man. Who -cannot see that such a man is a fool? It is impossible -to reject, to "buck against" the multiplication -table. Every man, sooner or later, has to -swallow it, accept it wholly, completely, unreservedly, -live by it, swear by it, die by it, and -more than that he has to do it gladly, willingly, -or it can never be a real part of himself. If he -is all the time protesting against it, and declaring -that it ought to be changed or abolished, or not -quite so dogmatic in its assertions, he will all the -time be worried, distressed, irritated, because it -pays no attention to his wishes. Two times two -make four, no matter who kicks, or is irritated, or -wishes it to be changed, and so with every other -statement of the whole table.</p> - -<p>What I am getting at is this, that, though we -may not always see it at first, or even at second -or third sight, the moral world is governed by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> -multiplication table as sure and certain, as unchangeable -and fixed as is the mathematical world. -And it is the acceptance of the moral multiplication -table that I call being "Divine-Willed." A -man may live for years swindling his neighbors -and giving them fourteen ounces for a pound, and -think he has fooled the multiplication table as -easily as he has fooled his customers, but the rate -never changed; it was sixteen ounces all the time. -A man may fool his neighbors and himself in regard -to the <em>moral</em> multiplication table, but sooner -or later, here or hereafter, in this incarnation or -some other, he will have to learn to accept, love, -and live by it in every act, thought, and word. It -cannot be any other—there is no other door—this -is the only salvation. <em>This</em> is accepting -Christ—the Truth, the Way, the Life, living -the Life He lived, filled with the Divine-Will, the -Divine Spirit, that filled him. Whether you are -a gambler, a sport, a liar, a cheat, a Sunday-school -superintendent, a fool, a drunkard, a senator, -a professor of religion, an agnostic, a wise -man or a mere child in knowledge, you can never -enter the Kingdom of Joy, Peace, Blessedness, that -we call Heaven, unless you conform to the Divine -Moral Multiplication Table. This is what I am -endeavoring to radiate—that I am trying to set -aside my imperfect human will, which sometimes -kicks against the unchangeable and immovable,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> -and accept the perfect, complete, and unchangeable.</p> - -<p>But you ask: How am I to know this moral -multiplication table? Easy enough. Don't try -to take it all in at once. Begin at the beginning. -Learn the "twos" first. Twice one are two, -twice two are four, twice three are six, and so on. -Start on the Ten Commandments. Master and -<em>live</em> them. Then absorb the Golden Rule. Then -try the Sermon on the Mount.</p> - -<p>There's enough to keep you busy for a few days, -anyhow. But I suppose some of you will say you -can't do it. Nonsense! You've got to do it, and -you won't <em>really</em> live until you do. You can't -dodge the multiplication table; nor can you dodge -these. There is no escape. Divinity never made -any man or any woman who could get away from -them. Creeds, church dogmas, men's ideas about -religion or what they call religion may be true, -or may not be true, but the fundamental principles -of the life of the Spirit always have existed, always -will exist, and every man, sooner or later, must -come into perfect harmony with them. This is -what I want to radiate—my desire that I should -become Divine-willed and that every one else should -be the same—quick, soon, now.</p> - -<p>Then, having <em>started</em> right, one may have more -confidence and assurance in taking the next step, -which is the second thing connected with the will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> -that I would radiate, viz.: I will to be good for -something. What is the purpose, the object of -life? What are we here for? To eat and drink, -sleep and satisfy our appetites and then die like -other mere animals who do the same thing? I -don't believe it. I never did. As Browning puts -it, a spark has disturbed my clod, and now I am -discontented to remain a clod—a mere brute -beast, living, as does the hog, merely for the satisfaction -of my physical senses. I feel higher, -nobler, worthier aspirations within me. John -Muir, the great California Nature-lover, scientist, -and poet, wrote when he was twenty-seven years -old a letter in which he said:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>A lifetime is so little a time that we die ere we get -ready to live. I would like to go to college, but then I have -to say to myself "you will die ere you can do anything -else." I should like to invent useful machinery, but it comes -"you do not wish to spend your lifetime among machines -and you will die ere you can do anything else." I should -like to study medicine that I might do my part in lessening -human misery, but again it comes "you will die ere you -are ready, or able to do so." How intensely I desire to be a -Humboldt, but again the chilling answer is reiterated. But -could we live a million years then how delightful to -spend in perfect contentment so many thousand years in -quiet study in college, so many amid the grateful din of -machines, so many among human pain, so many thousands -in the sweet study of Nature among the dingles and dells -of Scotland, and all the other less important parts of our -world.</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> - -<p>Here were four noble and beautiful aspirations. -1. To go to college and learn more. 2. To invent -useful machinery. 3. To study medicine that he -might lessen human misery. 4. To be a Humboldt -and explore the world for the enlightenment -of mankind.</p> - -<p>What do <em>you</em> want to be?</p> - -<p>To go to college to have a good time (!)—save -the mark—as some students do? I was once riding -on a railway train going to Boston, and at -New Haven twenty-seven young students got on -board and every one drunk. Do you think Muir -had anything of that kind in mind when he said -he wanted to go to college? At one of the great -universities of the West I was present when the -students made a great uproar because the faculty -had prohibited beer-wagons from coming upon the -campus to deliver their wares at the "frat" -houses. I have seen university "men" celebrating -some baseball or other victory when the celebration -has taken the form of a drunken and sensual -orgy. Can you imagine a man like Muir ever -having wanted to engage in such a disgraceful and -degrading scene?</p> - -<p>Muir started out right. He began by seeking -to be "Divine-willed," and then by willing to be -"good for something."</p> - -<p>A friend of mine, who radiates love and helpful<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>ness -to every human being no matter how low and -degraded, once helped a poor, ugly, besotted -son of the gutter, who had sunk about as low -as he possibly could sink. One day as he sat -on his piazza enjoying the beautiful calm of a -glorious spring afternoon he saw his protégé approaching. -Giving him a glad welcome the two -were soon in conversation and the gutter-waif -finally expressed his thanks for the help and encouragement -he had received, and, as is natural -with every really awakened soul, wanted to <em>do -something</em> in return for what he felt my friend had -done for him. In vain the helper of men protested -there was nothing he wished to have done, -but the one who had been helped kept on insisting -that he must do something. He said, "I not only -want to be good, but I want to be <em>good for something</em>. -Now, what can I do?"</p> - -<p>"Well," at last said my friend, "since you must -do something, go out and find somebody worse off, -lower down, more needy than you were when you -first came to me, and help him."</p> - -<p>As he went away my friend settled down to an -afternoon's study and enjoyment of his books, and -of Nature, but within an hour his protégé returned -wearing a smile that reached almost from -ear to ear. As he entered the gate he called out: -"I've got him! I've got him!"</p> - -<p>"Got who?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Why, the man you sent me for!"</p> - -<p>"What man?"</p> - -<p>"The man you told me to go and find and help. -I've found him, and I thought I couldn't help him -better than by bringing him to you."</p> - -<p>"Where is he?"</p> - -<p>"He's waiting out here by the barn, for I -couldn't persuade him to come up until I had first -seen and told you."</p> - -<p>"Bring him along!"</p> - -<p>As the two derelicts returned, the one towing -the other up the walk, my friend said the sight -of the second vagabond and outcast was almost -too much for him. He was not only ragged and -filthy, but thin to emaciation, with that horrible -look of long continued debauching degradation. -The principal feature about him was his nose—the -large, red, pimply nose of the habitual drunkard. -Almost instinctively the <em>lower</em> human in my -friend asserted itself. It rebelled against having -anything to do with so vile-looking and disgusting -a wretch. "What's the use?" he exclaimed, almost -aloud.</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, these thoughts came: "Inasmuch -as ye did it unto the least of these my brethren -ye did it unto me." "This man is as much a -child of God as I am. The <em>real</em> man in him is as -Godlike as I. He is my brother. We are both -sons of God." "And," said he, "I instantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> -arose and went to meet him, with outstretched -hand of cordial welcome."</p> - -<p>To shorten the story I can only relate how, -after he had had a hearty meal and a long conversation, -the outcast finally poured out his soul to -the man who had met him as a brother.</p> - -<p>"I was not always what you now see me. I -was in a good position, honored, respected. Had -a beautiful family, a good home, was the superintendent -of a Sunday School, the leader of a church -choir, and happy in my home, my church, my -friends. But I was tempted and fell. I ran away -from home and all my responsibilities, and went -on falling lower and lower, until this very morning -I vowed that the next fall would be into the river -or a suicide's grave. But God must have meant -me for something or He would not have taken the -trouble to get me here this morning. I'm going -to try to rise."</p> - -<p>With cheering words he was heartily and sincerely -encouraged, with neither rebukes nor cant. -As he rose to go, he said, "What can I do for you -to show my gratitude for what you have done for -me?" and he would not take "No" for an answer. -He was finally told he might mow the lawn -if he chose, and in telling the story, my friend said, -with tears in his eyes: "He was so sincere that -he went over it four times. He really seemed to -have shaved, instead of mowed it." He was then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> -allowed to take a bath, and my friend fitted him -out as well as he could with an old suit of clothing. -In the meantime a couple of hundred friends -who had been invited for an evening open-air social -chat and singing began to arrive. The organ was -brought out from the parlor, one of the number -began to play, and then my friend called for a volunteer -choir to come and surround the organ to -lead the singing. To his great surprise the bathed -and reclothed outcast gently sidled up with the -rest. Some of the elegantly dressed ladies looked -upon him with suspicion and some fear, which, -however, dropped away in great measure, as he -began to sing. For, strange to say, though he -afterwards declared he had not sung a note for -several years, the assertion of the purpose to live -a new and clean life, seemed not only to bring back -the desire to sing, but actually gave him back his -voice. His rich clear tenor soared sweetly and -without effort over the voices of the others and -then blended perfectly with them in glorious harmony.</p> - -<p>A week later, when the friends came, he was -there again, and the short seven days of new resolve -and high endeavor had so changed him in appearance -that no one knew him again. A job had -been found for him, and this was done in a remarkable -way. Without seeing him, a gentleman, filled -with the helpful spirit, and desirous of being good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> -"for something," at my friend's request interested -himself in finding him occupation. His capacity -was so quickly proven that he was put into a -responsible position where a two-thousand-dollar -bond was required, which he supplied. He worked -so thoroughly and efficiently that he was soon promoted, -and ere many months had gone by his family, -so long separated from him, was with him in -happiness and content. Before a year of service -he gained the special reward of $1,000 given each -year by the firm that employed him for the highest -general efficiency shown in any department, and is -to-day honored, respected, back again in the high -estate from which he had fallen, but a far wiser, -nobler, and better man.</p> - -<p>Through tribulation and sorrow, pain and woe, -wretchedness and despair, sin and its consequences -he had learned the lesson, that you cannot shirk -the moral multiplication table—that there is no -short cut to goodness, except to accept at once, -instead of later, the will of the Divine.</p> - -<p>Go back for a few moments to the first outcast, -who brought this second one to my friend. Had -he gone away with the thought that now he must -make some money, he must take care of himself -<em>first</em>, the second man might have filled a suicide's -grave. He started out right—to be Divine-willed—to -be unselfish, to be helpful to the rest -of the world, and those worse off than himself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> -Muir didn't want to study medicine to become a -great physician for the purpose of making money, -but to relieve the pain of unfortunate sufferers. -He willed to be good "for something." This is -the spirit, the life, I would radiate on every hand, -every day. I do not mean that all endeavor for -self-improvement, self-culture, self-benefit is undesirable. -By no means. But the nearer it approximates -to the unselfish ideal, the better it will -be. When Walt Whitman was a young man, he -was a house-builder. He happened to strike a -"building boom," and made money so fast that, -said he, "I was in danger of becoming rich." -And he decided to go and be an unpaid nurse in -the Union Army, rather than spoil himself by becoming -rich. To gain riches is good as far as it -goes—but it goes a very short way in the road -to manhood, character, nobleness of life. So -whatever you will to do and be, put a high ideal -before you, something immeasurably better than -mere money-getting. Make your profession a -means of grace, of character-building, of enabling -you to benefit and bless the world. Mere financial -success can easily be attained, but you will surely -not be content with that. Hitch your wagon to a -star, and soar upwards. Aim at the high things. -Will to do great, noble, beneficent things and that -will be willing to be good "for something."</p> - -<p>The third thing in connection with the human<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> -will that I wish to radiate is what I might term -"the insistence of the human will." After I have -willed to be "Divine-willed," and to "will to -achieve a high and noble purpose," I want to compel -my will to keep on willing that which I have -already willed. It is comparatively easy to will -to do, or be, something, but alas! how far short -some of us come from attaining that which we have -willed to be. When Jesus sent out His disciples -He gave them many warnings, much encouragement, -informed them of the difficulties they would -encounter, and then incited them to persistence of -endeavor by assuring them that "He that endureth -to the end shall be saved." It is this -thought of "endurance," or "persistence" that I -would ever radiate. I have set before me an aim, -an object, worthy to be achieved. Though it may -be difficult to attain, I will to keep on willing until -it is attained.</p> - -<p>A short time ago I watched the students at the -Physical Culture Training School, in Chicago. -It gives me a good illustration of what I would -ever radiate.</p> - -<p>I saw the leader of one of the classes do a particular -act, and then the students, one after another, -tried to follow the leader in doing that -thing. Some of the men who tried, willed to do it -all right, but they did not succeed. Many times -a man wills to do a thing when he does not seem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> -competent, but the real man keeps on until he -makes himself competent. So with some of these. -They went back and tried again—and went back -and tried again, and the men who willed and then -kept at it until they became competent were the -ones that achieved.</p> - -<p>One of the great lessons of all life is, not merely -to learn to will—that is easy enough—but to -insist upon the will keeping at it until we accomplish -what we have determined to do. We "will" -every day to do things, and yet we do not do them. -We say, "I am going to do this; I am going to -do that; or the other." We start out in life and -we have all kinds of ambitions and aspirations before -us, and we say, "This is going to be my -achievement; I intend to accomplish this thing." -But we get to be twenty-five—thirty years of age, -and we have not achieved—that is, the great mass -of people have not.</p> - -<p>Why?</p> - -<p>Because we have not learned this lesson of the -Insistence of the Human Will. We have determined -to do a thing and then we have not had the -power or the courage or the determination or the -endurance to keep on willing until the thing desired -was achieved.</p> - -<p>Let us suppose a case: A man starts in a race; -he is on the ground ready to spring forward at -the firing of the pistol. The moment the pistol is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> -fired he makes his forward bound and goes ahead -as hard as he can. Is a good start all that is -needed? I picked up a picture recently of a runner -who was coming to the end of his race. His -face revealed clearly what a struggle he was having. -His mouth was wide open, and he was laboring -to the very extremity of his strength and -power; he was "enduring to the end." He made a -good start, but now at the latter part of the journey -the race was more difficult; it was almost dangerous -because he was panting so hard he could -scarcely get his breath. The whole face, the whole -body, seemed in pain and distress; but he was -<em>enduring</em>; he was going on. It is the man who -not only makes the start, but <em>he who endures</em> that -wins the race.</p> - -<p>It is not those who start in with the greatest -hope, and faith, and energy, and courage, but "He -that shall endure to the <em>end</em> shall be saved." It is -the enduring to the end. Hence let me urge upon -you the speedy learning of this important lesson -of life. After you have willed to do a good thing -put your purpose before you; keep it clearly, positively -in sight all the time; then, every day and -every hour, resolve to <em>do</em> that which you have -<em>determined</em> to do; in other words, insist that you -do what you have willed to do.</p> - -<p>I was once very much interested in watching -Bernarr Macfadden, the editor of <cite>Physical Culture</cite><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> -magazine. I was favored with opportunities for -coming in close touch with him. The way he insists -that his will shall endure; the way he takes -himself by the throat, as it were, and insists, is -most interesting to me. One day I started out -with him for a walk. He was quietly and easily -getting himself in training so that he could walk -fifty miles and be fresh and vigorous enough at the -end of the walk so that he could give a lecture. -Certainly it is a delightful and a profitable thing to -be able to walk fifty miles without exhausting -fatigue. We started out together, but after walking -twelve miles I felt weary, and returned. But -he went on, and when he returned that night I -found he had walked thirty-seven miles. Though -he was doing all his regular and arduous work, he -was quietly insisting on these long walks, and in a -very short time he would accomplish his fifty miles -daily with comparative ease. He has mastered -the idea—"The Insistence of the Human Will."</p> - -<p>Take an inventor. No man ever invents anything -unless he insists day after day, in spite of -discouragements, in spite of failures, in spite of -opposition, sometimes in spite of the stealings of -people who would rob him of what he has already -accomplished. The man who has the real desire -to be an inventor keeps on and on, compelling his -will to rewill what he has already willed, and I -could fill these pages with the life stories of men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> -who have determined, and of women who have determined, -and who have achieved because they have -learned this lesson of the insistence of the will.</p> - -<p>I once had the pleasure of talking with Thomas -A. Edison, in his laboratory, in Orange, N. J. I -said, pointing to a mass of interesting looking materials: -"What is this, Mr. Edison?" He said, -"Oh, I have been working for thirty years on that -thing."</p> - -<p>"How are you getting along with it?"</p> - -<p>He replied, "Well, sometimes I think we are -making progress, and then again I think we are -not, but the only way we can achieve is by keeping -everlastingly at it, and when I can't work, I set my -men to work on it, and we are slowly getting -results."</p> - -<p>And so Mr. Edison every once in awhile astounds -the world with some marvelous achievement. People -suppose he stumbles on it—that he discovers -it in a moment, and perhaps he does, but that moment -was made possible by the thousands upon -thousands of moments that were as steps he had -taken leading up to the place where the vision -burst upon him. Do you see the thought? It is -the Insistence of the Human Will that compels -achievement. It is the man that never lets up that -gains the reward.</p> - -<p>Fifty years ago a man named Judah set out to -survey a railroad across the great Sierra Nevada<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> -range of mountains, that vast barrier that seems -to separate California from the rest of the world. -The people practically said, "You are a fool to -think of such a thing," but he calmly replied: "I -know I can put a road through; I am going to try -it anyhow." So he began to climb those mountain -heights. He threaded the passes one by one. He -took his men and they worked day after day, week -after week, month after month, upon what seemed -to be an impossibility.</p> - -<p>What was the result? He kept at it until he -achieved. He made his plans and made them so -well that he ultimately succeeded in convincing the -House of Representatives and the United States -Senate that such a railroad was possible.</p> - -<p>Then four men, Huntington, Crocker, Stanford, -and Hopkins, determined to build the road that he -had surveyed. Again the pessimists said: "It is -impossible; you will never raise the money to build -a railroad over the Sierra Nevadas." But the -four men worked away, and little by little got the -money. As they built they were harassed on every -hand. Labor troubles in those days were terrible. -The President of the company said, "I don't know -what we are going to do." Crocker, the man who -had undertaken to see after the actual building -of the road, said: "I know what I am going to -do; I am going to get help to build that railroad -somewhere." And so he sent a man to China to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> -secure a lot of Chinese laborers. These were -brought to this country, and the result was that -with those Chinamen, in defiance of the President -of his company, who had said that Chinamen -should not be employed, Crocker built the railroad. -And now you can cross the Sierra Nevada range -without a thought of care because of the dominant, -insistent will of that man and his associates.</p> - -<p>The fact of the matter is, if you are going to -achieve anything in life you will have to be "drivers"—you -will have to keep at it until you succeed. -You will have to be a slave driver, and you -yourself will be the slave, willingly, gladly, joyously, -of your own purpose. Do you want to be -a slave to your own purpose? Do you want to <em>do</em> -the things that you have willed to do? Some of -us get the idea that bondage—to be bound to anything—is -always an unpleasant thing. Not at -all! Bind yourself to a high and noble purpose. -Make yourself a slave to it in the sense of conscientiously -sticking to it. Now drive yourself, -and compel yourself to go ahead and do that which -you have determined to do.</p> - -<p>When I think of the old pioneers who walked and -rode across this country to reach California; when -I think of the many dangers, difficulties, and hardships -that faced those men; when I see that they -were living illustrations of this thought I am trying -to bring out—I wish I had only time and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> -space to give a definite account, instead of a mere -synopsis of the kind of things they had to endure. -They were surrounded by hostile Indians; again -and again their lives were in jeopardy. Now and -then they came to great sloughs and marshes, and -their wagons and animals were bogged. They had -to find their way across the dangerous quicksands; -hard storms came and they had whirlwinds and -floods to contend with. Now and again they found -themselves in the heart of canyons, where there was -no apparent way out; yet they went on, and on, -until they either died or reached the land for which -they had started!</p> - -<p>A party of eighty set out to cross the great -Sierra Nevada range, and the difficulties they encountered -can best be imagined when I tell you that -forty of them died on the way. The difficulties -that beset the forty that were left made it all but -impossible for them to get out. One of them told -me about the terrible hardships they suffered. She -said, "I remember, distinctly, when the time came -for us to get away, my dear mother taking up the -baby, and leaving me behind with the other baby. -She said, 'Now, Virginia, you stay right here!' -She then went on with the baby, and, after struggling -step by step, in such a way that it would -break your heart to think of it, for about twenty -paces, she put down the baby and came back for -the other baby and myself." And so, step by step,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> -step by step, that woman with her three little children, -started on that awful journey of scores of -miles through deep snow. Fortunately help came -to her assistance and she finally achieved. She -reached California, though one would have thought -it absolutely impossible. There was the tremendous -insistence of the human will.</p> - -<p>Let us say "I will!" and then insist upon doing -the things we have said we will do.</p> - -<p>I remember when I was a boy hearing some one -recite something that I thought was very foolish. -A little piece of "poetry" it was called. It was as -follows:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on!</div> - <div class="verse">Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on!</div> - <div class="verse">Go on, go on, go on!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>I have since learned that there is a great deal -in that "poem."</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF CHEERFULNESS</p> - - -<p>I want to be cheerful and to radiate cheerfulness -at all times, under all circumstances, in all -conditions and places. I want to do this because -I want to do it. Not because it is my duty, or -because I shall make some one else unhappy if I do -not, but merely and simply because there is a great -joy in the fact of cheerfulness itself.</p> - -<p>I have a friend into whose presence I never come -without feeling the radiant cheerfulness of his nature. -His face lights up with a beautiful smile, his -hand is immediately stretched out and my hand -grasped with a cordial clasp; kind words come to -his lips with a sincerity that one can never question, -and in the most unaffected, genuine, and simple -manner he radiates the cheerfulness and gladness -of his own soul.</p> - -<p>Did you never meet with such people who were -always bright and sunny, who always gave forth a -cheery word, always radiated optimism? Everything -they say or do makes you feel with -Browning:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">God's in His heaven;</div> - <div class="verse">All's right with the world.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And all this is done without any flattery or conscious -effort on their part to make you feel good. -Some of the severest rebukes I have ever received -were from this man of whom I have spoken, and yet -they were given in such a sweet, gentle manner and -with such perfect sincerity that not only was there -no irritation aroused, but a sense of gratitude implanted -that I had such a real, sincere friend.</p> - -<p>I do not wonder that men demand cheerfulness -in others. It seems somewhat heartless to put up -a notice in your office, as I have seen in many offices, -"I have troubles enough of my own. Tell yours -to the janitor," or as another version has it, -"Don't tell your troubles to me, I have enough of -my own," yet it speaks of a fact that is all too universal, -namely, that each person does have his own -large share of burdens which sometimes seem as if -they would swamp him.</p> - -<p>As Dr. Gulick once wrote:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>There is probably not one person in the world but has -tragedy enough and pain enough straight along to warrant—yes, -absolutely to warrant—pretty complete discouragement. -And I imagine that there is no person who is so -perfectly adjusted by nature, so entirely balanced in health, -that there are not times when it is necessary to hold himself -by deliberate will power—to forget how he has been -hurt, to turn aside from some ugly thing in a friend's character, -to turn aside from the bad in his own character, for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> -every one of us has that which is bad in his character. Our -characters are ugly enough in part so that, if we were to -dwell constantly on that part, the prospect would seem -pretty disheartening and justifiably so.