,,self-,,control ,,its ,,kingship ,,and ,,majesty by ,,william ,,george ,,jordan ,,fleming ,h4 ,,revell ,,company ,,chicago ,,london ,,toronto ,,new ,,york ,,edinburgh ,republished from the ,saturday ,evening ,post through the courtesy of the ,curtis ,publishing ,company1 ,copyright1 #ahih and #ahii1 by ,,curtis ,,publishing ,,company ,copyright1 #ahii and #aije1 by ,,fleming ,h4 ,,revell ,,company ,new ,york3 #aeh ,fifth ,avenue ,chicago3 #ag ,north ,wabash ,ave4 ,london3 #ba ,paternoster ,square ,edinburgh3 #ge ,princes ,street 99 99 99 99 99 ,,contents ,,page ,i4 ,the ,kingship of ,self-,control #g ,,ii4 ,the ,crimes of the ,tongue #ah ,,iii4 ,the ,red ,tape of ,duty #bh ,,iv4 ,the ,supreme ,charity of the ,world #ch ,v4 ,worry1 the ,great ,american ,disease #di ,,vi4 ,the ,greatness of ,simplicity #fj ,,vii4 ,living life ,over ,again #ga ,,viii4 ,syndicating our ,sorrows #hb ,,ix4 ,the ,revelations of ,reserve ,power #ic ,x4 ,the ,majesty of ,calmness #ajd ,,xi4 ,hurry1 the ,scourge of ,america #aac ,,xii4 ,the ,power of ,personal ,influence #abd ,,xiii4 ,the ,dignity of ,self-,reliance #ace ,,xiv4 ,failure as a ,success #adg ,,xv4 ,doing ,our ,best at ,all ,times #afa ,,xvi4 ,the ,royal ,road to ,happiness #agh 99 99 99 99 99 ,self-,control ,i ,the ,kingship of ,self-,control ,man has two creators1--his ,god and himself4 ,his first creator furnishes him the raw material of his life and the laws in conformity with which he can make that life what he will4 ,his second creator1--himself1--has marvellous powers he rarely realizes4 ,it is what a man makes of himself that counts4 ,when a man fails in life he usually says1 8,i am as ,god made me40 ,when he succeeds he proudly proclaims himself a 8self-made man40 ,man is placed into this world not as a finality1--but as a possibility4 ,man's greatest enemy is1--himself4 ,man in his weakness is the creature of circumstances2 man in his strength is the creator of circumstances4 ,whether he be victim or victor depends largely on himself4 ,man is never truly great merely for what he is1 but ever for what he may become4 ,until man be truly filled with the knowledge of the majesty of his possibility1 until there come to him the glow of realization of his privilege to live the life committed to him1 as an individual life for which he is individually responsible1 he is merely groping through the years4 ,to see his life as he might make it1 man must go up alone into the mountains of spiritual thought as ,christ went alone into the ,garden1 leaving the world to get strength to live in the world4 ,he must there breathe the fresh1 pure air of recognition of his divine importance as an individual1 and with mind purified and tingling with new strength he must approach the problems of his daily living4 ,man needs less of the 8,i am a feeble worm of the dust0 idea in his theology1 and more of the conception 8,i am a great human soul with marvellous possibilities0 as a vital element in his daily working religion4 ,with this broadening1 stimulating view of life1 he sees how he may attain his kingship through self-control4 ,and the self-control that is seen in the most spectacular instances in history1 and in the simplest phases of daily life1 is precisely the same in kind and in quality1 differing only in degree4 ,this control man can attain1 if he only will2 it is but a matter of paying the price4 ,the power of self-control is one of the great qualities that differentiates man from the lower animals4 ,he is the only animal capable of a moral struggle or a moral conquest4 ,every step in the progress of the world has been a new 8control40 ,it has been escaping from the tyranny of a fact1 to the understanding and mastery of that fact4 ,for ages man looked in terror at the lightning flash2 to-day he has begun to understand it as electricity1 a force he has mastered and made his slave4 ,the million phases of electrical invention are but manifestations of our control over a great force4 ,but the greatest of all 8control0 is self-control4 ,at each moment of man's life he is either a ,king or a slave4 ,as he surrenders to a wrong appetite1 to any human weakness2 as he falls prostrate in hopeless subjection to any condition1 to any environment1 to any failure1 he is a slave4 ,as he day by day crushes out human weakness1 masters opposing elements within him1 and day by day re-creates a new self from the sin and folly of his past1--then he is a ,king4 ,he is a ,king ruling with wisdom over himself4 ,alexander conquered the whole world except1--,alexander4 ,emperor of the earth1 he was the servile slave of his own passions4 ,we look with envy upon the possessions of others and wish they were our own4 ,sometimes we feel this in a vague1 dreamy way with no thought of real attainment1 as when we wish we had ,queen ,victoria's crown1 or ,emperor ,william's self-satisfaction4 ,sometimes1 however1 we grow bitter1 storm at the wrong distribution of the good things of life1 and then relapse into a hopeless fatalistic acceptance of our condition4 ,we envy the success of others1 when we should emulate the process by which that success came4 ,we see the splendid physical development of ,sandow1 yet we forget that as a babe and child he was so weak there was little hope that his life might be spared4 ,we may sometimes envy the power and spiritual strength of a ,paul1 without realizing the weak ,saul of ,tarsus from which he was transformed through his self-control4 ,we shut our eyes to the thousands of instances of the world's successes1--mental1 moral1 physical1 financial or spiritual1--wherein the great final success came from a beginning far weaker and poorer than our own4 ,any man may attain self-control if he only will4 ,he must not expect to gain it save by long continued payment of price1 in small progressive expenditures of energy4 ,nature is a thorough believer in the installment plan in her relations with the individual4 ,no man is so poor that he cannot begin to pay for what he wants1 and every small1 individual payment that he makes1 ,nature stores and accumulates for him as a reserve fund in his hour of need4 ,the patience man expends in bearing the little trials of his daily life ,nature stores for him as a wondrous reserve in a crisis of life4 ,with ,nature1 the mental1 the physical or the moral energy he expends daily in right-doing is all stored for him and transmuted into strength4 ,nature never accepts a cash payment in full for anything1--this would be an injustice to the poor and to the weak4 ,it is only the progressive installment plan ,nature recognizes4 ,no man can make a habit in a moment or break it in a moment4 ,it is a matter of development1 of growth4 ,but at any moment man may begin to make or begin to break any habit4 ,this view of the growth of character should be a mighty stimulus to the man who sincerely desires and determines to live nearer to the limit of his possibilities4 ,self-control may be developed in precisely the same manner as we tone up a weak muscle1--by little exercises day by day4 ,let us each day do1 as mere exercises of discipline in moral gymnastics1 a few acts that are disagreeable to us1 the doing of which will help us in instant action in our hour of need4 ,the exercises may be very simple--dropping for a time an intensely interesting book at the most thrilling page of the story2 jumping out of bed at the first moment of waking2 walking home when one is perfectly able to do so1 but when the temptation is to take a car2 talking to some disagreeable person and trying to make the conversation pleasant4 ,these daily exercises in moral discipline will have a wondrous tonic effect on man's whole moral nature4 ,the individual can attain self-control in great things only through self-control in little things4 ,he must study himself to discover what is the weak point in his armor1 what is the element within him that ever keeps him from his fullest success4 ,this is the characteristic upon which he should begin his exercise in self-control4 ,is it selfishness1 vanity1 cowardice1 morbidness1 temper1 laziness1 worry1 mind-wandering1 lack of purpose8--whatever form human weakness assumes in the masquerade of life he must discover4 ,he must then live each day as if his whole existence were telescoped down to the single day before him4 ,with no useless regret for the past1 no useless worry for the future1 he should live that day as if it were his only day1--the only day left for him to assert all that is best in him1 the only day left for him to conquer all that is worst in him4 ,he should master the weak element within him at each slight manifestation from moment to moment4 ,each moment then must be a victory for it or for him4 ,will he be ,king1 or will he be slave8--the answer rests with him4 ,,ii ,the ,crimes of the ,tongue ,the second most deadly instrument of destruction is the dynamite gun1--the first is the human tongue4 ,the gun merely kills bodies2 the tongue kills reputations and1 ofttimes1 ruins characters4 ,each gun works alone2 each loaded tongue has a hundred accomplices4 ,the havoc of the gun is visible at once4 ,the full evil of the tongue lives through all the years2 even the eye of ,omniscience might grow tired in tracing it to its finality4 ,the crimes of the tongue are words of unkindness1 of anger1 of malice1 of envy1 of bitterness1 of harsh criticism1 gossip1 lying and scandal4 ,theft and murder are awful crimes1 yet in any single year the aggregate sorrow1 pain and suffering they cause in a nation is microscopic when compared with the sorrows that come from the crimes of the tongue4 ,place in one of the scale-pans of ,justice the evils resulting from the acts of criminals1 and in the other the grief and tears and suffering resulting from the crimes of respectability1 and you will start back in amazement as you see the scale you thought the heavier shoot high in air4 ,at the hands of thief or murderer few of us suffer1 even indirectly4 ,but from the careless tongue of friend1 the cruel tongue of enemy1 who is free8 ,no human being can live a life so true1 so fair1 so pure as to be beyond the reach of malice1 or immune from the poisonous emanations of envy4 ,the insidious attacks against one's reputation1 the loathsome innuendoes1 slurs1 half-lies1 by which jealous mediocrity seeks to ruin its superiors1 are like those insect parasites that kill the heart and life of a mighty oak4 ,so cowardly is the method1 so stealthy the shooting of the poisoned thorns1 so insignificant the separate acts in their seeming1 that one is not on guard against them4 ,it is easier to dodge an elephant than a microbe4 ,in ,london they have recently formed an ,anti-,scandal ,league4 ,the members promise to combat in every way in their power 8the prevalent custom of talking scandal1 the terrible and unending consequences of which are not generally estimated40 ,scandal is one of the crimes of the tongue1 but it is only one4 ,every individual who breathes a word of scandal is an active stockholder in a society for the spread of moral contagion4 ,he is instantly punished by ,nature by having his mental eyes dimmed to sweetness and purity1 and his mind deadened to the sunlight and glow of charity4 ,there is developed a wondrous1 ingenious perversion of mental vision1 by which every act of others is explained and interpreted from the lowest possible motives4 ,they become like certain carrion flies1 that pass lightly over acres of rose-gardens1 to feast on a piece of putrid meat4 ,they have developed a keen scent for the foul matter upon which they feed4 ,there are pillows wet by sobs2 there are noble hearts broken in the silence whence comes no cry of protest2 there are gentle1 sensitive natures seared and warped2 there are old-time friends separated and walking their lonely ways with hope dead and memory but a pang2 there are cruel misunderstandings that make all life look dark1--these are but a few of the sorrows that come from the crimes of the tongue4 ,a man may lead a life of honesty and purity1 battling bravely for all he holds dearest1 so firm and sure of the rightness of his life that he never thinks for an instant of the diabolic ingenuity that makes evil and evil report where naught but good really exists4 ,a few words lightly spoken by the tongue of slander1 a significant expression of the eyes1 a cruel shrug of the shoulders1 with a pursing of the lips1--and then1 friendly hands grow cold1 the accustomed smile is displaced by a sneer1 and one stands alone and aloof with a dazed feeling of wonder at the vague1 intangible something that has caused it all4 ,for this craze for scandal1 sensational newspapers of to-day are largely responsible4 ,each newspaper is not one tongue1 but a thousand or a million tongues1 telling the same foul story to as many pairs of listening ears4 ,the vultures of sensationalism scent the carcass of immorality afar off4 ,from the uttermost parts of the earth they collect the sin1 disgrace and folly of humanity1 and show them bare to the world4 ,they do not even require facts1 for morbid memories and fertile imaginations make even the worst of the world's happenings seem tame when compared with their monstrosities of invention4 ,these stories1 and the discussions they excite1 develop in readers a cheap1 shrewd power of distortion of the acts of all around them4 ,if a rich man give a donation to some charity1 they say3 8,he is doing it to get his name talked about1--to help his business40 ,if he give it anonymously1 they say1 8,oh1 it's some millionaire who is clever enough to know that refraining from giving his name will pique curiosity2 he will see that the public is informed later40 ,if he do not give to charity1 they say3 8,oh1 he's stingy with his money1 of course1 like the rest of the millionaires40 ,to the vile tongue of gossip and slander1 ,virtue is ever deemed but a mask1 noble ideals but a pretense1 generosity a bribe4 ,the man who stands above his fellows must expect to be the target for the envious arrows of their inferiority4 ,it is part of the price he must pay for his advance4 ,one of the most detestable characters in all literature is ,iago4 ,envious of the promotion of ,cassio above his head1 he hated ,othello4 ,his was one of those low natures that become absorbed in sustaining his dignity1 talking of 8preserving his honor10--forgetting it has so long been dead that even embalming could not preserve it4 ,day by day ,iago dropped his poison2 day by day did subtle resentment and studied vengeance distill the poison of distrust and suspicion into more powerfully insidious doses4 ,with a mind wonderfully concentrated by the blackness of his purpose1 he wove a network of circumstantial evidence around the pure-hearted ,desdemona1 and then murdered her vicariously1 by the hand of ,othello4 ,her very simplicity1 confidence1 innocence and artlessness made ,desdemona the easier mark for the diabolic tactics of ,iago4 ,iago still lives in the hearts of thousands1 who have all his despicable meanness without his cleverness4 ,the constant dropping of their lying words of malice and envy have in too many instances at last worn away the noble reputations of their superiors4 ,to sustain ourselves in our own hasty judgments we sometimes say1 as we listen1 and accept without investigation1 the words of these modern ,iagos3 8,well1 where there is so much smoke1 there must be some fire40 ,yes1 but the fire may be only the fire of malice1 the incendiary firing of the reputation of another by the lighted torch of envy1 thrown into the innocent facts of a life of superiority4 ,,iii ,the ,red ,tape of ,duty ,duty is the most overlauded word in the whole vocabulary of life4 ,duty is the cold1 bare anatomy of righteousness4 ,duty looks at life as a debt to be paid2 love sees life as a debt to be collected4 ,duty is ever paying assessments2 love is constantly counting its premiums4 ,duty is forced1 like a pump2 love is spontaneous1 like a fountain4 ,duty is prescribed and formal2 it is part of the red tape of life4 ,it means running on moral rails4 ,it is good enough as a beginning2 it is poor as a finality4 ,the boy who 8stood on the burning deck10 and who committed suicide on a technical point of obedience1 has been held up to the school children of this century as a model of faithfulness to duty4 ,the boy was the victim of a blind adherence to the red tape of duty4 ,he was placing the whole responsibility for his acts on someone outside himself4 ,he was helplessly waiting for instruction in the hour of emergency when he should have acted for himself4 ,his act was an empty sacrifice4 ,it was a useless throwing away of a human life4 ,it did no good to the father1 to the boy1 to the ship1 or to the nation4 ,the captain who goes down with his sinking vessel1 when he has done everything in his power to save others and when he can save his own life without dishonor1 is the victim of a false sense of duty4 ,he is cruelly forgetful of the loved ones on shore that he is sacrificing4 ,his death means a spectacular exit from