Self Investment Orison Swett Marden

SELF-INVESTMENTBY ORISON SWETT MARDEN

BOOKS BY

ORISON SWETT MARDEN

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BY

ORISON SWETT MARDENAuthor of

" Pushing to the Front," " Peace, Power, and Plenty,"" The Miracle of Right Thought," etc.

NEW YORKTHOMAS Y. GROWELL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

•*; '..'.• CbPYRIGHT, I91I,

BY ORISON SWETT MARDENt a •, a « . . .i —

Published December^ iqu

\ :'•''• > ' . ' ! V > ' . • ; ; ' • ' . • { : : f i

TO

MY FRIEND

AUSTIN B. FLETCHER, LL. D.

Withdrawn from

CONTENTSPAGE

CHAPTER IIF YOU CAN TALK WELL I

CHAPTER IIPUT BEAUTY INTO YOUR LIFE . 23

CHAPTER IIIENJOYING WHAT OTHERS OWN" 49

CHAPTER IVPERSONALITY AS A SUCCESS ASSET 57

CHAPTER VHOW TO BE A SOCIAL SUCCESS J7

CHAPTER VITHE MIRACLE OF TACT 97

CHAPTER VII" i HAD A FRIEND" 115

CHAPTER VIIIAMBITION 139

CHAPTER IXEDUCATION BY READING l62

vii

VM CONTENTS

CHAPTER XDISCRIMINATION IN READING

CHAPTER XIREADING A SPUR TO AMBITION

184

208

CHAPTER XIITHE SELF-IMPROVEMENT HABIT, A GREAT

ASSET 226

CHAPTER XIIITHE RAISING OF VALUES 242

CHAPTER XIVSELF-IMPROVEMENT THROUGH PUBLIC!

SPEAKING 252

CHAPTER XVWHAT A GOOD APPEARANCE WILL DO 273

CHAPTER XVISELF-RELIANCE 288

CHAPTER XVIIMENTAL FRIENDS AND FOES 3O3

I. IF YOU CAN TALK WELL

A good conversationalist is one who has ideas,who reads, thinks, listens, and who has thereforesomething to say.—SIR WALTER SCOTT.

HEN Charles W. Eliot waspresident of Harvard, hesaid, " I recognize but onemental acquisition as an es-sential part of the educationof a lady or gentleman,namely, an accurate and re-

fined use of the mother-tongue."There is no other one thing which enables

us to make so good an impression, especiallyupon those who do not know us thoroughly,as the ability to converse well.

To be a good conversationalist, able to in-terest people, to rivet their attention, to drawthem to you naturally, by the very superiorityof your conversational ability, is to be thepossessor of a very great accomplishment, onewhich is superior to all others. It not onlyhelps you to make a good impression uponstrangers, it also helps you to make and keepfriends. It opens doors and softens hearts.It makes you interesting in all sorts of com-

2 SELF-INVESTMENT

pany. It helps you to get on in the world.It sends you clients, patients, customers. Ithelps you into the best society, even thoughyou are poor.

A man who can talk well, who has the artof putting things in an attractive way, whocan interest others immediately by his powerof speech, has a very great advantage overone who may know more than he, but whocannot express himself with ease or eloquence.

No matter how expert you may be in anyother art or accomplishment, you cannot useyour expertness always and everywhere asyou can the power to converse well. If youare a musician, no matter how talented youmay be, or how many years you may havespent in perfecting yourself in your specialty,or how much it may have cost you, only com-paratively few people can ever hear or appre-ciate your music.

You may be a fine singer, and yet travelaround the world without having an oppor-tunity of showing your accomplishment, orwithout anyone guessing your specialty. Butwherever you go and in whatever society youare, no matter what your station in life maybe, you talk.

You may be a painter, you may have spent

IF YOU CAN TALK WELL 3

years with great masters, and yet, unless youhave very marked ability so that your picturesare hung in the salons or in the great artgalleries, comparatively few people will eversee them. But if you are an artist in conver-sation, everyone who comes in contact withyou will see your life-picture, which you havebeen painting ever since you began to talk.Everyone knows whether you are an artistor a bungler.

In fact, you may have a great many accom-plishments which people occasionally see orenjoy, and you may have a very beautifulhome and a lot of property which compara-tively few people ever know about; but if youare a good converser, everyone with whom youtalk will feel the influence of your skill andcharm.

A noted society leader, who has been verysuccessful in the launching of debutantes insociety, always gives this advice to her pro-teges, " Talk, talk. It does not matter muchwhat you say, but chatter away lightly andgayly. Nothing embarrasses and bores theaverage man so much as a girl who has to beentertained."

There is a helpful suggestion in this advice.The way to learn to talk is to talk. The temp-

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tation for people who are unaccustomed tosociety, and who feel diffident, is to say noth-ing themselves and listen to what others say.

Good talkers are always sought after in so-ciety. Everybody wants to invite Mrs. So-and-So to dinners or receptions because sheis such a good talker. She entertains. Shemay have many defects, but people enjoy hersociety because she can talk well.

Conversation, if used as an educator, is atremendous power developer; but talkingwithout thinking, without an effort to expressoneself with clearness, conciseness, or effi-ciency, mere chattering, or gossiping, theaverage society small talk, will never get holdof the best thing in a man. It lies too deep forsuch superficial effort.

Thousands of young people who envy suchof their mates as are getting on faster thanthey are keep on wasting their precious even-ings and their half-holidays, saying nothingbut the most frivolous, frothy, senseless things— things which do not rise to the level ofhumor, but the foolish, silly talk which demor-alizes one's ambition, lowers one's ideals andall the standards of life, because it begetshabits of superficial and senseless thinking.On the streets, on the cars, and in public

IF YOU CAN TALK WELL 5places, loud, coarse voices are heard in light,flippant, slipshod speech, in coarse slang ex-pression.

" You're talking through your hat";"Search me"; "You just bet"; "Well,that's the limit"; " I hate that man; he getson my nerves," and a score of other such vul-garities we often hear.

Nothing else will indicate your fineness orcoarseness of culture, your breeding or lackof it, so quickly as your conversation. It willtell your whole life's story. What you say,and how you say it, will betray all your secrets,will give the world your true measure.

There is no other accomplishment or ac-quirement which you can use so constantly andeffectively, which will give so much pleasureto your friends, as fine conversation. There isno doubt that the gift of language was in-tended to be a much greater accomplishmentthan the majority of us have ever made of it.

Most of us are bunglers in our conversation,because we do not make an art of it; we donot take the trouble or pains to learn to talkwell. We do not read enough or think enough.Most of us express ourselves in sloppy, slip-shod English, because it is so much easier todo so than it is to think before we speak, to

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make an effort to express ourselves with ele-gance, ease, and power.

Poor conversers excuse themselves for nottrying to improve by saying that " good talk-ers are born, not made." We might as wellsay that good lawyers, good physicians, orgood merchants are born, not made... None ofthem would ever get very far without hardwork. This is the price of all achievementthat is of value.

Many a man owes his advancement verylargely to his ability to converse well. Theability to interest people in your conversa-tion, to hold them, is a great power. Theman who bungles in his expression, whoknows a thing, but never can put it in logical,interesting, or commanding language, is al-ways placed at a great disadvantage.

I know a business man who has cultivatedthe art of conversation to such an extent thatit is a great treat to listen to him. His lan-guage flows with such liquid, limpid beauty,his words are chosen with such exquisite deli-cacy, taste, and accuracy, there is such a re-finement in his diction that he charms every-one who hears him speak. All his life he hasbeen a reader of the finest prose and poetry,and has cultivated conversation as a fine art.