</p></div> - -<p>All this has to be remembered in our association -with men and women. And when we remember, why -should we not wish, instead of adding to their -burdens, to lighten or help remove them?</p> - -<p>That cheerfulness is possible in this world of -woe and trial, there can be no question, because -every now and again, each of us has met with some -person who radiated this quality at all times. And -we know that in our own experience, when we have -willed to be cheerful and to radiate cheerfulness to -others, we have accomplished far more in that line -than we otherwise should have done.</p> - -<p>Only the other day I picked up a trade journal -and in it was a short letter from one business man -about another business man who had recently -passed away. Let me quote a part of it:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Away back in the '80's I met him under the following -circumstances. I was then in Chicago and although an invalid -was well enough to assist my brother a little in his -office work.</p> - -<p>One day a stranger came in who received an especially -cordial greeting from both my brother and his partner. It -proved to be Harry W. Sommers.</p> - -<p>He was, for a short time, a daily visitor and when he -came in there seemed to come with him a glow of sunshine.</p> - -<p>It made the same impression upon me as it does sometimes, -after a long period of rain and cloudiness, when the -sun, in all its brightness, suddenly bursts forth.</p></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - - <p>One day he came to bid my brother good-by, and although - it is twenty-one years ago, the wave of his hand, the - cheery smile and the hearty good-by, as he looked toward - me, still linger in my memory.</p> - - <p>Many a time since has he come into my mind, although - I never saw him afterward, accompanied with the thought - that were there more Harry Sommerses in this world, it - would be a brighter and far happier place to dwell.</p> -</div> - -<p>I would far rather leave a legacy like that behind -me than to leave an immense fortune over which my -heirs would quarrel and go to law and engender ill -feelings and then possibly spend in an injurious -manner.</p> - -<p>It is said of Sister Dora, the noble-hearted -woman who gave her life to the iron workers of the -"Black Country" in England, that as she went -to and fro in the wards of the hospitals, her presence -was like a glad burst of sunshine to the poor -sick men and women to whom she ministered. -Though they were rough, uncouth, even profane -and wicked, she never failed in her courtesy and -bright cheerfulness, and the result was that patients -under her control regained their health far -more rapidly than those who were subjected to the -depressing influences of moody, cheerless, censorious -persons.</p> - -<p>The same thing is said of Walt Whitman. -When he was in the Government's employ at Washington, -with a salary of one hundred and twenty -dollars a month, he took forty dollars of this for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> -his own use and spent the other eighty dollars to -provide comforts and luxuries for the poor soldier -boys in the hospitals. I have heard old soldiers -tell of the way they used to feel when he appeared. -"It was like the coming of a young Santa Claus." -He carried a pack on his back which he would drop -by the side of a bed and reaching out his friendly -hand, with a radiant smile would say: "Well, how -is it with you to-day?" and then, if the soldier were -a stranger, he would ask: "Do you use tobacco?" -If the man said, "No," he would reply, -"That's good." If on the other hand he said, -"Yes," Walt's reply would be the same, and he -would dive down into his pack and bring out a little -tobacco, which he would give with a few kind and -cheery words to the poor bed-ridden soldier. If -the invalid didn't use tobacco there was a book, a -game, or something else that would bring cheer and -forgetfulness. Thus he would pass up and down -the wards, radiating brightness and good cheer on -every hand. There is no wonder that as he passed -outside every eye followed him, every heart felt an -instinctive "God bless you," and every voice called -out, "Come again, soon."</p> - -<p>There surely are enough conditions in Nature to -help the soul that wants to be cheerful and radiate -cheerfulness. Every morning the sun arises with -radiating light, brightness and beauty, illuminating -and glorifying even the darkest and dullest of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> -the things of earth. The stars shine nightly in all -their sincere and calm beauty, radiating the assurance -of Infinite power and perpetual care.</p> - -<p>In radiant Nature, the butterfly skims the air -in its light and fascinating flight, attracting the -eye and charming with its exquisite coloring. The -dew of morning, receiving the golden rays of the -sun, makes the grass and trees appear as if blossoming -in millions of diamonds, each a globe of -radiating, scintillating brightness and beauty. -The birds sing day and night, rain or shine, in -sunshine or storm, radiating their cheerfulness and -constant optimism. The trees awaken to the -caressing touch of the sun and rustle to and fro, -speaking in unmistakable language their joy of -mere living, and glistening back and forth their -appreciation of the gift of warmth and brightness. -The flowers grow as freely in the wilds as in the -cultivated gardens of man—blossoming evidences -of Nature's power to produce gorgeous and resplendent -color, perfection in beauty of form and -exquisite deliciousness in odor. Even the snail -crawls along expressive of delight in the morning, -and the worm comes forth from the clod to express -its appreciation.</p> - -<p>I have watched the mountains with their snow-crowned, -virgin-pure peaks soaring into the blue -of the heavens and the massive rocks of the mighty -canyons of the West basking restfully in the glori<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>ous -light of day, and even these majestic rock-giants -spoke the unmistakable language of joy, -and called upon men to be cheerful.</p> - -<p>We find exactly the same spirit and influence, if -we will but look for it, in mankind. Too often we -see but the sordidness, the greed, the selfishness, -the cruelty, the rapacity of men, yet we all know -that this is but one side, and it is not the reality, it -is only the shadow of the real man, that the <em>real</em> -man is kind, sympathetic, helpful, generous, true-hearted, -and pure. If we fix our eyes upon one -tiny spot the size of a dollar that is speckled or -black, we can soon shut out all the brightness, -beauty, and sweetness outside. I well remember -one of the sentimental songs that was current in -my boyhood days. It probably had as much of -the mock sentiment as any other of these songs, -but two lines of the refrain I have never forgotten, -and whenever I hear one speaking of the unkindness -of humanity, I feel like quoting them:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But speak not so untruly,</div> - <div class="verse">There are kind hearts everywhere.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>In spite of the strenuousness of our modern life, -as we look around upon the social settlements, the -orphan asylums, and the thousands of men and -women who adopt helpless orphans, the prisoners' -aid societies, where business men actually make a -point of finding their help, where possible, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> -those who have served a term in prison or the penitentiary, -and the thousand and one other institutions -which show that the Golden Rule is actively -in operation in the hearts of men and women—I -say these things make me happy and cheerful, and -I feel like singing for joy, that innate beauty is as -much in evidence, and more, in the hearts and minds -of men as it is in Nature.</p> - -<p>So I want cheerfulness to be the constant habit -of my mind and soul. I do not wish to be cheerful -occasionally or semi-occasionally. I would prefer -to be a man of one mood and that mood, with its -variations, to be a mood of habitual cheerfulness. -I regard a cheerful disposition as one of the most -precious possessions. It is like a pair of spectacles -that have the power of luminosity within themselves. -It sees clearly enough but lightens up the -darkest and most dreary spots of earth. Cheerfulness -is not only a duty, but a philosophy, a religion, -a wisdom. The cheerful man is the perpetually -wise optimist. A cheerless or gloomy -man is the perpetually unwise pessimist. And -years ago I learned to test all philosophies and religions -by practical life. No philosophy, no religion -was good that could not satisfy every-day -life. Optimism never fails at any time, but -pessimism is worse than a broken reed to lean -upon.</p> - -<p>Take the pessimists you know, and I can pretty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> -nearly stake my life upon it you will find nearly -all of them dyspeptics, with poor circulation, shivering -on a cold morning with their hands in their -pockets, complaining that they were not awakened -early enough, finding fault because the breakfast -was not served just right, railing at the car service, -ranting about the rottenness of men in public life. -They seem to take a pride in believing, as did -Dickens' Mantalini in <cite>Nicholas Nickleby</cite>, that -"We are all going to the demnition bow-wows." -What a contrast there is between this man and the -Cheeryble Brothers of the same book, those great -and simple-hearted human reservoirs of cheerfulness -and optimism, radiating sweetness, happiness, -content, wherever they went, blessing and benefiting -every heart willing to accept the sweetness and -purity of theirs.</p> - -<p>Pessimism is not a working theory of life. It is -the substitution of gloomy, deep-blue spectacles -for the beautiful luminous ones. As Dr. Gulick -says:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Pessimism is negative, denial, believing that the evil is -more than the good, that life is not worth while; it is a -dampening down of life. Pessimism tends to its own annihilation, -because it takes away life's motives, life's vigor, -life's power.</p></div> - -<p>On the other hand, optimism cheers, encourages, -brightens, beautifies, glorifies, blesses, helps. And -I long ago learned that that man, that woman, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> -succeeds in helping and benefiting and blessing -mankind is essentially an optimist.</p> - -<p>The other day I saw the act of an optimist. He -and a friend were seated in a street car. It was -Saturday night, the car was crowded, and by and -by two well-dressed men got in, one of them with -an unmistakable look of refinement, the other -somewhat coarse looking. Both had evidently -been drinking heavily. The more refined and elder -of the two could barely stand upright, as the car -whirled around the curves. The optimist looked -up, saw the state of affairs, and in the sweetest, -gentlest manner arose and extended his hand and -bade the elderly gentleman take his seat. There -was no look of reproach or disgust, and yet I know -that he was a rigid abstainer and strong temperance -worker and one who hated every form of -indulgence in alcoholic liquors. The companion of -the man who had taken the seat, began to talk in -the ordinary mumbling, rambling, effusive style of -the drunkard, and the other without either impatience -or any sign of disapproval, quietly entered -into the conversation, and I speak only the fact -when I state that without any preaching or fault-finding, -his few earnest, sincere, optimistic words -so won the heart of that large, coarse-looking, -drunken man that he seemed absolutely sobered -and responded to the higher call of the soul.</p> - -<p>This is what optimism and cheerfulness do for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> -mankind, hence I want to radiate it more and -more.</p> - -<p>Mark Twain was full of this spirit of radiating -cheerfulness. In one of his darkest hours in San -Francisco, before he had gained name or fame, -things had gone wrong and a lady friend passing -along a street saw him standing beside a lamp-post -with a cigar-box under his arm. "Cigars?" -she asked. "Where are you going in such a -hurry?" "I'm m-o-o-v-i-n-g," drawled Mark, at -the same time displaying the contents of the box -which consisted of a pair of socks, a pipe, and two -paper collars. Even in his darkest hours he was -able to look out upon the bright side, and out from -those hours of gloom came some of the brightest -pieces of wit and cheerful philosophy to irradiate -and bless the entire world.</p> - -<p>If I were an employer of labor and could get -the right men and women to do the work, I would -employ a half dozen for my factory or workshop -to teach my employees to be cheerful, to laugh and -sing at their work. It would be a good paying -investment. I would get a great deal more work -out of my employees and of a great deal better -quality. A hearty laugh is better than a bottle -of medicine; a volume of Mark Twain or Marshall -Wilder, better than a library of pessimistic philosophy -of high sounding phrases.</p> - -<p>Cheerfulness takes the jolts out of the rutty<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> -road of life. It is an extra pair of springs to the -wagon. It is an automobile shock-absorber. It -resists the encroachments of the grouch and bids -the blue devils avaunt!</p> - -<p>The old-fashioned methods of kings having a -clown to keep them and their court laughing during -meal time was a profound piece of philosophy and -wisdom, for the stomach's sake, if for no other -reason. The folly of the clown caused laughter, -promoted genial humor which increased the flow of -all the digestive juices and thus contributed to -good digestion and perfect assimilation. The -uncheerful father or mother who sits down to -the table like a thundercloud and suppresses the -bright, happy exuberance of childhood ought to be -taken down to the dentist and pumped full of -laughing-gas until he or she would laugh for a -week. I would make such people laugh until their -sides ached and they had to go to bed to get over -it, and every time a frown or gloomy look came -over the face I would have somebody lift a warning -finger (but also a laughing face) and threaten them -with another week's dose of laughing-gas.</p> - -<p>"But," says the gloomy one, "life has gone -wrong with me. How can I be cheerful when I am -out of work and sick and have no friends?" -Your case is hard, my friend. I recognize it with -sympathy, but let me tell you this, that every -grouchy look and word will make it harder for you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> -to get work, and will put friendship further away -from you. Even as a business proposition, it does -not pay. <em>Make yourself laugh</em> and be cheerful, -whether you can be or not, for very few men are -willing to surround themselves with those who appear -to be gloomy, depressed and grouchy. Learn -the lesson that it does no good to indulge in self-pity. -Whatever the adverse circumstances of life -may be, face them like a man.</p> - -<p>Years ago I had learned this lesson of refusal to -pity myself, and I then wrote:</p> - -<p>"I want to radiate a spirit that refuses to pity -itself for any of its woes, its afflictions, its misfortunes, -its sorrows. There is no weakness so weak -as the weakness of self-pity; there is nothing so -spiritually debilitating as to brood over one's own -sorrows. It is a kind of melancholy selfishness; -it neither helps one's self nor others; it is depressing -to all concerned. I happened to read to-day -in a popular novel a sentence that most truthfully -expresses what I believe upon this subject: 'The -most absolutely selfish thing in the world is to give -way to depression, to think of one's troubles at all, -except of how to overcome them. I spend many -delightful hours thinking of the pleasant and beautiful -things of life. I decline to waste a single -second even in considering the ugly ones.'</p> - -<p>"It is just as easy to form a habit of dwelling -upon the sweet and good and beautiful and happy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> -things of life as upon the bitter and evil and ugly -and unhappy things. Brooding enlarges whatever -it exercises itself upon, whether it be good or evil, -joy or woe. So brood on the good things, cast -out the others, and so live that you radiate this -joy and determination not to recognize the evil and -unpleasant things.</p> - -<p>"Self-pity takes the backbone out of one. It -robs one of his manhood, his courage, his daring to -go on and face all the difficulties before him. It is -self-pity that makes the suicide. He looks at his -woes, his difficulties, until he cannot bear them, and -so goes and takes the big plunge into the dark.</p> - -<p>"Brother, sister, quit your self-pitying. There -is another side to the darkness. Look up, not -down. Remember that, in the words of Robert -Browning, 'God's in His heaven, all's right with -the world.' So I have long resolved to radiate -cheerfulness as much when I am <em>down</em>, as when I -am <em>up</em>—when misfortune glowers upon me, as -when fortune smiles. It is so easy to interpret -our material good as a proof of God's favor, and -our material ill as a sign that He is displeased with -us. Those who went to Jesus and asked, when -the tower of Siloam fell and killed eighteen: -'Were they not sinners above all others because -this thing happened to them?' are not without -their myriads of counterparts in the world to-day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> -When a man strikes a new gusher in an oil region, -or a good flow of water in a desert country, or his -grainfield gives him seventy bushels to the acre, it -is easy enough to believe that Providence is smiling -upon him, and, therefore, his faith is strong and -unquenchable. I have enough of that kind of -faith. I can radiate that without an effort or -thought. But I desire above all things to radiate -a like sure and definite faith when my neighbor -strikes a gusher and I do not; when my <em>enemy</em> finds -a fine flow of water and <em>my</em> crops are being parched—I -want as strong a sense of contentment when -Fortune <em>smiles upon the other fellow</em>, as when it -smiles upon me."</p> - -<p>This leads to another practical radiance. It is -that of absolute certainty that things do not -<em>happen</em>. There is no such thing as a "happenstance" -in the world.</p> - -<p>"Nothing happens," is a word often on my inner -lips. There is no evil, no wrong, no misfortune to -the man who consciously lives with power ever surrounding -him. In our short-sightedness, we -dream, we think of evil, or ill, or wrong, or misfortune, -but if our faith's eyes were always open, -we should see nothing but good—and that all -circumstances are good in their ultimate results -upon us.</p> - -<p>Some years ago I met a lady who possessed this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> -spirit of radiant cheerfulness, and yet she was in a -sanitarium and had undergone several severe surgical -operations.</p> - -<p>In conversation with her, I learned that some -years before she had found herself afflicted with a -tumor in her breast. The surgeon said that nothing -but the knife would remove it. This seemed -almost like a sentence to death, and my friend and -her husband, children, and friends were deeply -saddened by the necessity. They all went through -a period of deep gloom, of darkness, of despondency. -Then there came to her the idea that it was -contrary to Nature that she and her loved ones -should waste their time, energy, and strength in -such repining and sorrow. She remembered the -words, "Be careful for nothing, but in everything -by prayer and supplication make your requests -known unto God," and then there came to her the -joy of the promise that followed: "And the -peace of God which passeth all understanding shall -keep your hearts and minds" in what is sure to be -the spirit of peace and love.</p> - -<p>So she began to look upon the duty of cheerfulness. -She soon saw that it was the only path for -her to walk in. The operation was performed. It -was serious, and for three years she and her loved -ones had to struggle hard to be cheerful and optimistic. -But the results more than repaid for the -efforts expended, for, when at the end of the three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> -years, the tumor again appeared, even more serious -in character, and she had to go to the hospital -again, she found that, after the first few dark -hours, a great peace stole over her whole being, and -as a result of her cheerful radiancy, her husband -and children were "adorably cheerful and loving." -She has since said:</p> - -<p>"I went to the hospital feeling sure that I could -find peace in suffering, pleasure in pain, contentment -through it all. When I was put upon the -operating table this sense of peace and content -and lack of fear enabled me to take the anesthetic -easily, and after the operation was over, when the -pain was terrible, to fight my battle with a happy -heart. I faltered a little once or twice when the -pain seemed to pile mountains high during the first -few days, but when my nurse found that I meant -to make the best of everything, she took hold in -the right way with a spirit of determination to help -me, so it was not long before I really seemed to -rise, by means of the very mountains of pain that -at first appeared as if they would overwhelm me, to -summits of joy, content and satisfaction I could -not have known without them.</p> - -<p>"As I looked out of the windows, the trees -seemed to be putting forth their leaves in richest -beauty all <em>for me</em>. The birds—the robins and -bluebirds—seemed to come and sing <em>for me</em>. -The air grew daily more balmy and sweet, and as I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> -contemplated these things, I found even the tremendous -noises of switching cars and the disagreeable -sounds of the engine, combined with the -racket of the wagons that came rattling over the -cobble-stones, came to be quite bearable. Peace -and joy were in my heart. I was content, full, -satisfied."</p> - -<p>And she certainly looked it. She was a radiating -reservoir of these glorious and uplifting qualities. -How could she be otherwise? So, with this -woman's experience in mind I again urge you to -be cheerful. Be happy. Acquire <em>the habit of the -effort</em>. It soon grows easy. Believe implicitly in -the power of Good—and that the apparently bad -is contrary to Nature's laws and wishes (being a -result of some transgression or ignorance), and -that whatever happens is good, for it works out -for the best in the end.</p> - -<p>And now, to conclude, or as our preacher friends -say, "one more word." In my radiancy or cheerfulness, -I want to remember to radiate all the time -and to all people. It is easy enough to be cheerful -in the presence of our superiors and with our companions -and equals. But I notice that it is a very -different matter with many people to be cheerful -with those whom society and the world call their -inferiors—the elevator boy, the bell boy, the -valet, the chambermaid, the clerk, the stenographer, -the laborer, the coachman, in other words, all those<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> -whom we call "servants." Many people feel that -they are not under any obligation to be cheerful to -them, but, oh, what a joy they miss, what a privilege -they throw away. Why not especially radiate -cheerfulness to the fullest possible extent to those -who have less of this world's goods than ourselves? -Why not help them bear the burdens of life by -your radiant optimism? Let your cheerfulness -be real, sincere, honest, manly. Try to concern -yourself in their interests and understand somewhat -of the battles they have to fight. It does not -take up much time or require much effort. It is -the <em>spirit</em> of the thing that is felt and that counts. -So, be cheerful at all times and radiate your cheerfulness -to all sorts and conditions of men. Thus -you will go through the world leaving a blessed -path of sweetness, brightness, and sunshine behind -you which will illuminate, cheer, and bless all who -walk therein.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF MORAL COURAGE</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate moral courage. Who that -has read the life of Emerson cannot appreciate -the moral courage that controlled him at all times. -He was incapable of cowardice. Timid, sensitive -as the most delicate plant, shrinking from notoriety, -he yet did and said things that brought down -upon him the censure and concentrated fury and -hatred of thousands. He, so gentle and kind, -spoke words that hit and smashed and crashed -through the entrenched ideas of the world like red-hot -cannon-balls. Though never a politician, he -spoke words on the principles involved in the slavery -question that surpassed in fervid eloquence and -effective power anything ever said by Wendell Phillips -or William Lloyd Garrison. On one occasion -he faced a mob of fiery sympathizers with the other -side and declared the highest, purest truths of the -brotherhood of man, and when remonstrated with -for daring such an assemblage he calmly and -quietly replied: "Had I been dumb, I would have -gone and muttered and made signs."</p> - -<p>When men worshiped certain ideas and believed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> -that they were religion, and that it was needful to -believe them in order to live aright on earth and win -the favor of a heavenly hereafter, Emerson arose -and smote them into the dust by the calm, relentless, -passionless logic of one who sees and knows—the -divinely ordained prophet—and one result of -his daring was that he was cast out from his pulpit -and from the sweet and hallowed communion he and -his grandfathers for eight past generations had -enjoyed in the church. What a wrenching of -heart strings, what a tearing away of old ties, what -an isolation of oneself, what a bringing down of -the avalanche of abuse, of slander, of harsh words -and unkind deeds! Yet he never hesitated. The -oversoul called to the sacrifice, and at the same -time pointed to the recompense of the spirit, and -he never saw, never knew, never felt the contumely, -the scorn, the ostracism, the abuse.</p> - -<p>Is it not glorious to live in such a realm of high -spiritual courage? To do unconsciously? To <em>be</em> -unconsciously? Not to have to work your courage -up to the daring point; to nerve yourself for -the plunge, but to plunge anyhow, trusting, knowing -that in doing the highest, the noblest, the best -thing conceivable to you, you can never fail? -What does starvation of the body mean to the -man whose soul is uplifted into the presence of the -Most High? Such an one can live for forty days -or forty years, if necessary, without more food<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> -than would feed a sparrow. What does isolation -from his fellows—preachers, doctors, lawyers, -every-day men and women—mean to a man who -communes daily with angels, archangels, and with -God Himself? Does he feel slighted, hurt, neglected? -Such a courage as this I myself desire, -so that I may live it, radiate it every moment.</p> - -<p>It was this courage that made John Brown -march on that most quixotic of all marches—with -a handful of men to free the slave. It was rebellion, -anarchy, unlawful invasion, the breaking of -man's law—of course it was. But he saw a -higher vision than man's outlook, he felt a higher -call than man's demand, and he knew no law of man -in the obedience of his soul, body, life, <em>his all</em>, to -the call of the Spirit. And though a rude Kansas -pioneer and farmer, he had the soul-courage to -obey. Forward! March! He marched to his -death!</p> - -<p>Did he? No! He marched to the death of his -body, but he began a triumphant march in the -heavens forever brilliantly illuminating the minds -and souls of men, and lifting them up into a higher -state of life, making them less sordid, less afraid of -position, life, honor, less easily influenced by the -keen censure and scorn of the blind world.</p> - -<p>Talk about battlefields and batteries, forts and -forlorn hopes and the courages of the Charge of -the Light Brigade, or of the Stand of the Old<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> -Guards at Waterloo, or of Dewey sailing into -Manila Harbor; what were those acts of physical -courage compared with the moral heroism that -leads a man to dare the stake, the cross, or the tortures -of the bigot? Read Mark Twain's <cite>Life of -Joan of Arc</cite>, and feel your heart throb to the high-souled, -divinely inspired courage of that girl of -eighteen; not only physical courage, as when she -led, in person, the charges of the French army -against the English, who had been victorious in -France for almost a hundred years, but when she -dared the great ecclesiastical courts that badgered -and baited her, as she sat unaided, alone, unbefriended, -undefended, unadvised by man, for weeks -at a time, when the cowardly hounds were determined -to send her to the stake. Where did -her heroism and courage come from that she, a -mere country peasant child, who had never even -ridden a horse, or seen a battlefield, who never -had read a book, or knew the first thing of guiding -and controlling soldiers, or setting an army in -battle array; I say, where did her courage come -from, that she could dare to go into the proud -presence of nobles and warriors and demand that -they give her a guard to take her to the King of -France, where she assured him that she would soon -drive out the English and have him duly crowned -king of his reconquered provinces? Here was the -radiant life in actual, potent exercise. She radi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>ated -courage and faith, just as the sun radiates -heat—in such abundance that men sweated with -it, men were fired to the intense heat and fervor of -new life and courage with it. So that, from a -cowed, disheartened pack of whipped men, who fled -from the mere sound of approach of a small body of -English soldiers, raw recruits, as well as seasoned -veterans, shouted to be led against the foe, and -when once in the conflict hammered away regardless -of wounds, even of death, until victory was theirs.