life1 the cowardly fear of an investigating committee1 or a brave man's loyal1 yet misguided1 sense of duty4 ,a human life1 with its wondrous possibilities1 is too sacred an individual trust to be thus lightly thrown into eternity4 ,they tell us of the 8sublime nobleness0 of the ,roman soldier at ,pompeii1 whose skeleton was found centuries afterward1 imbedded in the once molten lava which swept down upon the doomed city4 ,he was still standing at one of the gates1 at his post of duty1 still grasping a sword in his crumbling fingers4 ,his was a morbid faithfulness to a discipline from which a great convulsion of ,nature had released him4 ,an automaton would have stood there just as long1 just as boldly1 just as uselessly4 ,the man who gives one hour of his life to loving1 consecrated service to humanity is doing higher1 better1 truer work in the world than an army of ,roman sentinels paying useless tribute to the red tape of duty4 ,there is in this interpretation of duty no sympathy with the man who deserts his post when needed2 it is but a protest against losing the essence1 the realness of true duty in worshipping the mere form4 ,analyze1 if you will1 any of the great historic instances of loyalty to duty1 and whenever they ring true you will find the presence of the real element that made the act almost divine4 ,it was duty1--plus love4 ,it was no mere sense of duty that made ,grace ,darling risk her life in the awful storm of sixty years ago1 when she set out in the darkness of night1 on a raging sea1 to rescue the survivors of the wreck of 8,the ,forfarshire40 ,it was the sense of duty1 warmed and vivified by a love of humanity1 it was heroic courage of a heart filled with divine pity and sympathy4 ,duty is a hard1 mechanical process for making men do things that love would make easy4 ,it is a poor understudy to love4 ,it is not a high enough motive with which to inspire humanity4 ,duty is the body to which love is the soul4 ,love1 in the divine alchemy of life1 transmutes all duties into privileges1 all responsibilities into joys4 ,the workman who drops his tools at the stroke of twelve1 as suddenly as if he had been struck by lightning1 may be doing his duty1--but he is doing nothing more4 ,no man has made a great success of his life or a fit preparation for immortality by doing merely his duty4 ,he must do that1--and more4 ,if he puts love into his work1 the 8more0 will be easy4 ,the nurse may watch faithfully at the bedside of a sick child as a duty4 ,but to the mother's heart the care of the little one1 in the battle against death1 is never a duty2 the golden mantle of love thrown over every act makes the word 8duty0 have a jarring sound as if it were the voice of desecration4 ,when a child turns out badly in later years1 the parent may say1 8,well1 ,i always did my duty by him40 ,then it is no wonder the boy turned out wrong4 8,doing his duty by his son0 too often implies merely food1 lodging1 clothes and education supplied by the father4 ,why1 a public institution would give that6 ,what the boy needed most was deep draughts of love2 he needed to live in an atmosphere of sweet sympathy1 counsel and trust4 ,the parent should ever be an unfailing refuge1 a constant resource and inspiration1 not a mere larder1 or hotel1 or wardrobe1 or school that furnishes these necessities free4 ,the empty boast of mere parental duty is one of the dangers of modern society4 ,christianity stands forth as the one religion based on love1 not duty4 ,christianity sweeps all duties into one word1--love4 ,love is the one great duty enjoined by the ,christian religion4 ,what duty creeps to laboriously1 love reaches in a moment on the wings of a dove4 ,duty is not lost1 condemned or destroyed in ,christianity2 it is dignified1 purified and exalted and all its rough ways are made smooth by love4 ,the supreme instance of generosity in the world's history is not the giving of millions by someone of great name2 it is the giving of a mite by a widow whose name does not appear4 ,behind the widow's mite was no sense of duty2 it was the full1 free and perfect gift of a heart filled with love4 ,in the ,bible 8duty0 is mentioned but five times2 8love10 hundreds4 ,in the conquest of any weakness in our mental or moral make-up2 in the attainment of any strength2 in our highest and truest relation to ourselves and to the world1 let us ever make 8love0 our watchword1 not mere 8duty40 ,if we desire to live a life of truth and honesty1 to make our word as strong as our bond1 let us not expect to keep ourselves along the narrow line of truth under the constant lash of the whip of duty4 ,let us begin to love the truth1 to fill our mind and life with the strong white light of sincerity and sterling honesty4 ,let us love the truth so strongly that there will develop within us1 without our conscious effort1 an ever-present horror of a lie4 ,if we desire to do good in the world1 let us begin to love humanity1 to realize more truly the great dominant note that sounds in every mortal1 despite all the discords of life1 the great natural bond of unity that makes all men brothers4 ,then jealousy1 malice1 envy1 unkind words and cruel misjudging will be eclipsed and lost in the sunshine of love4 ,the greatest triumph of the nineteenth century is not its marvellous progress in invention2 its strides in education2 its conquests of the dark regions of the world2 the spread of a higher mental tone throughout the earth2 the wondrous increase in material comfort and wealth1--the greatest triumph of the century is not any nor all of these2 it is the sweet atmosphere of ,peace that is covering the nations1 it is the growing closer and closer of the peoples of the earth4 ,peace is but the breath1 the perfume1 the life of love4 ,love is the wondrous angel of life that rolls away all the stones of sorrow and suffering from the pathway of duty4 ,,iv ,the ,supreme ,charity of the ,world ,true charity is not typified by an almsbox4 ,the benevolence of a check book does not meet all the wants of humanity4 ,giving food1 clothing and money to the poor is only the beginning1 the kindergarten class1 of real charity4 ,charity has higher1 purer forms of manifestation4 ,charity is but an instinctive reaching out for justice in life4 ,charity seeks to smooth down the rough places of living1 to bridge the chasms of human sin and folly1 to feed the heart-hungry1 to give strength to the struggling1 to be tender with human weakness1 and greatest of all1 it means--obeying the ,divine injunction3 8,judge not40 ,the true symbol of the greatest charity is the scales of judgment held on high1 suspended from the hand of ,justice4 ,so perfectly are they poised that they are never at rest2 they dare not stop for a moment to pronounce final judgment2 each second adds its grain of evidence to either side of the balance4 ,with this ideal before him1 man1 conscious of his own weakness and frailty1 dare not arrogate to himself the ,divine prerogative of pronouncing severe or final judgment on any individual4 ,he will seek to train mind and heart to greater keenness1 purity1 and delicacy in watching the trembling movement of the balance in which he weighs the characters and reputations of those around him4 ,it is a great pity in life that all the greatest words are most degraded4 ,we hear people say3 8,i do so love to study character1 in the cars and on the street40 ,they are not studying character2 they are merely observing characteristics4 ,the study of character is not a puzzle that a man may work out over night4 ,character is most subtle1 elusive1 changing and contradictory--a strange mingling of habits1 hopes1 tendencies1 ideals1 motives1 weaknesses1 traditions and memories--manifest in a thousand different phases4 ,there is but one quality necessary for the perfect understanding of character1 one quality that1 if man have it1 he may dare to judge--that is1 omniscience4 ,most people study character as a proofreader pores over a great poem3 his ears are dulled to the majesty and music of the lines1 his eyes are darkened to the magic imagination of the genius of the author2 that proofreader is busy watching for an inverted comma1 a mis-spacing1 or a wrong-font letter4 ,he has an eye trained for the imperfections1 the weaknesses4 ,men who pride themselves on being shrewd in discovering the weak points1 the vanity1 dishonesty1 immorality1 intrigue and pettiness of others1 think they understand character4 ,they know only part of character--they know only the depths to which some men may sink2 they know not the heights to which some men may rise4 ,an optimist is a man who has succeeded in associating with humanity for some time without becoming a cynic4 ,we never see the target a man aims at in life2 we see only the target he hits4 ,we judge from results1 and we imagine an infinity of motives that we say must have been in his mind4 ,no man since the creation has been able to live a life so pure and noble as to exempt him from the misjudgment of those around him4 ,it is impossible to get aught but a distorted image from a convex or a concave mirror4 ,if misfortune comes to someone1 people are prone to say1 8,it is a judgment upon him40 ,how do they know8 ,have they been eavesdropping at the door of ,paradise8 ,when sorrow and failure come to us1 we regard them as misdirected packages that should be delivered elsewhere4 ,we do too much watching of our neighbor's garden1 too little weeding in our own4 ,bottles have been picked up at sea thousands of miles from the point where they have been cast into the waters4 ,they have been the sport of wind and weather2 carried along by ocean currents1 they have reached a destination undreamed of4 ,our flippant1 careless words of judgment of the character of someone1 words lightly and perhaps innocently spoken1 may be carried by unknown currents and bring sorrow1 misery and shame to the innocent4 ,a cruel smile1 a shrug of the shoulders or a cleverly eloquent silence may ruin in a moment the reputation a man or woman has been building for years4 ,it is as a single motion of the hand may destroy the delicate geometry of a spider's web1 spun from its own body and life1 though all the united efforts of the universe could not put it back as it was4 ,we do not need to judge nearly so much as we think we do4 ,this is the age of snap judgments4 ,the habit is greatly intensified by the sensational press4 ,twenty-four hours after a great murder there is difficulty in getting enough men who have not already formulated a judgment1 to try the case4 ,these men1 in most instances1 have read and accepted the garbled1 highly colored newspaper account2 they have to their own satisfaction discovered the murderer1 practically tried him and--sentenced him4 ,we hear readers state their decisions with all the force and absoluteness of one who has had the whole ,book of ,life made luminant and spread out before him4 ,if there be one place in life where the attitude of the agnostic is beautiful1 it is in this matter of judging others4 ,it is the courage to say3 8,i don't know4 ,i am waiting further evidence4 ,i must hear both sides of the question4 ,till then ,i suspend all judgment40 ,it is this suspended judgment that is the supreme form of charity4 ,it is strange that in life we recognize the right of every criminal to have a fair1 open trial1 yet we condemn unheard the dear friends around us on mere circumstantial evidence4 ,we rely on the mere evidence of our senses1 trust it implicitly1 and permit it to sweep away like a mighty tide the faith that has been ours for years4 ,we see all life grow dark1 hope sink before our eyes1 and the golden treasures of memory turn to cruel thoughts of loss to sting us with maddening pain4 ,our hasty judgment1 that a few moments of explanation would remove1 has estranged the friend of our life4 ,if we be thus unjust to those we hold dear1 what must be the cruel injustice of our judgment of others8 ,we know nothing of the trials1 sorrows and temptations of those around us1 of pillows wet with sobs1 of the life-tragedy that may be hidden behind a smile1 of the secret cares1 struggles and worries that shorten life and leave their mark in hair prematurely whitened1 and in character changed and almost re-created in a few days4 ,we say sometimes to one who seems calm and smiling3 8,you ought to be supremely happy2 you have everything that heart could wish40 ,it may be that at that very moment the person is passing alone through some agony of sorrow1 where the teeth seem almost to bite into the lips in the attempt to keep feelings under control1 when life seems a living death from which there is no relief4 ,then these light1 flippant phrases jar upon us1 and we seem as isolated and separated from the rest of humanity as if we were living on another planet4 ,let us not dare to add to the burden of another the pain of our judgment4 ,if we would guard our lips from expressing1 we must control our mind1 we must stop this continual sitting in judgment on the acts of others1 even in private4 ,let us by daily exercises in self-control learn to turn off the process of judging--as we would turn off the gas4 ,let us eliminate pride1 passion1 personal feeling1 prejudice and pettiness from our mind1 and higher1 purer emotions will rush in1 as air seeks to fill a vacuum4 ,charity is not a formula2 it is an atmosphere4 ,let us cultivate charity in judging2 let us seek to draw out latent good in others rather than to discover hidden evil4 ,it requires the eye of charity to see the undeveloped butterfly in the caterpillar4 ,let us1 if we would rise to the full glory of our privilege1 to the dignity of true living1 make for our watchword the injunction of the supreme charity of the world--8,judge not40 ,v ,worry1 the ,great ,american ,disease ,worry is the most popular form of suicide4 ,worry impairs appetite1 disturbs sleep1 makes respiration irregular1 spoils digestion1 irritates disposition1 warps character1 weakens mind1 stimulates disease1 and saps bodily health4 ,it is the real cause of death in thousands of instances where some other disease is named in the death certificate4 ,worry is mental poison2 work is mental food4 ,when a child's absorption in his studies keeps him from sleeping1 or when he tosses and turns from side to side1 muttering the multiplication table or spelling words aloud1 when sleep does come1 then that child shows he is worrying4 ,it is one of ,nature's danger-signals raised to warn parents1 and in mercy the parent should take a firm stand4 ,the burden of that child's daily tasks should be lightened1 the tension of its concentration should be lessened1 the hours of its slavery to education should be cut short4 ,when a man or woman works over in dreams the problems of the day1 when the sleeping hours are spent in turning the kaleidoscope of the day's activities1 then there is either overwork or worry1 and most likely it is the worry that comes from overwork4 ,the ,creator never intended a healthy mind to dream of the day's duties4 ,either dreamless sleep or dreams of the past should be the order of the night4 ,when the spectre of one grief1 one fear1 one sorrow1 obtrudes itself between the eye and the printed page2 when the inner voice of this irritating memory1 or fear1 looms up so loud as to deaden outside voices1 there is danger to the individual4 ,when all day1 every hour1 every moment1 there is the dull1 insistent1 numb pain of something that makes itself felt through1 above and below all our other thinking1 we must know that we are worrying4 ,then there is but one thing to do1--we must stop that worry2 we must kill it4 ,the wise men of this wondrous century have made great discoveries in their interviews with ,nature4 ,they have discovered that everything that has been created has its uses4 ,they will teach you not to assassinate flies with paper coated with sweetened glue1 for 8the flies are ,nature's scavengers40 ,they will tell you just what are the special duties and responsibilities of each of the microscopic microbes with telescopic names4 ,in their wildest moods of scientific enthusiasm they may venture to persuade you into believing that even the mosquito serves some real purpose in ,nature1 but no man that has ever lived can truthfully say a good word about worry4 ,worry is forethought gone to seed4 ,worry is discounting possible future sorrows so that the individual may have present misery4 ,worry is the father of insomnia4 ,worry is the traitor in our camp that dampens our powder1 weakens our aim4 ,under the guise of helping us to bear the present1 and to be ready for the future1 worry multiplies enemies within our own mind to sap our strength4 ,worry is the dominance of the mind by a single vague1 restless1 unsatisfied1 fearing and fearful idea4 ,the mental energy and force that should be concentrated on the successive duties of the day is constantly and surreptitiously abstracted and absorbed by this one fixed idea4 ,the full rich strength of the unconscious working of the mind1 that which produces