You may think you are poor and have nochance in life. You may be situated so thatothers are dependent upon you, and you maynot be able to go to school or college, or tostudy music or art, as you long to; you maybe tied down to an iron environment; you maybe tortured with an unsatisfied, disappointedambition; and yet you can become an inter-esting talker, because in every sentence youutter you can practise the best form of ex-pression. Every book you read, every personwith whom you converse, who uses good Eng-lish, can help you.

Few people think very much about howthey are going to express themselves. Theyuse the first words that come to them. Theydo not think of forming a sentence so that itwill have beauty, brevity, transparency, power.The words flow from their lips helter-skelter,with little thought of arrangement or order.

Now and then we meet a real artist in con-versation, and it is such a treat and delightthat we wonder why the most of us should besuch bunglers in our conversation, that weshould make such a botch of the medium ofcommunication between human beings, whenit is capable of being made the art of arts.

I have met a dozen persons in my lifetime

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who have given me such a glimpse of its su-perb possibilities that it has made all otherarts seem comparatively unimportant to me.

I was once a visitor at Wendell Phillips'shome in Boston, and the music of his voice,the liquid charm of his words, the purity, thetransparency of his diction, the profundity ofhis knowledge, the fascination of his person-ality, and his marvelous art of putting things,I shall never forget. He sat down on thesofa beside me and talked as he would to anold schoolmate, and it seemed to me that Ihad never before heard such exquisite English.I have met several English people who pos-sessed that marvelous power of " soul in con-versation which charms all who come underits spell."

Mrs. Mary A. Livermore, Julia WardHowe, and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward hadthis wonderful conversational charm, as has ex-President Eliot of Harvard.

The quality of the conversation is every-thing. We all know people who use thechoicest language and express their thoughtsin fluent, liquid diction, who impress us bythe wonderful flow of their conversation; butthat is all there is to it. They do not impressus with their thoughts; they do not stimulate


us to action. We do not feel any more deter-mined to do something in the world, to besomebody, after we have heard them talk thanwe felt before.

We know other people who talk very little,but whose words are so full of meat and stimu-lating brain force that we feel ourselves multi-plied many times by the power they have in-jected into us.

In olden times the art of conversationreached a much higher standard than that ofto-day. The deterioration is due to the com-plete revolution in the conditions of moderncivilization. Formerly people had almost noother way of communicating their thoughtsthan by speech. Knowledge of all kinds wasdisseminated almost wholly through the spokenword. There were no great daily newspapers,no magazines or periodicals of any kind.

The great discoveries of vast wealth in theprecious minerals, the new world opened upby inventions and discoveries, and the greatimpetus to ambition have changed all this. Inthis lightning-express age, in these strenuoustimes, when everybody has the mania to attainwealth and position, we no longer have timeto reflect with deliberation, and to develop ourpowers of conversation. In these great news-

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paper and periodical days, when everybody canget for one or a few cents the news and in-formation which it has cost thousands ofdollars to collect, everybody sits behind themorning sheet or is buried in a book or maga-zine. There is no longer the same need ofcommunicating thought by the spoken word,as there was formerly.

Oratory is becoming a lost art for the samereason. Printing has become so cheap thateven the poorest homes can get more readingfor a few dollars than kings and noblemencould afford in the Middle Ages.

It is a rare thing to find a polished con-versationalist to-day. So rare is it to hearone speaking exquisite English, and using asuperb diction, that it is indeed a luxury.

Good reading, however, will not onlybroaden the mind and give new ideas, but itwill also increase one's vocabulary, and thatis a great aid to conversation. Many peoplehave good thoughts and ideas, but they cannotexpress them because of the poverty of theirvocabulary. They have not words enough toclothe their ideas and make them attractive.They talk around in a circle, repeat and repeat,because, when they want a particular word toconvey their exact meaning, they cannot find it.

IF YOU CAN TALK WELL u

If you are ambitious to talk well, you mustbe as much as possible in the society of well-bred, cultured people. If you seclude your-self, though you are a college graduate, youwill be a poor converser.

We all sympathize with people, especiallythe timid and shy, who have that awful feel-ing of repression and stifling of thought, whenthey make an effort to say something and can-not. Timid young people often suffer keenlyin this way in attempting to declaim at schoolor college. But many a great orator wentthrough the same sort of experience when hefirst attempted to speak in public, and was oftendeeply humiliated by his blunders and fail-ures. There is no other way, however, to be-come an orator or a good conversationalistthan by constantly trying to express oneselfefficiently and elegantly.

If you find that your ideas fly from you whenyou attempt to express them, that you stam-mer and flounder about for words which youare unable to find, you may be sure that everyhonest effort you make, even if you fail inyour attempt, will make it all the easier foryou to speak well the next time. It is remark-able, if one keeps on trying, how quickly hewill conquer his awkwardness and self-con-

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sciousness, and will gain ease of manner andfacility of expression.

Everywhere we see people placed at a tre-mendous disadvantage because they have neverlearned the art of putting their ideas intointeresting, telling language. We see brainymen at public gatherings, when momentousquestions are being discussed, sit silent, unableto tell what they know, when they are infi-nitely better informed than those who aremaking a great deal of display of oratory orsmooth talk.

People with a lot of ability, who know agreat deal, often appear like a set of dummiesin company, while some superficial, shallow-brained person holds the attention of thosepresent simply because he can tell what heknows in an interesting way. They are con-stantly humiliated and embarrassed when awayfrom those who happen to know their realworth, because they cannot carry on an intelli-gent conversation upon any topic. There arehundreds of these silent people at our nationalcapital — many of them wives of husbandswho have suddenly and unexpectedly comeinto political prominence.

Many people — and this is especially true ofscholars — seem to think that the great desid-


eratum in life is to get as much valuableinformation into the head as possible. But itis just as important to know how to give out

. knowledge in a palatable manner as to acquireit. You may be a profound scholar, you maybe well read in history and in politics, youmay be wonderfully well-posted in science,literature, and art, and yet, if your knowledgeis locked up within you, you will always beplaced at a great disadvantage.

Locked-up ability may give the individualsome satisfaction, but it must be exhibited,expressed in some attractive way, before theworld will appreciate it or give credit for it.It does not matter how valuable the roughdiamond may be, no explaining, no describ-ing its marvels of beauty within, and its greatvalue, would avail; nobody would appreciateit until it was ground and polished and thelight let into its depths to reveal its hiddenbrilliancy. Conversation is to the man whatthe cutting of the diamond is to the stone.The grinding does not add anything to thediamond. It merely reveals its wealth.

How little parents realize the harm they aredoing their children by allowing them to growup ignorant of or indifferent to the marvelouspossibilities in the art of conversation! In

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the majority of homes, children are allowed tomangle the English language in a most pain-ful way.

Nothing else will develop the brain and. character more than the constant effort to talkwell, intelligently, interestingly, upon all sortsof topics. There is a splendid discipline inthe constant effort to express one's thoughtsin clear language and in an interesting man-ner. We know people who are such superbconversers that no one would ever dream thatthey have not had the advantages of the higherschools. Many a college graduate has beensilenced and put to shame by people who havenever even been to a high school, but who havecultivated the art of self-expression.

The school and the college employ the stu-dent comparatively a few hours a day for afew years; conversation is a training in a per-petual school. Many get the best part of theireducation in this school.

Conversation is a great ability discoverer, agreat revealer of possibilities and resources.It stimulates thought wonderfully. We thinkmore of ourselves if we can talk well, if wecan interest and hold others. The power todo so increases our self-respect, our self-confidence.