</p> - -<p>Whence came this radiant courage and power? -It was simply because she dared to listen to the -voices speaking to her soul, and <em>nothing else -counted</em>. That's the life I want to get hold of. -That is the courage and the life I wish to radiate. -Afraid of men, of starvation, of opposition, of -censure, of hatred, of ostracism? No! Why -should we be afraid to lose a few cents, when our -hands are filled with diamonds, and rubies, and -pearls, and nuggets of gold? Why should we -fear men, when we have the courage of our convictions?</p> - -<p>Let us look not down, but up, and seek to draw -from the heavens above the inspiration, the courage, -the bravery, the heroism of the soul.</p> - -<p>There has recently passed away in despotic Russia -a man whose life for years has radiated moral -courage throughout the world. Tolstoi had the -courage of his convictions. He felt that social dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>tinctions -were wrong. Immediately he did the -practical thing—put himself on the plane of -every common laboring man by personally becoming -a tiller of his own soil. "What a fool!" exclaimed -the aristocratic world to which, by birth, -he belonged. "Does he think he can change our -opinions by that silly act?" they cried. No! He -knew it would have little or no effect on them, but -he was compelled to clear his own soul. So he -braved their laughter and scorn, their contumely -and contempt, that the world might know for certain -what he really did think and feel.</p> - -<p>He came to the conclusion that the Government -of Russia, and the conduct of the ministers of the -Greek Church—the established church of Russia—were -neither in conformity with true religion -nor true brotherhood. Though the former was -despotic, and the latter as "hide-bound and dogmatic -as rigid adherence to dead forms and creeds -ever makes men," he fearlessly expressed his inmost -convictions against both and called upon them to -change, reform, amend their ways and actually become -what they professed to be. The state threatened -him with Siberian banishment unless he kept -silence, but never till death silenced him did he heed -the threatening command; the church cast him out, -and then he wrote a book, <cite>My Religion</cite>, that gave -newer and more exalted conceptions of religion to -the world, even though possibly it would be hard to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> -find a single man who accepts everything just as -Tolstoi set it forth in that book.</p> - -<p>He came to the decision that the fine clothes and -luxurious surroundings of the rich and noble were -neither Christian nor humane. They caused envy -and bitterness in the hearts of those whose lives -were one long struggle with poverty. So at once -he cast off his gorgeous apparel, denuded his own -rooms of all unnecessary and elaborate furnishings, -and thus, again and further, placed himself where -men could feel the truth and power of his utterances -about human brotherhood.</p> - -<p>When Russia declared war against Japan, Tolstoi -wrote a letter to the Emperor, the state officials, -and the Russian people that was a loud trumpet -blast heard throughout the world calling upon -them in the name of their Creator and down-trodden -humanity to stop! and declare peace. Many -a man had been sent to Siberia for life—nay, sent -to be speedily tortured to death—for far less than -this, but this fearless old man let his voice ring out -with a power that convinced thousands as never -before that war at its best was but a relic of barbarism -and a disgrace to every professedly progressive -nation.</p> - -<p>Oh, for a courage like Tolstoi's—true-hearted, -brave, simple-minded, pure, that never failed when -called upon. Granted he was "queer," "quixotic," -"unbalanced," "impracticable," was not his queer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>ness -and impracticability at least on the side of the -moral forces of the world? Everybody knew -where and how he stood; where his sympathies -were; and his life has strengthened the backbone -and put new vigor into the weak knees of hundreds -of thousands, for moral courage radiates with -power that increases according to the square of -the distance. It does not grow less; it enlarges; -for each man who feels it becomes a new generator -and transformer and thus enlarges and increases -its radiating power four-, eight-, twelve-fold.</p> - -<p>Henry Bergh was another of these heroic moral-courage -radiators. His tender heart was cut to -the quick day by day by seeing the cruelties perpetrated -upon the poor dumb brutes of the city of -New York. He determined to do what he could to -stop these barbarous practices. He agitated and -wrote, spoke and interviewed until he succeeded in -getting ordinances and acts passed which gave him -power to prevent whatever cruelties he saw. How -he was jeered; how he was cursed, when he sought -to interfere with a brutal driver who would cruelly -whip his horses to compel them to drag loads beyond -their strength! The newspapers said he -stood in the way of business, and they sarcastically -called him "the knight of the doleful countenance," -not realizing that it was the cruelties perpetrated -by so-called men upon their younger brothers—the -dumb animals—that had so frozen the pain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> -and anguish of his heart upon his face. But his -heart never failed, his courage never wavered. -Threatened, mobbed, his life often in peril, he fearlessly -waged constant warfare against cruelty, and -to-day the very city that hated and scorned him is -building monuments to his honor in every street-watering -trough they erect. And his radiant influence -has reached every civilized city <em>in the world</em>, -such is the penetrating radiancy of a loving and -true heart.</p> - -<p>Before I proceed to a further consideration of -this radiancy of a large-hearted, moral heroism, I -want to answer the objection raised to what I have -already written by a young man to whom I read it. -He said: "But I am not an Emerson, or a Wendell -Phillips, or a John Brown, or Tolstoi. What -chance do I have of exercising moral courage?"</p> - -<p>A very pertinent question, and one I am glad to -try to answer. I do not believe there was ever a -man, a time, or a place which did not, sometime, -somehow, call for the exercise of moral heroism. -And especially in these days of lax principle, breaking -down of old standards, political graft, and -worship of material success. What minister is -there in no matter what church who is not called -upon, now and again, nay, often, to speak fearlessly -upon some practical subject upon which -people are looking for light? Is he a moral hero -who taboos such subjects, who refrains from dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>cussing -them in the pulpit because they are not -"gospel" subjects? What gospel subject can -surpass in interest and in human and divine appeal -to the soul of man the "white-slave" question, and -a host of other subjects upon which ordinary well-to-do -men and women need enlightenment? That -minister is endowed with the radiant power of moral -courage who, even though he offend some of the -smug, comfortably righteous members of his congregation, -dares to denounce the church people -who rent their houses and lands for immoral purposes, -for breweries, for saloons, for any and all -things that destroy men's bodies and souls and -bring suffering to innocent women and children. -Take the child-labor question, especially in the -communities where men live who have become rich -by using child labor, whether in cotton factories, -glass factories, tobacco, or any other factories. -Should not such men hear the gospel plainly and -without equivocation? Who is to give it? The -minister of the Christ who came to seek and save -the down-trodden, the injured, the forsaken, the -lost. Then all honor to the man who dares to -speak out, dares to be true to the inward voice, -though he lose caste, position, salary.</p> - -<p>The same courage is required of the politician. -How often the public clamor for, or against, the -very opposite of that which is right. In California -a few years ago there was a great fight for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> -the exclusion of the Japanese and Chinese. How -about the doctrine of the brotherhood of man? -Can we play fast and loose with eternal principles? -No! Let the true politician stand by the truth -and let the poltroon sacrifice his principles for -temporary advancement and gain.</p> - -<p>There is not an employee who at some time or -another is not called upon to exercise moral courage. -Some are asked to do dishonest, mean, disreputable, -contemptible things—for their employers. -Some have one temptation, some another. -Stand firm for the highest truth. Be -morally brave and courageous. Dare to refuse. -Dare to risk losing your job rather than your -character. Dare to be poor rather than mean.</p> - -<p>One of the great temptations of men and women -to-day is to appear better off than they are. We -are all as good as everybody else—so we say—and, -therefore, we must dress as well, dine as well, -live as well, and show off as much. What is the result -in many cases? Financial worry or disaster -at best; criminality at worst. For many a man -to-day is in the penitentiary because he and his -wife did not have the moral courage to dare to live -within their income; she did not dare to wear her -last-year's hat, or a made-over gown, and he did -not dare say No! when she insisted upon having -new and expensive things, or would not deny himself -when his "set" indulged in an expensive pas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>time -which he could not afford. Oh, the pity of it! -Let your courage have a chance to grow. Plant -the seeds of moral heroism early, so that when the -testing time comes you will find the tree already -grown to which you can cling.</p> - -<p>Every boy and every girl—no matter how -young—has times when temptations come which -it requires moral courage to resist. Better teach -your boy the duty, pleasure, and benefit of this resistance -than have him win every other prize of -excellent scholarship. Are you radiating such -courage so that your children feel it? That they -are influenced by it? Happy you, if you are, for -it will return to you in the beauty, strength, nobility, -and grandeur of your boy's, your girl's, -life in after days to your benediction and joy.</p> - -<p>The world is cold for want of moral courage. -Turn on the radiator. Call on the great source -for a full supply and help make the world warm -with the heroism, the bravery, the moral courage -it needs.</p> - -<p>Possessed in any degree, however small, of this -heroism of the soul, I, myself, want to radiate the -consciousness that my <em>natural and proper place is -in the forefront of every movement that makes for -human progress</em>. Most men are laggards in human -progress. Of comparatively only a few is it said -in such things: "He is abreast of his times." -Of only the less than few—the solitary, the indi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>vidual -soldiers—is it said: "He is ahead of his -times." Here I want to find my place. These are -the men and women with whom I would stand. -And I would so radiate the spirit of advancement -and progress that every awake and alert soul and -also every quiescent and sleeping soul will feel and -know it when we come in contact.</p> - -<p>In November, 1910, there was held in the city -of Chicago an anniversary celebration of the life -and work of Theodore Parker, a New England -Congregational clergyman who lived from 1810 to -1860. When professional philosophers, reformers, -and preachers were discussing, in an academic -fashion, the question of human freedom, while -under our banner of professed "human rights for -all," the shackles were on the hands of four millions -of slaves, while professional statesmen were -temporizing with this iniquitous system and proposing -compromises, all of which affected slave -owners, and none of them made the slave free, -Theodore Parker, in season and out of season at -times appropriate and inappropriate, was a flaming -firebrand of passionate utterance against the -hideous hypocrisy of our national pretense while -the rattle of these shackles was in our ears. It -was nothing to him that the solid South was -against him; it was of no weight to him that many -of the "respectable moneyed men" of New England -were engaged in the slave trade, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -"practical men of affairs" counseled moderation, -toleration, and caution in dealing with so "delicate" -a subject. He saw only the horrible facts -of human slavery, and that this slavery existed in -a land on whose national banner were inscribed the -words: "We believe it to be a self-evident truth -that <em>all men</em> are created free and equal," and the -only delicacy he felt was that the national conscience -should be aroused to its hypocrisy, self-deceit, -inconsistency, and dishonor, and that the -slave-holding and slave-trading business should -cease in this "land of the free and home of the -brave." We, to whom the Emancipation Proclamation -has been familiar ever since its promulgation, -cannot conceive the terrible stir, the bitter -antagonism, the fierce hostility Parker's clear and -ringing words caused at the time of their utterance. -In vain his fellow-preachers begged him to -be more cautious, to adopt a more conciliatory -tone. Like Campanello, who took a bell for his -crest, and for his motto the words, "I will not -keep silent," he quietly but firmly, calmly but -resolutely, refused, and rang out all the louder and -more insistently his call to the drugged conscience, -sleeping honor, and deadened humanities of his -fellow citizens. It was he who inspired in Lincoln -that memorable phrase made forever world-famed -by his glorious Gettysburg speech: "Government -of the people, by the people, for the people."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> -Lincoln spoke November 19, 1863. Parker had -written in November, 1846, these words:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Let the world have peace for five hundred years, the -aristocracy of blood will have gone, the aristocracy of gold -will have come and gone, that of talent will also have come -and gone, and the aristocracy of goodness, which is the democracy -of man, the government <em>of</em> all, <em>for</em> all, <em>by</em> all, will be -the power that is. Democracy is direct self-government -over all the people, by all the people, for all the people.</p></div> - -<p>By way of parenthesis, it is interesting here to -add that in <cite>The Christian</cite> (a London, England, -weekly paper), for September 17, 1910, there was -a letter giving an even earlier use of the phrase, as -follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Sir</span>: In your report of Principal Carpenter's striking -speech at Budapest, you cite his reference to the well-known -fact that "It was from Parker that Abraham Lincoln borrowed -his famous phrase, 'Government of the people, for -the people and by the people.'" But the further fact -should be remembered that Parker himself borrowed it—doubtless -through his perusal of the current <cite>Monthly Repository</cite>—from -Rev. Robert Aspland, our once-famous -Hackney minister. It occurs in Mr. Aspland's speech at -the great Whig banquet of 1828, which celebrated the repeal -of the Test and Corporation Acts, and at which, -amongst many distinguished speakers, Mr. Aspland, by -common consent, bore away the palm of eloquence.—<span class="smcap">An -Ex-M. P.</span></p></div> - -<p>These facts in the history of a great phrase I -am glad to present, but the most important fact -is not the name of the originator, but the names of -the men who made the phrase live in the hearts of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> -their fellows as biting, stinging, awakening truths. -Parker was one of these. Lloyd Garrison, Wendell -Phillips, John G. Whittier, Lowell, John -Brown, Lovejoy, Lincoln, were others. And you -and I, friendly reader, are to-day basking in the -fuller and larger sunlight of freedom let into the -house of our common humanity by the fearless, -uncompromising, daring courage of these men.</p> - -<p>Let us not be laggards in the army of human -progress; nor content even to be abreast with the -times. Let us be athirst for deeper waters, clearer -streams. Let us get nearer the mountain top than -either of these two crowds. Let us drink of the -fountain spring itself and know nothing else but -the fundamental principles of human relationship, -and, drinking of them to the full, go forth and -radiate them in their original purity, sweetness, -and power, diluted only by our imperfect human -expression. Let us, in this and all similar matters, -make the words of Browning ours, that we -may ringingly declare to the world as well as -quietly radiate them:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">What had I on Earth to do</div> - <div class="verse">With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly?</div> - <div class="verse">Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel—Being—who?</div> - <div class="verse">One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,</div> - <div class="verse">Never doubted clouds would break,</div> - <div class="verse">Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,</div> - <div class="verse">Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, sleep to wake.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span></p> -<p>Let us not merely come in for the rewards of -life's conflicts in which the few battle for the rights -of the many. Let us be in the forefront of the -battle array; even if only as standard-bearers, or -buglers, or drummer boys in the forefront of the -advance army, and though our hearts are often -shaken by human cowardice, let our souls triumph -and keep our faces towards the foe, courage at -fighting pitch, resolution indomitable, purpose invincible, -so that, if fall we must, we shall fall with -eyes heavenward, and breast fearlessly exposed to -the fire of the enemy.</p> - -<p>I know of no conflict now as severe as the fight -for the abolition of the slave, yet I am in the fight -to help women gain the suffrage, and in the temperance -reform. I have been abused by my scientific -friends as an anti-vaccinator and anti-vivisectionist; -have been threatened with a thrashing -several times for interfering with brutal teamsters -and others who were cruel to animals and children; -have lost caste and position (with a few people) -because I would rebuke corporate injustice, greed, -and tyranny; I have cast behind me much money -because it was offered me in exchange for my independence -and freedom. These are small things as -compared with the heroic acts of the giants of -past days, but they are the deeds my soul has been -called to face. And I mention them not in boasting, -but as another "declaration of principles,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> -principles I wish to radiate on every hand, under -all circumstances, to all people.</p> - -<p>For I am anxious and determined that, according -to the best of my ability, I will do my share -of the work of my time for the benefit of the future. -What would we be to-day without the advantages -of Magna Charta, of the Bill of Rights, of the -Declaration of Independence, of the Emancipation -Proclamation? Who won these charters of our -liberty? The heroes of the past. Then the questions -I constantly ask myself are: "What are -you doing to add to these liberties to hand on to -future ages? You have received freely; how are -you giving? I want to help make the future more -glad and blessed, just as my present has been made -glad by the actions of the heroes of old. I have -been inspired to high resolves, heroic endeavors, -blessed ambitions by what they achieved. Am I -doing anything to pass on these high inspirations -to endeavor and ambition? These men met obloquy, -hatred, shame, contumely, contempt, danger, -financial loss, physical peril, and in John Brown's, -Lovejoy's, and other cases, death, because of their -daring advocacy of unpopular movements. Shall -I be any the less a man than they? Shall I have -received so much, and then be craven and pass on -so little?"</p> - -<p>I believe that each generation must pay interest -<em>in kind</em> on all their heritage of the past, or they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> -mark the period of a nation's decline. Unless we -are better, nobler, truer, more advanced, more -free, more progressive, more generous, more philanthropic, -more daring, courageous, lion-hearted -than our forefathers, we have defaulted in our interest. -And defaulters are always cowards if -nothing worse. Let us not be cowards.</p> - -<p>In California there are strong movements -against the Japanese and the Chinese. It is easy -to join the popular side, but it takes strength of -heart and courage of mind and body sometimes to -stand on the other side. I want to radiate my -firm and unshakable conviction of the truth of -human brotherhood, regardless of color, nationality, -prejudice, or selfish and personal interest. -Though the Japanese and Chinese, in open and -honest business competition, take away my work, -even then I want to radiate my firm belief in the -<em>universal</em> brotherhood of man. And I want to do -it without hesitation, as well as without fear. -Hesitation too often means temporizing, evasion, -shuffling, and I do not want to place myself open -to any temptation to these things. Hence I -would be prompt and outspoken in my adherence -and advocacy of the fundamental principles of -human brotherhood regardless of personal consequences -and indifferent alike to praise or blame.</p> - -<p>I believe in human democracy, in human freedom, -in the equality of men and women; in moral<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>ity, -government, and household control; in resisting -all tyrannies, whether of law, medicine, -theology, or society; in the uplift of all the criminal -and downtrodden; in the fair division of the -profits of all labor; in the jealous preservation of -the independence of every man and every woman; -in the right of every child to be well born and welcomed, -and of every woman to determine, without -dictation from any one, whether she shall bear a -child or not; in the abolition of all war; in the -disarmament of all nations; in the abolition of -land monopoly; in submitting every question to -the test—the greatest possible good to the greatest -number. These, as I now recall them, are the -cardinal principles of my belief, my adherence to -which I would fearlessly, without hesitation or -equivocation, ever and always radiate.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF CONTENT AND DISCONTENT</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate a spirit of content. The -dictionary says that to be content is to be "held -full." If one is full, that is enough. He is satisfied. -He has peace of mind. All this is implied -in the word content. I want to radiate this sense -of fullness, of satisfaction. I want people to feel -that I am full of physical health, full of mental -vigor, full of spiritual power, and, with the exceptions -that I shall note later on in this chapter, -that I am satisfied.</p> - -<p>I want to radiate a large-hearted contentment -with things as they are. I am content with the -world as it is. Its glories, its beauties, its charms, -its allurements, its variety, satisfy me. There is -nothing in scenery that the mind can conceive that -I cannot find; every sort of climate is offered to -me. I can surround myself with people or I can -dwell in the virgin solitudes. I can live under the -gray skies of the East or under the cerulean blue -of the West. The snow-covered heights of the -Himalayas are mine or the wastes of the Sahara. -I can toss on the stormy ocean or bask in the sun-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>kissed -gardens of the South. It is a glorious, -beautiful, blessed world.</p> - -<p>Yet I hear people complaining on every hand. -It is too hot, or they wish it hadn't rained. Why -does the wind blow so fiercely? The snow has just -come at the wrong time. Then, too, they find -fault with the every-day occurrences of life. They -are angry because they missed a train, have failed -to carry through a business transaction, were delayed -and lost an important appointment. The -other day I met a young man holding his wrist, -and with a look of severe pain on his face. In -doing some work in the gymnasium he hurt his -hand and wrist. It is hard to radiate contentment -under the annoyance and pain of such things as -this and the circumstances I have mentioned. Yet -in these, as in all other things in life, I believe with -Shakspeare:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There is a Divinity that shapes our ends,</div> - <div class="verse">Rough hew them as we may.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Many a time it is the best thing in the world -to have lost an appointment, to have missed a -train, to have sprained one's wrist. The wet -weather is as good as the sunshine, and the storm -equally beneficent with the calm. Hence I want -to be content and to radiate my content with -things as they are. Discontent is a burning acid. -It eats away the happy, blessed things of life. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> -destroys the beauty of an otherwise perfect life. -It takes away the smile and substitutes a frown. -It injects bitterness into words that would otherwise -be sweet. It changes the kind word into an -angry curse. And it burns and corrodes far -deeper than one imagines.</p> - -<p>I once had a surgical operation in which a severe -corroding substance was injected into a certain -part of my body. My physicians, men of -wisdom and men who loved me, thought they knew -how much that corrosive substance would burn. -But it burned far more severely and destroyed -much more tissue than they conceived, and my life -came near to paying the penalty. Discontent -works in exactly the same way, only worse. Its -burnings are of the mind, and, therefore, more seriously -injurious. Its burns are deep and uncertain. -To put it in another way—it sours the -milk of human kindness. It turns the butter -rancid. It pulls down the shades and shuts out -the sunlight. It turns the steam off from the radiator. -It shuts out the fresh air. It banishes the -fairies of jollity, healthfulness, happiness, and -content.</p> - -<p>Do not radiate discontent, therefore, but radiate -a glorious, buoyant, exuberant contentment. -Think of the books we have to-day, as compared -with those possessed by people who lived a few -hundred years ago—the poems, the dramas, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> -essays, the histories, the novels, the accounts of -adventure and travel, the revelations of science. -Think how cheap they are, how easy to obtain. -Think of the public libraries established in almost -every city, town, and village of the civilized world. -In many states they have now established a method -by means of which the library systems may become -county-wide in their influences instead of confined -to the cities and towns. Books are being sent to -the remotest farmhouse, to the shack of the lumberman, -the moving home of the sheep-herder, the -log hut of the miner, anywhere, everywhere that a -human hand is seen stretched forth for a book, the -new library system seeks to reach.</p> - -<p>Think of the music of to-day! The great -bands, the marvelous orchestras, the soul-inspiring -choruses, the wonderfully equipped opera companies, -the cheapness of the organ and piano, the -universality of the graphophone, with its records -of music of every character that can be heard in -the humblest home.</p> - -<p>Think of the multiplication of the opportunities -for hearing the drama, some good, some indifferent, -some bad, but all more or less revealing artistic -power and calling forth the satisfaction of the -onlookers.</p> - -<p>Think of the spread of educational opportunities, -the public schools, the colleges, the universities, -the correspondence schools, the women's clubs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> -and leagues. I went through a high school the -other day that was ten times better equipped for -the higher education, as far as it went, than the -universities were a hundred years ago.</p> - -<p>Think of the ease with which we travel—electric -cars, railway trains, automobiles, flying machines.</p> - -<p>Think of the annihilation of distance in conversing -with our friends, the telephone, the telegraph, -the telepost, the wireless.</p> - -<p>Think of the opportunities of enjoyment and -education offered to the poor in our large cities by -means of the parks, the children's playgrounds, -the free museums, and the art galleries.</p> - -<p>Think of the improvements during late years in -the conditions of home life—the application of -gas and electricity for lighting, heating, cooking, -ironing, and, now, even for sweeping and cleaning -up.</p> - -<p>Think of the improvements of the condition of -lives of our farmers and their laborers in the remote -districts. Little by little the conditions of -life are being made easier for them. Labor is -being lightened and the hours shortened, uncertainties -are being eliminated, results made more -sure.</p> - -<p>Think of the growing spirit of freedom and -true democracy, of brotherhood and comradeship -that are welding the world together in the bonds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> -of humanitarian brotherhood; treaties between nations, -federations of nations, world's fairs, the -Red Cross movement, The Hague Peace Tribunal, -arbitration instead of war, and agitation for the -reduction of armies and navies.