our best success1 that represents our finest activity1 is tapped1 led away and wasted on worry4 ,worry must not be confused with anxiety1 though both words agree in meaning1 originally1 a 8choking10 or a 8strangling10 referring1 of course1 to the throttling effect upon individual activity4 ,anxiety faces large issues of life seriously1 calmly1 with dignity4 ,anxiety always suggests hopeful possibility2 it is active in being ready1 and devising measures to meet the outcome4 ,worry is not one large individual sorrow2 it is a colony of petty1 vague1 insignificant1 restless imps of fear1 that become important only from their combination1 their constancy1 their iteration4 ,when ,death comes1 when the one we love has passed from us1 and the silence and the loneness and the emptiness of all things make us stare dry-eyed into the future1 we give ourselves up1 for a time1 to the agony of isolation4 ,this is not a petty worry we must kill ere it kills us4 ,this is the awful majesty of sorrow that mercifully benumbs us1 though it may later become1 in the mysterious working of omnipotence1 a rebaptism and a regeneration4 ,it is the worry habit1 the constant magnifying of petty sorrows to eclipse the sun of happiness1 against which ,i here make protest4 ,to cure worry1 the individual must be his own physician2 he must give the case heroic treatment4 ,he must realize1 with every fibre of his being1 the utter1 absolute uselessness of worry4 ,he must not think this is commonplace1--a bit of mere theory2 it is a reality that he must translate for himself from mere words to a real1 living fact4 ,he must fully understand that if it were possible for him to spend a whole series of eternities in worry1 it would not change the fact one jot or tittle4 ,it is a time for action1 not worry1 because worry paralyzes thought and action1 too4 ,if you set down a column of figures in addition1 no amount of worry can change the sum total of those figures4 ,that result is wrapped up in the inevitability of mathematics4 ,the result can be made different only by changing the figures as they are set down1 one by one1 in that column4 ,the one time that a man cannot afford to worry is when he does worry4 ,then he is facing1 or imagines he is1 a critical turn in affairs4 ,this is the time when he needs one hundred per cent4 of his mental energy to make his plans quickly1 to see what is his wisest decision1 to keep a clear eye on the sky and on his course1 and a firm hand on the helm until he has weathered the storm in safety4 ,there are two reasons why man should not worry1 either one of which must operate in every instance4 ,first1 because he cannot prevent the results he fears4 ,second1 because he can prevent them4 ,if he be powerless to avert the blow1 he needs perfect mental concentration to meet it bravely1 to lighten its force1 to get what salvage he can from the wreck1 to sustain his strength at this time when he must plan a new future4 ,if he can prevent the evil he fears1 then he has no need to worry1 for he would by so doing be dissipating energy in his very hour of need4 ,if man do1 day by day1 ever the best he can by the light he has1 he has no need to fear1 no need to regret1 no need to worry4 ,no agony of worry would do aught to help him4 ,neither mortal nor angel can do more than his best4 ,if we look back upon our past life we will see how1 in the marvellous working of events1 the cities of our greatest happiness and of our fullest success have been built along the rivers of our deepest sorrows1 our most abject failures4 ,we then realize that our present happiness or success would have been impossible had it not been for some terrible affliction or loss in the past1--some wondrous potent force in the evolution of our character or our fortune4 ,this should be a wondrous stimulus to us in bearing the trials and sorrows of life4 ,to cure one's self of worry is not an easy task2 it is not to be removed in two or three applications of the quack medicine of any cheap philosophy1 but it requires only clear1 simple commonsense applied to the business of life4 ,man has no right to waste his own energies1 to weaken his own powers and influence1 for he has inalienable duties to himself1 to his family1 to society1 and to the world4 ,,vi ,the ,greatness of ,simplicity ,simplicity is the elimination of the non-essential in all things4 ,it reduces life to its minimum of real needs2 raises it to its maximum of powers4 ,simplicity means the survival1--not of the fittest1 but of the best4 ,in morals it kills the weeds of vice and weakness so that the flowers of virtue and strength may have room to grow4 ,simplicity cuts off waste and intensifies concentration4 ,it converts flickering torches into searchlights4 ,all great truths are simple4 ,the essence of ,christianity could be given in a few words2 a lifetime would be but continued seeking to make those words real and living in thoughts and acts4 ,the true ,christian's individual belief is always simpler than his church creed1 and upon these vital1 foundation elements he builds his life4 ,higher criticism never rises to the heights of his simplicity4 ,he does not care whether the whale swallowed ,jonah or ,jonah swallowed the whale4 ,hair-splitting interpretation of words and phrases is an intellectual dissipation he has no time for4 ,he cares naught for the anatomy of religion2 he has its soul4 ,his simple faith he lives1--in thought and word and act1 day by day4 ,like the lark he lives nearest the ground2 like the lark he soars highest toward heaven4 ,the minister whose sermons are made up merely of flowers of rhetoric1 sprigs of quotation1 sweet fancy1 and perfumed commonplaces1 is--consciously or unconsciously--posing in the pulpit4 ,his literary charlotte-russes1 sweet froth on a spongy1 pulpy base1 never helped a human soul1--they give neither strength nor inspiration4 ,if the mind and heart of the preacher were really thrilled with the greatness and simplicity of religion1 he would1 week by week1 apply the ringing truths of his faith to the vital problems of daily living4 ,the test of a strong1 simple sermon is results1--not the ,sunday praise of his auditors1 but their bettered lives during the week4 ,people who pray on their knees on ,sunday and prey on their neighbors on ,monday1 need simplicity in their faith4 ,no character can be simple unless it is based on truth--unless it is lived in harmony with one's own conscience and ideals4 ,simplicity is the pure white light of a life lived from within4 ,it is destroyed by any attempt to live in harmony with public opinion4 ,public opinion is a conscience owned by a syndicate1--where the individual is merely a stockholder4 ,but the individual has a conscience of which he is sole proprietor4 ,adjusting his life to his own ideals is the royal road to simplicity4 ,affectation is the confession of inferiority2 it is an unnecessary proclamation that one is not living the life he pretends to live4 ,simplicity is restful contempt for the non-essentials of life4 ,it is restless hunger for the non-essentials that is the secret of most of the discontent of the world4 ,it is constant striving to outshine others that kills simplicity and happiness4 ,nature1 in all her revelations1 seeks to teach man the greatness of simplicity4 ,health is but the living of a physical life in harmony with a few simple1 clearly defined laws4 ,simple food1 simple exercise1 simple precautions will work wonders4 ,but man grows tired of the simple things1 he yields to subtle temptations in eating and drinking1 listens to his palate instead of to ,nature1--and he suffers4 ,he is then led into intimate acquaintance with dyspepsia1 and he sits like a child at his own bounteous table1 forced to limit his eating to simple food that he scorned4 ,there is a tonic strength1 in the hour of sorrow and affliction1 in escaping from the world and society and getting back to the simple duties and interests we have slighted and forgotten4 ,our world grows smaller1 but it grows dearer and greater4 ,simple things have a new charm for us1 and we suddenly realize that we have been renouncing all that is greatest and best1 in our pursuit of some phantom4 ,simplicity is the characteristic that is most difficult to simulate4 ,the signature that is most difficult to imitate is the one that is most simple1 most individual and most free from flourishes4 ,the bank note that is the most difficult to counterfeit successfully is the one that contains the fewest lines and has the least intricate detail4 ,so simple is it that any departure from the normal is instantly apparent4 ,so is it also in mind and in morals4 ,simplicity in act is the outward expression of simplicity in thought4 ,men who carry on their shoulders the fate of a nation are quiet1 modest1 unassuming4 ,they are often made gentle1 calm and simple by the discipline of their responsibility4 ,they have no room in their minds for the pettiness of personal vanity4 ,it is ever the drum-major who grows pompous when he thinks that the whole world is watching him as he marches at the head of the procession4 ,the great general1 bowed with the honors of many campaigns1 is simple and unaffected as a child4 ,the college graduate assumes the airs of one to whom is committed the wisdom of the ages1 while the great man of science1 the ,columbus of some great continent of investigation1 is simple and humble4 ,the longest ,latin derivatives seem necessary to express the thoughts of young writers4 ,the world's great masters in literature can move mankind to tears1 give light and life to thousands in darkness and doubt1 or scourge a nation for its folly1--by words so simple as to be commonplace4 ,but transfigured by the divinity of genius1 there seems almost a miracle in words4 ,life grows wondrously beautiful when we look at it as simple1 when we can brush aside the trivial cares and sorrows and worries and failures and say3 8,they don't count4 ,they are not the real things of life2 they are but interruptions4 ,there is something within me1 my individuality1 that makes all these gnats of trouble seem too trifling for me to permit them to have any dominion over me40 ,simplicity is a mental soil where artifice1 lying1 deceit1 treachery and selfish1 low ambition1--cannot grow4 ,the man whose character is simple looks truth and honesty so straight in the face that he has no consciousness of intrigue and corruption around him4 ,he is deaf to the hints and whispers of wrongs that a suspicious nature would suspect even before they existed4 ,he scorns to meet intrigue with intrigue1 to hold power by bribery1 to pay weak tribute to an inferior that has a temporary inning4 ,to true simplicity1 to perceive a truth is to begin to live it1 to see a duty is to begin to do it4 ,nothing great can ever enter into the consciousness of a man of simplicity and remain but a theory4 ,simplicity in a character is like the needle of a compass1--it knows only one point1 its ,north1 its ideal4 ,let us seek to cultivate this simplicity in all things in our life4 ,the first step toward simplicity is 8simplifying40 ,the beginning of mental or moral progress or reform is always renunciation or sacrifice4 ,it is rejection1 surrender or destruction of separate phases of habit or life that have kept us from higher things4 ,reform your diet and you simplify it2 make your speech truer and higher and you simplify it2 reform your morals and you begin to cut off your immorals4 ,the secret of all true greatness is simplicity4 ,make simplicity the keynote of your life and you will be great1 no matter though your life be humble and your influence seem but little4 ,simple habits1 simple manners1 simple needs1 simple words1 simple faiths1--all are the pure manifestations of a mind and heart of simplicity4 ,simplicity is never to be associated with weakness and ignorance4 ,it means reducing tons of ore to nuggets of gold4 ,it means the light of fullest knowledge2 it means that the individual has seen the folly and the nothingness of those things that make up the sum of the life of others4 ,he has lived down what others are blindly seeking to live up to4 ,simplicity is the sun of a self-centred and pure life1--the secret of any specific greatness in the life of the individual4 ,,vii ,living ,life ,over ,again ,during a terrific storm a few years ago a ship was driven far out of her course1 and1 helpless and disabled1 was carried into a strange bay4 ,the water supply gave out1 and the crew suffered the agony of thirst1 yet dared not drink of the salt water in which their vessel floated4 ,in the last extremity they lowered a bucket over the ship's side1 and in desperation quaffed the beverage they thought was sea-water4 ,but to their joy and amazement the water was fresh1 cool and life-giving4 ,they were in a fresh-water arm of the sea1 and they did not know it4 ,they had simply to reach down and accept the new life and strength for which they prayed4 ,man1 to-day1 heart-weary with the sorrow1 sin and failure of his past life1 feels that he could live a better life if he could only have another chance1 if he could only live life over again1 if he could only start afresh with his present knowledge and experience4 ,he looks back with regretful memory to the golden days of youth and sadly mourns his wasted chances4 ,he then turns hopefully to the thought of a life to come4 ,but1 helpless1 he stands between the two ends of life1 yet thirsting for the chance to live a new life1 according to his bettered condition for living it4 ,in his blindness and unknowing1 he does not realize1 like the storm-driven sailors1 that the new life is all around him2 he has but to reach out and take it4 ,every day is a new life1 every sunrise but a new birth for himself and the world1 every morning the beginning of a new existence for him1 a new1 great chance to put to new and higher uses the results of his past living4 ,the man who looks back upon his past life and says1 8,i have nothing to regret10 has lived in vain4 ,the life without regret is the life without gain4 ,regret is but the light of fuller wisdom1 from our past1 illumining our future4 ,it means that we are wiser to-day than we were yesterday4 ,this new wisdom means new responsibility1 new privileges2 it is a new chance for a better life4 ,but if regret remain merely 8regret10 it is useless2 it must become the revelation of new possibilities1 and the inspiration and source of strength to realize them4 ,even omnipotence could not change the past1 but each man1 to a degree far beyond his knowing1 holds his future in his own hands4 ,if man were sincere in his longing to live life over he would get more help from his failures4 ,if he realize his wasted golden hours of opportunity1 let him not waste other hours in useless regret1 but seek to forget his folly and to keep before him only the lessons of it4 ,his past extravagance of time should lead him to minify his loss by marvellous economy of present moments4 ,if his whole life be darkened by the memory of a cruel wrong he has done another1 if direct amends be impossible to the injured one1 passed from life1 let him make the world the legatee to receive his expressions of restitution4 ,let his regret and sorrow be manifest in words of kindness and sympathy1 and acts of sweetness and love given to all with whom he comes in contact4 ,if he regrets a war he has made against one individual1 let him place the entire world on his pension list4 ,if a man make a certain mistake once1 the only way he can properly express his recognition of it is not to make a similar mistake later4 ,josh ,billings once said3 8,a man who is bitten twice by the same dog is better adapted to that business than any other40 ,there are many people in this world who want to live life over because they take such pride in their past4 ,they resemble the beggars in the street who tell you they 8have seen better days40 ,it is not what man was that shows character2 it is what he progressively is4 ,trying to obtain a present record on a dead past is like some present-day mediocrity that tries to live on its ancestry4 ,we look for the fruit in the branches of the family tree1 not in the roots4 ,showing how a family degenerated from a noble ancestor of generations ago to its present representative is not a boast2--it is an unnecessary confession4 ,let man think less of his own ancestors and more of those he is preparing for his posterity2 less of his past virtue1 and more of his future4 ,when man pleads for a chance to live life over1 there is always an implied plea of inexperience1 of a lack of knowledge4 ,this is unworthy1 even of a coward4 ,we know the laws of health1 yet we ignore them or defy them every day4 ,we know what is the proper food for us1 individually1 to eat1 yet we gratify our appetites and trust to our cleverness to square the account with ,nature somehow4 ,we know that success is a matter of simple1 clearly defined laws1 of the development of mental essentials1 of tireless energy and concentration1 of constant payment of