No man knows what he really possessesuntil he makes his best effort to express toothers what is in him. Then the avenues ofthe mind fly open, the faculties are on thealert. Every good converser has felt a powercome to him from the listener which he neverfelt before, and which often stimulates andinspires to fresh endeavor. The mingling ofthought with thought, the contact of mindwith mind, develops new powers, as the mix-ing of two chemicals produces a new thirdsubstance.

To converse well one must listen well also.This means one must hold oneself in a re-ceptive attitude.

We are not only poor conversationalists,but we are poor listeners as well. We are tooimpatient to listen. Instead of being atten-tive and eager to drink in the story or theinformation, we have not enough respect forthe talker to keep quiet. We look about im-patiently, perhaps snap our watch, play atattoo with our fingers on a chair or a table,hitch about as if we were bored and wereanxious to get away, and interrupt the speakerbefore he reaches his conclusion. In fact,we are such an impatient people that we haveno time for anything except to push ahead,

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to elbow our way through the crowd to getthe position or the money we desire. Our lifeis feverish and unnatural. We have no timeto develop charm of manner, or elegance ofdiction. " We are too intense for epigram orrepartee. We lack time."

Nervous impatience is a conspicuous charac-teristic of the American people. Everythingbores us which does not bring us more busi-ness or more money, or which does not helpus to attain the position for which we are striv-ing. Instead of enjoying our friends, we areinclined to look upon them as so many rungsin a ladder, and to value them in proportionas they furnish readers for our books, sendus patients, clients, customers, or show theirability to give us a boost for a coveted posi-tion.

Before these days of hurry and drive, beforethis age of excitement, it was considered oneof the greatest luxuries possible to be a listenerin a group surrounding an intelligent talker.It was better than most modern lectures, thananything one could find in a book; for therewas a touch of personality, a charm of style,a magnetism which held, a superb person-ality which fascinated. For the hungry soulyearning for an education, to drink in knowl-

IF YOU CAN TALK WELL i?

edge from those wise lips was to be fed witha royal feast indeed.

But to-day everything is " touch and go."We have no time to stop on the street and givea decent salutation. It is: " How do ? " or" Morning," accompanied by a sharp nod ofthe head, instead of a graceful bow. Wehave no time for the graces and the charms.Everything must give way to the material.

We have no time for the development of afine manner; the charm of the days of chivalryand leisure has almost vanished from our civ-ilization. A new type of individual has sprungup. We work like Trojans during the day,and then rush to a theater or other place ofamusement in the evening. We have no timeto make our own amusement or to developthe faculty of humor and fun-making as peopleused to do. We pay people for doing thatwhile we sit and laugh. We are like somecollege boys, who depend upon tutors to carrythem through their examinations — they ex-pect to buy their education ready-made.

Life is becoming so artificial, so forced, sodiverse from naturalness, we drive our humanengines at such a fearful speed, that our finerlife is crushed out. Spontaneity and humor,and the possibility of a fine culture and a

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superb charm of personality in us are almostimpossible and extremely rare.

One cause for our conversational declineis a lack of sympathy. We are too selfish,too busily engaged in our own welfare, andwrapped up in our own little world, too intentupon our own self-promotion to be interestedin others. No one can make a good conver-ser who is not sympathetic. You must beable to enter into another's life, to live it withthe other person, in order to be a good talkeror a good listener.

Walter Besant used to tell of a cleverwoman who had a great reputation as a con-versationalist, though she talked very little.She had such a cordial, sympathetic mannerthat she helped the timid and the shy to saytheir best things, and made them feel at home.She dissipated their fears, and they could saythings to her which they could not say to any-one else. People thought her an interestingconversationalist because she had this abilityto call out the best in others.

If you would make yourself agreeable youmust be able to enter into the life of the pec*-ple with whom you converse, and you musttouch them along the lines of their interest.No matter how much you may know about a


subject, if it does not happen to interest thoseto whom you are talking your eflForts will belargely lost.

It is pitiable, sometimes, to see men standingaround at the average reception or club gath-ering, dumb, almost helpless, and powerless toenter heartily into the conversation becausethey are in a subjective mood. They arethinking, thinking; thinking business, busi-ness, business; thinking how they can get on alittle faster — get more business, more clients,more patients, or more readers for their books,or a better house to live in; how they canmake more show. They do not enter heartilyinto the lives of others, or abandon themselvesto the occasion enough to make good talkers.They are cold and reserved, distant, becausetheir minds are somewhere else, their affec-tions on themselves and their own affairs.There are only two things that interest them,business and their own little world. If youtalk about these things, they are interested atonce; but they do not care a snap about youraffairs, how you get on, or what your ambi-tion is, or how they can help you. Our con-versation will never reach a high standardwhile we live in such a feverish, selfish, andunsympathetic state.

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Great conversationalists have always beenvery tactful — interesting without offending.It does not do to stab people if you wouldinterest them, nor to drag out their familyskeletons. Some people have the peculiarquality of touching the best that is in us;others stir up the bad. Every time they comeinto our presence they irritate us. Othersallay all that is disagreeable. They nevertouch our sensitive spots, sore spots, and theycall out all that is spontaneous and sweet andbeautiful.

Lincoln was master of the art of makinghimself interesting to everybody he met. Heput people at ease with his stories and jokes,and made them feel so completely at home inhis presence that they opened up their mentaltreasures to him without reserve. Strangerswere always glad to talk with him, because hewas so cordial and quaint, and always gavemore than he got.

A sense of humor such as Lincoln had is,of course, a great addition to one's conver-sational powers. But not everyone can befunny; and, if you lack the sense of humor,you will make yourself ludicrous by attempt-ing to be so.

A good conversationalist, however, is not


too serious. He does not deal too much withfacts, no matter how important. Facts, statis-tics, weary. Vivacity is absolutely necessary.Heavy conversation bores; too light, disgusts.

Therefore, to be a good conversationalistyou must be spontaneous, buoyant, natural,sympathetic, and must show a spirit of goodwill. You must feel a spirit of helpfulness,and must enter heart and soul into thingswhich interest others. You must get the at-tention of people and hold it by interestingthem, and you can only interest them by awarm sympathy — a real friendly sympathy.If you are cold, distant, and unsympatheticyou cannot hold their attention.

You must be broad, tolerant. A narrow,stingy soul never talks well. A man who isalways violating your sense of taste, of justice,and of fairness, never interests you. Youlock tight all the approaches to your inner self,every avenue is closed to him. Your magnet-ism and your helpfulness are thus cut off, andthe conversation is perfunctory, mechanical,and without life or feeling.

You must bring your listener close to you,must open your heart wide, and exhibit abroad, free nature, and an open mind. Youmust be responsive, so that he will throw wide

2.2 SELF-INVESTMENT

open every avenue of his nature and give youfree access to his heart of hearts.

If a man is a success anywhere, it ought tobe in his personality, in his power to expresshimself in strong, effective, interesting lan-guage. He should not be obliged to give astranger an inventory of his possessions inorder to show that he has achieved something.A greater wealth should flow from his lips,and express itself in his manner.

No amount of natural ability or educationor good clothes, no amount of money, willmake you appear well if you cannot expressyourself in good language.

•'' f• i £

II. PUT BEAUTY INTO YOUR LIFE

" Beauty is God's handwriting."

There is no beautifier of complexion, or form,or behavior, like the wish to scatter joy, and notpain, around us.—EMERSON.