<a name="Anchor_4" id="Anchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote D.">[D]</a></p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> -<p>One has but to study the changes that have -taken place in our civilization since Dickens began -to write, for instance, to see how wonderfully -the world has progressed. He wrote <cite>Nicholas -Nickleby</cite> to call attention to the horrible abuses -existent in boys' boarding schools, where boys, -who for any reason were desired out of the way at -home, were put in charge of human fiends in the -guise of "schoolmasters." Step-children, heirs -who were in the way, natural children, and those -whose parents had no natural affection for them, -were put into these dens, and so cruelly abused -that they often died; and at the best they dragged -out their miserable existence afraid of what each -hour of the day might bring forth and finding -only in their troubled sleep the relief from the -active cruelties they were made to bear.</p> - -<p><cite>Little Dorrit</cite> graphically pictured the horrors -of the "prison for debt" system, and in the -wonderfully painted character of Little Dorrit's -father, Dickens showed how every human trait and -feeling, every noble passion and emotion was -dwarfed, twisted, distorted, and perverted by the -action of this unnatural, cruel, and monstrous law.</p> - -<p><cite>Barnaby Rudge</cite> called equally vivid attention -to the laws which placed political disabilities upon -Jews and Roman Catholics, rendering them incapable -of voting and holding office throughout -the British dominions, and sought to remove the -hatred, prejudice, and dissensions which unnatural -acts of Parliament always caused.</p> - -<p>In <cite>A Tale of Two Cities</cite> the curse of caste is -revealed; the inevitable results of giving special -privileges to a so-called aristocratic class, and -while its teachings were veiled as being connected -with incidents in the French Revolution they were -a wonderful help to the forwarding of true ideas -of pure democracy and genuine recognition of the -doctrine of the brotherhood of man.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p> - -<p>In <cite>Martin Chuzzlewit</cite> the theme is the horrors -of the "Circumlocution Office"—that vast, hideous, -monstrous juggernaut that rode rough-shod -over all justice, truth, honor, right, decency, and -sincerity, by its evasions, quibblings, dodgings, -twinings, twistings, and deliberate perversions of -the truth.</p> - -<p>Other writers made their novels the themes of -similar crying abuses that needed reform. Henry -Cockton wrote his <cite>Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist</cite> -to expose the hideous dealings of private mad-houses, -where helpless men and women were confined -by law, who were perfectly sane, yet who -were in the way of dishonest lawyers, judges, administrators, -heirs, or relations. I can never forget -the powerful and terrible impression this -story made upon me, though it is nearly forty -years since I read it, especially where the author -described what it is said he himself had had to -pass through, when he was driven into temporary -insanity by being strapped to his cot while fiends -in human form mocked and taunted him and at the -same time "tickled his feet" until he was a raging -maniac.</p> - -<p>To the people of to-day the term "Chartist" -means nothing. Nine-tenths of the population of -the United States possibly never heard the term. -Yet it is only a few generations since men were sentenced -to "Botany Bay" and other penal settle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>ments -for twenty, thirty, and more years, and -sometimes "for life," for joining in this reform -which demanded certain rights that <em>we</em> have enjoyed -without a thought ever since we were born. -One of these grand old warriors for man's greater -freedom used to visit at my father's house when I -was a lad. He was an intellectual giant who had -won the honor and fame the world freely accords -to those who do not take it by the throat too severely, -and once in a while he could be induced -to tell of the days of his earlier conflict;—how -that he and his compeers fought for a repeal of the -corn laws—laws which made it almost impossible -for a poor man to get bread—and for the right of -a man to sell the products of his own labor from -door to door to save himself from starvation. -He was imprisoned and sentenced for a long term -of years and while in prison wrote a poem of tremendous -power and influence. How my heart -burned to the old warrior, and I then and there -declared that</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I live to learn their story</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who've suffered for my sake,</div> - <div class="verse">To emulate their glory,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to follow in their wake:</div> -<hr class="tb" /> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For the cause that lacks assistance,</div> - <div class="verse">For the wrong that needs resistance.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Then, too, how I recall the fight for religious -freedom in England—some of it before my time,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> -but some of it under my own eyes, and in which -I had the joy of bearing a small part. The Lord -George Gordon riots, described by Dickens in -<cite>Barnaby Rudge</cite>, were provoked by religious hostility. -When I was a boy, no Jew or Catholic -could hold office in England—I think I am correct. -This act, passed in the reign of Charles II—I -write from memory—was thus in operation -for two hundred years; two hundred years of injustice, -prejudice, fostering of religious hatred -and separations. Yet Benjamin Disraeli made a -great premier, and was one of the most brilliant -statesmen of Europe, and the Howard family, Cardinal -Manning, and Cardinal Newman, all of whom -were Roman Catholics, were loved and revered on -every hand for their enlightened patriotism and -the help they gave to everything that had the welfare -of England at heart. It was a glad day for -England that saw the removal of the disabilities -from such good citizens as these, merely because -they chose to exercise their perfect God-given right -of freedom of choice in religious belief. And still, -even as late as the ascension to the throne of -George V, son of King Edward, and grandson of -that progressive and liberal-minded Queen, Victoria, -there remained in the oath a hateful spirit -of narrowness and intolerance against Catholic -beliefs. Thirty to forty years previously Charles -Bradlaugh was refused his seat in the House of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> -Commons because he desired to "affirm" instead -of "taking the oath." He was an "unbeliever," -and claimed his right to be such, and yet to take -his seat as a representative of the people without -being compelled to swear to an oath in which he -did not believe. He was fought an every hand, -and with physical violence; yet he kept resolutely -on with the conflict, until I saw him myself, with -joy, take his place before the speaker of the House, -victorious. Yet I am not an unbeliever, nor do I -accept Bradlaugh's conclusions as to God and the -making of the universe. Nor is it necessary. -Equally so it is not necessary that I should attempt -to force my ideas down his throat and if -he refuse to say that he swallows them should seek -to keep him from exercising his political rights.</p> - -<p>To us, living to-day, it seems impossible that a -great civil war was necessary ere the shackles -were shaken from the limbs of four millions of -slaves; it seems incredible that New Englanders as -well as Southerners were engaged in fostering the -iniquitous slave trade—the murderous trade in -human flesh and blood. Grant everything the -South claims to-day as to the difficulty of handling -the negro problem, that does not alter the fundamental -principle of the Declaration of Independence -that "all men are created equal; that they -are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable -rights; that among these are life, liberty, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> -the pursuit of happiness." To us it seems incredible -that honest and honorable men, clear-sighted, -clear-brained religious men who knew the value of -words and their meaning, could have so befuddled -their intellects, let alone their moral nature, as -to dare to read these words and at the same time -own slaves. Yet it was so, and not until the heroes -whose work led ultimately to the Declaration -of Independence for the slave, called the Emancipation -Proclamation, set their faces against this -great iniquity, was anything done to mitigate its -evils.</p> - -<p>How well do I recall the endeavors of many -Englishmen to induce the Government to interfere -with the Turks and prevent further infliction of -horrible and murderous atrocities upon the Bulgarians -and other subject people, because of religious -differences. But "politics stood in the -way." And yet I heard the words of Cleveland -ring around the world when he bade England: -"Hands off," from Venezuela. Again was I -thrilled when McKinley justified the prophecy of -Joaquin Miller, uttered nearly thirty years previously, -in his <cite>Cuba Libre</cite>, where he declared:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She shall rise, by all that's holy!</div> - <div class="verse">She shall live and she shall last;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She shall rise as rose Columbus,</div> - <div class="verse">From his chains, from shame and wrong—</div> - <div class="verse">Rise as Morning, matchless, wondrous— -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Rise as some rich morning song—</div> - <div class="verse">Rise a ringing song, and story,</div> - <div class="verse">Valor, Love personified.</div> - <div class="verse">Stars and stripes espouse her glory,</div> - <div class="verse">Love and Liberty allied.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The time came when we "flashed her lights of -freedom," as we had done before, but this time -there was an admixture of personal feeling in -which the cry, "Remember the <cite>Maine</cite>," bore a -large part. Yet the main issue was raised, viz., -the intervention of a strong power to prevent another -strong power from too seriously oppressing -a confessedly weak power. This is a step in the -right direction. The bully, whether in school, in -the street, in business, or among nations, should -be taught that his bullying is unsafe, and that if -he must fight he must choose a "fellow of his own -size."</p> - -<p>While I do not close my eyes to the facts that -nations are human and liable to err, I hail this as -a great forward step, and was filled with rejoicing -when the United States Government refused to -accept any indemnity from China for its share of -the expense of putting down the last great Boxer -Rebellion.</p> - -<p>In our National and State governments there is -a growing spirit of righteous intervention. In his -last presidential message, President Taft voiced -this spirit in his recommendation of an enlarged -measure of protection for railroad employees, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> -states and cities are moving more rapidly than ever -before in the enactment of laws and ordinances for -the protection of those least able to protect themselves.</p> - -<p>Reforms in law procedure are progressing. In -his 1910 message, President Taft thus spoke:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>One great crying need in the United States is cheapening -the cost of litigation by simplifying judicial procedure and -expediting final judgment. Under present conditions the -poor man is at a woeful disadvantage in a legal contest -with a corporation or a rich opponent. The necessity for -this reform exists both in United States courts and in all -state courts. In order to bring it about, however, it naturally -falls to the general government by its example to -furnish a model to all States.</p></div> - -<p>This is a great step in the right direction. The -honest and manly recognition of a crying evil is -often the beginning of its removal, and I sincerely -hope to live to see the day when our laws, and legislative -procedure, will truthfully be equally for the -poor and the rich.</p> - -<p>The activity of the Federal Government in pursuing -the nefarious malefactors who are conducting -the "white slave traffic," is also a sign of -marked improvement in affording protection to -those who are helpless and often unable and incompetent -to know what to do for their own welfare.</p> - -<p>And how I hail with joy the movement so energetically -furthered by Mr. Bok, of the <cite>Ladies' -Home Journal</cite>, the Bishop of London, the <cite>Physi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>cal -Culture</cite> magazine, <cite>Collier's</cite>, and others, for the -education of the young of both sexes as to the -sacred relations of sex and all they imply. The -W. C. T. U. has done a little, the magazines and -physical culture movement more, and now the better -schools—such as the Polytechnic High School -of Los Angeles, and the High School in Pasadena, -California—are giving definite and specific instruction -upon these matters to boys and girls -whose parents have been remiss in neglecting this -all-important part of their <em>home</em> education and -training.</p> - -<p>The pure food bill is another step forward in -our national progress; the great conservation -movement and the work of the United States -Reclamation Service, which is providing means for -irrigating the soil and thus rendering possible the -establishment of thousands of homes on lands that -otherwise would be arid and useless—these are -gigantic strides of advancement. The postal-savings -bank and parcels post are already facts, -thus demonstrating that, little by little, the powers -that have controlled our Government, for the benefit -of the few, instead of for all the people, and -especially those who need such benefit the most, -are gradually losing their hold. Soon, let us -hope, we shall have the "penny postage"—one -cent for a letter instead of two, as now. The extension -of the eight-hour day law; the honest en<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>deavors -now being made to give labor a fair opportunity -to state its needs and requirements and thus -help bring oppressive employers to time, are also -forward steps. Granted that labor often makes -unreasonable and unjust demands, let it not be forgotten -that it is only within the last few decades -that they have been allowed to have a voice at all. -For centuries they have been "chained to the wheel -of labor,"</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The emptiness of ages in their face,</div> - <div class="verse">And on their back the burden of the world.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>What if, now that "whirlwinds of rebellion" -are shaking the world and these hitherto "dumb -terrors" have found, or are finding, a voice, they -speak a little too loudly, or too harshly, or ask -more than they ought? Whose fault is it? Who -has kept them in bondage so long? They will -learn, by and by, to speak more rationally, but -this will come only by speaking, so I hail with delight -the fact that "the rulers and lords of all -lands" are recognizing their right to be heard, -and are more or less respectfully listening to what -they have to say.</p> - -<p>It is another grand sign of universal progress -that the owners and landlords of vile tenement -houses, of the horrible kennels in which human -beings in the past used to be penned as in pigsties, -are no longer allowed to reap monetary re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>wards -from such abominable and cursed holes. -Boards of health, civic improvement bodies, tenement -reform associations are taking upon themselves -the work of protecting the poor, helpless, -and often unfortunate dwellers in these plague -spots and compelling that they be made decent, -healthful, and sanitary—often seeing that they -are razed and entirely removed. What though -oftentimes the people who dwell in these places are -brought thither by their own misconduct? Are -men, women, and innocent children to be -"damned" on this earth—as well as in the future—because -morally they have been weak and -unfortunate? The greater the weakness and the -lower the fall, the greater the cry and need for -help. Jacob Riis was a brave and heroic leader in -New York, William Booth and his gallant army -in London and the thousand and one other cities -of the world, and the day is dawning when there -will be no "slums" in any decent, self-respecting -city, when such books as <cite>How the Other Half -Lives</cite>, <cite>The Submerged Tenth</cite>, <cite>If Christ Came to -Chicago</cite>, and <cite>The People of the Abyss</cite> can no -longer be written, for the true-hearted, loving, -brotherly, and sisterly, will have been aroused to -do their plain, simple, and manifest duty and -"slums," "abysses," and "plague spots" will -cease to exist.</p> - -<p>There are many other excellent things I might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> -comment upon that help bring content to the soul. -They betoken a glorious and blessed improvement -upon the "days of things as they were" and -they should lead every man to get into line, to -find the step and keep it, marching on with this -vanguard of human progress, which seeks the best -possible condition of body, mind, and soul for all -men.</p> - -<p>Yet, in spite of this large-hearted contentment -with things as they are, and with the way the -world generally is progressing, which I would radiate, -I would equally radiate a great discontent -with many things as they are. When I look at -my own faults and failings, my inadequacies and -incompetencies, my blindness and stupidity, my -ignorance and willfulness, I find much of my content -disappear like the airy visions of a dream. I -certainly do not want to be content with these -things and so I call up as often as I can a mighty -discontent which is a constant urge to the higher, -nobler, truer, better life. I am as self-willed as -other men, and yet I well know that human will is -both ignorant and blind, and that only when it is -made subject to the Great Controlling Will of -the Universe will it lead me aright and in the -paths of ultimate, permanent success. And by -success, I do not mean the paltry thing most men -regard as success. I certainly wish to radiate -discontent with what men generally regard as suc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>cess. -Mere money, fame, honor, social distinction, -count for little unless character, divine sympathy -with one's needy fellows, and an enlarged -conception of the brotherhood of men accompany -them.</p> - -<p>And how can I do other than radiate a large -and tremendous discontent at the suffering and -woe of the unfortunates of life? It is little or -nothing to me what causes their misfortune. I -have learned that the judgment of sociologists, -theologists, and reformers generally is of little -account in interpreting the causes of things. As -a rule, they look only on the surface and see nothing -of the hidden springs of action and therefore -know little of the movement of hearts of men and -women whose condition they so complacently and -conceitedly imagine they can change.</p> - -<p>Some years ago, Jack London wrote a book entitled, -<cite>The People of the Abyss</cite>. It was severely -censured and criticised and some critics went so -far as to assert that it was full of untruths. It -told of the dismal lives of London's poor, who -daily find themselves with nothing but one meal, -two meals, three meals between themselves and -starvation—poor wretches to whom the "wolf at -the door" is an ever present reality, and who -tremble every time their employers look towards -them with a frown or speak with a voice that -threatens dismissal. What a frightful, pitiable,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> -pathetic position for men and women—my brothers -and sisters—to be in. I certainly do not -wish to radiate contentment at the fact of their -unfortunate condition. I want somehow to take -some of their burdens upon my life. I want to -realize something of the spirit that led Walt Whitman -to exclaim, "I will take nothing for myself -that cannot be given upon equal terms to all men."</p> - -<p>When I read the stories of child labor and learn -of the many cruelties practiced upon helpless little -ones, in the name of business; when I see those -boys and girls of tender age in the cotton mills of -the South, owned by wealthy men of the North, -plodding back and forth, hour by hour, behind the -whirling spindles; when I see them, as I have often -done, so utterly weary that when the noon hour -came, they would stretch out on the bare floor and -try to gain a little snatch of forgetfulness of their -weariness in sleep, rather than eat their inadequate -lunch, I have certainly felt, as I now feel, that I -wish to radiate a tremendous amount of discontent -that such inhuman facts can exist. When I see -the private palace car owned by the many-times -millionaire, and catch glimpses of the extravagant -and wasteful luxury in which he and his family -live, and realize that this prodigal wastefulness is -made possible by the life-destroying labor of poor, -anæmic children in the glass-blowing factories of -New Jersey, I wish I had the power to send a great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> -wail of discontent through the country that would -thrill the hearts, awaken the senses, and arouse -the consciences of every man and woman in the -nation.</p> - -<p>When I realize the inadequacies of our legal system -to do justice alike to all men and women, the -poor as well as the rich, the innocent and confiding -as well as the crafty and cunning, I feel nothing -but discontent and long for the time to come when -justice and mercy shall be of higher value in the -courts of our land than precedent and legal procedure.</p> - -<p>It often takes moral courage to radiate real living -discontent with these injustices and crimes -against our needy and defenseless fellows. I long -to possess this moral courage in fullest measure, -and to radiate it on every hand. In view of the -need for strong protest against the smug, contented -betrayers of the poor and needy, I would -radiate a spirit that has not inaptly been termed -that of <em>contemporaneous protest and rebellion</em>. -By this I mean that present spirit of protest and -rebellion against wrongs that exist <em>now</em>, so that -my protest will be contemporaneous with the evil.</p> - -<p>It is easy enough to line up with the winning -side and shout Hurrah! with the victors in any -conflict. Even the English of to-day agree that -the American Revolution was a good thing and -that the acts of George III were indefensible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> -tyranny. But it required considerable courage -to join one's forces with those of Washington -when money was scarce and men few, when the -day seemed dark and gloomy, and the prospects -of success were doubtful.</p> - -<p>It is easy enough to-day to Hurrah! for the -principles of Lincoln, but many a great statesman -like Henry Clay felt it was better to compromise -than face the fierce antagonism of such men as -Calhoun, Jefferson Davis, and others who believed -in the opposing ideas.</p> - -<p>What I desire with all my heart is to radiate not -only my <em>readiness</em> and <em>willingness</em> to line up with -the unpopular cause, <em>but the fact that I am already -lined up</em>. That, without being asked, people -will know what my position is sure to be; that -I naturally belong on the side of the "under dog," -and that in any conflict against entrenched power -and wrong, where the weak and oppressed are -fighting for rights which are inherently theirs, -that as soon as I hear the battle-cry my "<span class="smcap">Here!</span>" -will ring out immediate, bold and clear.</p> - -<p>Nor do I always want to wait to be called upon. -I may not have either the wisdom and discretion -or the ability to be a leader and I have no desire -to thrust myself forward as such. At the same -time, I do not want to be cowardly and hang back -when I see that which I feel is inherently wrong. -Even though I stand alone, I want to stand in pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>test -and contemporaneous rebellion against the -wrong that I see.</p> - -<p>Nay, further, I want to radiate as <em>my habitual -attitude of mind</em> that I am ever on the alert to -<em>seek out opportunities for rebellion</em> against any -and all systems of wrong, no matter how powerful, -that I may gladly take upon my shoulders some -part of the burden of helping forward the real -progress of the entire human race.</p> - -<p>James Russell Lowell expressed the passionate -desire of my heart in his <cite>Present Crisis</cite>. In that -majestic poem he shows the need for this contemporaneous -rebellion:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Backward look across the ages, and the beacon-movements see,</div> - <div class="verse">That, like peaks of some sunk continent, jut through Oblivion's Sea;</div> - <div class="verse">Not an ear in court or market for the low foreboding cry</div> - <div class="verse">Of those Crises, God's stern winnowers, from whose feet Earth's chaff must fly;</div> - <div class="verse">Never shows the choice momentous till the judgment hath passed by.</div> - <div class="verse">Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record</div> - <div class="verse">One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word;</div> - <div class="verse">Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne,—</div> - <div class="verse">Yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown</div> - <div class="verse">Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above His own.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The whole poem is full of this passionate great-hearted, -manly, God-like sympathy, <em>now</em> and <em>here</em>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> -with the needy, the oppressed, the helpless of today. -The crises are here now, those stern winnowers -that test and try men's souls, that discover -whether they are wheat or chaff, ashes or gold. -Oh, for men who have made already the "choice -momentous"—while the battle is raging, when -there is danger, risk, peril, possible death in the -conflict. Is he a true man who waits, pauses, hesitates, -wavers in such conflicts, "till the judgment -hath passed by"?</p> - -<p>I would radiate, again let me say it, my readiness -to march at the sound of the drum, to advance -with the front ranks, to fight at the first word.</p> - -<p>History affords us many noble examples and -"beacon lights" of those who have lived in accordance -with the principles herein laid down.</p> - -<p>Stephen Langton and the barons of England -protested against the tyrannical power of King -John. They did so at the peril of their heads. -Yet they were possessed of this spirit of contemporaneous -rebellion, and they fought against -John and won from him that great charter of the -liberties of men, that has been the basis of all -proclamations of freedom ever since.</p> - -<p>Cromwell, Hampden, Pym, Milton, and the -other great commoners and democrats of England -were in a state of contemporaneous protest -and rebellion against the undue pretensions of -King Charles I. Their protests might have cost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> -them their lives—yet they protested. And they -won a victory that has made republics possible -throughout all time.</p> - -<p>So with the leaders of the French Revolution. -There were many awful and bloody events connected -with that great act of contemporaneous -protest, but that the ultimate outcome upon mankind -has been good most true-hearted thinkers -agree. Yet the protests were made by the earlier -agitators under great danger.</p> - -<p>When Patrick Henry, Franklin, Jefferson, -Adams, Washington, and the other American revolutionists -protested against King George's tyranny, -and when the noble band met at Philadelphia -and signed the Declaration of Independence, -they knew they did it at the peril of their lives—yet -they protested and won for mankind the victory -that Joaquin Miller calls "Time's burst of -Dawn."</p> - -<p>Had Langton, Cromwell, the French Revolutionists, -Washington, and the signers of the -Declaration of Independence failed, they would all -have forfeited their lives for their temerity. It -was an act of great moral courage to rebel.</p> - -<p>When Galileo rebelled against the dictum of the -ecclesiastic authorities in regard to the movement -of the earth, it meant his imprisonment, yet he -rebelled and thus ushered in a new day of advancement -in astronomical knowledge. Darwin did the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> -same. Both men required daring and courage, -yet they did not hesitate or falter.</p> - -<p>There are evils to-day that should be fought; -fashions, customs, entrenched wrongs in existence -<em>now</em> against which manly men are called to be in -contemporaneous rebellion. Those of us who live -to-day are reaping great and blessed privileges, -freedom, liberties, won for us as the result of the -protests, rebellions, warfares of the moral heroes -of the past; so should we further the progress of -the world by protesting and fighting the existing -wrongs, in order that future generations may be -freer than we are, and may push on still further -the glorious chariot of human progress.</p> - -<p>Henry George was a recent heroic example of -contemporaneous protest against current evils. -Garibaldi, Mazzini, Victor Hugo, Kossuth, were -all noble and inspiring examples of the like spirit. -Ruskin's life was a perpetual protest against the -sacrificing of beauty, peace, harmony, and brotherhood -for the rush and show of material prosperity. -William Morris's life, work, voice, and pen were -ever in active, open, contemporaneous hostility and -opposition to the damnable spirit of modern competition, -and demoralizing commercialism which -destroyed artistic labor, banished fellowship, and -substituted therefor the rule of the jungle where -the strong devour the weak. Thank God! the -ranks of the morally courageous have always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> -found glad and willing recruits; men willing to -spend and be spent for the benefit of humanity; -willing to be rebels and accounted and treated as -such that they might help gain larger victories of -freedom for their fellow-men.