price1--we know all this1 and yet we do not live up to our knowledge4 ,we constantly eclipse ourselves by ourselves1 and then we blame ,fate4 ,parents often counsel their children against certain things1 and do them themselves1 in the foolish hope that the children will believe their ears in preference to their eyes4 ,years of careful teaching of a child to be honest and truthful may be nullified in an instant by a parent's lying to a conductor about a child's age to save a nickel4 ,that may be a very expensive street-car ride for the child1--and for the parent4 ,it may be part of the spirit of the age to believe that it is no sin to cheat a corporation or a trust1 but it is unwise to give the child so striking an example at an age when it cannot detect the sophistry4 ,man's only plea for a chance to live life again is that he has gained in wisdom and experience4 ,if he be really in earnest1 then he can live life over1 he can live life anew1 he can live the new life that comes to him day by day4 ,let him leave to the past1 to the aggregated thousands of yesterdays1 all their mistakes1 sin1 sorrow1 misery and folly1 and start afresh4 ,let him close the books of his old life1 let him strike a balance1 and start anew1 crediting himself with all the wisdom he has gained from his past failure and weakness1 and charging himself with the new duties and responsibilities that come from the possession of his new capital of wisdom4 ,let him criticise others less and himself more1--and start out bravely in this new life he is to live4 ,what the world needs is more day-to-day living2 starting in the morning with fresh1 clear ideals for that day1 and seeking to live that day1 and each successive hour and moment of that day1 as if it were all time and all eternity4 ,this has in it no element of disregard for the future1 for each day is set in harmony with that future4 ,it is like the sea-captain heading his vessel toward his port of destination1 and day by day keeping her steaming toward it4 ,this view of living kills morbid regret of the past1 and morbid worry about the future4 ,most people want large1 guaranteed slices of life2 they would not be satisfied with manna fresh every day1 as was given to the children of ,israel2 they want grain elevators filled with daily bread4 ,life is worth living if it be lived in a way that is worth living4 ,man does not own his life1--to do with as he will4 ,he has merely a life-interest in it4 ,he must finally surrender it1--with an accounting4 ,at each ,new ,year tide it is common to make new resolutions1 but in the true life of the individual each day is the beginning of a ,new ,year if he will only make it so4 ,a mere date on the calendar of eternity is no more a divider of time than a particular grain of sand divides the desert4 ,let us not make heroic resolutions so far beyond our strength that the resolution becomes a dead memory within a week2 but let us promise ourselves that each day will be the new beginning of a newer1 better and truer life for ourselves1 for those around us1 and for the world4 ,,viii ,syndicating ,our ,sorrows ,the most selfish man in the world is the one who is most unselfish1--with his sorrows4 ,he does not leave a single misery of his untold to you1 or unsuffered by you1--he gives you all of them4 ,the world becomes to him a syndicate formed to take stock in his private cares1 worries and trials4 ,his mistake is in forming a syndicate2 he should organize a trust and control it all himself1 then he could keep everyone from getting any of his misery4 ,life is a great1 serious problem for the individual4 ,all our greatest joys and our deepest sorrows come to us1--alone4 ,we must go into our ,gethsemane1--alone4 ,we must battle against the mighty weakness within us1--alone4 ,we must live our own life1--alone4 ,we must die1--alone4 ,we must accept the full responsibility of our life1--alone4 ,if each one of us has this mighty problem of life to solve for himself1 if each of us has his own cares1 responsibilities1 failures1 doubts1 fears1 bereavements1 we surely are playing a coward's part when we syndicate our sorrows to others4 ,we should seek to make life brighter for others2 we should seek to hearten them in their trials by the example of our courage in bearing our sorrows4 ,we should seek to forget our failures1 and remember only the new wisdom they gave us2 we should live down our griefs by counting the joys and privileges still left to us2 put behind us our worries and regrets1 and face each new day of life as bravely as we can4 ,but we have no right to retail our sorrow and unhappiness through the community4 ,autobiography constitutes a large part of the conversation of some people4 ,it is not really conversation1--it is an uninterrupted monologue4 ,these people study their individual lives with a microscope1 and then they throw an enlarged view of their miseries on a screen and lecture on them1 as a stereopticon man discourses on the microbes in a drop of water4 ,they tell you that 8they did not sleep a wink all night2 they heard the clock strike every quarter of an hour40 ,now1 there is no real cause for thus boasting of insomnia4 ,it requires no peculiar talent1--even though it does come only to wide-awake people4 ,if you ask such a man how he is feeling1 he will trace the whole genealogy of his present condition down from the time he had the grippe four years ago4 ,you hoped for a word2 he gives you a treatise4 ,you asked for a sentence2 he delivers an encyclopedia4 ,his motto is3 8,every man his own ,boswell40 ,he is syndicating his sorrows4 ,the woman who makes her trials with her children1 her troubles with her servants1 her difficulties with her family1 the subjects of conversation with her callers is syndicating her sorrows4 ,if she has a dear little innocent child who recites 8,curfew ,shall ,not ,ring ,to-night10 is it not wiser for the mother to bear it calmly and discreetly and in silence1 than to syndicate this sorrow8 ,the business man who lets his dyspepsia get into his disposition1 and who makes everyone around him suffer because he himself is ill1 is syndicating ill-health4 ,we have no right to make others the victims of our moods4 ,if illness makes us cross and irritable1 makes us unjust to faithful workers who cannot protest1 let us quarantine ourselves so that we do not spread the contagion4 ,let us force ourselves to speak slowly1 to keep anger away from the eyes1 to prevent temper showing in the voice4 ,if we feel that we must have dyspepsia1 let us keep it out of our head1 let us keep it from getting north of the neck4 ,most people sympathize too much with themselves4 ,they take themselves as a single sentence isolated from the great text of life4 ,they study themselves too much as separated from the rest of humanity1 instead of being vitally connected with their fellow-men4 ,there are some people who surrender to sorrow as others give way to dissipation4 ,there is a vain pride of sorrow as well as of beauty4 ,most individuals have a strange glow of vanity in looking back upon their past and feeling that few others in life have suffered such trials1 hardships and disappointments as have come to them4 ,when ,death comes into the little circle of loved ones who make up our world1 all life becomes dark to us4 ,we seem to have no reason for existing1 no object1 no incentive1 no hope4 ,the love that made struggle and effort bearable for us1--is gone4 ,we stare1 dry-eyed1 into the future1 and see no future2 we want none4 ,life has become to us a past1--with no future4 ,it is but a memory1 without a hope4 ,then in the divine mystery of ,nature's processes1 under the tender1 soothing touch of ,time1 as days melt into weeks1 we begin to open our eyes gently to the world around us1 and the noise and tumult of life jars less and less upon us4 ,we have become emotionally convalescent4 ,as the days go on1 in our deep love1 in the fullness of our loyalty1 we protest often1 with tears in our eyes1 against our gradual return to the spirit and atmosphere of the days of the past4 ,we feel in a subtle way a new pain1 as if we were disloyal to the dear one1 as if we were faithless to our love4 ,nature sweetly turns aside our protesting hands1 and says to us1 8,there is no disloyalty in permitting the wounds to lessen their pain1 to heal gradually1 if ,time foreordain that they can heal40 ,there are some natures1 all-absorbed in a mighty love1 wherein no healing is possible1--but these are rare souls in life4 ,bitter though our anguish be1 we have no right to syndicate our sorrow4 ,we have no right to cast a gloom over happy natures by our heavy weight of crape1 by serving the term prescribed by ,society for wearing the livery of mourning1--as if real grief thought of a uniform4 ,we have no right to syndicate our grief by using notepaper with a heavy black border as wide as a hatband1 thus parading our personal sorrow to others in their happiest moments4 ,if life has not gone well with us1 if fortune has left us disconsolate1 if love has grown cold1 and we sit alone by the embers2 if life has become to us a valley of desolation1 through which weary limbs must drag an unwilling body till the end shall come1--let us not radiate such an atmosphere to those round us2 let us not take strangers through the catacombs of our life1 and show the bones of our dead past2 let us not pass our cup of sorrow to others1 but1 if we must drink it1 let us take it as ,socrates did his poison hemlock1--grandly1 heroically and uncomplainingly4 ,if your life has led you to doubt the existence of honor in man and virtue in woman2 if you feel that religion is a pretense1 that spirituality is a sham1 that life is a failure1 and death the entrance to nothingness2 if you have absorbed all the poison philosophy of the world's pessimists1 and committed the folly of believing it1--don't syndicate it4 ,if your fellow-man be clinging to one frail spar1 the last remnant of a noble1 shipwrecked faith in ,god and humanity1 let him keep it4 ,do not loosen his fingers from his hope1 and tell him it is a delusion4 ,how do you know8 ,who told you it was so8 ,if these high-tide moments of life sweep your faith in ,omnipotence into nothingness1 if the friend in whom you have put all faith in humanity and humanity's ,god betray you1 do not eagerly accept the teachings of those modern freethinkers who syndicate their infidelity at so much per reserved seat4 ,seek to recover your lost faith by listening to the million voices that speak of infinite wisdom1 infinite love1 that manifest themselves in nature and humanity1 and then build up as rapidly as you can a new faith1 a faith in something higher1 better and truer than you have known before4 ,you may have one in the world to whom you may dare show with the fullness of absolute confidence and perfect faith any thought1 any hope1 any sorrow1--but you dare not trust them to the world4 ,do not show the world through your ,bluebeard chamber2 keep your trials and sorrows as close to you as you can till you have mastered them4 ,don't weaken others by thus--syndicating your miseries4 ,,ix ,the ,revelations of ,reserve ,power ,every individual is a marvel of unknown and unrealized possibilities4 ,nine-tenths of an iceberg is always below water4 ,nine-tenths of the possibilities of good and evil of the individual is ever hidden from his sight4 ,burns' prayer1--that we might 8see oursels as ithers see us10--was weak4 ,the answer could minister only to man's vanity1--it would show him only what others think him to be1 not what he is4 ,we should pray to see ourselves as we are4 ,but no man could face the radiant revelation of the latent powers and forces within him1 underlying the weak1 narrow life he is living4 ,he would fall blinded and prostrate as did ,moses before the burning bush4 ,man is not a mechanical music-box wound up by the ,creator and set to play a fixed number of prescribed tunes4 ,he is a human harp1 with infinite possibilities of unawakened music4 ,the untold revelations of ,nature are in her ,reserve ,power4 ,reserve ,power is ,nature's method of meeting emergencies4 ,nature is wise and economic4 ,nature saves energy and effort1 and gives only what is absolutely necessary for life and development under any given condition1 and when new needs arise ,nature always meets them by her ,reserve ,power4 ,in animal life ,nature reveals this in a million phases4 ,animals placed in the darkness of the ,mammoth ,cave gradually have the sense of sight weakened and the senses of smell1 touch and hearing intensified4 ,nature watches over all animals1 making their color harmonize with the general tone of their surroundings to protect them from their enemies4 ,those arctic animals which in the summer inhabit regions free from snow1 turn white when winter comes4 ,in the desert1 the lion1 the camel and all the desert antelopes have more or less the color of the sand and rocks among which they live4 ,in tropical forests parrots are usually green2 turacous1 barbets and bee-eaters have a preponderance of green in their plumage4 ,the colors change as the habits of the animals change from generation to generation4 ,nature1 by her ,reserve ,power1 always meets the new needs of animals with new strength1--new harmony with new conditions4 ,about forty-five years ago three pairs of enterprising rabbits were introduced into ,australia4 ,to-day1 the increase of these six immigrants may be counted by millions4 ,they became a pest to the country4 ,fortunes have been spent to exterminate them4 ,wire fences many feet high and thousands of miles long have been built to keep out the invaders4 ,the rabbits had to fight awful odds to live1 but they have now outwitted man4 ,they have developed a new nail1--a long nail by which they can retain their hold on the fence while climbing4 ,with this same nail they can burrow six or eight inches under the netting1 and thus enter the fields that mean food and life to them4 ,they are now laughing at man4 ,reserve ,power has vitalized for these rabbits latent possibilities because they did not tamely accept their condition1 but in their struggle to live learned how to live4 ,in plant life1 ,nature is constantly revealing ,reserve ,power4 ,the possibilities of almost infinite color are present in every green plant1 even in roots and stems4 ,proper conditions only are needed to reveal them4 ,by obeying ,nature's laws man could make leaves as beautifully colored as flowers4 ,the wild rose has only a single corolla2 but1 when cultivated in rich soil1 the numerous yellow stamens change into the brilliant red leaves of the full-grown cabbage-rose4 ,this is but one of ,nature's miracles of ,reserve ,power4 ,once the banana was a tropical lily2 the peach was at one time a bitter almond4 ,to tell the full story of ,reserve ,power in ,nature would mean to write the history of the universe1 in a thousand volumes4 ,nature is a great believer in 8double engines40 ,man is equipped with nearly every organ in duplicate--eyes1 ears1 lungs1 arms and legs1 so that if one be weakened1 its mate1 through ,reserve ,power1 is stimulated to do enough for both4 ,even where the organ itself is not duplicated1 as in the nose1 there is a division of parts so there is constant reserve4 ,nature1 for still further protection1 has for every part of the body an understudy in training1 to be ready in a crisis1--as the sense of touch for the blind4 ,birds when frightened ruffle their feathers2 a dog that has been in the water shakes its coat so that each hair stands out of itself2 the startled hedgehog projects every quill4 ,these actions are produced by 8skin muscles0 that are rudimentary in man1 and over which in ordinary conditions he has no control4 ,but in a moment of terrible fear ,reserve ,power quickens their action in a second1 and the hair on his head 8stands on end0 in the intensity of his fright4 ,nature1 that thus watches so tenderly over the physical needs of man1 is equally provident in storing for him a mental and a moral ,reserve ,power4 ,man may fail in a dozen different lines of activity and then succeed brilliantly in a phase wherein he was unconscious of any ability4 ,we must never rest content with what we are1 and say3 8,there is no use for me to try4 ,i can never be great4 ,i am not even clever now40 ,but the law of ,reserve ,power stands by us as a fairy godmother and says3 8,there is one charm by which you can transmute the dull dross of your present condition into the pure gold of strength and power1--that charm is ever doing your best1 ever daring more1 and the full measure of your final attainment can never be told in advance4 ,rely upon me to help you with new revelations of strength in new emergencies4 ,never be cast down because your power seems so trifling1 your progress so slow4 ,the world's greatest and best men were failures in some line1 failures many times before failure was crowned with success40 ,there is in the mythology of the ,norsemen a belief that the strength of an enemy we kill enters into us4 ,this