HEN the barbarians over-ran Greece, desecrated hertemples, and destroyed herbeautiful works of art,even their savageness wassomewhat tamed by thesense of beauty which

prevailed everywhere. They broke her beauti-ful statues, it is true; but the spirit of beautyrefused to die, and it transformed the savageheart and awakened even in the barbarian anew power. From the apparent death ofGrecian art Roman art was born. " Cyclopsforging iron for Vulcan could not standagainst Pericles forging thought for Greece."The barbarian's club which destroyed theGrecian statues was no match for the chiselof Phidias and Praxiteles.

There was no art in Italy until the Romansconquered Greece and carried her art treasuresback to Rome.

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SELF-INVESTMENT

fl ?

s i

It was the famous " Horse's Head," the"Farnese Bull," the "Marble Faun," the" Dying Gladiator," the " Boy Taking a ThornFrom His Foot" that were practically thebasis of the whole wonderful Italian art.These, aided by the marvelous Italian marbles,were the first to arouse the slumbering artisticfaculties in the Italian people.

" What is the best education ?" some oneasked Plato, many centuries ago. " It is," hereplied, " that which gives to the body andto the soul all the beauty and all the perfectionof which they are capable."

The life that would be complete; thatwould be sweet and sane, as well as strong,must be softened and enriched by a love ofthe beautiful.

A man is a very broad, omnivorous animal,and his harmonious development demands agreat variety of food, both mental and physi-cal. No matter what element we omit in hisbill of fare, there is a corresponding loss, omis-sion, or weakness in his life. You cannot geta full, complete man on half a bill of fare.You cannot nourish his body and starve hissoul, and expect him to be symmetrical, well-balanced, poised; nor can you starve his bodyand nourish his soul, and expect him to be a

'• t

PUT BEAUTY INTO YOUR LIFE 25

giant on the physical as well as on the spiritualplane.

When children do not get a sufficient orproper variety of food, when they are deprivedof any element necessary for the nourishmentof brain, nerve, or muscle, there is a corre-sponding lack in their development. For wantof a properly balanced diet they grow uplopsided, unbalanced, and unsymmetrical.

If, for instance, a child does not get enoughphosphate of lime in his food, Nature cannotbuild strong, firm bone; the framework of thebody is weak, the bones are soft, and the childis liable to have " rickets." If his diet is lack-ing in nitrogenous or muscle-making material,his muscles will be weak and flabby, — he willnever have " the wrestling thews that throwthe world." If the phosphatic elements, thebuilders of brain and nerves, be deficient, hiswhole organism will suffer, — brain andnerves will be incomplete, lacking in energy,undeveloped.

Just as the body of a growing child requiresa wide variety of physical food to make himstrong, beautiful, and healthy, so man requiresmany kinds of mental food to nourish hismind and make it grow strong, active, andhealthy.

26 SELF-INVESTMENT

The marvelous material resources of ourcountry have so stimulated the national ambi-tion for wealth that we are in danger of over-developing the material faculties at the expenseof the higher and finer ones.

It is not enough for us to cultivate merephysical and intellectual strength. If theesthetic side of one's being — an appreciationof all that is beautiful in nature and art — isnot fostered, the life will be like a countrywithout flowers or birds, sweet scents orsounds, color or music. It may be strong, butit will lack the graces that would adorn itsstrength and make it attractive.

The Creator has not covered the world withloveliness, filled it with music, and spread thebeauties of earth and sea on every hand fornothing. Man is the explanation of this lav-ishness of beauty.

If you would be a man in the larger senseof the word, you must not be content to makeone small clearing in the forest of your natureand let all the rest remain unreclaimed. Thepursuit of merchandise, of material gain inany form, develops only a very small part ofone's being, and that often the selfish andcoarser side.

There is a lack in the make-up of a person


who has no appreciation of beauty, who doesnot thrill before a great picture or an entranc-ing sunset, or a glimpse of beauty in nature.

Savages have no appreciation of beauty.They have a passion for adornment, but thereis nothing to show that their esthetic facultiesare developed. They merely obey their animalinstincts and passions.

But as civilization advances ambition grows,wants multiply, and higher and higher facultiesshow themselves, until in the highest expres-sion of civilization, we find aspiration andlove of the beautiful most highly developed.We find it manifested on the person, in thehome, in the environment.

The late Professor Charles Eliot Norton ofHarvard University, one of the finest thinkersof his day, said that beauty has played an im-mense part in the development of the highestqualities in human beings; and that civilizationcould be measured by its architecture, sculp-ture, and painting.

A love for the beautiful has a refining,softening, enriching influence upon characterwhich nothing else can supply. It is mostunfortunate for a child to be brought up inan atmosphere in which it is missing, andwhere only a money-loving spirit is manifested,

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where he is trained to think that the mostimportant thing in life is to get more money,more houses and lands, instead of more man-hood, more nobility, more sweetness, morebeauty.

It is cruel to twist a young life out of itsGod-intended orbit by such false training, towrench it from its spiritual center and set ittoward a material goal, while the mind isplastic and capable of being molded to anyimpression, good or evil.

Children should live in the midst of beauty,in art and nature, as much as possible. Noopportunity to call their attention to a beauti-ful object should be lost. In this way theirwhole lives may be enriched by treasureswhich no amount of money in after years canpurchase for them.

What an infinite satisfaction comes frombeginning early in life to cultivate our finerqualities, to develop higher sentiments, purertastes, and more delicate feelings, the love ofthe beautiful in all its varied forms of ex-pression !

One can make no better investment than thecultivation of a taste for the beautiful, for itwill bring rainbow hues and enduring joys tothe whole life. It will not only greatly in-


crease one's capacity for happiness, but alsoone's efficiency.

A remarkable instance of the elevating, re-fining influence of beauty has been demon-strated by a Chicago school-teacher, who fittedup in her school a " beauty corner" for herpupils. It was furnished with a stained glasswindow, a divan covered with an Orientalrug, and a few fine photographs and paintings,among which was a picture of the SistineMadonna. Several other esthetic trifles, artist-ically arranged, completed the furnishings ofthe " beauty corner." The children took greatdelight in their little retreat, especially in theexquisite coloring of the stained glass window.Insensibly their conduct and demeanor wereaffected by the beautiful objects with whichthey daily associated. They became moregentle, more refined, more thoughtful and con-siderate. A young Italian boy, in particular,who had been incorrigible before the establish-ment of the "beauty corner," became, in ashort time, so changed and softened that theteacher was astonished. One day she askedwhat it was that had recently made him sogood. Pointing to the picture of the SistineMadonna the boy said, " How can a feller dobad things when she's looking at him ? "

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Character is fed largely through the eyeand ear. The thousand voices in nature ofbird and insect and brook, the soughing of thewind through the trees, the scent of flowerand meadow, the myriad tints in earth and sky,in ocean and forest, mountain and hill, arejust as important for the development of areal man as the education he receives in theschools. If you take no beauty into your lifethrough the eye or the ear to stimulate anddevelop your esthetic faculties, your naturewill be hard, juiceless, and unattractive.

Nothing else can ever quite take the place inlife of the development of the faculty forappreciating the beautiful. It is a connectinglink between man and the Great Author of thebeautiful. At no other time do our spiritscome into such close touch with the divine aswhen we are lost in the contemplation of thesublimity, the grandeur and perfection of theuniverse. Then we actually seem to see thecreative processes of the Infinite Mind.