</p> - -<p>We sometimes think that there was more moral -heroism in the days gone by than there is to-day. -I do not believe it! In this matter of moral heroism -and contemporaneous rebellion against entrenched -wrong, we have many fine and noble living -examples on every hand. I could mention a hundred -of them in as many minutes. A few must -suffice.</p> - -<p>When Edwin Markham wrote <cite>The Man with -the Hoe</cite>, he showed his spirit of contemporaneous -protest and rebellion. Here was no reflection -upon labor or its dignity, as some thoughtless -critics have affirmed, but it was a tremendous and -powerful onslaught upon the "Kings and Rulers -of All Lands" who permit employers to chain the -laborer to the "wheel of labor." Markham's -poem is a direct challenge and throwing down of -the gauntlet to those who contend that they have -a right to purchase labor in the open market at -any price, however demoralizing to mankind. It -is a contention that manhood is more than money; -that the laborer is more than the labor; and that -the employers who value the labor done more than -the men who do the labor are unworthy the honor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> -and respect of decent men; are unworthy to be -called real men because of their tyrannical abuse of -their helpless brothers.</p> - -<p>William Booth, president of the Salvation -Army, Jack London, the socialist novelist, Jacob -Riis, the New York newspaper idealist, Maud Ballington -Booth, the leader of the Volunteers of -America, Charles Montgomery, of San Francisco, -the prisoner's friend, and Dana Bartlett, of Los -Angeles, the brother of poor "Dagoes," Portuguese -and Mexicans, are all more or less widely -diverse examples of contemporaneous rebellion and -protest against existing social conditions. Each -works in his own way to ameliorate these conditions, -but the work of each is a protest against -those laws of supply and demand, of competition, -of worship of material things, that allow it to be -possible that some men can gain more wealth than -they can ever utilize, even if they lived to be ten -thousand years old, and never earn another cent, -whilst others can earn barely enough to keep body -and soul together and who live every day in dread -of the future because they are capable of earning -no more than enough to keep them one, two, or -three meals away from starvation.</p> - -<p>In a copy of his book, <cite>The People of the Abyss</cite>, -which Jack London sent to me, which truthfully -portrays the life of the submerged tenth of London, -he wrote something like this on the title page:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> -"Dear James—With the facts of these pages -before me, I may agree with you in your favorite -quotation from Browning, that 'God's in his -heaven,' but I cannot agree with you that 'All's -right with the world.'"</p> - -<p>It is the fashion with certain people to decry -Jack London's socialism, but I happen to know -that he has personally sacrificed thousands of -dollars to his principles in this matter, has lost -the friendship of many wealthy people who would -have showered their gifts upon him had he been -complacent towards what he calls "predatory -wealth," hence I hail his acts of contemporaneous -rebellion and his taking upon himself of the battle -for these, his weaker brothers and sisters, as heroic, -and fully worthy of the highest esteem of all good -men, whatever they may think of the methods by -which he would bring about the desired changes.</p> - -<p>All through his life there has been a strong current -of contemporaneous rebellion and belligerent -sincerity in the work of the poet of the Sierras, -Joaquin Miller. He was brought up as a Quaker -and taught to believe in non-resistance, hence he -preached peace at the beginning of the Civil War -until his printing office was wrecked and his life -threatened. When the world at large was condemning -the Indian, he went and stood by his side, -and when he believed him to be in the right, fought -battles on his behalf. All through his life he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> -boldly stood for man's larger freedom, and against -entrenched tyranny. When England made war -upon the Boers, he denounced the warlike and -jingo politicians with a power and strength seldom -surpassed in poetry, in spite of the fact that the -English had always been his best friends and the -largest purchasers of his poems.</p> - -<p>While he lived in California, not far from San -Francisco, and California was a hotbed of the sentiment -that demands the exclusion of the Chinese -and Japanese, he ever fearlessly and in unmistakable -terms denounced this action as opposed to the -fundamental principles of the fatherhood of God -and the brotherhood of man, and demanded of his -fellow citizens that they adhere strictly to these -never-failing and abiding truths.</p> - -<p>These men are but few of the many I might mention, -but they will serve as types. They have -been and are willing to suffer for the general good -of mankind. Therefore, in the presence of their -moral heroism and courage, let us cry with George -Linnæus Banks:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I live to learn their story</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who've suffered for my sake,</div> - <div class="verse">To emulate their glory,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to follow in their wake;</div> - <div class="verse">Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,</div> - <div class="verse">The noble of all ages,</div> - <div class="verse">Whose deeds crowd history's pages</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Time's great volume make. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I live ...</div> - <div class="verse">For the cause that lacks assistance,</div> - <div class="verse">For the wrong that needs resistance,</div> - <div class="verse">For the future in the distance,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the good that I can do.</div> -</div></div></div> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF SINCERITY</p> - - -<p>We need more of the virtue of belligerent sincerity. -What the world needs to-day is bold, -outspokenness for principle. It is not enough -that we hold principles in the quietude of our own -homes and discuss them in the sanctity of our bedrooms. -We need a belligerent sincerity of fundamental -principles in the mart, the store, in the -counting house, in the bank, on the board of trade, -and the stock exchange. The tendency of men -in office and men in employment is to be subservient -for the purpose of their own advancement. It is -so easy to yield a principle to gain an increase in -salary or to win the support of a swaying party -vote. In this age of great aggregations of capital, -when corporations are conducting gigantic -enterprises, it is so easy for subordinates to place -all the responsibility of conscience upon their -chiefs and to refuse to accept responsibility for -acts of which they themselves are the instruments -on the plea, "I am but a servant and carry out -the will of my superior." Relentless crushing out -of competitors, secretly securing rebates, unjust<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> -discrimination in discounts, the utilization of official -information for personal advantage or that -of one's friends, the writing of editorials contrary -to one's principles because the policies of the paper -require it, in other words, the whole realm of -truckling subserviency, yielding, cowardice, obsequiousness, -surrender, fawning, servility, sycophancy, -toad-eating, pliancy, should be weeded out -of the garden of the soul and belligerent sincerity -planted in their stead.</p> - -<p>At the same time, I want to radiate my abhorrence -of all the truckling subserviency that seeks -to gain its ends and make secure its own position -by cringing, fawning, and flattery upon those -whose favor it seeks.</p> - -<p>Most men have their pet vanities. Few are free -from weaknesses and frailties. It is so easy to -flatter, so natural to "kow-tow," so profitable to -pander. The reason that the world so laughs at -the delineations of the open, bold, corrupt, parasitical, -pandering Falstaff is that they find the -echo in their own meannesses of soul. Like Henry -VII, many men have their Falstaffs, who seek to -eat, drink, and be merry at their expense.</p> - -<p>By this I do not mean to decry and impeach the -integrity and sincerity of those who express sympathy -and appreciation of those who are engaged -in large enterprises. It is natural for those con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>ducting -such to seek and require such sympathy -in their lieutenants, but to such lieutenants I would -cry mightily and constantly, "Sympathize and -commend by all means, but when you do, be sure -your purest virtue is on guard over your heart -and your lips. Say nothing that you do not absolutely -mean." Be "belligerently sincere" with -your own soul and speak no words to your employer -because he enjoys them that you would not -<em>as freely and gladly say if he had dismissed you -from his employ</em>.</p> - -<p>I would also radiate my appreciation of those -who, occupying what we call a subordinate position, -speak out with frank, plain, direct simplicity -the thoughts of their hearts. I have sometimes -found in business, employers who sought by undue -flattery, scheming, plotting, chicanery, and fraud, -all stealthily exercised, to "work" their employees -and secure from them a meed of service for which -they were not willing to pay a full and just price. -In dealing with such employers a frank, open, simple-hearted, -and honest employee is often at a great -disadvantage. Being used to tortuous, underground, -secret, plotting methods himself, such an -employer regards with suspicion the simple actions -of his employee. He sees in his frank openness -nothing but deeply laid plots. He finds in his -candid sincerity craftily planned schemes. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> -more open the one, the more certain the other is -that there is something hidden, deep, far-reaching, -cunning, and deceitful underneath his acts.</p> - -<p>To these open-hearted souls I would radiate a -tonic that is stimulating—quickening to their -moral fiber and stiffening and strengthening to -their moral spines. To such I would come as a -cold shower bath to stimulate the nerves and muscles -to greater tension. Stand by your truthfulness, -stand by your frankness, stand by your openness -until you teach these burrowing, crafty, -stealthy, sly, evasive, sneaking creatures that openness -is better than secrecy, light better than darkness, -truth better than falsity, candor better than -craft, and an open enemy better than a secret, -fawning, sycophantic foe.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF SERVICE</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate by thought, word, and act -the joy and blessedness of service. What a privilege -it is to be able to do something for your fellows! -How great and constant is the joy of ministering! -How ready we are to run with willing -feet to do some little or big thing for those we -love! The lover will climb dangerous Alpine -heights to get the rare and richly treasured edelweiss -for his beloved. Leander gladly and joyously -braved the dangers of the Hellespont that -he might cheer and encourage his Hero. The -lover has always cried, in all ages, to his loved one, -asking her to send him on some difficult errand. -He would gladly go anywhere, to any service, however -arduous and dangerous, to prove his love. -The records of chivalry are full of daring deeds -accomplished by men in order to please the women -they loved.</p> - -<p>Against this kind of service I have nothing to -say. At the same time, this is not the kind of -service of which I now write. I would radiate the -thought that in our service we should treat all men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> -and women with the same willing gladness of ministry -that the lover has for the mistress of his heart. -I desire to be ready and willing to fly on the wings -of helpfulness to do service for the meanest and -most despicable of human kind, if thereby he, or -she, may be benefited. I would radiate the belief -that our willing service belongs to humanity, -all men, all women, not to a select few, not to the -small and chosen circle whom we call our loved -ones and friends. I would radiate the spirit of -service that possessed and animated the strong, -pure soul of William Morris, that led him to place -his precious time and service at the disposal of a -committee of men, not one of whom knew enough -to appreciate his exquisite and beautiful devotion, -and under whose control he was ready to go and -speak words of cheer, fellowship, and brotherhood -in the lowest and most degraded parts of London. -He was imbued with this passion for service and -it was service to the whole of mankind—not the -chosen few.</p> - -<p>I once picked up some socialistic newspaper with -which I was not familiar, but in it was an account -of the life of a man who had recently died. According -to the story of his biographer, this man -was carried away with this passion for human -service to the lowest and most degraded, and he -had spent his active and busy life in ministering -to those who, as a rule, are ignored by their more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> -fortunate brothers and sisters. It was a story -that thrilled me to a higher and nobler endeavor.</p> - -<p>Many a time I have bowed my soul in reverence -and humility before a group of Salvation Army -lasses who, with sweet, gentle ministrations, have -cheered the dwellers in the wretched hovels of London, -New York, and other cities. I know one -maiden, delicately constituted, and reared in a -home full of wealth and luxury, who felt this passionate -call of service so strongly, that, in spite -of the protests of her relatives and friends, she -went to London, united with the Salvation Army, -and with her own beautiful and gentle hands, down -upon her knees, has scrubbed into cleanliness the -floor of a drunken wife and drunken husband whose -children had never known a clean floor in the whole -of their dirty and wretched lives. I have helped -her clean out the accumulated filth, of what seemed -to be months, in similar wretched places, and all -this, as well as the more refined ministrations of -the mind and soul, were offered with a sweet and -gentle insistence that no one could take offense at, -and without an air of conscious self-approbation -that one so often finds in those who are seeking to -minister to others.</p> - -<p>But it is not only in this larger and devoted -sense that I would radiate my desire to serve and -minister to my fellows. It is in the small and -every-day things of life, no matter what my work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> -or surroundings may be, that I would radiate this -ministering spirit. What a pleasure it is to do -things for others. What a joy to realize that -your friends love you enough to want you to do -something for them.</p> - -<p>I find, however, that in the mind of many is the -idea that certain service is menial, and that they -would not serve if they were not obliged to do so -for the money it brings. I have a deep and profound -pity in my soul for those who look upon life -with this perverted vision. If I were a waiter in -a cheap restaurant, it seems to me it would be my -joy to serve the cheap meals as quickly and as -cheerfully as I possibly could. Surely ministering -to the bodily wants of men and women is a service -which ought to be blessed. If I were a housemaid -I feel that I should find joy in making and -keeping everything as orderly and tidy as possible.</p> - -<p>I have several times stayed in a semi-public institution -where a great number of nurses were -employed, and I have watched both men and women -engaged in this beautiful service. In this particular -place they all seemed full of this passion for -service. There was no impatience at the often -exacting calls and demands of the querulous and -unreasonable invalids. Their very lives were a -dedication.</p> - -<p>Sometimes we meet with those who will refuse to -do certain things because they regard them as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> -more menial than those they were engaged to perform, -as, for instance, the case of a bell boy who -refused to take away a coal-scuttle when asked to -do so because that was not in the list of his duties, -and a man "lower down in the scale" was supposed -to attend to work of that kind. Now, while -I recognize that there must be for convenience's -sake, a division of labor, I want to radiate the feeling -and belief that there is no higher, no lower, -in this call of personal service. It is just as honorable -to be a street sweeper or a scavenger of the -meanest kind (so-called), to be a farm laborer, to -be a kitchen drudge, to be a factory hand, as it is -to be a minister of a church that pays a salary of -$20,000 a year. The real blessedness of life of -all grades of service from the scavenger to the expensive -pastor is determined by the <em>spirit</em> behind -the service, and the kitchen drudge who does her -work with the consciousness in her own soul that -she is gladly, merrily, cheerfully undertaking her -work and doing it well for the comfort, benefit, -cheer, and blessing of her employers is of more -benefit to mankind than the services of the expensive -pastor of the exclusive church who regards -his ministry as a proof of his own intellectual -worth, and as a means of asserting his high social -position.</p> - -<p>Who can ever forget the wonderful picture -of that sturdy Scotch Doctor depicted by Ian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> -Maclaren in his <cite>Bonnie Brier Bush</cite>, whose passion -of devotion and ministry was so pure that it -reached every soul in the whole region.</p> - -<p>Frances Hodgson Burnett, in her <cite>Dawn of a -To-morrow</cite>, tells of a degraded street waif who -yet had this passion of ministry in her soul, and I -have come to the conclusion that wherever it is -found, it is divine, and therefore blessed. Hence -I would radiate it at all times, under all conditions, -and under all circumstances to all classes and -conditions of men.</p> - -<p>Where would have been the work of Judge Lindsay -of Denver, Golden Rule Jones of Toledo, McClaughery -of Elmira Penitentiary, Chief Kohler -of Cleveland, Governor Hunt and Warden Sims of -Arizona, if they had worked only for the worthy? -It was the very openness of the unworthiness of -those for whom they strove, that made the appeal -to these large-hearted men.</p> - -<p>It is so easy to criticise men of this stamp because -they have dared to break away from the conventional -rendering of service only to the worthy. -It is so easy to cry that they are doing more harm -than good. But those who know the work and -know the hearts that are constantly being touched -and molded into betterment by it are better able to -judge of its higher results.</p> - -<p>Shall I hesitate to render service because I my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>self -am not perfect? Shall I refuse to give the -shivering and hungry beggar on the street a -twenty-five cent meal ticket because I myself am -not free from debt? Shall I refuse to guide the -lost wayfarer because I myself do not know all the -winding pathways of life?</p> - -<p>By no means! Let me do the best I may while I -may, and seize every opportunity that arises. It -was a Christian minister that dared to rebuke -Father Damien by claiming that he was not immaculate -in his service to the repulsive and loathsome -lepers of Molokai. And it was Robert Louis -Stevenson who showed that Christian minister what -true Christianity would have led him to say instead -of what he did say. Father Damien's ministry was -self-sacrificing, noble, and divine, even though,—granting -for the moment the truth of the minister's -slander,—his service was touched of the earth, -earthy. Yet the beneficence and blessedness of it -was so supremely above the smug, self-satisfied, -standing-aloofness of the "immaculate" ministerial -critic that Stevenson's colossal rebuke to the -latter found perfect echo in the heart of every -decent man and woman throughout the world. -Joaquin Miller expresses the same thought in his -beautiful and strong poem on Father Damien when -he says:</p> - -<p> -Why do ye not as he has done? -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p> - -<p>If we can do so much better than those we criticise, -why, in the name of heaven and suffering humanity, -do we not go ahead and do it? Let us do -our best regardless of our own infirmities and weakness -and the consequent criticisms of others.</p> - -<p>So I want to radiate to the needy and unworthy -my readiness, nay, my anxiety to serve them whenever -and wherever I possibly can. And though my -service be not unmixed gold, though there be in it -some of the dross of imperfection, I would not withhold -my hand on that account, but I would serve -the more readily and gladly in the hope and assurance -that by suffering with the needy and unworthy -in their need and unworthiness the fire of their pain -and sorrow may help refine away the dross in me -and leave only that of pure gold.</p> - -<p>"Give to the needy! <em>worthy</em> or <em>unworthy</em>!" -should be the battle cry of him who wishes to be a -blessing to his fellows, and the more unworthy the -needy are, the more loving and wise the service -should be. When Walt Whitman was shedding -blessing, benediction, comfort, and joy on every -hand throughout the hospitals of Washington, he -had little or no money to give. He asked no questions -when he went to the bedside of the sick and -dying soldier boys as to whether they were worthy -or not. They were needy and that was enough for -him. He stayed and soothed their weary hours by -telling them stories, reading to them, writing letters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -home for them, and in a thousand and one little and -big ways seeking to make their sick beds more -tolerable during the long hours of enforced confinement.</p> - -<p>One of his rules for the making of a true poet -was that he should "give alms to all who ask," -and that he should "stand up for the stupid and -crazy." I have a friend in Chicago who seeks -absolutely to live these two rules in his daily life. -Even though he may often give to the unworthy, -he feels he can better afford to do that than to miss -once giving to a really needy person lest he might -be giving to some one who was neither needy nor -worthy.</p> - -<p>A poet, whom I am very fond of quoting, once -wrote:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In men whom men condemn as ill,</div> - <div class="verse">I find so much of goodness still;</div> - <div class="verse">In men whom men account divine,</div> - <div class="verse">I find so much of sin and blot;</div> - <div class="verse">I hesitate to draw the line between the two;</div> - <div class="verse">Where God has not.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>It is impossible properly and wisely to differentiate, -and because a man is unworthy is all the more -reason that his fellows should seek to help him into -a state of worthiness.</p> - -<p>How I wish I could imbue all with the spirit that -moves Charles Montgomery, the prisoner's friend -of San Francisco. He goes to the state peniten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>tiaries -at San Quentin and Folsom, and arranges -to give help to the prisoners as soon as they are -released. Nay, he provides places for them and -then goes before the board of parole and secures -their release. He takes a true brother's interest -in the men and seeks to win them to a nobler life. -Doubtless he is often deceived, but in scores of -cases he starts the men on the up-grade. What is -one failure or ten, to one success or ten? If it -were <em>my</em> son that was saved I should be most grateful -even though he saved but one. It would make -his work glorious and blessed to me. Then try to -feel what it must be for some other father or -mother to learn that his, or her, son is saved from -the life of hell, to the life of heaven, here and now, -and do as much for that son as you would for your -own.</p> - -<p>I doubt not that some of the boys Judge Lindsay -seeks to save in Denver, are not all they ought -to be, and that sometimes he is disappointed in the -results. But does this make him lose heart, or -cease to work for the new cases that come? By no -means! It makes him more determined than ever -to reach their hearts. He is more tender, more -long-suffering, more patient, more sympathetic, -more loving. The greater the need the greater the -endeavor.</p> - -<p>The other day I sat down to the dinner table -with a friend who outlined to me a project in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> -himself and four others are interested. It is to -buy a farm, on the shores of a small but beautiful -lake, a few miles out from one of our great cities, -and there establish a home and a school for needy -children. These five devoted young people are now -working hard and each one is saving every cent he -can out of his own earnings that, without calling -upon any one else, they may be able to buy the -farm. I had asked my friend why he did not go -to hear the great actress Bernhardt. The reason -was that he preferred to put the three dollars that -a ticket to hear Bernhardt would have cost into his -"child farm fund." Here was self-denial with joy, -for the privilege of service. And whom will he -serve? There will be no question asked as to the -worthiness or unworthiness of the children that will -be received into this home when established.<a name="Anchor_5" id="Anchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote E.">[E]</a></p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF HUMOR</p> - - -<p>I want to radiate humor and my appreciation -of it. But it must be natural, genuine, kind-hearted, -sweet, and pure. The humor that has a -sting for some one else, that is unkind, unjust, -malicious, cruel, or unclean is not for me. And, -furthermore, I do not want that any one should -ever feel that I can or would enjoy such humor. -I want to radiate such a spirit, give forth such an -"aura" that no one will ever come to me with unkind -or unclean humor, or expect me to want to -hear it.</p> - -<p>No, true humor is gentle, kind, humane, and -human. I think little of any man or woman who -cannot enjoy a good hearty laugh. I believe in -laughter; in joking, in fun, in wit, in humor—in -the things that provoke laughter. Laugh -heartily, laugh loud, laugh long, and you will -oftentimes laugh away dyspepsia, the blues, and -worries. Laugh at your own misfortunes, your -own mishaps. My dear friend, Burdette, used to -clap me on the back and exclaim in his bright, -cheery voice: "Be your own funny man." He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> -once illustrated it by saying, in effect: "You've -laughed many a time watching a man chase his hat -when a windstorm ran away with it, but how do -you feel when it's your own hat? Take a look at -yourself. See the spectacle you make—the bewhiskered, -the dignified, the long-legged—as you -rush frantically after the fleeing tile. Can't you -see the fun in bending down, making a dive for the -hat, just at the moment an extra gust comes and—flip, -flop—the hat scoots on and you grasp the -empty space. Laugh at yourself, my boy, and -you'll get hold of the world by the tail and conquer -it!"</p> - -<p>How true it is!</p> - -<p>The greatest humoristic after-dinner speaker -in America to-day is Simeon Ford. How often -have I laughed at and with him. Study his humor. -Half of it is making fun at himself, his -"bizarre, gothic style of architecture," and that -kind of thing. He pokes fun, slyly, at himself, -and watches the effect on other people. Instead -of "guying" other, and sensitive, people—(notice, -I say sensitive, <em>not</em> sensible),—he guys -himself, and the more absurd the picture he can -draw of himself the more he seems to enjoy it. He -is original, quaint, individualistic, truly funny, not -a mere retailer of old chestnuts, warmed over at -the brazier of his wit, but a creator, a real <em>maker</em> -of humor, and the result is people sit and laugh and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> -laugh, and then laugh some more, and when it is -all over go away wondering what it was all about. -But there is no sarcasm, no sting, no malice in the -fun, no one is hurt, everything is as harmless as -the frolics of a young lamb.</p> - -<p>So it was with dear little Marshall Wilder. -Dear Marsh! how I loved him! Handicapped with -a distorted body, his mind was as quick as lightning. -How well I remember running in upon him -in his bedroom in a hotel in Buffalo one morning -and asking him to come down to a breakfast table -of friends who had assembled to give me a -"Good-by." Though he was not well, he hastily -threw on his clothes, came down, and for an hour -brightened our circle, with some of the most flashing, -bright, and spontaneous wit I ever heard. -Everybody was charmed, delighted, thrilled, for he -sprang from gay to grave, laughter to tears, -jollity to pathos so startlingly quick as to keep us -with one hand to our eyes, wiping away the tears, -when we had originally raised them to hide our -wide-open, laughing mouths. He loved to make -others happy; he was ever ready to plunge deep -into the pool of simple-hearted pure fun. Who -will ever forget that day when he, Elbert Hubbard, -Von Liebich, with half a dozen or more of the -brightest minds of the Continent, who were visiting -at Roycroft together, planned to go to the -Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo. I was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> -privileged to be of the number. We planned to -go as a lot of country joskins, real "Hicks," with -hayseed in our hair, and carrying our carpet-bags -with us. As I was the only bewhiskered man of -the "bunch," I was made the victim. I was to -dress in country style, go down the "Midway"—or -whatever the street of shows was called—and -attract the attention of the "barkers" and -draw their fire. Then the others were to saunter -up and we, in turn, would open up our fire upon -the barker. Can you imagine the results? We -carried out the plan exactly as contemplated. I -ate liquorice and let the juice flow down from the -corners of my mouth, so that it looked like tobacco -juice, I gaped at everything, and listened -with wide-eyed wonder, I felt like a countryman, -so now I looked like one, and I became, immediately, -the butt of the jokes and jests of the -"spieler" of the show before which I stood. I -think I can fairly hold my own in such a combat, -and the audience that was assembled, generally -seemed to think so, but imagine the way the fur -began to fly when Hubbard arrived and chipped -in, and Marshall and Von, and Bert II, and each of -the others. Talk about a stranger dog set on by -a dozen home dogs—it was nothing, compared -with the fun we had badgering and baiting that -over-confident spieler. Then I moved on to the -next stand, far enough away, however, so that no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> -one was aware of our plot. The crowd soon -"tumbled" and followed, and we repeated the -game to the infinite amazement of the discomfited -"barkers." It was the wildest revelry of good-natured, -good-humored, spontaneous fun I have -ever engaged in, and a thousand years can never -efface its memory.