is true in character4 ,as we conquer a passion1 a thought1 a feeling1 a desire2 as we rise superior to some impulse1 the strength of that victory1 trifling though it may be1 is stored by ,nature as a ,reserve ,power to come to us in the hour of our need4 ,were we to place before almost any individual the full chart of his future1--his trials1 sorrows1 failures1 afflictions1 loss1 sickness and loneliness1--and ask him if he could bear it1 he would say3 8,no6 ,i could not bear all that and live40 ,but he can and he does4 ,the hopes upon the realization of which he has staked all his future turn to air as he nears them2 friends whom he has trusted betray him2 the world grows cold to him2 the child whose smile is the light of his life dishonors his name2 death takes from him the wife of his heart4 ,reserve ,power has been watching over him and ever giving him new strength1--even while he sleeps4 ,if we be conscious of any weakness1 and desire to conquer it1 we can force ourselves into positions where we must act in a way to strengthen ourselves through that weakness1 cut off our retreat1 burn our bridges behind us1 and fight like ,spartans till the victory be ours4 ,reserve ,power is like the manna given to the children of ,israel in the wilderness1--only enough was given them to keep them for one day4 ,each successive day had its new supply of strength4 ,there is in the leaning tower of ,pisa a spiral stairway so steep in its ascent that only one step at a time is revealed to us4 ,but as each step is taken the next is made visible1 and thus1 step by step1 to the very highest4 ,so in the ,divine economy of the universe1 ,reserve ,power is a gradual and constant revelation of strength within us to meet each new need4 ,and no matter what be our line of life1 what our need1 we should feel that we have within us infinite1 untried strength and possibility1 and that1 if we believe and do our best1 the ,angel of ,reserve ,power will walk by our side1 and will even divide the waters of the ,red ,sea of our sorrows and trials so we may walk through in safety4 ,x ,the ,majesty of ,calmness ,calmness is the rarest quality in human life4 ,it is the poise of a great nature1 in harmony with itself and its ideals4 ,it is the moral atmosphere of a life self-centred1 self-reliant1 and self-controlled4 ,calmness is singleness of purpose1 absolute confidence1 and conscious power1--ready to be focused in an instant to meet any crisis4 ,the ,sphinx is not a true type of calmness1--petrifaction is not calmness2 it is death1 the silencing of all the energies2 while no one lives his life more fully1 more intensely and more consciously than the man who is calm4 ,the ,fatalist is not calm4 ,he is the coward slave of his environment1 hopelessly surrendering to his present condition1 recklessly indifferent to his future4 ,he accepts his life as a rudderless ship1 drifting on the ocean of time4 ,he has no compass1 no chart1 no known port to which he is sailing4 ,his self-confessed inferiority to all nature is shown in his existence of constant surrender4 ,it is not1--calmness4 ,the man who is calm has his course in life clearly marked on his chart4 ,his hand is ever on the helm4 ,storm1 fog1 night1 tempest1 danger1 hidden reefs1--he is ever prepared and ready for them4 ,he is made calm and serene by the realization that in these crises of his voyage he needs a clear mind and a cool head2 that he has naught to do but to do each day the best he can by the light he has2 that he will never flinch nor falter for a moment2 that1 though he may have to tack and leave his course for a time1 he will never drift1 he will get back into the true channel1 he will keep ever headed toward his harbor4 ,when he will reach it1 how he will reach it matters not to him4 ,he rests in calmness1 knowing he has done his best4 ,if his best seem to be overthrown or overruled1 then he must still bow his head1--in calmness4 ,to no man is permitted to know the future of his life1 the finality4 ,god commits to man ever only new beginnings1 new wisdom1 and new days to use to the best of his knowledge4 ,calmness comes ever from within4 ,it is the peace and restfulness of the depths of our nature4 ,the fury of storm and of wind agitate only the surface of the sea2 they can penetrate only two or three hundred feet1--below that is the calm1 unruffled deep4 ,to be ready for the great crises of life we must learn serenity in our daily living4 ,calmness is the crown of self-control4 ,when the worries and cares of the day fret you1 and begin to wear upon you1 and you chafe under the friction1--be calm4 ,stop1 rest for a moment1 and let calmness and peace assert themselves4 ,if you let these irritating outside influences get the better of you1 you are confessing your inferiority to them1 by permitting them to dominate you4 ,study the disturbing elements1 each by itself1 bring all the will-power of your nature to bear upon them1 and you will find that they will1 one by one1 melt into nothingness1 like vapors fading before the sun4 ,the glow of calmness that will then pervade your mind1 the tingling sensation of an inflow of new strength1 may be to you the beginning of the revelation of the supreme calmness that is possible for you4 ,then1 in some great hour of your life1 when you stand face to face with some awful trial1 when the structure of your ambition and life-work crumbles in a moment1 you will be brave4 ,you can then fold your arms calmly1 look out undismayed and undaunted upon the ashes of your hope1 upon the wreck of what you have faithfully built1 and with brave heart and unfaltering voice you may say3 8,so let it be1--,i will build again40 ,when the tongue of malice and slander1 the persecution of inferiority1 tempts you for just a moment to retaliate1 when for an instant you forget yourself so far as to hunger for revenge1--be calm4 ,when the grey heron is pursued by its enemy1 the eagle1 it does not run to escape2 it remains calm1 takes a dignified stand1 and waits quietly1 facing the enemy unmoved4 ,with the terrific force with which the eagle makes its attack1 the boasted king of birds is often impaled and run through on the quiet1 lance-like bill of the heron4 ,the means that man takes to kill another's character becomes suicide of his own4 ,no man in the world ever attempted to wrong another without being injured in return1--someway1 somehow1 sometime4 ,the only weapon of offence that ,nature seems to recognize is the boomerang4 ,nature keeps her books admirably2 she puts down every item1 she closes all accounts finally1 but she does not always balance them at the end of the month4 ,to the man who is calm1 revenge is so far beneath him that he cannot reach it1--even by stooping4 ,when injured1 he does not retaliate2 he wraps around him the royal robes of ,calmness1 and he goes quietly on his way4 ,when the hand of ,death touches the one we hold dearest1 paralyzes our energy1 and eclipses the sun of our life1 the calmness that has been accumulating in long years becomes in a moment our refuge1 our reserve strength4 ,the most subtle of all temptations is the seeming success of the wicked4 ,it requires moral courage to see1 without flinching1 material prosperity coming to men who are dishonest2 to see politicians rise into prominence1 power and wealth by trickery and corruption2 to see virtue in rags and vice in velvets2 to see ignorance at a premium1 and knowledge at a discount4 ,to the man who is really calm these puzzles of life do not appeal4 ,he is living his life as best he can2 he is not worrying about the problems of justice1 whose solution must be left to ,omniscience to solve4 ,when man has developed the spirit of ,calmness until it becomes so absolutely part of him that his very presence radiates it1 he has made great progress in life4 ,calmness cannot be acquired of itself and by itself2 it must come as the culmination of a series of virtues4 ,what the world needs and what individuals need is a higher standard of living1 a great realizing sense of the privilege and dignity of life1 a higher and nobler conception of individuality4 ,with this great sense of calmness permeating an individual1 man becomes able to retire more into himself1 away from the noise1 the confusion and strife of the world1 which come to his ears only as faint1 far-off rumblings1 or as the tumult of the life of a city heard only as a buzzing hum by the man in a balloon4 ,the man who is calm does not selfishly isolate himself from the world1 for he is intensely interested in all that concerns the welfare of humanity4 ,his calmness is but a ,holy of ,holies into which he can retire from the world to get strength to live in the world4 ,he realizes that the full glory of individuality1 the crowning of his self-control is1--the majesty of calmness4 ,,xi ,hurry1 the ,scourge of ,america ,the first sermon in the world was preached at the ,creation4 ,it was a ,divine protest against ,hurry4 ,it was a ,divine object lesson of perfect law1 perfect plan1 perfect order1 perfect method4 ,six days of work carefully planned1 scheduled and completed were followed by1--rest4 ,whether we accept the story as literal or as figurative1 as the account of successive days or of ages comprising millions of years1 matters little if we but learn the lesson4 ,nature is very un-,american4 ,nature never hurries4 ,every phase of her working shows plan1 calmness1 reliability1 and the absence of hurry4 ,hurry always implies lack of definite method1 confusion1 impatience of slow growth4 ,the ,tower of ,babel1 the world's first sky-scraper1 was a failure because of hurry4 ,the workers mistook their arrogant ambition for inspiration4 ,they had too many builders1--and no architect4 ,they thought to make up the lack of a head by a superfluity of hands4 ,this is a characteristic of ,hurry4 ,it seeks ever to make energy a substitute for a clearly defined plan1--the result is ever as hopeless as trying to transform a hobbyhorse into a real steed by brisk riding4 ,hurry is a counterfeit of haste4 ,haste has an ideal1 a distinct aim to be realized by the quickest1 direct methods4 ,haste has a single compass upon which it relies for direction and in harmony with which its course is determined4 ,hurry says3 8,i must move faster4 ,i will get three compasses2 ,i will have them different2 ,i will be guided by all of them4 ,one of them will probably be right40 ,hurry never realizes that slow1 careful foundation work is the quickest in the end4 ,hurry has ruined more ,americans than has any other word in the vocabulary of life4 ,it is the scourge of ,america2 and is both a cause and a result of our high-pressure civilization4 ,hurry adroitly assumes so many masquerades of disguise that its identity is not always recognized4 ,hurry always pays the highest price for everything1 and1 usually the goods are not delivered4 ,in the race for wealth men often sacrifice time1 energy1 health1 home1 happiness and honor1--everything that money cannot buy1 the very things that money can never bring back4 ,hurry is a phantom of paradoxes4 ,business men1 in their desire to provide for the future happiness of their family1 often sacrifice the present happiness of wife and children on the altar of ,hurry4 ,they forget that their place in the home should be something greater than being merely 8the man that pays the bills20 they expect consideration and thoughtfulness that they are not giving4 ,we hear too much of a wife's duties to a husband and too little of the other side of the question4 8,the wife10 they tell us1 8should meet her husband with a smile and a kiss1 should tactfully watch his moods and be ever sweetness and sunshine40 ,why this continual swinging of the censer of devotion to the man of business8 ,why should a woman have to look up with timid glance at the face of her husband1 to 8size up his mood80 ,has not her day1 too1 been one of care1 and responsibility1 and watchfulness8 ,has not mother-love been working over perplexing problems and worries of home and of the training of the children that wifely love may make her seek to solve in secret8 ,is man1 then1 the weaker sex that he must be pampered and treated as tenderly as a boil trying to keep from contact with the world8 ,in their hurry to attain some ambition1 to gratify the dream of a life1 men often throw honor1 truth1 and generosity to the winds4 ,politicians dare to stand by and see a city poisoned with foul water until1 they 8see where they come in0 on a waterworks appropriation4 ,if it be necessary to poison an army1--that1 too1 is but an incident in the hurry for wealth4 ,this is the ,age of the ,hothouse4 ,the element of natural growth is pushed to one side and the hothouse and the force-pump are substituted4 ,nature looks on tolerantly as she says3 8,so far you may go1 but no farther1 my foolish children40 ,the educational system of to-day is a monumental institution dedicated to ,hurry4 ,the children are forced to go through a series of studies that sweep the circle of all human wisdom4 ,they are given everything that the ambitious ignorance of the age can force into their minds2 they are taught everything but the essentials1--how to use their senses and how to think4 ,their minds become congested by a great mass of undigested facts1 and still the cruel1 barbarous forcing goes on4 ,you watch it until it seems you cannot stand it a moment longer1 and you instinctively put out your hand and say3 8,stop6 ,this modern slaughter of the ,innocents must not go on60 ,education smiles suavely1 waves her hand complacently toward her thousands of knowledge-prisons over the country1 and says3 8,who are you that dares speak a word against our sacred school system80 ,education is in a hurry4 ,because she fails in fifteen years to do what half the time should accomplish by better methods1 she should not be too boastful4 ,incompetence is not always a reason for pride4 ,and they hurry the children into a hundred text-books1 then into ill-health1 then into the colleges1 then into a diploma1 then into life1--with a dazed mind1 untrained and unfitted for the real duties of living4 ,hurry is the deathblow to calmness1 to dignity1 to poise4 ,the old-time courtesy went out when the new-time hurry came in4 ,hurry is the father of dyspepsia4 ,in the rush of our national life1 the bolting of food has become a national vice4 ,the words 8,quick ,lunches0 might properly be placed on thousands of headstones in our cemeteries4 ,man forgets that he is the only animal that dines2 the others merely feed4 ,why does he abrogate his right to dine and go to the end of the line with the mere feeders8 ,his self-respecting stomach rebels1 and expresses its indignation by indigestion4 ,then man has to go through life with a little bottle of pepsin tablets in his vest-pocket4 ,he is but another victim to this craze for speed4 ,hurry means the breakdown of the nerves4 ,it is the royal road to nervous prostration4 ,everything that is great in life is the product of slow growth2 the newer1 and greater1 and higher1 and nobler the work1 the slower is its growth1 the surer is its lasting success4 ,mushrooms attain their full power in a night2 oaks require decades4 ,a fad lives its life in a few weeks2 a philosophy lives through generations and centuries4 ,if you are sure you are right1 do not let the voice of the world1 or of friends1 or of family swerve you for a moment from your purpose4 ,accept slow growth if it must be slow1 and know the results must come1 as you would accept the long1 lonely hours of the night1--with absolute assurance that the heavy-leaded moments must bring the morning4 ,let us as individuals banish the word 8,hurry0 from our lives4 ,let us care for nothing so much that we would pay honor and self-respect as the price of hurrying it4 ,let us cultivate calmness1 restfulness1 poise1 sweetness1--doing our best1 bearing all things as bravely as we can2 living our life undisturbed by the prosperity of the wicked or the malice of the envious4 ,let us not be impatient1 chafing at delay1 fretting over failure1 wearying over results1 and weakening under opposition4 ,let us ever turn our face toward the future with confidence and trust1 with the calmness of a life in harmony with itself1 true to its ideals1 and slowly and constantly progressing toward their realization4 ,let us see that cowardly word ,hurry in all its most degenerating phases1 let us see that it ever kills truth1 loyalty1 thoroughness2 and let us determine that1 day by day1 we will seek more and more to substitute for it the calmness and repose of a true life1 nobly lived4 ,,xii ,the ,power of ,personal ,influence ,the only responsibility that a man cannot evade in this life is the one he thinks of least1--his personal influence4 ,man's conscious influence1 when he is on dress-parade1 when he is posing to impress those around him1--is woefully small4 ,but his unconscious influence1 the silent1 subtle radiation of his personality1 the effect of his words and acts1 the trifles he never considers1--is tremendous4 ,every moment