Just try the effect of putting beauty intoyour life, — a little every day. You will find itmagical. It will broaden and light up youroutlook upon the world as the acquisition ofmoney or fame never can. Put variety intoyour mental bill of fare as well as into your


physical. It will pay you rich returns. Nomatter if you are strong and rugged and ableto work every day in the year, your mind needsa change even if your body does not. Vaca-tion is as much a necessity from a characteras from a health point of view. If you feedupon the same mental food, if you havepractically the same experiences every day ofthe three hundred and sixty-five, year in andyear out, there will be disaster somewhere inyour life.

Unfoldment of the esthetic faculties is oneof the most important factors in our successand happiness, in the ennobling and upliftingof our lives. Ruskin's love of the beautifulgave his whole life an indescribable charmand loftiness. It kept him looking upward aswell as outward. It purified and exalted, whileit held him spellbound. It was the constantreaching out after the beautiful in nature andart, in his divine interpretation of all that manand nature mean which gave zest and enthu-siasm, earnestness and divine significance tohis great life-work.

Beauty is a quality of Divinity, and to livemuch with the beautiful is to live close to theDivine. " The more we see of beauty every-where; in nature, in life, in man and child, in

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work and rest, in the outward and the inwardworld, the more we see of God (good)."

There are many evidences in the New Testa-ment that Christ was a great lover of the beau-tiful, especially in nature. Was it not Hewho said: " Consider the lilies of the field;they toil not, neither do they spin; yet Solo-mon in all his glory was not arrayed like oneof these"?

Back of the lily and the rose, back of thelandscape, back of all beautiful things that en-chant us, there is the great Lover of the beau-tiful and great beauty Principle. Every starthat twinkles in the sky, every flower, bidsus look behind it for its source, points us tothe great Author of the beautiful.

The love of beauty plays a very importantpart in the poised, symmetrical life. We littlerealize how much we are influenced by beauti-ful people and things. We may see them sooften that they become common in our experi-ence and fail to attract much of our consciousattention, but every beautiful picture, everybeautiful sunset and bit of landscape, everybeautiful face and form and flower — beautyin any form, wherever we encounter it — en-nobles, refines, and elevates character.

There is everything in keeping the soul and


mind responsive to beauty. It is a great re-freshener, recuperator, life-giver, health pro-moter.

Our American life tends to kill the finersentiments; to discourage the development ofcharm and grace as well as beauty; it over-emphasizes the value of material things andunder-estimates that of esthetic things, whichare far more developed in countries where thedollar is not the God.

As long as we persist in sending all the sapand energy of our being into the money-making gland or faculty and letting the socialfaculty, the esthetic faculty, and all the finer,nobler faculties lie dormant, and even die, wecertainly cannot expect a well-rounded andsymmetrical life, for only faculties that areused, brain cells that are exercised, grow;all others atrophy. If the finer instincts inman and the nobler qualities that live in thehigher brain are under-developed, and thecoarser instincts which dwell in the lowerbrain close to the brute faculties are over-developed, man must pay the penalty of ani-mality and will lack appreciation of all that isfinest and most beautiful in life.

Isn't it pitiable, shameful, almost criminalthat we give practically all our efforts to the

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11useful, and allow the beautiful to play such anunimportant part in our life; that we shouldtake so little pains to read God's handwritingin every created thing?

" The vision that you hold in your mind,the ideal that is enthroned in your heart, thisyou will build your life by, this you will be-come." It is the quality of mind, of ideals,and not mere things, that make a man.

It is as essential to cultivate the estheticfaculties and the heart qualities as to cultivatewhat we call the intellect. The time will comewhen our children will be taught, both athome and in school, to consider beauty as amost precious gift, which must be preservedin purity, sweetness, and cleanliness, and re-garded as a divine instrument of education.

There is no investment which will give suchreturns as the culture of the finer self, thedevelopment of the sense of the beautiful,the sublime, and the true; the development ofqualities that are crushed out or strangled inthe mere dollar-chaser.

There are a thousand evidences in us thatwe were intended for temples of beauty, ofsweetness, of loveliness, of beautiful ideas, andnot mere storehouses for vulgar things.

There is nothing else which will pay so well


as to train the finest and truest, the most beau-tiful qualities in us in order that we may-see beauty everywhere and be able to extractsweetness from everything.

Everywhere we go there are a thousandthings to educate the best there is in us. Everysunset, landscape, mountain, hill, and tree hassecrets of charm and beauty waiting for us.In every patch of meadow or wheat, in everyleaf and flower, the trained eye will see beautywhich would charm an angel. The culturedear will find harmony in forest and field, mel-ody in the babbling brook, and untold pleasurein all Nature's songs.

Whatever our vocation, we should resolvethat we will not strangle all that is finest andnoblest in us for the sake of the dollar, butthat we will put beauty into our life at everyopportunity.

Just in proportion to your love for thebeautiful will you acquire its charms and de-velop its graces. The beauty thought, thebeauty ideal, will outpicture themselves in theface and manner. If you are in love withbeauty you will be an artist of some kind.Your profession may be to make the homebeautiful and sweet, or you may work at atrade; but whatever your vocation, if you

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are in love with the beautiful, it will purifyyour taste, elevate and enrich your life, andmake you a true artist instead of a mereartisan.

There is no doubt that in the future beautywill play an infinitely greater part in civil-ized life than it has thus far. It is becomingcommercialized everywhere. The troublewith us is that the tremendous material prizesin this land of opportunity are so temptingthat we have lost sight of the higher man.We have developed ourselves along the ani-mal side of our nature; the greedy, graspingside. The great majority of us are still livingin the basement of our beings. Now and thenone ascends to the upper stories and gets aglimpse of the life beautiful, the life worthwhile.

There is nothing on earth that will so slakethe thirst of the soul as the beauty which ex-presses itself in sweetness and light.

An old traveling man relates that once whenon a trip to the West he sat next to an elderlylady who every now and then would lean outof the open window and pour some thick salt•— it seemed to him — from a bottle. Whenshe had emptied the bottle she would refill itfrom a hand-bag.


A friend to whom this man related the in-cident told him he was acquainted with thelady, who was a great lover of flowers and anearnest follower of the precept: " Scatter yourflowers as you go, for you may never travelthe same road again." He said she addedgreatly to the beauty of the landscape alongthe railroads on which she traveled, by hercustom of scattering flower seeds along thetrack as she rode. Many roads have thusbeen beautified and refreshed by this old lady'slove of the beautiful and her effort to scatterbeauty wherever she went.

If we would all cultivate a love of the beau-tiful and scatter beauty seeds as we go throughlife, what a paradise this earth would become!

What a splendid opportunity a vacation inthe country offers to put beauty into the life;to cultivate the esthetic faculties, which inmost people are wholly undeveloped and in-active! To some it is like going into God'sgreat gallery of charm and beauty. Theyfind in the landscape, the valley, the mountains,the fields, the meadows, the flowers, thestreams, the brooks and the rivers, riches thatno money can buy; beauties that would en-chant the angels. But this beauty and glorycannot be bought; they are only for those who

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can see them, appreciate them — who can readtheir message and respond to their affinity.

Have you ever felt the marvelous powerof beauty in nature ? If not, you have missedone of the most exquisite joys in life. I wasonce going through the Yosemite Valley, andafter riding one hundred miles in a stage-coach over rough mountain roads, I was socompletely exhausted that it did not seem asthough I could keep my seat until we trav-eled over the ten more miles which wouldbring us to our destination. But on lookingdown from the top of the mountain I caughta glimpse of the celebrated Yosemite Falls andthe surrounding scenery, just as the sun brokethrough the clouds; and there was revealeda picture of such rare beauty and marvelouspicturesqueness that every particle of fatigue,brain-fag, and muscle weariness departed inan instant. My whole soul thrilled with awinged sense of sublimity, grandeur, andbeauty, which I had never before experienced,and which I never can forget. I felt a spirit-ual uplift which brought tears of joy to myeyes.