</p> - -<p>Dignity! What had we to do with dignity? -We were fun-makers, delight-makers, like the old-time -Indians of the cliff-dwelling days, and we -went into the game with vim, energy, earnestness, -abandon, and enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>And I learned a wonderful lesson, once, from -Marshall Wilder, that was worth many a long-winded -sermon for practical usefulness in meeting -the hardships, the woes, the pains of life. I was -on the stage of a theater with him, just preparatory -to his "act." He was suffering excruciating -agony—as he often did, from his frail and deformed -body—and sweat was pouring down his -brow and cheeks. "Put your arms around me, -and love me tight, George!" he gasped, "hold me -tight," and I held him, clasping his hands also in -mine. He gripped me with fierce intensity, clearly -indicating the pain he was in, and thus we stood, -until the call came for him. Then, wiping his -brow and face, with a smile that was at once -ghastly and sweet in its pathos, he rushed before -his audience, and had them laughing at his merry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> -quips and quirks, his jests and jokes, before -I could recover from the sympathy I felt for -his deep suffering. Brave, courageous, plucky -Marsh. Ready to make fun for others in spite -of his own pain. How often when men come to -me with long drawn-out tales of their woes, <em>their</em> -pains, <em>their</em> sufferings, <em>their</em> trials, <em>their</em> hardships, -do I feel like saying to them: "Cut it out! Go -and do as did Marsh Wilder. Make some one -else laugh. Make some one else happy, and you'll -forget your own troubles!" For it is true. The -very effort of concentration upon making others -laugh, or add to their happiness, largely, if not -completely, leads to a forgetfulness of one's own -woes.</p> - -<p>Then, too, the man who can laugh at himself -wins a hearing from the world that nothing else -can gain for him. There is an appeal, somehow, -in this fact, that is irresistible. Bishop Peck, -of the M. E. Church, was a Falstaffian build of -man. Indeed, it is said that he weighed a full -pound for every day in the year. A man with -three hundred and sixty-five pounds of corporeal -presence naturally possessed an aldermanic -"front" of compelling proportions. On one occasion -the Bishop was called upon at the General -Conference (which, I believe, that year met in -Baltimore), to represent the church upon the -Pacific Coast. The good bishop had a habit of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> -always stroking, or smoothing down his vest, -when beginning his address, and at this time, as -he arose, and began his deliberate strokings of his -vast and protuberant rotundity, he accompanied it -with the words: "Brethren, the Pacific Slope -greets you!"</p> - -<p>His amazement, as a perfect roar of laughter -greeted him and shook the building, can well be -imagined, yet he did not lose his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sang-froid</i>. In -another moment he had grasped the fun of the -situation, and laughing with the vast audience, -seized upon that as a theme upon which he played -with eloquence, fervor, and power in an extemporized -speech which, as many who heard it say, -he never surpassed in his life.</p> - -<p>Suppose his "dignity" had prevented his joining -in the laugh at himself! What an opportunity -he would have lost.</p> - -<p>I saw a similar event once in the Free Trade -Hall, in Manchester, England. That great assembly -hall was crowded, awaiting the coming -upon the platform of the Conference of all the -Baptist Ministers of Great Britain. We had been -waiting some time and I, for one, was young -enough to be impatient as the time announced drew -near. It was in the days of Moody and Sankey's -great revivals in England, and Sankey's hymn, -"Hold the Fort!" had captured the church-going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> -ear. To pass away the time I started the song. -The audience caught on. We sang the first verse -and the chorus with vim and fervor. Then, just -as we began the second verse, the body of ministers -began to march on to the platform, led by their -gray-haired president. Recall the lines and imagine -the result as the words of the marching -ministers were united in our thoughts!</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">See the mighty host advancing</div> - <div class="verse">Satan leading on!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Some of us shrieked with laughter. One man -near me nearly had a fit of hysterics. They say -Englishmen can't see a joke. I never saw an -American audience "catch on" any quicker than -did that Manchester one. In a moment the singing -stopped and the place was in an uproar of -wildest laughter. The good president at first -seemed nonplused and confused, but some one -must have explained it to him, for before the ministers -had scarce taken their seats, he advanced to -the edge of the platform, secured silence, and began -to the effect: "Beloved friends! If we -seem like the hosts of evil, marching with Satan -at their head, we belie our looks. The Evil One -has blinded your eyes. We are the army of the -other side. We are Christian soldiers, engaged in -a never-to-cease conflict with that army of evil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> -that we shall assuredly conquer," and so on, giving -one of the most pertinent, direct, spontaneous, -and truly eloquent of addresses.</p> - -<p>He rose to the occasion—joined in the laugh -upon himself, won his audience, and then used the -sympathy he had gained, to strike home some deep -and important truths.</p> - -<p>This is what I want to live, to radiate: love of -humor, readiness to laugh at it even though it be -laughing at myself, ready to make it when I can -for others, ready to join in other people's appreciation -of it.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF THE "ETERNAL NOW"</p> - - -<p>Is there any past, any future, in our lives? If -I look back upon the past, or anticipate the future, -whether with joy or pleasure, do I not do it in the -<em>now</em>? To-morrow never comes, for when it arrives -it is no longer to-morrow,—it is <em>now</em>. Life is one -<em>eternal now</em>. The great trouble, however, with -most people, is that they have not learned that -fact. They do not live in the <em>now</em>, they sit down -and lament over the past; weep that its joys are -gone, its glories faded, altogether oblivious of the -resplendent beauties that now surround them, the -radiant joyousnesses that environ them, NOW. -Or, they sit in fond anticipation, in expectation, -with impatient waiting for to-morrow, for next -week, for next year, ignoring the immediate and -present sweet singing of the birds, the exquisite -daintiness of the flowers, their delicate fragrance, -the majesty and sublimity of the snowy mountain -peaks, the upright stateliness of the trees, the supernal -clarity of the sky, the pellucidness of the atmosphere, -the champagne-like quality of the air, -NOW.</p> - -<p>What time we lose, waste, pervert, by forgetting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> -the duty, the joy, the delight of living in the Eternal -Now. Take your joys as they come along. -It is the Divine plan that every moment shall be -filled with His joy—the joy of living, of being.</p> - -<p>Eyes are given to see with <em>now</em>! Are you using -them now? Do you gaze upon the grass, the trees, -the flitting butterflies, the busy insects, the bees, -the beautiful birds, the clouds, the sky, the sea, -the rippling cascades, the <em>everything</em> of Nature, -<span class="smcap">NOW</span>, and enjoy their many-formed, many-hued, -many-graced splendors.</p> - -<p>Ears are given for hearing <em>now</em>!</p> - -<p>Are yours alert for all the sweet, the pleasant, -the comforting, the joyous, the sublime sounds that -might come to them now? Or are you like the -"fools and blind" who will sit at a Boston Symphony -concert and gabble gossip or retail slander?</p> - -<p>Palates are given to taste with <em>now</em>!</p> - -<p>Are you tasting the apples, the rare lusciousness -of grapes, peaches, oranges, plums, and the thousand -and one delicate fruits <em>now</em>, or are you regretting -the lost truffles, the sauces, the spices, -the wines, the stimulating things of yesterday, or -longing for the Lucullus repasts of to-morrow?</p> - -<p>Oh, the content and happiness of taking joys as -they come, in their simpleness and naturalness, in -their every-day, common, normal order; of looking -for them, expecting them, anticipating them, -going out, as it were, to meet them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p> - -<p>Is it only a walk of ten blocks (or five) to the -store, or office, or school? Are you ready as you -step out of your door to inhale the fragrance of -the morning air, or enjoy its own peculiar delight -if the morning is wet, misty, foggy, rainy? Do -you see the moving and sun-lit clouds; the clear -sky, the rustling leaves of the trees; the hopping -of the happy birds; the joyousness of the children -walking to school?</p> - -<p>Be alert, receptive, ready. Seize the <em>small joy -of the now</em>, and you will find it far more delightful -than all the anticipations, and even the realizations -of what seem to be the <em>large joys of the to-morrow</em>.</p> - -<p>One of the saddest pictures on canvas to me is -one called "The Pursuit of Pleasure." It represents -a female figure as <cite>Pleasure</cite>, floating through -the air, and followed by an eager crowd of men and -women, of all ages and conditions in life. Reaching, -grasping, breathless, regardless of their -tramplings upon each other, indifferent that some -of their whilom companions are fallen and cannot -arise, and that hopeless despair is depicted in their -eyes and faces, each and all of the remaining strugglers -fix their eyes upon the phantom though alluring -figure. And thus the pursuit goes on continuously; -there is no reaching her; she is ever illusive -and evasive, a delusion and a snare, ever -beckoning yet ever retreating.</p> - -<p>In her sculptured fountain at the Panama-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>Pacific -Exposition, Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney -expresses the same idea, but even more forcefully -than does the picture. Here are thirty-seven -figures nearly all intent upon reaching their goal -of happiness. They cannot even see what it is. -Yet the eagerness depicted upon the faces, in the -straining attitudes, the strenuous striving in that -one direction, all typify the desire, the intentness, -the resolute pursuit of happiness. Then, -alas, when the doors are reached, they are both -found closed, guarded by Assyrian and Egyptian -figures, that suggest the occult mystery of the beyond, -and that look down sternly and unyieldingly -upon the two figures at their feet, long strivers, -evidently pleading for the admission that is denied -them. There are two definite, distinct, and different -ways in which these two allegories can be interpreted. -One is that mankind ever lives in the -world of the senses, pursuing the gratifications of -the now, the feastings, the drinkings, the carousings, -the pleasuring, the wantonings of the sense-life, -the sensual life, and that such a pursuit is -ever doomed to failure, for man—the spiritual, -created in God's own image—can never be satisfied -with the temporary things of earth and sense.</p> - -<p>The other interpretation is that man is ever seeking -for some <em>far-off</em>, great, <em>extraordinary</em> pleasure, -joy, or satisfaction, something in the future, -rather than living in the smaller joys of the <em>now</em>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> -The child longs to be the youth or maiden, enjoying -"sitting up at nights," "going to parties," -"eating candies," "going out with the boys," -"smoking like a man"; the youth eagerly works -for the time when he shall be his own master, control -his own business; the maiden, have her lover, -marry successfully, become the mistress of her own -house; the grown man looks forward to and works -desperately for the time when he shall have "made -his pile," and the woman to "an assured place in -society." These, and a thousand and one "<em>pursuits</em>" -engage men and women.</p> - -<p>In my own life I am eagerly desirous to radiate -the opposite of both of these conceptions. I certainly -do not wish to belong to the class pictured -in Christ's parable of the rich man; he who -thought only of the so-called good things of this -life which he would enjoy now—he who said: -"Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow -we die." The slightest observation of life, of the -men and women one meets daily, soon convinces -one of the hollowness, the dissatisfaction, the incompleteness -of all earthly things. The subject is -too trite to need any amplification. Yet, the wonder -of it is, that, in spite of this fact, the great -majority of people still thus strive for wealth, -place, power, honor, social success, possessions, attainments. -Why is it that this <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ignis fatuus</i> has -such power of allurement? Why is it that men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> -and women are so foolish, so slow to rule their -actions by their own inner spiritual awakenings, -rather than the habits and fashions followed by -others?</p> - -<p>I have no desire or ambition for fame, for honor, -for success, for place, for power, <em>as such</em>. They -are useless to me save as I may use them for the -benefit, the happiness, the pleasure of my fellows. -I am slowly awakening to the realization of what -I believe now to be a primal fact, viz., that all a -man can really hold and enjoy in his living hand, -in his soul, in his life, is that which he gives away, -shares, distributes among his fellows.</p> - -<p>Elsewhere I have quoted Joaquin Miller's lines -from <cite>Peter Cooper</cite>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For all you can hold in your dead, cold hand,</div> - <div class="verse">Is what you have given away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>I now wish to radiate my belief in the enlargement -of that idea as stated above. Even knowledge -can give no real satisfaction unless shared, -given to others; the joy of a picture owned is lost -unless others can enjoy with you. In other words, -the possession of anything <em>for self alone</em> is destructive -of happiness. One learns slowly but -surely that even in these things of the mind and -the soul:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">That man who lives for self alone</div> - <div class="verse">Lives for the meanest mortal known.</div> -</div></div></div> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF EXTREMES</p> - - -<p>Life is made up of extremes and everything that -comes between them. There is the North Pole and -there is the South Pole. There is the heat of the -fiery furnace and the cold of the Arctic Zone. -There is the height of heaven and the depth of -hell; the voice of the thunder and the whisper of -the gentle zephyr.</p> - -<p>Man is a singular being. He is as diverse as is -the manifold face of Nature upon which he gazes. -His likes and dislikes are many and varied. Men -of equal intelligence and equal powers differ in -their ways of looking at the same thing. The -poet Browning effectively states this when he says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ten men love what I hate,</div> - <div class="verse">Shun what I follow, slight what I receive;</div> - <div class="verse">Ten, who in ears and eyes</div> - <div class="verse">Match mine.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>In the face of such facts one is compelled to the -conclusion that personal idiosyncrasy or individual -preference alone can decide what it wants, needs, -and must have, in this large diversity that is offered -it.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> - -<p>The fact that ten men who have equal powers of -observation and reflection as myself love the things -that I hate, and reject the things that I receive, -has absolutely no influence in deciding me in regard -to the things that I hate and receive, any -more than the fact that I hate and receive things -to which they have the antagonistic feeling influences -them; hence it is useless for me to attempt -to enforce my likings and antipathies upon others, -even as it is useless for them to attempt to force -theirs upon me.</p> - -<p>So I have been led to accept the philosophy, -which I wish to radiate to all men, that it appears -to me the Divine Wisdom has provided for these -personal idiosyncrasies of human nature by giving -to us the extremes of things with everything that -lies between. So, regardless of my own preference, -I believe that the strong wind is as much a beneficent -force of Nature as is the zephyr; the thundering -cataract of Yosemite as the placid Mirror -Lake; the avalanche as the snowflake; the thunder -as the violet; the earthquake as the rippling rill; -the blazing meteor as the Milky Way; the flaming -sun-spots as the sparkling dewdrop; the fiery volcano -as the quiet glowworm; the giant sequoia as -the tiny forget-me-not; the thundering breakers -of ocean as the gentle pattering raindrop; the -fiery boiling geyser as the silently flowing fountain; -the dazzling comet as the serene fixed star; the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> -rugged Grand Canyon as the flower-besprinkled -sward; the monster whale as the tiny gold-fish; the -giant elephant as the timid mouse; the blaring -trumpet as the soothing guitar; the startling kettle-drum -as the smoothly flowing 'cello; the clanging -cymbals as the seductive oboe.</p> - -<p>I firmly believe and wish to radiate my belief -that God has as much use for the man of the farm -as for the man of the drawing-room; the rudeness -of "The man with the hoe" as the smoothness -of the man with the higher education. He -needs the arid desert as well as the fertile plain; -the wild ruggedness of the ravine as well as the -cultivated garden; the colorless abysses of the -glacier as well as the flower-besprinkled foothills. -He has use for the snowy plains of the north as -well as the rice fields of the south; the cactus as -well as the orchid; the giant suaharo as well as the -shrinking gilia; the prickly pear, as the velvety -peach; the sword-fish, as the nautilus; the shark -as the flying-fish; the flaming sunrises and sunsets, -as the tender tints of the lily, and the night-blooming -cereus; the deep purples, as well as the blush -rose; the glowing yellows as the softer blues; the -piercing greens as the quieter violets. The bluffs -and promontories that thrust their heads out into -the ocean are as much a part of God's great out-of-doors -and of as much use as are the placid landscapes; -the mountain heights as much needed as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> -are the flower-bespangled levels; the vast reaches -of prairie as the secluded and confined valley. -The piercing cold of the Arctic has as much a place -in Nature as the alluring mildness of Southern -California or the Riviera; the monster tides of the -Bay of Fundy as the ripples of the placid pool.</p> - -<p>The sturdy and warlike Viking has as much a -place in history as the diplomatic and artistic -Italian; the Negro as the Caucasian; the Chinaman -as the French; the Oriental as the English; -the Japanese as the American.</p> - -<p>El Capitan and Gibraltar are not exquisitely -carved statues by Canova or Thorwaldsen, but -they have just as much a place in the history of -the world's development.</p> - -<p>The wilds of the high Sierras, in all their rude -and majestic splendor, rugged and tremendous -vastness, where clear-eyed, horny-handed, strong-oathed, -and rudely clad men wander and labor, are -very different from the city drawing-rooms,—those -places of pink teas and white kid-gloved men -and women; those breeding places of superficial -conventionality and effete conceptions of people -and life, but I doubt not that the high Sierras -have produced more of benefit to mankind than all -the drawing-rooms of all the civilizations.</p> - -<p>I love the pastoral and quiet landscapes of the -Connecticut River Valley, of placid Killarney, of -the quiet vale of Avoca, of picturesque Normandy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> -but the passion, power, majesty, sublimity, solitude, -dreariness and desolation of the far-reaching -Colorado Desert, deep descending Grand Canyon, -bold escarpments of the Red Rock country, and -other tremendous and solitary places of Nature -command me, allure me, appeal to me, and dominate -me quicker than the quiet places of beauty.</p> - -<p>What, in Nature, to some men is the end of -things to others is the beginning. The sacred -writer says that God even "maketh the wrath of -men to praise him," as well as their love and tenderness.</p> - -<p>Life is not all comprised about a slender figure -and transparent profile; faultless coils of hair; -soft, rich, clinging garments; laces falling over -taper fingers; graceful and dignified demeanor; low -and sweetly modulated voice, and the perfection -of faultless manners. There may be a place for -the rude, uncouth clodhopper with disfigured features; -tousled hair; clad in homespun or cheap -denim; rags taking the place of lace; boorish and -clumsy demeanor; a voice like a steamer foghorn; -and the apotheosis of all that is blundering and -awkward in manner.</p> - -<p>I do not, for one moment, defend any unnecessary -boorishness or uncouthness of manner, and -must not be understood as doing so, but at the -same time, in spite of these things, I am impelled -to state my conviction that the latter class is more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> -needful to the real progress of the world than the -former. I notice that several times in the history -of the world, canal-drivers, shepherd-boys, wood-choppers, -and rail-splitters have made wonderful -pilots for the Ship of State.</p> - -<p>God has use in His world for the rough as well -as the polished; the roar of the thunder as well -as the coo of the dove; the stentorian trumpet-tone -as well as the still, small voice. John the -Baptist came from the desert robed in skins and -camel's hair; his voice, doubtless, was not soft and -well-modulated as were those of Herodias and -Salome. He was "the voice of one crying in the -wilderness." His call contained the thunder tones -of the storm and wild cry of the lonely eagle seeking -its solitary aerie; the strength and the roar of -the lion. It was neither refined, pleasing, nor cultured, -but it possessed life and power and it was -chosen to herald the coming of the Messiah.</p> - -<p>Nowhere have we been told that Elijah, Jeremiah -and Daniel were noted for the soft and dulcet -tones of their voices, yet they were the chosen -instruments of the Divine in overthrowing dynasties -and changing the history of nations. Peter -the Hermit was not a sweet-voiced singer in Israel, -but he started a movement that led to the civilization -of Europe. I doubt not that the charges of -the British against Joan of Arc that she cried in -a coarse military voice when she led the armored<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> -hosts of France were true, but she drove the foreign -invader from the soil of her beloved France -where they had held footing for nigh upon a hundred -years and no one else had been able to win a -victory from them.</p> - -<p>I doubt not there were times when Grant's voice -did not possess the mellow and refined quality of -the drawing-room exquisite, but he won victories -and made a united people possible. John Brown -was rude, rough, uncouth, boorish, when compared -with the refined and polished cavaliers of the South. -They called him a bandit, an invader, a revolutionist, -an anarchist, and they captured and -hanged him, but to thousands of men his crazy -dream of the invasion of the South to forcibly compel -the freedom of the slave is being more and -more seen by hundreds of thousands of wise men to -have been one of the most practical and effective -means of calling the attention of men to the moral -principle involved in the question of slavery, as to -whether men of one color of blood or skin had the -right to hold in bondage men of a different color.</p> - -<p>When Theodore Parker was denouncing the iniquities -of any and all slavery, his voice was not as -soft and gentle and sweetly modulated as that of -Longfellow, yet it played as important a part in -the history of the development of mankind and -stirred men to higher endeavor on the part of their -suffering and down-trodden fellows.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> - -<p>What, then, is the upshot of the whole matter? -It seems to me it is this: Listen to the voice that -appeals to your own soul; that lifts you from the -lower to the higher; that thrills you to deeds of -heroism, that stimulates you to acts of nobleness, -that calls you to a life of helpful self-sacrifice; and -while doing this, cease to criticise, to find fault, to -censure the kind of voice to which you do not care -to listen. The strong, vigorous, robust, red-blooded -man of the out-of-doors generally will not -speak nor act with the perfect restraint and conventionality -of the man born in the atmosphere of -the drawing-room, but his message may be just as -helpful to the world, and as divinely inspired as -that of his more refined and dignified prototype.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">ABSORPTION IN RELATION TO RADIATION</p> - - -<p>Most important factors in Living the Radiant -Life are Living the Life of <em>Possession</em> and Living -the Absorptive Life. To radiate one must possess, -and to possess one must absorb. To give largely -and well, one must receive largely and well. The -Absorptive Life is as essential as the Radiant Life. -Out in the great silences are the eloquent voices -of God ready to speak to the attentive soul; out -in Nature a million voices are ready to impart -knowledge to the ignorant. All one has to do to -receive is to "ask"; not with the voice but with -the whole being. As a sponge absorbs water up -to the limit of its capacity, so should man absorb, -and then, unlike the sponge, which must be -squeezed from without ere it will give off that which -it has received, man should radiate from within -all that he has received.</p> - -<p>There are few people in the world who are true -absorbers. We are so full of prejudices, conceits, -notions, that we refuse to receive from this, that, -or the other source, because, forsooth, we in our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> -pride deem the source unworthy. The true life -receives from every source. Call nothing unclean. -All things are yours. God is over and in all. -Prove all things. Open your heart to all good -from whatever source. Stand humbly before God -ready to receive. Keep your hands open; your -eyes, your ears, your nostrils, your whole nature -in a state of active receptivity. Be afraid of -nothing. Some one comes and tells you that in -this or that he has found spiritual life and help. -You, however, have been taught to regard that as -a dangerous thing, so you are afraid of it. Arise -and be above such fears. Are you a man, a -woman, a human soul, made in the image of God -and given powers of thought, of discernment, of -decision? Or are you a mere puppet to be worked -by the string of other men's thoughts, other men's -ideas, other men's opinions? Listen for yourself; -think for yourself; decide for yourself; act for -yourself. If a thing seems right to your own soul -do it though the heavens fall and you suffer the -condemnation of all mankind. True and rapid -progress will never come to the race until individual -men learn that they alone are the arbiters of -their own destiny.</p> - -<p>Go out into Nature, into the silences, into the -workshops and the marts of trade <em>and absorb</em>. -Listen to every good voice that speaks, and if you -are not sure whether the voice is good or not, lis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>ten -anyhow and "prove" it by the infallible tests -of purity, unselfishness, and uplift.