of life he is changing to a degree the life of the whole world4 ,every man has an atmosphere which is affecting every other4 ,so silent and unconsciously is this influence working1 that man may forget that it exists4 ,all the forces of ,nature1--heat1 light1 electricity and gravitation1--are silent and invisible4 ,we never see them2 we only know that they exist by seeing the effects they produce4 ,in all ,nature the wonders of the 8seen0 are dwarfed into insignificance when compared with the majesty and glory of the 8unseen40 ,the great sun itself does not supply enough heat and light to sustain animal and vegetable life on the earth4 ,we are dependent for nearly half of our light and heat upon the stars1 and the greater part of this supply of life-giving energy comes from invisible stars1 millions of miles from the earth4 ,in a thousand ways ,nature constantly seeks to lead men to a keener and deeper realization of the power and wonder of the invisible4 ,into the hands of every individual is given a marvellous power for good or for evil1--the silent1 unconscious1 unseen influence of his life4 ,this is simply the constant radiation of what a man really is1 not what he pretends to be4 ,every man1 by his mere living1 is radiating sympathy1 or sorrow1 or morbidness1 or cynicism1 or happiness1 or hope1 or any of a hundred other qualities4 ,life is a state of constant radiation and absorption2 to exist is to radiate2 to exist is to be the recipient of radiations4 ,there are men and women whose presence seems to radiate sunshine1 cheer and optimism4 ,you feel calmed and rested and restored in a moment to a new and stronger faith in humanity4 ,there are others who focus in an instant all your latent distrust1 morbidness and rebellion against life4 ,without knowing why1 you chafe and fret in their presence4 ,you lose your bearings on life and its problems4 ,your moral compass is disturbed and unsatisfactory4 ,it is made untrue in an instant1 as the magnetic needle of a ship is deflected when it passes near great mountains of iron ore4 ,there are men who float down the stream of life like icebergs1--cold1 reserved1 unapproachable and self-contained4 ,in their presence you involuntarily draw your wraps closer around you1 as you wonder who left the door open4 ,these refrigerated human beings have a most depressing influence on all those who fall under the spell of their radiated chilliness4 ,but there are other natures1 warm1 helpful1 genial1 who are like the ,gulf ,stream1 following their own course1 flowing undaunted and undismayed in the ocean of colder waters4 ,their presence brings warmth and life and the glow of sunshine1 the joyous1 stimulating breath of spring4 ,there are men who are like malarious swamps1--poisonous1 depressing and weakening by their very presence4 ,they make heavy1 oppressive and gloomy the atmosphere of their own homes2 the sound of the children's play is stilled1 the ripples of laughter are frozen by their presence4 ,they go through life as if each day were a new big funeral1 and they were always chief mourners4 ,there are other men who seem like the ocean2 they are constantly bracing1 stimulating1 giving new draughts of tonic life and strength by their very presence4 ,there are men who are insincere in heart1 and that insincerity is radiated by their presence4 ,they have a wondrous interest in your welfare1--when they need you4 ,they put on a 8property0 smile so suddenly1 when it serves their purpose1 that it seems the smile must be connected with some electric button concealed in their clothes4 ,their voice has a simulated cordiality that long training may have made almost natural4 ,but they never play their part absolutely true1 the mask will slip down sometimes2 their cleverness cannot teach their eyes the look of sterling honesty2 they may deceive some people1 but they cannot deceive all4 ,there is a subtle power of revelation which makes us say3 8,well1 ,i cannot explain how it is1 but ,i know that man is not honest40 ,man cannot escape for one moment from this radiation of his character1 this constantly weakening or strengthening of others4 ,he cannot evade the responsibility by saying it is an unconscious influence4 ,he can select the qualities that he will permit to be radiated4 ,he can cultivate sweetness1 calmness1 trust1 generosity1 truth1 justice1 loyalty1 nobility1--make them vitally active in his character1--and by these qualities he will constantly affect the world4 ,discouragement often comes to honest souls trying to live the best they can1 in the thought that they are doing so little good in the world4 ,trifles unnoted by us may be links in the chain of some great purpose4 ,in #agig1 ,william ,godwin wrote ,the ,inquirer1 a collection of revolutionary essays on morals and politics4 ,this book influenced ,thomas ,malthus to write his ,essay on ,population1 published in #agih4 ,malthus' book suggested to ,charles ,darwin a point of view upon which he devoted many years of his life1 resulting1 in #ahei1 in the publication of ,the ,origin of ,species1--the most influential book of the nineteenth century1 a book that has revolutionized all science4 ,these were but three links of influence extending over sixty years4 ,it might be possible to trace this genealogy of influence back from ,godwin1 through generation and generation1 to the word or act of some shepherd in early ,britain1 watching his flock upon the hills1 living his quiet life1 and dying with the thought that he had done nothing to help the world4 ,men and women have duties to others1--and duties to themselves4 ,in justice to ourselves we should refuse to live in an atmosphere that keeps us from living our best4 ,if the fault be in us1 we should master it4 ,if it be the personal influence of others that1 like a noxious vapor1 kills our best impulses1 we should remove from that influence1--if we can possibly move without forsaking duties4 ,if it be wrong to move1 then we should take strong doses of moral quinine to counteract the malaria of influence4 ,it is not what those around us do for us that counts1--it is what they are to us4 ,we carry our houseplants from one window to another to give them the proper heat1 light1 air and moisture4 ,should we not be at least as careful of ourselves8 ,to make our influence felt we must live our faith1 we must practice what we believe4 ,a magnet does not attract iron1 as iron4 ,it must first convert the iron into another magnet before it can attract it4 ,it is useless for a parent to try to teach gentleness to her children when she herself is cross and irritable4 ,the child who is told to be truthful and who hears a parent lie cleverly to escape some little social unpleasantness is not going to cling very zealously to truth4 ,the parent's words say 8don't lie10 the influence of the parent's life says 8do lie40 ,no man can ever isolate himself to evade this constant power of influence1 as no single corpuscle can rebel and escape from the general course of the blood4 ,no individual is so insignificant as to be without influence4 ,the changes in our varying moods are all recorded in the delicate barometers of the lives of others4 ,we should ever let our influence filter through human love and sympathy4 ,we should not be merely an influence1--we should be an inspiration4 ,by our very presence we should be a tower of strength to the hungering human souls around us4 ,,xiii ,the ,dignity of ,self-,reliance ,self-confidence1 without self-reliance1 is as useless as a cooking recipe1--without food4 ,self-confidence sees the possibilities of the individual2 self-reliance realizes them4 ,self-confidence sees the angel in the unhewn block of marble2 self-reliance carves it out for himself4 ,the man who is self-reliant says ever3 8,no one can realize my possibilities for me1 but me2 no one can make me good or evil but myself40 ,he works out his own salvation1--financially1 socially1 mentally1 physically1 and morally4 ,life is an individual problem that man must solve for himself4 ,nature accepts no vicarious sacrifice1 no vicarious service4 ,nature never recognizes a proxy vote4 ,she has nothing to do with middlemen1--she deals only with the individual4 ,nature is constantly seeking to show man that he is his own best friend1 or his own worst enemy4 ,nature gives man the option on which he will be to himself4 ,all the athletic exercises in the world are of no value to the individual unless he compel those bars and dumb-bells to yield to him1 in strength and muscle1 the power for which he1 himself1 pays in time and effort4 ,he can never develop his muscles by sending his valet to a gymnasium4 ,the medicine-chests of the world are powerless1 in all the united efforts1 to help the individual until he reach out and take for himself what is needed for his individual weakness4 ,all the religions of the world are but speculations in morals1 mere theories of salvation1 until the individual realize that he must save himself by relying on the law of truth1 as he sees it1 and living his life in harmony with it1 as fully as he can4 ,but religion is not a ,pullman car1 with soft-cushioned seats1 where he has but to pay for his ticket1--and someone else does all the rest4 ,in religion1 as in all other great things1 he is ever thrown back on his self-reliance4 ,he should accept all helps1 but1--he must live his own life4 ,he should not feel that he is a mere passenger2 he is the engineer1 and the train is his life4 ,we must rely on ourselves1 live our own lives1 or we merely drift through existence1--losing all that is best1 all that is greatest1 all that is divine4 ,all that others can do for us is to give us opportunity4 ,we must ever be prepared for the opportunity when it comes1 and to go after it and find it when it does not come1 or that opportunity is to us1--nothing life is but a succession of opportunities4 ,they are for good or evil1--as we make them4 ,many of the alchemists of old felt that they lacked but one element2 if they could obtain that one1 they believed they could transmute the baser metals into pure gold4 ,it is so in character4 ,there are individuals with rare mental gifts1 and delicate spiritual discernment who fail utterly in life because they lack the one element1--self-reliance4 ,this would unite all their energies1 and focus them into strength and power4 ,the man who is not self-reliant is weak1 hesitating and doubting in all he does4 ,he fears to take a decisive step1 because he dreads failure1 because he is waiting for someone to advise him or because he dare not act in accordance with his own best judgment4 ,in his cowardice and his conceit he sees all his non-success due to others4 ,he is 8not appreciated10 8not recognized10 he is 8kept down40 ,he feels that in some subtle way 8society is conspiring against him40 ,he grows almost vain as he thinks that no one has had such poverty1 such sorrow1 such affliction1 such failure as have come to him4 ,the man who is self-reliant seeks ever to discover and conquer the weakness within him that keeps him from the attainment of what he holds dearest2 he seeks within himself the power to battle against all outside influences4 ,he realizes that all the greatest men in history1 in every phase of human effort1 have been those who have had to fight against the odds of sickness1 suffering1 sorrow4 ,to him1 defeat is no more than passing through a tunnel is to a traveller1--he knows he must emerge again into the sunlight4 ,the nation that is strongest is the one that is most self-reliant1 the one that contains within its boundaries all that its people need4 ,if1 with its ports all blockaded it has not within itself the necessities of life and the elements of its continual progress then1--it is weak1 held by the enemy1 and it is but a question of time till it must surrender4 ,its independence is in proportion to its self-reliance1 to its power to sustain itself from within4 ,what is true of nations is true of individuals4 ,the history of nations is but the biography of individuals magnified1 intensified1 multiplied1 and projected on the screen of the past4 ,history is the biography of a nation2 biography is the history of an individual4 ,so it must be that the individual who is most strong in any trial1 sorrow or need is he who can live from his inherent strength1 who needs no scaffolding of commonplace sympathy to uphold him4 ,he must ever be self-reliant4 ,the wealth and prosperity of ancient ,rome1 relying on her slaves to do the real work of the nation1 proved the nation's downfall4 ,the constant dependence on the captives of war to do the thousand details of life for them1 killed self-reliance in the nation and in the individual4 ,then1 through weakened self-reliance and the increased opportunity for idle1 luxurious ease that came with it1 ,rome1 a nation of fighters1 became1--a nation of men more effeminate than women4 ,as we depend on others to do those things we should do ourselves1 our self-reliance weakens and our powers and our control of them becomes continuously less4 ,man to be great must be self-reliant4 ,though he may not be so in all things1 he must be self-reliant in the one in which he would be great4 ,this self-reliance is not the self-sufficiency of conceit4 ,it is daring to stand alone4 ,be an oak1 not a vine4 ,be ready to give support1 but do not crave it2 do not be dependent on it4 ,to develop your true self-reliance1 you must see from the very beginning that life is a battle you must fight for yourself1--you must be your own soldier4 ,you cannot buy a substitute1 you cannot win a reprieve1 you can never be placed on the retired list4 ,the retired list of life is1--death4 ,the world is busy with its own cares1 sorrows and joys1 and pays little heed to you4 ,there is but one great password to success1--self-reliance4 ,if you would learn to converse1 put yourself into positions where you must speak4 ,if you would conquer your morbidness1 mingle with the bright people around you1 no matter how difficult it may be4 ,if you desire the power that someone else possesses1 do not envy his strength1 and dissipate your energy by weakly wishing his force were yours4 ,emulate the process by which it became his1 depend on your self-reliance1 pay the price for it1 and equal power may be yours4 ,the individual must look upon himself as an investment of untold possibilities if rightly developed1--a mine whose resources can never be known but by going down into it and bringing out what is hidden4 ,man can develop his self-reliance by seeking constantly to surpass himself4 ,we try too much to surpass others4 ,if we seek ever to surpass ourselves1 we are moving on a uniform line of progress1 that gives a harmonious unifying to our growth in all its parts4 ,daniel ,morrell1 at one time ,president of the ,cambria ,rail ,works1 that employed #g1jjj men and made a rail famed throughout the world1 was asked the secret of the great success of the works4 8,we have no secret10 he said1 8but this1--we always try to beat our last batch of rails40 ,competition is good1 but it has its danger side4 ,there is a tendency to sacrifice real worth to mere appearance1 to have seeming rather than reality4 ,but the true competition is the competition of the individual with himself1--his present seeking to excel his past4 ,this means real growth from within4 ,self-reliance develops it1 and it develops self-reliance4 ,let the individual feel thus as to his own progress and possibilities1 and he can almost create his life as he will4 ,let him never fall down in despair at dangers and sorrows at a distance2 they may be harmless1 like ,bunyan's stone lions1 when he nears them4 ,the man who is self-reliant does not live in the shadow of someone else's greatness2 he thinks for himself1 depends on himself1 and acts for himself4 ,in throwing the individual thus back upon himself it is not shutting his eyes to the stimulus and light and new life that come with the warm pressure of the hand1 the kindly word and sincere expressions of true friendship4 ,but true friendship is rare2 its great value is in a crisis1--like a lifeboat4 ,many a boasted friend has proved a leaking1 worthless 8lifeboat0 when the storm of adversity might make him useful4 ,in these great crises of life1 man is strong only as he is strong from within1 and the more he depends on himself the stronger will he become1 and the more able will he be to help others in the hour of their need4 ,his very life will be a constant help and a strength to others1 as he becomes to them a living lesson of the dignity of self-reliance4 ,,xiv ,failure as a ,success ,it ofttimes requires heroic courage to face fruitless effort1 to take up the broken strands of a life-work1 to look bravely toward the future1 and proceed undaunted on our way4 ,but what1 to our eyes1 may seem hopeless failure is often but the dawning of a greater success4 ,it may contain in its dbris the foundation material of a mighty purpose1 or the revelation of new and higher possibilities4 ,some years ago1 it was proposed to send