No one can contemplate the wonderfulbeauties of Nature and doubt that the Creatormust have intended that man, made in His


own image and likeness, should be equallybeautiful.

Beauty of character, charm of manner, at-tractiveness and graciousness of expression, agodlike bearing, are our birthrights. Yet howugly, stiff, coarse, and harsh in appearanceand bearing many of us are! No one canafford to disregard his good looks or personalappearance.

But if we wish to beautify the outer, wemust first beautify the inner, for every thoughtand every motion shapes the delicate tracingsof our face for ugliness or beauty. Inhar-monious and destructive attitudes of mind willwarp and mar the most beautiful features.

Shakespeare says: " God has given you oneface and you make yourselves another." Themind can make beauty or ugliness at will.

A sweet, noble disposition is absolutelyessential to the highest form of beauty. Ithas transformed many a plain face. A badtemper, ill nature, jealousy, will ruin themost beautiful face ever created. After all,there is no beauty like that produced by alovely character. Neither cosmetics, massage,nor drugs can remove the lines of prejudice,selfishness, envy, anxiety, mental vacillationthat are the results of wrong thought habits.

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Beauty is from within. If every humanbeing would cultivate a gracious mentality, notonly would what he expressed be artisticallybeautiful, but also his body. There would in-deed be grace and charm, a superiority abouthim, which would be even greater than merephysical beauty.

We have all seen even very plain womenwho because of the charm of their person-ality impressed us as transcendently beautiful.The exquisite soul qualities expressed throughthe body transformed it into their likeness. Afine spirit speaking through the plainest bodywill make it beautiful.

Some one, speaking of Fanny Kemble, said:" Although she was very stout and short, andhad a very red face, yet she impressed me asthe supreme embodiment of majestic attri-butes. I never saw so commanding a person-ality in feminine form. Any type of merephysical beauty would have paled to insignifi-cance by her side."

Antoine Berryer says truly: " There are nougly women. There are only women who donot know how to look pretty."

The highest beauty — beauty that is far su-perior to mere regularity of feature or form— is within reach of everybody. It is per-


fectly possible for one, even with the homeliestface, to make herself beautiful by the habitof perpetually holding in mind the beautythought — not the thought of mere superficialbeauty, but that of heart beauty, soul beauty,— and by the cultivation of a spirit of kind-ness, hopefulness, and unselfishness.

The basis of all real personal beauty is akindly, helpful bearing and a desire to scattersunshine and good cheer everywhere, and this,shining through the face, makes it beautiful.The longing and the effort to be beautiful incharacter cannot fail to make the life beauti-ful, and since the outward is but an expressionof the inward, a mere outpicturing on the bodyof the habitual thought and dominating mo-tives, the face, the manners, and the bearingmust follow the thought and become sweetand attractive. If you hold the beautythought, the love thought, persistently in themind, you will make such an impression ofharmony and sweetness wherever you go thatno one will notice any plainness or deformityof person.

There are girls who have dwelt upon whatthey consider their unfortunate plainness solong that they have seriously exaggerated it.They are not half so plain as they think they

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are; and, were it not for the fact that they havemade themselves very sensitive and self-con-scious on the subject, others would not noticeit at all. In fact, if they could get rid of theirsensitiveness and be natural, they could, withpersistent effort, make up in sprightliness ofthought, in cheerfulness of manner, in intelli-gence, and in cheery helpfulness, what theylack in grace and beauty of face.

We admire the beautiful face, the beautifulform, but we love the face illumined by abeautiful soul. We love it because it suggeststhe ideal of the possible perfect man orwoman, the ideal which was the Creator'smodel.

It is not the outward form of our dearestfriend, but our ideal of friendship which hearouses or suggests in us that stirs up andbrings into exercise our love and admiration.The highest beauty does not exist in the actual.It is the ideal, possible beauty, which the per-son or object symbolizes or suggests, that givesus delight.

Everyone should endeavor to be as beautiful,attractive, as complete a human being as possi-ble. There is not a taint of vanity in thedesire for the highest beauty.

The love of beauty that confines itself to


mere external form, however, misses its deep-est significance. Beauty of form, of coloring,of light and shade, of sound, make our worldbeautiful; yet the mind that is warped andtwisted cannot see all this infinite beauty. Itis the indwelling spirit, the ideal in the soul,that makes all things beautiful; that inspiresand lifts us above ourselves.

We love the outwardly beautiful, becausewe crave perfection, and we cannot help ad-miring those persons and things that mostnearly embody or measure up to our humanideal.

But a beautiful character will make beautyand poetry out of the prosiest environment,bring sunshine into the darkest home, and de-velop beauty and grace amid the ugliest sur-roundings.

What would become of us if it were not forthe great souls who realize the divinity of life,who insist upon bringing out and emphasiz-ing its poetry, its music, its harmony andbeauty ?

How sordid and common our lives wouldbecome but for these beauty-makers, these in-spirers, these people who bring out all that isbest and most attractive in every place, everysituation and condition!

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sp:

There is no accomplishment, no trait ofcharacter, no quality of mind, which will givegreater satisfaction and pleasure or contributemore to one's welfare than an appreciation ofthe beautiful. How many people might besaved from wrong-doing, even from lives ofcrime, by the cultivation of the esthetic facul-ties in their childhood! A love of the trulybeautiful would save children from thingswhich encoarsen and brutalize their natures.It would shield them from a multitude oftemptations.

Parents do not take sufficient pains to de-velop a love and appreciation of beauty intheir children. They do not realize that inimpressionable youth, everything about thehome, even the pictures, the paper on the wall,affect the growing character. They shouldnever lose an opportunity of letting their boysand girls see beautiful works of art, hearbeautiful music; they should make a practiseof reading to them or having them read veryoften some lofty poem, or inspirational pas-sages from some great writer, that will filltheir minds with thoughts of beauty, opentheir souls to the inflow of the Divine Mind,the Divine Love which encompasses us roundabout. The influences that move our youth

I


determine the character, the success and hap-piness of our whole lives.

Every soul is born responsive to the beauti-ful, but this instinctive love of beauty must befostered through the eye and the mind mustbe cultivated, or it will die. The craving forbeauty is as strong in a child of the slums asin a favorite of fortune. " The physical hun-ger of the poor, the yearning of their stom-achs," says Jacob A. Riis, " is not half sobitter, or so little likely to be satisfied as theiresthetic hunger, their starving for the beauti-ful."

Mr. Riis has often tried to take flowersfrom his Long Island home to the " poors " inMulberry Street, New York. "But theynever got there," he says. " Before I hadgone half a block from the ferry I was held upby a shrieky mob of children who cried forthe posies and would not let me go anotherstep till I had given them one. And whenthey got it they ran, shielding the flower withthe most jealous care, to some place wherethey could hide and gloat over their treasure.They came dragging big, fat babies and littleweazened ones that they might get a share,and the babies' eyes grew round and big atthe sight of the golden glory from the fields,

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the like of which had never come their way.The smaller the baby, and the poorer, themore wistful its look, and so my flowers went.Who could have said them no?