</p> - -<p>Every human soul may be a wireless telegraph -receiver. God is flashing out messages every moment -from His million and one instruments all over -the universe. They are all kinds of messages—but -all from the one spirit, and therefore all spiritual. -They appeal to the bodies, the minds, the -souls of men, and all you have to do to receive them -is to have your receiving apparatus of body, mind, -and soul attuned to the sending apparatus of the -Loving Sender. Get in tune. Cry out to God: -I want all there is. I cast aside all prejudgments, -all conceits, all ideas. Let me hear direct from -Thee. Go out into the fields and receive from the -spirit that is in, over, and about Nature. Every -tree, flower, grass, bird, insect, animal, cloud, -storm, rock, stream has a message for you if you -will but hear it. Love alone can open your heart -to receive; it is the key with which the soul and -mind and body are set in tune. Get yourself into -<em>relationship</em> with Nature. Feel your kinship. -God is the Father of every tree as much as he is -your Father. Go and claim your family. And -claim all the good they possess as your own, for -it is yours and merely awaits your taking. As a -child you did this with your mother. The nourishment -of her breasts, the gentle hush of her voice, -the soothing touch of her fingers, the brooding<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> -yearning of her love; all these were yours the moment -you cried out for them. Mother Nature is -as full of the spirit of Love as your physical -mother. Indeed the latter is one in spirit with the -former. Call out then. Demand, with the simple -expectancy of the child, all that you need. Call -for it confident that it will come. Expect it, and -according to your expectancy it will be given unto -you.</p> - -<p>But to do this you must be a true child of your -Nature Mother. You must confidently lean on her -breast, you must confidently blend yourself with -her, you must let her touch you as your mother -used to touch you when, a helpless babe, you lay -in your cradle. Her hand went all over your body, -from head to foot, with loving, soothing caress. -Let the sun and the breezes touch your body in -like fashion. Their fingers will soothe with mesmeric -power and at the same time bring health and -strength and vigor, and withal, peace. Go and -lie down on the bosom of the Earth Mother; feel -her pulsating heart, and in time, when you have -forgotten your artificiality and pretension, your -so-called civilization and culture, and found anew -your kinship with the Earth, you will feel the whole -power of Nature pulsing through your veins; the -fever of your unhealthy blood will be soothed and -it will flow naturally and coolly as the sweet sap<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> -that ascends to the nourishment of the topmost -branch and leaf.</p> - -<p>And when life has wounded you, cut you, torn -you almost limb from limb, and you feel and see -yourself only an almost dismembered trunk, Nature -will soothe and heal you. Your wounds will -soon be scarred over and the trees, the ferns, the -birds, the grasses, the squirrels, the bees, the buds, -the blossoms, and the butterflies,—all—will associate -with you on equal terms. They will neither -laugh at you nor repel you, but as loving friends -come and associate with you in sweet and dear kinship. -You will walk through the aisled forest temples -of God repentant and forgiven for sins of the -past, and shame and sorrow will flee away, replaced -by the calm joy of the peace that flows into -the receiving heart like a river. You will undress -and bathe in the sunshine and the pools, the creeks -and the rivers, fearless and unabashed, for you will -have exposed your soul to the soul of things; real -shame has nothing to do with externals.</p> - -<p>But, you ask, how am I to begin to observe and -thus absorb the good gifts of God into my very -life in order that I may live and radiate them to -others? Let me help you to begin!</p> - -<p>To be satisfied is to stagnate and petrify. In -his <cite>Rabbi Ben Ezra</cite>, Robert Browning has three -pregnant lines:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What I aspired to be,</div> - <div class="verse">And was not, comforts me:</div> - <div class="verse">A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The aspiring soul is the one reaching out to -absorb. One might be a satisfied brute by closing -all the avenues of aspiration and high ambition, -but it is immeasurably better to be an unsatisfied, -aspiring man rather than the satisfied low-minded -brute.</p> - -<p>Aspiration is the hunger of the soul. Hunger -implies need. So foster—cultivate—your hunger. -The hungry seek for food, and food gives -new life, new growth, new strength, new power. -The Universe of God is full of food for man's mind -and soul. And it is of infinite variety, capable of -nourishing myriads of soul-powers that now lie -dormant in your nature. Awaken to your needs. -Be on the lookout every moment for the free gifts -of God that hang from the trees of life that grow -in every back yard as well as on high mountains -and in every fertile orchard.</p> - -<p>There is a great deal more in this expression, -"cultivate a hunger," than at first sight appears. -People who satisfy their lower appetites know -nothing of the true hunger of the soul. And consequently -when they see the food designed by the -Almighty Love and Wisdom to satisfy to the full -all the demands of true hunger, these grossly contented -minds pass them by, their eyes are closed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> -so that they see not; their senses are dulled so -that they smell not, hear not, feel not, taste not. -I have seen people fast from every kind of food, -solid or liquid, for ten, twenty, thirty or forty, and -in one case even for eighty days. At the end of -these fasts, the fasters related with delight their -keen pleasure and satisfaction at realizing what -real hunger was as differentiated from the mere -appetite for food that they had felt prior to their -fasts. As a rule we eat too much. We satiate -ourselves upon foods that are not always good for -us, and thus destroy the true normal appetite for -pure, good, healthful, simple foods.</p> - -<p>Among these people who fasted were several who -were thin and poorly nourished, and yet who had -abnormal appetites and ate far more food than -those who were robust, hearty, vigorous, and -strong. The physician said, what was self-evident, -that the more food they ate, the less nourished -they became, because they overloaded themselves -with food and much of it was the wrong kind. -It was hard work for these people to fast, but at -the close of the fast, their abnormal and unnatural -appetite had disappeared and in its stead had come -a true, normal hunger which revealed to them the -right kind of food that they should eat to satisfy -the demands of the body and which, when they did -eat, was immediately assimilated. The result was -that within a month or two, after having learned<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> -what real hunger was as differentiated from perverted -appetite, they were fat and rosy, plump and -vigorous, beautiful and energetic.</p> - -<p>It is exactly the same in our mental and spiritual -life. We feed upon the grosser foods to satiation -and repletion and the result is that we suffer from -mental and spiritual dyspepsia and are pale, thin, -anæmic and weak, where we should be beautiful, -vigorous, energetic, and strong. Quit stuffing and -craving the lower foods. Stay away from the -theater, the vaudeville, the cheap show. Quit -reading the sensational novel, the trashy story of -excitement. Give your brain, your mind, your -soul, a rest. Fast a while. Do as Elijah did, as -Jesus, as Mahomet. Go into the desert, the solitude, -and for forty days and nights rest, body, -mind, and soul, until real hunger takes possession -of you. Then come forth and begin to absorb -from all the great wealth of God that surrounds -you.</p> - -<p>There are three chief sources of purest mind and -soul supply and I wish briefly to consider each one -of these. They are: 1. Observation. 2. Reading. -3. Intuition.</p> - -<p>This may not be a scientific classification, but -it suffices for my purpose. I have not put the most -important first, but observation is the one man -most relies upon.</p> - -<p>1. Observation is God's method of filling up the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> -inner supply of man's knowledge through the -senses. He sees, feels, hears, smells, tastes, and -through these avenues receives mental impressions. -One can observe the lower things or the higher. -Every day as I ride on the train or street cars, I -observe men reading their newspapers. As a rule -I can tell in a few minutes what a man's mental -hunger is by watching him read. He chooses the -pink sheet and devours with avidity the stories of -prize fights. He turns to the pages devoted to -courts and reads the accounts of murder trials or -of scenes where lawyers quarrel or jangle and -where witnesses testify to disgusting and loathsome -things. Another man is interested in clean -athletics and reads with interest of college football, -Marathon games, and the like. Still another -is absorbed in the news of a higher nature, a meeting -of the Hague Peace Conference, the endeavors -of statesmen to bring about a better understanding -between the North and the South, between -nations. In other words, a man takes what -his appetite craves out of the newspaper. Just so -it is with all life. Men take whatever their appetites -crave. If the appetite is false, unnatural, -abnormal, they take injurious food. Only when -the depraved appetite becomes changed into natural, -normal hunger, is the right kind of food -sought and found. Yet there is immeasurably -more of the pure, good food to satisfy the perfect,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> -normal hunger, than there is of the carrion which -the vulture instincts in us crave.</p> - -<p>2. Reading. While I have put this under a -separate head, it really belongs under the head of -observation, for the reading of books is but observation -of the observations of other men. Yet, -as I shall show later, this is a special field which -one should endeavor to glean with care.</p> - -<p>3. Intuition. To the really normally hungry -soul, this is the chief, indeed, the only source of -spiritual food. It is what Emerson called the -"Oversoul," and what Doctor Buck meant when, in -speaking of Walt Whitman, he said he possessed -the "cosmic conscience." It is receptiveness to -universal truth, Divine truth, that truth which -knows no time, no place, no boundaries of nationality, -no difference in creed, in sect, in sex, in color, -but that, like the sun, shines alike upon all, whether -bond or free, rich or poor, learned or unlearned, -black, white, brown, or red, savage or civilized. It -is the spirit that possessed—in varying degrees—Gautama, -Buddha, Confucius, Mahomet, Jesus, -Joan of Arc, Emerson, Browning, Whitman, all -great souls who have seen the truth universal and -recorded it for the uplift and ennobling of mankind.</p> - -<p>May I here suggest a few ideas as to how you -should begin to absorb the good things of God -in order to get the fullest benefit from them, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> -then let us go out together and absorb some of -the things that will make one a newer, fuller, more -vigorous and truly radiant being.</p> - -<p>Get into the habit of looking out of your bedroom -window at the skies each night before you retire -to rest. Is it clear? Study that brilliant -scheme of stars and planets. What grander sight -could you ask for? Yet every common man and -woman may see it from the smallest attic or hall-bedroom -window. Is the moon in the heavens dimming -the stars but flooding the earth with dream-light? -Can you see the great wonderful clouds -floating about in the night's silences away up under -the light of the moon or against the sparkling of -the far off stars? Or is the sky dark and lowering -with black clouds so that you can see nothing -as yet? What a wonderful thing that cloud -screen is; that soft, moist vapor piled in great billows -above us, shutting out the heavens and their -wonders from our gaze. How dark it seems on the -earth beneath. How shut away from the brightness -and serenity of the stars. Yet we know that -the clouds are but temporary, that they will soon -pass over, and that we are perfectly safe nestling -here on the quiet bosom of mother earth.</p> - -<p>Look up to the heavens <em>every night</em> for some -intellectual and spiritual food, just as you go to -the dining-room, <em>only more so</em>. Form the habit!</p> - -<p>Study the stars as David did. They are as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> -free to you as they were to him. The poorest beggar -and the most degraded sot have as much claim -to the stars as the king on his throne or the most -divine man that ever lived. What a wonderful -drama is being nightly played in the skies. How -much more interesting and attractive to the seeing -and understanding eye than the puppet shows of -the theater, where there is so much of the glare, -the tinsel, the sham, the shoddy.</p> - -<p>The Passion Play of Oberammergau is well -worth seeing. To witness and hear the dramas of -Wagner is worth while, especially soul-stirring -<cite>Parsifal</cite>, but here in the heavens is the great mystery -of the Creator, watched over, guarded, protected -by these bright armored knights,—the -stars and the planets, the comets, the nebulæ, the -milky way,—with a vigilance which is as keen as -it is eternal.</p> - -<p>A thoughtful girl once wrote me to the effect -that after she first began to realize the glories of -the stars, she prayed to a different God from the -God she had always associated with formality, -churches, prayer books, creeds, and the communion -service. She said, in effect, that her prayer became -less glib, less wordy, less ready, for the stars -inspired her with the sense of majesty and awe of -the Great Creator, so that she came before Him -with words that meant more even though they came -with less smoothness of utterance. Awe will take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> -the place of smug self-satisfaction; the obeisance -of the soul to mere bending of the knees; an all-sweeping -passion for uplift rather than vain repetitions -and selfish cries for more of the baubles -of life to play with. There is no doubt whatever -that Tennyson had some such thoughts in mind -when he wrote in <cite>Locksley Hall</cite>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,</div> - <div class="verse">Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.</div> - <div class="verse">Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising through the mellow shade,</div> - <div class="verse">Glitter like a swarm of fireflies tangled in a silver braid.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Longfellow, too, has an exquisite poem on <cite>The -Light of the Stars</cite>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The night has come, but not too soon;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sinking silently,</div> - <div class="verse">All silently, the little moon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Drops down behind the sky.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There is no light in earth or heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the cold light of stars;</div> - <div class="verse">And the first watch of night is given</div> - <div class="verse indent2">the red planet Mars.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Is it the tender star of love?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The star of love and dreams?</div> - <div class="verse">O no! from that blue tent above,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A hero's armor gleams.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And earnest thoughts within me rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When I behold afar,</div> - <div class="verse">Suspended in the evening skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The shield of that red star. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O star of strength! I see thee stand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And smile upon my brain;</div> - <div class="verse">Thou beckonest with thy mailed hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I am strong again.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Within my heart there is no light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the cold light of stars;</div> - <div class="verse">I give the first watch of the night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the red planet Mars.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The star of the unconquered will</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He rises in my heart</div> - <div class="verse">Serene, and resolute, and still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And calm, and self-possessed.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And thou, too, whosoe'er thou art,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That readest this brief psalm,</div> - <div class="verse">As one by one thy hopes depart,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Be resolute and calm.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O fear not in a world like this,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thou shalt know ere long,</div> - <div class="verse">Know how sublime a thing it is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To suffer and be strong.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>So study the stars, get from them all you can. -Let their serenity sink into your soul, and their -calm peace speak peace to your troubled and restless -spirit. Yield to your imagination as to whatever -they bring you, and be thankful for every -suggestion of largeness, bigness, power, and love.</p> - -<p>In his <cite>Saul</cite>, Browning has David tell how the -stars suggested to him the life of the people far -away, who dwelt far beyond the possibility of his -ever seeking them. How could he, the poor and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> -humble shepherd lad, ever hope to see and know -these people? Yet he could picture them. So can -you. Let your imagination grow! Let it roam! -Enjoy all it gives to you of good and inspiration. -Think of the life you might live if you had the -power some of these people have, and then seek to -live worthy of that larger life even in the restricted -sphere in which you are placed.</p> - -<p>But there are other things in the heavens, almost -as common as the stars, that may become a great -and glorious inspiration to you.</p> - -<p>I once saw a display of lightning that came to -me as a revelation from God. It was so vivid and -intense that the friends who were with me, old -Arizona pioneers who had braved hundreds of -storms, were afraid, and like myself hid their faces -in their blankets. But by and by the absurdity of -this act struck me;—as if we were safer with our -heads covered than if we were taking in the sight -in all its sublimity and terrible splendor. So I -resolutely cast my blanket aside, and although I -had not yet gotten over the shaking of my knees, -I stepped to the cabin door and enjoyed the splendid -scene to the full.</p> - -<p>Who could hope to describe this display so that -others can see it, or to be believed if he even attempts -to picture the intense and vivid brilliancy -of that evening's marvelous fire-works? For a -few moments we were enveloped in a "darkness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> -that could be felt," and then, in a moment, what -seemed to be hundreds of millions of darting, zig-zag -forks of lightning struck downwards through -the heavens in every direction. We were encircled -in these myriad flashes of vivid violet light -that almost blinded us with their brilliancy. For -an hour or more this display continued. But it -was a sight that I can never forget, and it gave me -a new insight, and new thoughts about the glory -of God.</p> - -<p>I have sat in the grass on a summer night or -have walked many a mile both in the South and in -the West watching the scintillating, yet soft and -delicate, light of the fireflies as they sparkled and -twinkled at my feet and in the air all about me. -With a sort of irregular yet rhythmic movement -they opened and closed their tiny lanterns, and -interested, fascinated, and thrilled me by the perfection -of their simple beauty.</p> - -<p>With equal fascination I have watched the -phosphorescent glow on the ocean beach, as the -great foam-crested breakers curved over and -dashed shoreward, gleaming with that peculiarly -weird brilliancy, altogether different from any -other light known to man. It is even more fascinating -when seen in the amethystine waters of the -Gulf of Mexico, as the steamer plows its way -through the yielding waters and casts the gleam<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>ing -and phosphorescent spray from side to side -in the otherwise dark and silent night.</p> - -<p>Talk about the beauties of Nature! Once begin -on such a theme and there seems to be no end. -A thousand and one things crowd upon the mind -begging, clamoring for utterance in this record, -but space forbids. Do not say you cannot see, -do not say there is nothing in your immediate surroundings -for you. You cannot take a step without -glimpsing beauty of some kind if your eyes are -awake to observe and your heart to absorb. Only -this morning the maid in "doing up my room" in -the city of Chicago pointed out the beauty of the -black trunks and branches of the trees in the avenue -contrasted against the pure white of the snow -which had just fallen. Then she remarked that -even the smoky buildings were changed into something -beautiful and harmonious when the snow -came, and she commented upon the fact that she -found beauty here that charmed, thrilled, and -stimulated her soul, just as much as she did amid -the much-described and certainly more glowing and -picturesque scenery of California.</p> - -<p>Here is the true spirit! Do not repine for the -things that are away off and that you cannot have. -Take from what you can get, or go resolutely to -work to get the more desirable surroundings. But -<em>wherever you are</em> absorb that which is <em>now</em> and <em>here</em><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> -presented to you, and thus you will learn to know -and appreciate greater and grander things when -opportunity places them before you.</p> - -<p>2. <em>Absorption through Reading.</em></p> - -<p>It must not be understood that because I am -constantly urging my readers to rely upon their -own observations of Nature that I do not fully -appreciate the benefit books may be to them. -Books form a large place in my own life, and I -would regret to be separated from them. They -bring into my life the inner life of all the observers, -thinkers, orators, seers, poets, and -prophets of the ages, and yet what are books but -the records of men's observations and their -thoughts upon those observations? All books are -not good. There are books and books. And just -as some associates are injurious, so are many -books. Do not waste your time on the cheap, the -trashy, the useless, and injurious. Select only -those books from which you are sure you can absorb -those things that will be helpful and beneficial.</p> - -<p>Some people say they read simply for entertainment. -There are times when it is well to read -with this object in view. If one is weary in mind -or body, the brain has been overtaxed, trouble -distresses one, then it is well to seek entertainment. -For entertainment and the forgetting of one's -cares, troubles, and weariness will mean rest and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> -recuperation. It is well to be able to absorb such -from a book that takes away thoughts from one's -self. But even at such times, choose the best books -from which you may absorb those things that will -enable you the better to take up the battle of life -with renewed energy and courage.</p> - -<p>Do you try to keep up with all the latest books? -Why? Do you read simply to say that you have -read, to be able to give expression to the usual -fashionable gabble on so-called "current literature"? -It is not the amount you read, but the -amount of good, ennobling, and uplifting influences -that you gain from your reading that makes -reading worth while. No person that lives can -read book after book in rapid succession and absorb -therefrom anything worth while. As well sit -down and eat from six o'clock in the morning until -twelve o'clock at night and expect the body to be -healthful as to read continually and expect the -mind to be healthful. It is not eating but assimilation -that builds up the body. Just so, it is not -reading but mental absorption that informs the -mind and strengthens the soul. One book a year, -thoroughly mastered, out of which you have absorbed -helpful, stimulating, invigorating, health-giving, -power-producing thought and action is -worth more than a thousand books swallowed -whole without thought or digestion.</p> - -<p>Joaquin Miller says that "Books are for peo<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>ple -who do not think." Very often this is a correct -statement. While it is a good thing to desire -the knowledge we can gain from books, it becomes -an evil thing when we gain all of our knowledge -of the world around us in this fashion. If -the only thoughts we have are the thoughts we get -from books, books are an injury instead of a blessing; -a crutch instead of an invigoration.</p> - -<p>In his early life, Edwin Markham, the poet, had -but three books, the Bible, Shakspere, and Bunyan. -Yet from these three books and the contemporaneous -study of the mountains, valleys, canyons, -plains, orchards, gardens, ocean, sea-beach, -and valleys by which he was surrounded, he absorbed -thoughts and saw things that enabled him -to write poems that have thrilled and benefited the -world.</p> - -<p>Sir John Lubbock a few years ago chose from -all the millions of books that have been published -one hundred which he claims comprises all the best -literature of all the ages, and more recently still, -President Eliot of Harvard compressed upon a five-foot -shelf all the books that he deems necessary for -the really thoughtful man to possess.</p> - -<p>I am not prepared to accept these or any other -limitations as to the books I shall possess and read, -and yet I do want to urge the principle involved -in them upon my readers. Learn to do your own -thinking rather than take your thoughts at sec<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>ond -hand from what some one else has written. -At the same time I would urge upon you the reading -of the writings of our great poets that you -may absorb from them their love of Nature. In -this way it may be that you will be won to the love -and appreciation of that which you have never -before known or enjoyed. Just as the artist on -his canvas sets forth for us a beautiful scene out -of the great world that surrounds us and thus -focalizes our attention upon it, and teaches us to -see the beauty which hitherto we had passed unobserved, -so does the poet focalize our attention -upon that which hitherto we had passed by and -neglected.</p> - -<p>Let us read, therefore, by all means, but not as -an end in itself. Let us read that thereby we may -be stimulated to go out into Nature to see, feel, and -absorb for ourselves. Many of the books that are -"worth while" were written by men and women -who have been close observers of Nature.</p> - -<p>It is by observation that we absorb the facts -and lessons of Nature. Some of the most helpful -and beautiful books have been written as the -result of the exercise of this faculty combined with -the reflection that always comes to the truly -thoughtful. The sciences are based upon observation, -and as soon as one becomes interested in -any particular line of study it is amazing how -many fascinating things begin to crowd upon his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> -attention. The great scientist, Agassiz, said that -he could find enough to thoroughly and completely -fill the whole of a life of eighty years in as much as -he could cover with his one hand. I have spent -night after night with astronomers whose whole -vocation was to study the heavens and learn the -wonderful lessons revealed thereby. One of the -happiest epochs of my life was to spend two months -in the High Sierras of California with Joseph Le -Conte, the great geologist, and his keen and trained -eyes revealed to me things in Nature that I had -never seen before, and life has ever since been -richer and fuller because of the experience.</p> - -<p>Darwin studied the facts of development of -plant and animal life until he wrote a book which -has completely revolutionized the thought of the -world. He spent years in studying the movements -and influences upon the ground of the common -earth-worm and showed us how great a friend to -humanity is this apparently insignificant and useless -creature.</p> - -<p>Sir John Lubbock, the eminent statesman and -philosopher, busy with the affairs of city and nation, -spent years in studying the actions and life -of the tiny ant and has given us most fascinating -accounts of what he saw with philosophical deductions -therefrom.</p> - -<p>The Audubons spent their lives in studying the -animals and birds of North America and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> -books have been a source of intense delight and instruction -to all those that have been privileged to -read them and see their marvelous illustrations.</p> - -<p>Michelet, the great French scholar, studied the -bee and then wrote a book about this busy insect -that is as fascinating as a romance and as thrilling -and interesting as a drama.</p> - -<p>John Ward Stimson studied the various forms -of snow crystals, salts, of rock substances; the -natural forms of leaves, their systems of veins; the -spines of the various cactuses; the marking on -the furs of animals and the backs of reptiles, -snakes, lizards, toads, etc.; indeed, all the multi-form -shapes, spirals, curves, angles, lines, etc., -of Nature, and wrote a book on them entitled <cite>The -Gate Beautiful</cite> which one great critic and poet -affirms is the greatest book, outside of the Bible and -Shakspere, the world has ever known. And thus -might I go on page after page, merely suggesting -what men with the seeing eye and understanding -heart have given to the world as the result of their -observations of Nature.</p> - -<p>Who would not observe in this fashion? Who -would not like thus to fill up the mind and the soul -with such wonderful facts and beautiful truths deduced -therefrom?</p> - -<p>Henry D. Thoreau, John Burroughs, Philip -Gilbert Hamerton, John Muir, John C. Van Dyke, -and W. C. Bartlett have studied Nature in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> -trees, grasses, the birds, the animals, and the sunrises -and sunsets until they have been able to thrill -the world with the record of those things that they -have seen and felt.