logs from ,canada to ,new ,york1 by a new method4 ,the ingenious plan of ,mr4 ,joggins was to bind great logs together by cables and iron girders and to tow the cargo as a raft4 ,when the novel craft neared ,new ,york and success seemed assured1 a terrible storm arose4 ,in the fury of the tempest1 the iron bands snapped like icicles and the angry water scattered the logs far and wide4 ,the chief of the ,hydrographic ,department at ,washington heard of the failure of the experiment1 and at once sent word to shipmasters the world over1 urging them to watch carefully for these logs which he described2 and to note the precise location of each in latitude and longitude and the time the observation was made4 ,hundreds of captains1 sailing over the waters of the earth1 noted the logs1 in the ,atlantic ,ocean1 in the ,mediterranean1 in the ,south ,seas--for into all waters did these venturesome ones travel4 ,hundreds of reports were made1 covering a period of weeks and months4 ,these observations were then carefully collated1 systematized and tabulated1 and discoveries were made as to the course of ocean currents that otherwise would have been impossible4 ,the loss of the ,joggins raft was not a real failure1 for it led to one of the great discoveries in modern marine geography and navigation4 ,in our superior knowledge we are disposed to speak in a patronizing tone of the follies of the alchemists of old4 ,but their failure to transmute the baser metals into gold resulted in the birth of chemistry4 ,they did not succeed in what they attempted1 but they brought into vogue the natural processes of sublimation1 filtration1 distillation1 and crystallization2 they invented the alembic1 the retort1 the sand-bag1 the water-bath and other valuable instruments4 ,to them is due the discovery of antimony1 sulphuric ether and phosphorus1 the cupellation of gold and silver1 the determining of the properties of saltpetre and its use in gunpowder1 and the discovery of the distillation of essential oils4 ,this was the success of failure1 a wondrous process of ,nature for the highest growth1--a mighty lesson of comfort1 strength1 and encouragement if man would only realize and accept it4 ,many of our failures sweep us to greater heights of success than we ever hoped for in our wildest dreams4 ,life is a successive unfolding of success from failure4 ,in discovering ,america ,columbus failed absolutely4 ,his ingenious reasoning and experiment led him to believe that by sailing westward he would reach ,india4 ,every redman in ,america carries in his name 8,indian10 the perpetuation of the memory of the failure of ,columbus4 ,the ,genoese navigator did not reach ,india2 the cargo of 8souvenirs0 he took back to ,spain to show to ,ferdinand and ,isabella as proofs of his success1 really attested his failure4 ,but the discovery of ,america was a greater success than was any finding of a 8back-door0 to ,india4 ,when ,david ,livingstone had supplemented his theological education by a medical course1 he was ready to enter the missionary field4 ,for over three years he had studied tirelessly1 with all energies concentrated on one aim1--to spread the gospel in ,china4 ,the hour came when he was ready to start out with noble enthusiasm for his chosen work1 to consecrate himself and his life to his unselfish ambition4 ,then word came from ,china that the 8opium war0 would make it folly to attempt to enter the country4 ,disappointment and failure did not long daunt him2 he offered himself as missionary to ,africa1--and he was accepted4 ,his glorious failure to reach ,china opened a whole continent to light and truth4 ,his study proved an ideal preparation for his labors as physician1 explorer1 teacher and evangel in the wilds of ,africa4 ,business reverses and the failure of his partner threw upon the broad shoulders and the still broader honor and honesty of ,sir ,walter ,scott a burden of responsibility that forced him to write4 ,the failure spurred him to almost superhuman effort4 ,the masterpieces of ,scotch historic fiction that have thrilled1 entertained and uplifted millions of his fellow-men are a glorious monument on the field of a seeming failure4 ,when ,millet1 the painter of the 8,angelus0 worked on his almost divine canvas1 in which the very air seems pulsing with the regenerating essence of spiritual reverence1 he was painting against time1 he was antidoting sorrow1 he was racing against death4 ,his brush strokes1 put on in the early morning hours before going to his menial duties as a railway porter1 in the dusk like that perpetuated on his canvas1--meant strength1 food and medicine for the dying wife he adored4 ,the art failure that cast him into the depths of poverty unified with marvellous intensity all the finer elements of his nature4 ,this rare spiritual unity1 this purging of all the dross of triviality1 as he passed through the furnace of poverty1 trial1 and sorrow1 gave eloquence to his brush and enabled him to paint as never before1--as no prosperity would have made possible4 ,failure is often the turning-point1 the pivot of circumstance that swings us to higher levels4 ,it may not be financial success1 it may not be fame2 it may be new draughts of spiritual1 moral or mental inspiration that will change us for all the later years of our life4 ,life is not really what comes to us1 but what we get from it4 ,whether man has had wealth or poverty1 failure or success1 counts for little when it is past4 ,there is but one question for him to answer1 to face boldly and honestly as an individual alone with his conscience and his destiny3 8,how will ,i let that poverty or wealth affect me8 ,if that trial or deprivation has left me better1 truer1 nobler1 then1--poverty has been riches1 failure has been a success4 ,if wealth has come to me and has made me vain1 arrogant1 contemptuous1 uncharitable1 cynical1 closing from me all the tenderness of life1 all the channels of higher development1 of possible good to my fellow-man1 making me the mere custodian of a money-bag1 then1--wealth has lied to me1 it has been failure1 not success2 it has not been riches1 it has been dark1 treacherous poverty that stole from me even ,myself40 ,all things become for us then what we take from them4 ,failure is one of ,god's educators4 ,it is experience leading man to higher things2 it is the revelation of a way1 a path hitherto unknown to us4 ,the best men in the world1 those who have made the greatest real successes look back with serene happiness on their failures4 ,the turning of the face of ,time shows all things in a wondrously illuminated and satisfying perspective4 ,many a man is thankful to-day that some petty success for which he once struggled1 melted into thin air as his hand sought to clutch it4 ,failure is often the rock-bottom foundation of real success4 ,if man1 in a few instances of his life can say1 8,those failures were the best things in the world that could have happened to me10 should he not face new failures with undaunted courage and trust that the miraculous ministry of ,nature may transform these new stumbling-blocks into new stepping-stones8 ,our highest hopes are often destroyed to prepare us for better things4 ,the failure of the caterpillar is the birth of the butterfly2 the passing of the bud is the becoming of the rose2 the death or destruction of the seed is the prelude to its resurrection as wheat4 ,it is at night1 in the darkest hours1 those preceding dawn1 that plants grow best1 that they most increase in size4 ,may this not be one of ,nature's gentle showings to man of the times when he grows best1 of the darkness of failure that is evolving into the sunlight of success4 ,let us fear only the failure of not living the right as we see it1 leaving the results to the guardianship of the ,infinite4 ,if we think of any supreme moment of our lives1 any great success1 anyone who is dear to us1 and then consider how we reached that moment1 that success1 that friend1 we will be surprised and strengthened by the revelation4 ,as we trace each one back1 step by step1 through the genealogy of circumstances1 we will see how logical has been the course of our joy and success from sorrow and failure1 and that what gives us most happiness to-day is inextricably connected with what once caused us sorrow4 ,many of the rivers of our greatest prosperity and growth have had their source and their trickling increase into volume among the dark1 gloomy recesses of our failure4 ,there is no honest and true work1 carried along with constant and sincere purpose that ever really fails4 ,if it sometimes seem to be wasted effort1 it will prove to us a new lesson of 8how0 to walk2 the secret of our failures will prove to us the inspiration of possible successes4 ,man living with the highest aims1 ever as best he can1 in continuous harmony with them1 is a success1 no matter what statistics of failure a near-sighted and half-blind world of critics and commentators may lay at his door4 ,high ideals1 noble efforts will make seeming failures but trifles1 they need not dishearten us2 they should prove sources of new strength4 ,the rocky way may prove safer than the slippery path of smoothness4 ,birds cannot fly best with the wind but against it2 ships do not progress in calm1 when the sails flap idly against the unstrained masts4 ,the alchemy of ,nature1 superior to that of the ,paracelsians1 constantly transmutes the baser metals of failure into the later pure gold of higher success1 if the mind of the worker be kept true1 constant1 and untiring in the service1 and he have that sublime courage that defies fate to its worst while he does his best4 ,,xv ,doing ,our ,best at ,all ,times ,life is a wondrously complex problem for the individual1 until1 some day1 in a moment of illumination1 he awakens to the great realization that he can make it simple1--never quite simple1 but always simpler4 ,there are a thousand mysteries of right and wrong that have baffled the wise men of the ages4 ,there are depths in the great fundamental question of the human race that no plummet of philosophy has ever sounded4 ,there are wild cries of honest hunger for truth that seek to pierce the silence beyond the grave1 but to them ever echo back1--only a repetition of their unanswered cries4 ,to us all1 comes1 at times1 the great note of questioning despair that darkens our horizon and paralyzes our effort3 8,if there really be a ,god1 if eternal justice really rule the world10 we say1 8why should life be as it is8 ,why do some men starve while others feast2 why does virtue often languish in the shadow while vice triumphs in the sunshine2 why does failure so often dog the footsteps of honest effort1 while the success that comes from trickery and dishonor is greeted with the world's applause8 ,how is it that the loving father of one family is taken by death1 while the worthless incumbrance of another is spared8 ,why is there so much unnecessary pain1 sorrowing and suffering in the world--why1 indeed1 should there be any80 ,neither philosophy nor religion can give any final satisfactory answer that is capable of logical demonstration1 of absolute proof4 ,there is ever1 even after the best explanations1 a residuum of the unexplained4 ,we must then fall back in the eternal arms of faith1 and be wise enough to say1 8,i will not be disconcerted by these problems of life1 ,i will not permit them to plunge me into doubt1 and to cloud my life with vagueness and uncertainty4 ,man arrogates much to himself when he demands from the infinite the full solution of all ,his mysteries4 ,i will found my life on the impregnable rock of a simple fundamental truth3 #8,this glorious creation with its millions of wondrous phenomena pulsing ever in harmony with eternal law must have a ,creator1 that ,creator must be omniscient and omnipotent4 ,but that ,creator ,himself cannot1 in justice1 demand of any creature more than the best that that individual can give4' ,i will do each day1 in every moment1 the best ,i can by the light ,i have2 ,i will ever seek more light1 more perfect illumination of truth1 and ever live as best ,i can in harmony with the truth as ,i see it4 ,if failure come ,i will meet it bravely2 if my pathway then lie in the shadow of trial1 sorrow and suffering1 ,i shall have the restful peace and the calm strength of one who has done his best1 who can look back upon the past with no pang of regret1 and who has heroic courage in facing the results1 whatever they be1 knowing that he could not make them different40 ,upon this life-plan1 this foundation1 man may erect any superstructure of religion or philosophy that he conscientiously can erect2 he should add to his equipment for living every shred of strength and inspiration1 moral1 mental1 or spiritual that is in his power to secure4 ,this simple working faith is opposed to no creed1 is a substitute for none2 it is but a primary belief1 a citadel1 a refuge where the individual can retire for strength when the battle of life grows hard4 ,a mere theory of life1 that remains but a theory1 is about as useful to a man as a gilt-edged menu is to a starving sailor on a raft in mid-ocean4 ,it is irritating but not stimulating4 ,no rule for higher living will help a man in the slightest1 until he reach out and appropriate it for himself1 until he make it practical in his daily life1 until that seed of theory in his mind blossom into a thousand flowers of thought and word and act4 ,if a man honestly seek to live his best at all times1 that determination is visible in every moment of his living1 and no trifle in his life can be too insignificant to reflect his principle of living4 ,the sun illuminates and beautifies a fallen leaf by the roadside as impartially as a towering mountain peak in the ,alps4 ,every drop of water in the ocean is an epitome of the chemistry of the whole ocean2 every drop is subject to precisely the same laws as dominate the united infinity of billions of drops that make that miracle of ,nature1 men call the ,sea4 ,no matter how humble the calling of the individual1 how uninteresting and dull the round of his duties1 he should do his best4 ,he should dignify what he is doing by the mind he puts into it1 he should vitalize what little he has of power or energy or ability or opportunity1 in order to prepare himself to be equal to higher privileges when they come4 ,this will never lead man to that weak content that is satisfied with whatever falls to his lot4 ,it will rather fill his mind with that divine discontent that cheerfully accepts the best--merely as a temporary substitute for something better4 ,the man who is seeking ever to do his best is the man who is keen1 active1 wide-awake1 and aggressive4 ,he is ever watchful of himself in trifles2 his standard is not 8,what will the world say80 but 8,is it worthy of me80 ,edwin ,booth1 one of the greatest actors on the ,american stage1 would never permit himself to assume an ungraceful attitude1 even in his hours of privacy4 ,in this simple thing1 he ever lived his best4 ,on the stage every move was one of unconscious grace4 ,those of his company who were conscious of their motions were the awkward ones1 who were seeking in public to undo or to conceal the carelessness of the gestures and motions of their private life4 ,the man who is slipshod and thoughtless in his daily speech1 whose vocabulary is a collection of anmic commonplaces1 whose repetitions of phrases and extravagance of interjections act but as feeble disguises to his lack of ideas1 will never be brilliant on an occasion when he longs to outshine the stars4 ,living at one's best is constant preparation for instant use4 ,it can never make one over-precise1 self-conscious1 affected1 or priggish4 ,education1 in its highest sense1 is conscious training of mind or body to act unconsciously4 ,it is conscious formation of mental habits1 not mere acquisition of information4 ,one of the many ways in which the individual unwisely eclipses himself1 is in his worship of the fetich of luck4 ,he feels that all others are lucky1 and that whatever he attempts1 fails4 ,he does not realize the untiring energy1 the unremitting concentration1 the heroic courage1 the sublime patience that is the secret of some men's success4 ,their 8luck0 was that they had prepared themselves to be equal to their opportunity when it came and were awake to recognize it and receive it4 ,his own opportunity came and departed un-noted1 it could not waken him from his dreams of some untold wealth that would fall into his lap4 ,so he grows discouraged and envies those whom he should emulate1 and he bandages his arms and chloroforms his energies1 and performs his duties in a perfunctory way1 or he passes through life1 just ever 8sampling0 lines of activity4 ,the honest1 faithful struggler should always realize that failure is but an episode in a true man's life--never the whole story4 ,it is never easy to meet1 and no philosophy can make it so1 but the steadfast courage to master conditions1 instead of complaining of them1 will help