" I learned then what I had but vaguelyunderstood before, that there is a hunger thatis worse than that which starves the body andgets into the newspapers. All children lovebeauty and beautiful things. It is the sparkof the divine nature that is in them and justi-fies itself! To that ideal their souls grow.When they cry out for it they are trying totell us in the only way they can that if we letthe slum starve the ideal, with its dirt and itsugliness and its hard-trodden mud where flow-ers were meant to grow, we are starving thatwhich we little know. A man, a human, maygrow a big body without a soul; but as a citi-zen, as a mother, he or she is worth nothingto the commonwealth. The mark they aregoing to leave upon it is the black smudge ofthe slum.

" So when in these latter days we invadethat slum to make homes there and teach themothers to make them beautiful; when wegather the children into kindergartens, hangpictures in the schools; when we build beauti-ful new schools and public buildings and let

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in the light, with grass and flower and bird,where darkness and foulness were before;when we teach the children to dance and playand enjoy themselves — alas! that it shouldever be needed — we are trying to wipe offthe smudge, and to lift the heavy mortgagewhich it put on the morrow, a much heavierone in the loss of citizenship than any com-munity, even the republic, can long endure.We are paying arrears of debt which weincurred by our sad neglect, and we could beabout no better business."

There are many poor children in the slumsof New York, Mr. Millionaire, who could gointo your drawing-room and carry away fromits rich canvases, its costly furnishings, a vis-ion of beauty which you never perceived inthem because your esthetic faculties, your finersensibilities, were early stifled by your selfishpursuit of the dollar.

The world is full of beautiful things, butthe majority have not been trained to discernthem. We cannot see all the beauty that liesaround us, because our eyes have not beentrained to see it; our esthetic faculties havenot been developed. We are like the lady who,standing with the great artist, Turner, beforeone of his wonderful landscapes, cried out in

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amazement: " Why, Mr. Turner, I cannot seethose things in nature that you have put inyour picture."

" Don't you wish you could, madam ? " hereplied.

Just think what rare treats we shut out ofour lives in our mad, selfish, insane pursuit ofthe dollar! Do you not wish that you couldsee the marvels that Turner saw in a land-scape, that Ruskin saw in a sunset? Do younot wish that you had put a little more beautyinto your life instead of allowing your natureto become encoarsened, your esthetic facultiesblinded, and your finer instincts blighted bythe pursuit of the coarser things of life; in-stead of developing your brute instincts ofpushing and elbowing your way through theworld for a few more dollars, in your selfisheffort to get something away from somebodyelse?

Fortunate is the person who has been edu-cated to the perception of beauty; he possessesa heritage of which no reverses can rob him.Yet it is a heritage possible to all who willtake the trouble to begin early in life to culti-vate the finer qualities of the soul, the eye,and the heart.

III. ENJOYING WHAT OTHERS OWN

If you are not wealthy yourself, be glad thatsomebody else is, and you will be astonished at thehappiness that will result to yourself.

REV. DR. CHARLES F. AKED.

" I would rather be able to appreciate thingsI cannot have than to have things I am not able toappreciate."

N his "Citizen of theWorld," Goldsmith de-scribes a mandarin whoappeared in a blaze of dia-monds, and who was veryostentatiously thanked bya person in the crowd.

" What does the man mean ?" the mandarinexclaimed. " Friend, I never gave thee anyof my jewels." " No," replied the stranger," but you have let me look at them; and thatis all the use you can make of them yourself;so there is no difference between us, exceptthat you have the trouble of watching them,and that is an employment I do not desire."

A French marquis with whom Washing-ton Irving made us acquainted consoled him-self for the loss of his chateau by remarking

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that he had Versailles and St. Cloud for hiscountry resorts, and the shady alleys of theTuileries and the Luxembourg for his townrecreation.

" When I walk through these fine gardens,"'he said, " I have only to fancy myself theowner of them, and they are mine. All thesegay crowds are my visitors, and I have not thetrouble of entertaining them. My estate is aperfect Sans Souci, where everyone does ashe pleases, and no one troubles the owner. AllParis is my theater, and presents me with acontinual spectacle. I have a table spread forme in every street, and thousands of waitersready to fly at my bidding. When my serv-ants have waited upon me, I pay them, dis-charge them, and there's an end. I have nofears of their wronging or pilfering me whenmy back is turned. Upon the whole," said theold gentleman with a smile of infinite good-humor, " when I recollect all that I have suf-fered, and consider all I at present enjoy, Ican but look upon myself as a person of sin-gular good fortune."

Robert L. Stevenson once packed up hispictures and his furniture and sent them to anenemy who was about to be married, and hewrote to a friend that he had at last rid him-

ENJOYING WHAT OTHERS OWN 51

self of his master, to whom he had been abond slave. " Don't," he said, " give hostagesto fortune, I implore you. Not once in amonth will you be in a mood to enjoy a pic-ture. When that mood comes, go to the gal-lery and see it. Meanwhile let some hiredflunkey dust the picture and keep it in goodcondition for your coming."

How is it that some rare characters manageto have such precious treasures, so much thatenriches the life, out of a poverty-stricken, for-bidding environment, while others get littleout of the most luxurious and beautiful condi-tions that wealth can furnish?

It is wholly a question of the quality of theabsorbent material. Some people are blind tobeauty. They can travel with the utmost in-difference in the midst of the most gorgeousand inspiring scenery. Their souls are nottouched. They do not feel the inspirationwhich puts others into ecstasy.

The power to absorb beauty depends on thequality of the mind to assimilate and incorpo-rate it in the life.

I know a lady who has lived all her life in apoverty-stricken district, in the midst ofsqualor and all sorts of discord, and yet, inthis miserable environment, she has developed

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a sweet and beautiful character. She possessesthat marvelous soul-alchemy which transformsthe common into the uncommon, the uglyinto the beautiful, drudgery into delight.

Such rare characters are like the lily, whichabsorbs purity and beauty from the mud andslime of the swamp.

How few people extract from their environ-ment and experience, even a tithe of their pos-sibilities, either of happiness or of achieve-ment !

Did you ever watch a bee flitting aboutgathering delicious honey from the most for-bidding and unattractive sources? I knowmen and women who have this marvelous in-stinct for gathering honey from all sorts ofsources, superbly developed. They extract itfrom the most repellent surroundings. Theycannot talk with the poorest, meanest, mostunfortunate specimen of humanity withoutgetting that which will sweeten the life andenrich the experience.

The habit of feeling rich because you havedeveloped the faculty of extracting wealth fromeverything you touch is riches indeed. Whyshould we not feel rich in all that our eyes cancarry away, no matter if others happen to havethe title-deed. Why should I not enjoy the


beautiful gardens of the wealthy and theirgrounds, just as if I owned them? As I passby I can make my own the wealth of color.The beauty of plants and lawn and flowersand trees are all mine. The title-deed of an-other does not cut off my esthetic ownership.The best part of the farm, the landscape, thebeauty of the brook and the meadow, the slopeof the valley, the song of the birds, the sunsetcannot be shut up within the title-deed; theybelong to the eye that can carry them away,the mind that can appreciate them.

Some people are so constituted that theydo not need to own things to enjoy them.There is no envy in their nature. They feelglad that others have money and a splendidhome, even if they themselves live in poverty.Henry Ward Beecher had this broad, liberal,magnanimous, whole-hearted nature, whichcould enjoy without owning. He used to saythat it was a great treat to him to go out andenjoy the good things in the shop windows,especially during the Christmas holidays, andhe could make the architecture and sculptureof palatial homes his own and enjoy thegrounds, no matter who had the title-deed tothem.

This ability to gather enjoyment from all

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sorts of sources is a divine gift. It broadensthe life, deepens the experience, and enrichesthe whole nature. It is a great force in self-culture.