</p> - -<p>Ernest Thompson Seton, W. J. Long, and C. -G. D. Roberts have studied the wild life of animals -until they have written books that have -charmed perhaps millions of readers by revealing -to them phases of animal life that they had never -believed existed.</p> - -<p>Jack London goes up into Alaska and with -trained eye observes the wild wastes of snow and -winter desolation and comes back and writes books -that win him fame and wealth, because of his power -to see and tell what his seeing makes him feel.</p> - -<p>This world is full of beauty, of knowledge, of -joy, to the hungry mind and soul, and its treasures -are all free, are all to be had merely for the asking, -for the seeing, for the reaching out.</p> - -<p>Nothing repays every effort more abundantly -than does Nature. She preaches more eloquently, -because more simply, purely, and directly than -any divine that ever occupied pulpit. She is the -direct voice of God to mankind, ordained by the -Infinite himself. Few men in sacerdotal robes ever -come to us with this divine song upon their lips. -Joaquin Miller never wrote truer words than:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The woods keep repeating</div> - <div class="verse">The old sacred sermons whatever you ask.</div> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span></p> -<p>It may be that as you read over what I have said -of the observations and achievements of the scientists -and others that you will say that you have no -such opportunity for wide observation as this. It -is not necessary that you should have. Let me -suggest to you how to begin the development of -your powers of observation in order that you may -in your way reap as beautiful a harvest as those -men have in theirs.</p> - -<p>David was only a poor shepherd boy, but while -out tending his flocks by day and night he learned -the wonderful lessons that he afterwards incorporated -into the Psalms. It was his observations, -without scientific knowledge, without observatories, -without telescopes, or other scientific instruments, -that gave him such clear knowledge of the stars -that he was able to sing those wonderful words that -have thrilled all mankind ever since they were uttered, -"The heavens declare the glory of God, and -the firmament showeth His handiwork." While -a shepherd boy without training, without education, -he so observed the things about him that -when, later in life, the power of expression came, -he was able to sing messages that will live so -long as man lives.</p> - -<p>So, like David, begin to study the common -things about you. Observe the flowers. Observe -their loveliness. Study the infinite variety of their -form, color, fragrance; compare them one with an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>other; -ask yourself why one appeals to you more -than another; wherein the special beauty and attractiveness -lies of one flower over another for -you. No one can study the flowers and not realize -that the Divine Creator loves beauty, for the -infinitude of varieties that are presented, from the -delicate orchids and cactuses of the tropical forests -and barren deserts down to the plainest sunflower -and dandelion, are all rich in a beauty and -attractiveness all their own.</p> - -<p>Ina Coolbrith, the California poet, in one of her -sweetest songs, says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I will out in the gold of the blossoming mould</div> - <div class="verse">And sit at the Master's feet,</div> - <div class="verse">And the love my heart would speak,</div> - <div class="verse">I will fold in the lily's rim,</div> - <div class="verse">That the lips of the blossom more pure and meet</div> - <div class="verse">May offer it up to Him.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>See what a beautiful conception! Her heart -was full of desire to lift her prayer of thankfulness, -praise, and supplication up to God, but feeling -her own inadequacy and incompleteness, and -realizing the perfect purity of the delicate lily, she -felt that she might wrap her prayer up in the -rim of the flower and thus make it acceptable to -the God of purity and immaculate whiteness.</p> - -<p>There never was a flower yet that was not a -miracle to the observing eye and thinking mind.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> -How does it shape all that beauty? From whence -does it gain those delicate tints, tones, and colors? -From what laboratory does it extract those exquisitely -delicate and delicious odors?</p> - -<p>Oh, wake up to the beauty of the common grass, -the common flowers, the common trees. Open your -eyes to see, open your hearts to feel, cultivate your -hunger for these common things and then absorb -and assimilate them.</p> - -<p>But the flowers and trees are but merely a part -of the great world of Nature from which one may -absorb things beautiful and grand.</p> - -<p>People who live by the sea or by an inland lake -have wonderful opportunities for the observation -of grandeur, sublimity, and beauty. Joaquin Miller -once stood by the seashore and wrote these -words of poetry:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The sun lay molten in the sea</div> - <div class="verse">Of sand, and all the sea was rolled</div> - <div class="verse">In one broad, bright intensity</div> - <div class="verse">Of gold and gold and gold and gold.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>He saw the gold of beauty which in this materialistic -age few men deem of value. But when -all the gold of commerce has disappeared, the gold -of beauty is a treasure stored up in one's soul that -will accompany him through all the ages of eternity. -The one is ephemeral and useful only to provide -the food, clothing, and shelter we need for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> -body, the other, permanent, enduring, lasting, that -clothes the mind with brilliant images and the soul -with helpful and stimulating aspirations.</p> - -<p>It is one of the mistakes of life to overlook the -apparently small, trifling and near-by things, in -the vain desire to see some great, large, important -thing. The things about us are the essential -things of our life. Too often we deem them unimportant. -We are so accustomed to seeing them -that we pay no attention to them, yet these things -were worth the thought of the Almighty Creator. -Every blade of grass, every leaf of every tree is -a revelation of some thought of God, hence can -never be beneath the notice of mankind. This -careless and unobservant attitude of mind shows -our ignorance and our unwisdom. God's mysteries -are before us and we refuse to read them. -As Walt Whitman says: "Our streets are strewn -with leaves from the book of God and we see them -not." We pass them by. Let us learn to pick up -these divine mysteries and in their sweet, beautiful -simplicity read their sublime lessons to our own -hearts.</p> - -<p>Who would think of learning anything from the -mists? Yet Joaquin Miller once wrote these -words:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Behold the silvered mists that rise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From all-night toiling in the corn, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The mists have duties up the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The skies have duties with the morn;</div> - <div class="verse">While all the world is full of earnest care</div> - <div class="verse">To make the fair world still more wondrous fair.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>In one of his poems, one of our great poets tells -the story of a number of poor people who came to -see their king who was to approach with his gayly -dressed bands of music and all the pomp and ceremony -attendant upon kingship. The story goes, -however, that the Captain of the Province drove -the poor people away and refused to allow them to -be present when the king passed through.</p> - -<p>Let the poet now tell his own story:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Lo, then a soft-voiced stranger said:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">"Come ye with me a little space.</div> - <div class="verse">I know where torches gold and red</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gleam down a peaceful, ample place;</div> - <div class="verse">Where song and perfume fill the restful air,</div> - <div class="verse">And men speak scarce at all. The King is there."</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">They passed; they sat a grass-set hill—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What king hath carpets like to this?</div> - <div class="verse">What king hath music like the thrill</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of crickets 'mid these silences—</div> - <div class="verse">These perfumed silences, that rest upon</div> - <div class="verse">The soul like sunlight on a hill at dawn?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Behold what blessings in the air!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What benedictions in the dew!</div> - <div class="verse">These olives lift their arms in prayer;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They turn their leaves, God reads them through;</div> - <div class="verse">Yon lilies where the falling water sings</div> - <div class="verse">Are fairer-robed than choristers of kings. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Lift now your heads! yon golden bars</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That build the porch of heaven, seas</div> - <div class="verse">Of silver-sailing golden stars—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yea, these are yours, and all of these!</div> - <div class="verse">For yonder king hath never yet been told</div> - <div class="verse">Of silver seas that sail these ships of gold.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">They turned, they raised their heads on high;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They saw, the first time saw and knew,</div> - <div class="verse">The awful glories of the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The benedictions of the dew;</div> - <div class="verse">And from that day His poor were richer far</div> - <div class="verse">Than all such kings as keep where follies are.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Have you experienced these blessings in the air? -Have you felt these benedictions in the dew? -Have you seen the exquisite robes of the lilies? -Have you seen the ships of gold sailing through the -silver seas? And the bars of gold that build the -porch of heaven?</p> - -<p>You have rushed to see the pomp of kings. You -have rushed to see the glitter and tinsel of the circus -procession. You have struggled with desperation -that you and your wife might mingle with the -gayly dressed throng at some fanciful revel. Why -be so eager for these vain shows and yet not see -the true beauty, real gorgeousness, undying splendor -of these other outward manifestations of the -thoughts of God?</p> - -<p>Eager desire for the vain pomp and circumstance -of things reveals the abnormal and depraved -appetite just the same as the glutton's and drunk<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>ard's -cravings do. The more they are fed the -more fiercely their fires rage and the less satisfied -one becomes. It is only real things that will satisfy -the hunger of the immortal soul, and then one -of the remarkable things is how the trivial and -small things will produce satisfaction.</p> - -<p>As George Macdonald says in his fascinating -story, <cite>Sir Gibbie</cite>:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>It is wonderful upon how little those rare natures capable -of making the most of things will live and thrive. There is -a great deal more to be got out of things than is generally -got out of them, whether the thing be a chapter of the -Bible or a yellow turnip, and the marvel is that those who -use the most material should so often be those that show -the least result in strength or character.</p></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> -</div> - -<p class="ph3">RADIANCIES OF DEATH</p> - - -<p>For centuries the human mind has been afraid, -disturbed, distressed, at the thought of death; the -uncertainty of the beyond; "shall we know each -other there?" and the thousand and one questions -that have arisen as to what life, if any, there is -beyond the grave. Years ago, in my own innerness, -all sense of fear, of disturbance, of distress at -the thought of death vanished, never again to appear. -I have no resentment at the thought of -death, either for myself, or those I love. I expect it -for us all, and am neither surprised nor hurt when -it comes. There may be the sense of physical loss, -but that is all. There is no sense of <em>real</em> loss of -anything except the temporal, the physical, that -which, in the very course of Nature, must pass -through the change we call Death.</p> - -<p>Hence I feel I have definite and positive radiancies -upon this subject, which I am assured will -bring comfort and peace to those who can enter -into the spirit of them, and accept the same assurances -that have come to me.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span></p> - -<p>The first of these that I would radiate with -clearness and fullness is that <em>man is a spiritual -being and not physical</em>. Much of the fear, dread, -distress, pain of death has come from the mistaken -belief that man is physical. Death has come -and robbed us of the life of the physical. The flesh -has become cold, inanimate, lifeless, therefore dead -and lost to us. The mother has grieved herself -into sickness and a ruined life because of the death -of her babe. Husbands have wept long for the -wives they thought they had lost. Sorrow, grief, -sadness, woe—these seem the natural accompaniments -of death. Our customs, our language, our -literature, our poetry, our art, are full of the expressions -of this thought—the trappings of woe, -the solemn countenance, the hushed voice, the somber -garments, the widow's weeds, the black band -of bereavement, the hearse, the funeral marches, -the watch of the dead, the lighted candles, the -solemn funeral addresses, the tears, the grief that -will not be comforted, all speak of the sadness -attributed to death. Tennyson's <cite>In Memoriam</cite>, -Browning's <cite>La Saziaz</cite>, and hundreds, thousands, -of lesser poems have been written on the woe, the -grief, the cruelty of death.</p> - -<p>While I long for the physical presence of my -beloved ones as much as do other men, I would -radiate my belief, my restful assurance, in the love -that exists, <em>persists</em>, <em>lives</em>, after what we call the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> -death of the body, and that, therefore, to me, save -for the loss of the physical presence, there is absolutely -no death, no need for sorrow, grief, pain, -or woe.</p> - -<p>As birth itself is a death of the embryonic life, -so is death a birth into the life beyond—the life -of the spirit, the life, free, unhampered, unhindered -by the flesh. Browning expresses it perfectly in -his wonderful <cite>Pisgah Sight</cite>, where he stands and -looks "over Jordan" into the Promised Land:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Good to forgive,</div> - <div class="verse">Best to forget;</div> - <div class="verse">Living we fret,</div> - <div class="verse">Dying we live.</div> - <div class="verse">Fretless and free, soul,</div> - <div class="verse">Clap thy pinion,</div> - <div class="verse">Earth have dominion,</div> - <div class="verse">Body, o'er thee.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The Indians' attitude towards death is very -beautiful to me. They regard it as a natural -change; a something to be expected, to be looked -for, and therefore to be met with bravery, courage, -and fearlessness. While I know they grieve deeply -at unexpected deaths by accidents, sudden disease, -in war, etc., and make a loud show of their grief, -that is merely the child part of their nature asserting -itself. When a man, a woman, has lived out -the natural term of years and he, she, feels death -approaching, retirement is made to some quiet and -solitary place, where Death is awaited with calm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>ness, -serenity, and fearlessness. This is what I -would radiate, both for myself and those whom I -love. I believe with all my heart in the great goodness -of God; in the progressiveness of the human -soul towards the godhead possible for us.</p> - -<p>I look forward with confidence and eager anticipation -to the adventures new and brave that are -to meet me when I go beyond. I have had a grand -and glorious time here. In spite of hardships, -sorrows, griefs, pains, sickness, bereavement, poverties, -and the pains that come from a recognition -of my own mental and spiritual imperfections, I -have had a wonderfully rich, joyous, and blessed -life. I am thankful for it all. As I look back -upon it I regret only those things wherein I have -brought pain and sorrow to others. As for myself, -all the pains and distresses are gone and forgotten; -the joys and delights, the pleasures and -happinesses, only, remain, and for these I am -thankful beyond all power of expression.</p> - -<p>Shall I, then, be afraid that the Supreme Power -who has so blessed me in this life will be unable, -or unwilling, to equally bless me in the one to come? -Fearless and unafraid I await the issue, nay, with -glad confidence I will welcome it when it comes.</p> - -<p>Hence, again to quote Browning, whom I love -and revere for his great helpfulness:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I would hate that Death bandaged my eyes, and forbore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bade me creep past. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The heroes of old;</div> - <div class="verse">Bear the brunt, in a minute pay, glad, life's arrears</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of pain, darkness and cold.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>I want to meet death in just that spirit; open-eyed, -in full possession of my senses, if that be -possible, that I may have full cognizance of the -experience as I pass through it. But let it come -as it may, I want to be ready to meet and greet -it.</p> - -<p>In many of his poems Walt Whitman fully expresses -my conceptions, and Joaquin Miller's many -sweet poems reëcho the thoughts that come to me, -again and again, as I contemplate the sleep that -has no earthly awakening. Take his beautiful -<cite>River of Rest</cite>:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">A beautiful stream is the River of Rest;</div> - <div class="verse">The still, wide waters sweep clear and cold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A tall mast crosses a star in the west,</div> - <div class="verse">A white sail gleams in the west world's gold:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It leans to the shore of the River of Rest—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lily-lined shore of the River of Rest.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The boatman rises, he reaches a hand,</div> - <div class="verse">He knows you well, he will steer you true,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And far, so far, from all ills upon land,</div> - <div class="verse">From hates, from fates that pursue and pursue;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far over the lily-lined River of Rest—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dear mystical, magical River of Rest.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">A storied, sweet stream is this River of Rest;</div> - <div class="verse">The souls of all time keep its ultimate shore;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And journey you east or journey you west, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span></div> - <div class="verse">Unwilling, or willing, sure-footed or sore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You surely will come to this River of Rest—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This beautiful, beautiful River of Rest.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>And elsewhere he says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I go, I know not where, but know I will not die,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And know I will be gainer going to that somewhere;</div> - <div class="verse">For in that hereafter, afar beyond the bended sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bread and butter will not figure in the bill of fare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor will the soul be judged by what the flesh may wear.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Here is the spirit in which he describes and meets -death:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Come forward here to me, ye who have a fear of death,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Come down, far down, even to the dark waves' rim,</div> - <div class="verse">And take my hand, and feel my calm, low breath;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How peaceful all! How still and sweet! The sight is dim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And dreamy as a distant sea. And melodies do swim</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Around us here as afar-off vesper's holy hymn.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This is death! With folded hands I wait and welcome him.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Thus, in very deed, and very truth, would I -await and welcome him. And so I would radiate, -now and ever, being sorry for my failings and failures, -but thankful beyond measure for any small -degree of helpfulness, joy, happiness, blessing I -may have brought to others, and with only one -great desire towards the earth and its inhabitants, -viz., to be remembered as one who loved and sought -to bless his fellow men.</p> - -<div class="break-before"> -</div> - - <div class="bbox"> -<p class="ph2">BOOKS BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES</p> - - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>PALOU'S LIFE AND APOSTOLIC LABORS OF PADRE -FR. 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This makes a total of -$39.00 net. But when sets are bought complete the -price is $37.00 net, a saving of $2.00. The titles -and prices are:</p> - -<table summary="Twain Set Price List"> -<tr> -<td><span class="smcap">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> $1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The $30,000 Bequest</span></td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> 1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Innocents Abroad</span>, 2 Vols. Each</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> 1.50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Joan of Arc</span>, 2 Vols. 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Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">$1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Christian Science.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Connecticut Yankee.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Following the Equator.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Gilded Age.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Hadleyburg, Etc.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Huckleberry Finn.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Innocents Abroad.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Joan of Arc.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">2.50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Life on the Mississippi.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Prince and Pauper.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Pudd'nhead Wilson.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Roughing It.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Sketches New and Old.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The $30,000 Bequest.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Tom Sawyer Abroad.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Tom Sawyer.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.75</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Tramp Abroad.</span> Crown 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdr"><i>Set of 18 vols. in a box</i></td> - <td class="tdr">33.50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Mark Twain's Speeches.</span> Crown 8vo.</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> 2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Adam's Diary.</span> Illustrated</td> - <td class="tdr">1.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Dog's Tale.</span> Illustrated</td> - <td class="tdr">1.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Double-Barrelled Detective Story.</span> Illustrated</td> - <td class="tdr">1.50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Editorial Wild Oats.</span> Illustrated</td> - <td class="tdr">1.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Eve's Diary.</span> Illustrated. Post 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">How to Tell a Story.</span> Post 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Is Shakespeare Dead?</span> Post 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> 1.25</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Tom Sawyer.</span> Holiday Edition. Illustrated. 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> 2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdc">Same in box</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> 2.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Jumping Frog.</span> Illustrated. Post 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Horse's Tail.</span> Illustrated. Post 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven.</span> Illustrated. Post 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr">1.00</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Travels at Home.</span> 12mo</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>School</i> .50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Travels in History.</span> 12mo</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>School</i> .50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Seventieth Birthday Souvenir.</span> Illustrated. Paper. 4to</td> - <td class="tdr">.50</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Bibliography of Mark Twain's Works.</span> 8vo</td> - <td class="tdr"><i>net</i> 5.00</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<div class="footnotes"> -<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> - - -<ul> -<li class="footnote"> -<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor_1">A</a>]</span> -<a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a> For a full and complete description of the Snake -Dance see the writings of Dr. J. W. Fewkes in the Reports -of the U. S. Bureau of Ethnology and my own <cite>Indians -of the Painted Desert Region</cite>, published by Little, Brown -& Co., Boston, Mass. - </li> - -<li class="footnote"> -<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor_2">B</a>]</span> -<a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a> This list, with slight variations, is taken from the <cite>Cosmopolitan</cite>, -Vol. XXXVIII, No. 2. -</li> - -<li class="footnote"> -<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor_3">C</a>]</span> -<a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a> This poem has recently been set to music by Dr. Carlos -Troyer, of San Francisco, that is as thrilling and soul-stirring -as are the words. Copies may be had by sending -sixty cents in postage stamps to Dr. Troyer, 1236 19th Ave., -Sunset District, San Francisco, Calif. -</li> - - - -<li class="footnote"> -<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor_4">D</a>]</span> -<a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a> This was written prior to the breaking out of the war of -1914-15, when "hell was let loose in Europe." Yet I do not -feel inclined to change one single line of what I then wrote. -During 1915, I was engaged speaking daily to large audiences -at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco—I -estimate that I addressed not less than 300,000 people during -that time. In many of these addresses I expressed my -thoughts about the hideousness, the needlessness, the waste, -the devilishness of war, with open frankness, and without -a single exception my denunciations of the system of war -were received with hearty applause. I refer to this merely -as an index as to what I believe is the general thought of -all intelligent people on the subject. All except war-mad -and war-hypnotized people hate war and desire to see it -abolished, and the higher standards of brotherly and amicable -conference and equitable adjustment of difficulties take -its place. That nations were urged into the European conflict -is no proof that they love war. It is rather a proof -that they hate war enough to die to make future wars impossible. -This, I sincerely hope and confidently expect, will -be the tendency of the result, if not an actually accomplished -result. -</li> - -<li class="footnote"> -<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#Anchor_5">E</a>]</span> -<a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a> Since these pages were written this farm-school has become -an established fact, and is doing excellent and beautiful -work for needy children. -</li> - -</ul> -</div> - -<div class="tnote"><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3> -<ul> -<li>Obvious printer's errors corrected.</li> - -<li>Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings, non-standard punctuation, inconsistently hyphenated words, and other inconsistencies.</li> -</ul> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Living the Radiant Life, by George Wharton James - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVING THE RADIANT LIFE *** - -***** This file should be named 56306-h.htm or 56306-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/3/0/56306/ - -Produced by Larry B. 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