him on his way2 it will ever enable him to get the best out of what he has4 ,he never knows the long series of vanquished failures that give solidity to someone else's success2 he does not realize the price that some rich man1 the innocent football of political malcontents and demagogues1 has heroically paid for wealth and position4 ,the man who has a pessimist's doubt of all things2 who demands a certified guarantee of his future2 who ever fears his work will not be recognized or appreciated2 or that after all1 it is really not worth while1 will never live his best4 ,he is dulling his capacity for real progress by his hypnotic course of excuses for inactivity1 instead of a strong tonic of reasons for action4 ,one of the most weakening elements in the individual make-up is the surrender to the oncoming of years4 ,man's self-confidence dims and dies in the fear of age4 8,this new thought10 he says of some suggestion tending to higher development1 8is good2 it is what we need4 ,i am glad to have it for my children2 ,i would have been happy to have had some such help when ,i was at school1 but it is too late for me4 ,i am a man advanced in years40 ,this is but blind closing of life to wondrous possibilities4 ,the knell of lost opportunity is never tolled in this life4 ,it is never too late to recognize truth and to live by it4 ,it requires only greater effort1 closer attention1 deeper consecration2 but the impossible does not exist for the man who is self-confident and is willing to pay the price in time and struggle for his success or development4 ,later in life1 the assessments are heavier in progress1 as in life insurance1 but that matters not to that mighty self-confidence that will not grow old while knowledge can keep it young4 ,socrates1 when his hair whitened with the snow of age1 learned to play on instruments of music4 ,cato1 at fourscore1 began his study of ,greek1 and the same age saw ,plutarch beginning1 with the enthusiasm of a boy1 his first lessons in ,latin4 ,the ,character of ,man1 ,theophrastus' greatest work1 was begun on his ninetieth birthday4 ,chaucer's ,canterbury ,tales was the work of the poet's declining years4 ,ronsard1 the father of ,french poetry1 whose sonnets even translation cannot destroy1 did not develop his poetic faculty until nearly fifty4 ,benjamin ,franklin at this age had just taken his really first steps of importance in philosophic pursuits4 ,arnauld1 the theologian and sage1 translated ,josephus in his eightieth year4 ,winckelmann1 one of the most famous writers on classic antiquities1 was the son of a shoemaker1 and lived in obscurity and ignorance until the prime of life4 ,hobbes1 the ,english philosopher1 published his version of the ,odyssey in his eighty-seventh year1 and his ,iliad one year later4 ,chevreul1 the great ,french scientist1 whose untiring labors in the realm of color have so enriched the world1 was busy1 keen and active when ,death called him1 at the age of #ajc4 ,these men did not fear age2 these few names from the great muster-roll of the famous ones who defied the years1 should be voices of hope and heartening to every individual whose courage and confidence is weak4 ,the path of truth1 higher living1 truer development in every phase of life1 is never shut from the individual--until he closes it himself4 ,let man feel this1 believe it and make this faith a real and living factor in his life and there are no limits to his progress4 ,he has but to live his best at all times1 and rest calm and untroubled no matter what results come to his efforts4 ,the constant looking backward to what might have been1 instead of forward to what may be1 is a great weakener of self-confidence4 ,this worry for the old past1 this wasted energy1 for that which no power in the world can restore1 ever lessens the individual's faith in himself1 weakens his efforts to develop himself for the future to the perfection of his possibilities4 ,nature in her beautiful love and tenderness1 says to man1 weakened and worn and weary with the struggle1 8,do in the best way you can the trifle that is under your hand at this moment2 do it in the best spirit of preparation for the future your thought suggests2 bring all the light of knowledge from all the past to aid you40 ,do this and you have done your best4 ,the past is forever closed to you4 ,it is closed forever to you4 ,no worry1 no struggle1 no suffering1 no agony of despair can alter it4 ,it is as much beyond your power as if it were a million years of eternity behind you4 ,turn all that past1 with its sad hours1 weakness and sin1 its wasted opportunities as light1 in confidence and hope1 upon the future4 ,turn it all in fuller truth and light so as to make each trifle of this present a new past it will be joy to look back to2 each trifle a grander1 nobler1 and more perfect preparation for the future4 ,the present and the future you can make from it1 is yours2 the past has gone back1 with all its messages1 all its history1 all its records to the ,god who loaned you the golden moments to use in obedience to ,his law4 ,,xvi ,the ,royal ,road to ,happiness 8,during my whole life ,i have not had twenty-four hours of happiness40 ,so said ,prince ,bismarck1 one of the greatest statesmen of the nineteenth century4 ,eighty-three years of wealth1 fame1 honors1 power1 influence1 prosperity and triumph1--years when he held an empire in his fingers1--but not one day of happiness6 ,happiness is the greatest paradox in ,nature4 ,it can grow in any soil1 live under any conditions4 ,it defies environment4 ,it comes from within2 it is the revelation of the depths of the inner life as light and heat proclaim the sun from which they radiate4 ,happiness consists not of having1 but of being2 not of possessing1 but of enjoying4 ,it is the warm glow of a heart at peace with itself4 ,a martyr at the stake may have happiness that a king on his throne might envy4 ,man is the creator of his own happiness2 it is the aroma of a life lived in harmony with high ideals4 ,for what a man has1 he may be dependent on others2 what he is1 rests with him alone4 ,what he obtains in life is but acquisition2 what he attains1 is growth4 ,happiness is the soul's joy in the possession of the intangible4 ,absolute1 perfect1 continuous happiness in life1 is impossible for the human4 ,it would mean the consummation of attainments1 the individual consciousness of a perfectly fulfilled destiny4 ,happiness is paradoxic because it may coexist with trial1 sorrow and poverty4 ,it is the gladness of the heart rising superior to all conditions4 ,happiness has a number of under-studies1--gratification1 satisfaction1 content and pleasure1--clever imitators that simulate its appearance rather than emulate its method4 ,gratification is a harmony between our desires and our possessions4 ,it is ever incomplete1 it is the thankful acceptance of part4 ,it is a mental pleasure in the quality of what one receives1 an unsatisfiedness as to the quantity4 ,it may be an element in happiness1 but1 in itself1--it is not happiness4 ,satisfaction is perfect identity of our desires and our possessions4 ,it exists only so long as this perfect union and unity can be preserved4 ,but every realized ideal gives birth to new ideals1 every step in advance reveals large domains of the unattained2 every feeding stimulates new appetites--then the desires and possessions are no longer identical1 no longer equal2 new cravings call forth new activities1 the equipoise is destroyed1 and dissatisfaction renters4 ,man might possess everything tangible in the world and yet not be happy1 for happiness is the satisfying of the soul1 not of the mind or the body4 ,dissatisfaction1 in its highest sense1 is the keynote of all advance1 the evidence of new aspirations1 the guarantee of the progressive revelation of new possibilities4 ,content is a greatly overrated virtue4 ,it is a kind of diluted despair2 it is the feeling with which we continue to accept substitutes1 without striving for the realities4 ,content makes the trained individual swallow vinegar and try to smack his lips as if it were wine4 ,content enables one to warm his hands at the fire of a past joy that exists only in memory4 ,content is a mental and moral chloroform that deadens the activities of the individual to rise to higher planes of life and growth4 ,man should never be contented with anything less than the best efforts of his nature can possibly secure for him4 ,content makes the world more comfortable for the individual1 but it is the death-knell of progress4 ,man should be content with each step of progress merely as a station1 discontented with it as a destination2 contented with it as a step2 discontented with it as a finality4 ,there are times when a man should be content with what he has1 but never with what he is4 ,but content is not happiness2 neither is pleasure4 ,pleasure is temporary1 happiness is continuous2 pleasure is a note1 happiness is a symphony2 pleasure may exist when conscience utters protests2 happiness1 never4 ,pleasure may have its dregs and its lees2 but none can be found in the cup of happiness4 ,man is the only animal that can be really happy4 ,to the rest of the creation belong only weak imitations of the understudies4 ,happiness represents a peaceful attunement of a life with a standard of living4 ,it can never be made by the individual1 by himself1 for himself4 ,it is one of the incidental by-products of an unselfish life4 ,no man can make his own happiness the one object of his life and attain it1 any more than he can jump on the far end of his shadow4 ,if you would hit the bull's-eye of happiness on the target of life1 aim above it4 ,place other things higher than your own happiness and it will surely come to you4 ,you can buy pleasure1 you can acquire content1 you can become satisfied1--but ,nature never put real happiness on the bargain-counter4 ,it is the undetachable accompaniment of true living4 ,it is calm and peaceful2 it never lives in an atmosphere of worry or of hopeless struggle4 ,the basis of happiness is the love of something outside self4 ,search every instance of happiness in the world1 and you will find1 when all the incidental features are eliminated1 there is always the constant1 unchangeable element of love1--love of parent for child2 love of man and woman for each other2 love of humanity in some form1 or a great life work into which the individual throws all his energies4 ,happiness is the voice of optimism1 of faith1 of simple1 steadfast love4 ,no cynic or pessimist can be really happy4 ,a cynic is a man who is morally near-sighted1--and brags about it4 ,he sees the evil in his own heart1 and thinks he sees the world4 ,he lets a mote in his eye eclipse the sun4 ,an incurable cynic is an individual who should long for death1--for life cannot bring him happiness1 death might4 ,the keynote of ,bismarck's lack of happiness was his profound distrust of human nature4 ,there is a royal road to happiness2 it lies in ,consecration1 ,concentration1 ,conquest and ,conscience4 ,consecration is dedicating the individual life to the service of others1 to some noble mission1 to realizing some unselfish ideal4 ,life is not something to be lived through2 it is something to be lived up to4 ,it is a privilege1 not a penal servitude of so many decades on earth4 ,consecration places the object of life above the mere acquisition of money1 as a finality4 ,the man who is unselfish1 kind1 loving1 tender1 helpful1 ready to lighten the burden of those around him1 to hearten the struggling ones1 to forget himself sometimes in remembering others1 is on the right road to happiness4 ,consecration is ever active1 bold and aggressive1 fearing naught but possible disloyalty to high ideals4 ,concentration makes the individual life simpler and deeper4 ,it cuts away the shams and pretences of modern living and limits life to its truest essentials4 ,worry1 fear1 useless regret--all the great wastes that sap mental1 moral or physical energy--must be sacrificed1 or the individual needlessly destroys half the possibilities of living4 ,a great purpose in life1 something that unifies the strands and threads of each day's thinking1 something that takes the sting from the petty trials1 sorrows1 sufferings and blunders of life1 is a great aid to ,concentration4 ,soldiers in battle may forget their wounds1 or even be unconscious of them1 in the inspiration of battling for what they believe is right4 ,concentration dignifies an humble life2 it makes a great life1--sublime4 ,in morals it is a short-cut to simplicity4 ,it leads to right for right's sake1 without thought of policy or of reward4 ,it brings calm and rest to the individual1--a serenity that is but the sunlight of happiness4 ,conquest is the overcoming of an evil habit1 the rising superior to opposition and attack1 the spiritual exaltation that comes from resisting the invasion of the grovelling material side of life4 ,sometimes when you are worn and weak with the struggle2 when it seems that justice is a dream1 that honesty and loyalty and truth count for nothing1 that the devil is the only good paymaster2 when hope grows dim and flickers1 then is the time when you must tower in the great sublime faith that ,right must prevail1 then must you throttle these imps of doubt and despair1 you must master yourself to master the world around you4 ,this is ,conquest2 this is what counts4 ,even a log can float with the current2 it takes a man to fight sturdily against an opposing tide that would sweep his craft out of its course4 ,when the jealousies1 the petty intrigues and the meannesses and the misunderstandings in life assail you1 rise above them4 ,be like a lighthouse that illumines and beautifies the snarling1 swashing waves of the storm that threaten it1 that seek to undermine it and seek to wash over it4 ,this is ,conquest4 ,when the chance to win fame1 wealth1 success or the attainment of your heart's desire1 by sacrifice of honor or principle1 comes to you and it does not affect you long enough even to seem a temptation1 you have been the victor4 ,that too is ,conquest4 ,and ,conquest is part of the royal road to ,happiness4 ,conscience1 as the mentor1 the guide and compass of every act1 leads ever to ,happiness4 ,when the individual can stay alone with his conscience and get its approval1 without using force or specious logic1 then he begins to know what real ,happiness is4 ,but the individual must be careful that he is not appealing to a conscience perverted or deadened by the wrongdoing and consequent deafness of its owner4 ,the man who is honestly seeking to live his life in ,consecration1 ,concentration and ,conquest1 living from day to day as best he can1 by the light he has1 may rely implicitly on his ,conscience4 ,he can shut his ears to 8what the world says0 and find in the approval of his own conscience the highest earthly tribune--the voice of the ,infinite communing with the ,individual4 ,unhappiness is the hunger to get2 ,happiness is the hunger to give4 ,true happiness must ever have the tinge of sorrow outlived1 the sense of pain softened by the mellowing years1 the chastening of loss that in the wondrous mystery of time transmutes our suffering into love and sympathy with others4 ,if the individual should set out for a single day to give ,happiness1 to make life happier1 brighter and sweeter1 not for himself1 but for others1 he would find a wondrous revelation of what ,happiness really is4 ,the greatest of the world's heroes could not by any series of acts of heroism do as much real good as any individual living his whole life in seeking1 from day to day1 to make others happy4 ,each day there should be fresh resolution1 new strength1 and renewed enthusiasm4 8,just for ,to-day0 might be the daily motto of thousands of societies through the country1 composed of members bound together to make the world better through constant simple acts of kindness1 constant deeds of sweetness and love4 ,and ,happiness would come to them1 in its highest and best form1 not because they would seek to absorb it1 but--because they seek to radiate it4 ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america 99 99 99 99 99 ,william ,george ,jordan's ,t ,a ,l ,k ,s ,the ,trusteeship of ,life #abmo1 cloth1 net1 #a4be ,little ,problems of ,married ,life ,decorated in ,two ,colors #abmo1 cloth1 net1 #a4be ,the ,crown of ,individuality ,decorated in ,two ,colors #abmo1 cloth1 net1 #a4be ,self-,control ,its ,kingship and ,majesty ,decorated in ,two ,colors #abmo1 cloth1 net1 #a4be 99 99 99 99 99 ,,comrade ,,series ,the ,power of ,purpose #abmo1 ,decorated ,boards1 net #fj;c4 ,the ,kingship of ,self-,control #abmo1 ,decorated ,boards1 net #fj;c4 ,the ,majesty of ,calmness #abmo1 ,decorated ,boards1 net #fj;c4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,hyphenation1 and spellings have been retained as in the original4 ,punctuation has been corrected without note4 ,the preceeding listing of the author's other publications has been relocated from the front of the book4