Some people are so mean and stingy, souncharitable and narrow, so bigoted and suspi-cious, that they never open their natures wideenough to take in the riches all about them,the beauty with which they come in contact.They are so jealous and envious and small,that they are afraid to throw open the doorsof their hearts. The result is, their lives arepinched and starved.

A person must be magnanimous and large-hearted, to be able to absorb the wealth andbeauty that are worth while.

I know a woman in New York who is adwarf and a cripple, but who has such a sweet,open, beautiful nature that everybody lovesher. She is welcome everywhere, because sheloves everybody and feels interested in every-one. She is poor but she enters into otherlives with a heartiness and unselfish abandon-ment and an enthusiasm that ought to shamethose of us who are physically normal and ina better condition.

I knew a poor man who really enjoyedmore than any rich man I know of, simply


because early in life he learned to enjoy thingswithout owning them to such an extent thathe never seemed to have the slightest envy orjealousy'in connection with them, but rathergratitude to those who owned them. He wassuch a sweet soul that all doors were open tohim, because he radiated sunshine and goodcheer.

It does not matter how poor or how un-fortunate you are, you can enjoy, without thetrouble of owning or caring for them, millionsand millions of dollars' worth of works of art,and things of rarest beauty, almost as well asthough they were your own. Think what itcosts to maintain our great city parks, with alltheir wonders of beauty and comfort, thepalatial public buildings, the fine residences,beautiful private grounds and gardens and ob-jects of beauty everywhere, which you can en-joy without money, — and yet you, perhaps,say you own nothing.

He has missed the finest lesson of cultureand experience who has not learned how toenjoy without owning.

The secret of happiness is in a cheerful,contented mind. " He is poor who is dissatis-fied ; he is rich who is contented with what Tiehas," and can enjoy what others own.

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Children should be taught to feel rich inthe wealth, goodness, beauty, and experiencesof others, no matter how humble their owncondition. It is a great thing to open up thenature while young, to keep all the avenuesof one's heart wide open and responsive; tolearn to be receptive, and to drink in every-thing that is good and true and beautifulwhich can enrich the nature and broaden thelife.

IV. PERSONALITY AS A SUCCESSASSET

There is something about one's personality whicheludes the photographer, which the painter cannotreproduce, which the sculptor cannot chisel. Thissubtle something which everyone feels, but whichno one can describe, which no biographer ever putdown in a book, has a great deal to do with one'ssuccess in life.

T is this indescribable qual-ity, which some personshave in a remarkable de-gree, which sets an audiencewild at the mention of thename of a Blaine, a Lin-coln, or a Roosevelt —

which makes people applaud beyond the boundsof enthusiasm. It was this personal atmos-phere which made Clay the idol of his constit-uents. Although, perhaps, Calhoun was agreater man, he never aroused any such en-thusiasm as " the millboy of the slashes."Webster and Sumner were great men, but theydid not arouse a tithe of the spontaneous en-thusiasm evoked by men like Blaine and Clay.

A historian says that, in measuring Kos-suth's influence over the masses, " we mustfirst reckon with the orator's physical bulk,

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and then carry the measuring line above hisatmosphere." If we had discernment fineenough and tests delicate enough, we couldnot only measure the personal atmosphere ofindividuals, but could also make more accurateestimates concerning the future possibilitiesof schoolmates and young friends. We areoften misled as to the position they are goingto occupy from the fact that we are apt to takeaccount merely of their ability, and do notreckon this personal atmosphere or magneticpower as a part of their, success-capital. Yetthis individual atmosphere has quite as muchto do with one's advancement as brain-poweror education. Indeed, we constantly see menof mediocre ability but with fine personalpresence, superb manner, and magnetic quali-ties, being rapidly advanced over the heads ofthose who are infinitely their superiors inmental endowments.

A good illustration of the influence of per-sonal atmosphere is found in the orator whocarries his audience with him like a whirl-wind, while he is delivering his speech, andyet so little of his personal element adheres tohis cold words in print that those who readthem are scarcely moved at all. The influenceof such speakers depends almost wholly upon

PERSONALITY A SUCCESS ASSET 59

their presence, —• the atmosphere that emanatesfrom them.

Charm of personality is a divine gift thatsways the strongest characters, and sometimeseven controls the destinies of nations.

We are unconsciously influenced by peoplewho possess this magnetic power. The mo-ment we come into their presence we have asense of enlargement. They unlock within uspossibilities of which we previously had noconception. Our horizon broadens; we feela new power stirring through all our being;we experience a sense of relief, as if a greatweight which long had pressed upon us hadbeen removed.

We can converse with such people in a waythat astonishes us, although meeting them,perhaps, for the first time. We express our-selves more clearly and eloquently than weever thought possible. They draw out the bestthat is in us; they introduce us, as it were, toour larger, better selves. In their presence,impulses and longings come thronging to ourminds which never stirred us before. All atonce life takes on a higher and nobler mean-ing, and we are fired with a desire to do morethan we have ever before done, and to be morethan we have been in the past.

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A few minutes before, perhaps, we were sadand discouraged, when, suddenly, the flash-light of a potent personality of this kind hasopened a rift in our lives and revealed to ushidden capabilities. Sadness gives place tojoy, despair to hope, and disheartenment toencouragement. We have been touched tofiner issues; we have caught a glimpse ofhigher ideals; and, for the moment, at least,have been transformed. The old commonplacelife, with its absence of purpose and endeavor,has dropped out of sight, and we resolve, withbetter heart and stronger hope, to struggleanew to make permanently ours the forcesand potentialities that have been thus re-vealed to us.

Even a momentary contact with a characterof this kind seems to double our mental andsoul powers, as two great dynamos doublethe current which passes over the wire, andwe are loath to leave the magical presencelest we lose our new-born power.

On the other hand, we frequently meet peo-ple who make us shrivel and shrink into our-selves. The moment they come near us weexperience a cold chill, as if a blast of winterhad struck us in midsummer. A blighting,narrowing sensation, which seems to make


us suddenly smaller, passes over us. Wefeel a decided loss of power, of possibility.We could no more smile in their presence thanwe could laugh while at a funeral. Theirgloomy, miasmatic atmosphere chills all ournatural impulses. In their presence there isno possibility of expansion for us. As a darkcloud suddenly obscures the brightness of asmiling summer sky, their shadows are castupon us and fill us with vague, indefinableuneasiness.

We instinctively feel that such people haveno sympathy with our aspirations, and ournatural prompting is to guard closely any ex-pression of our hopes and ambitions. Whenthey are near us our purposes and desiresshrink, the charm of sentiment vanishes, andlife seems to lose color and zest. The effectof their presence is paralyzing, and we hastenfrom it as soon as possible.

If we study these two types of personality,we shall find that the chief difference betweenthem is that the first loves his kind, and thelatter does not. Of course, that rare charm ofmanner which captivates all those who comewithin the sphere of its influence, and thatstrong personal magnetism which inclines allhearts toward its fortunate possessor, are

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largely natural gifts. But we shall find thatthe man who practises unselfishness, who isgenuinely interested in the welfare of others,who feels it a privilege to have the power todo a fellow-creature a kindness, — even thoughpolished manners and a gracious presencemay be absent, — will be an elevating influ-ence wherever he goes. He will bring en-couragement and uplift to every life thattouches his. He will be trusted and loved byall who come in contact with him. This typeof superior personality we may all cultivateif we will.

This intangible, mysterious something,which we sometimes call individuality or per-sonality, is often more powerful than the abil-ity which can be measured, or the qualities thatcan be rated.

Many women are endowed with this mag-netic quality, which is entirely independent ofpersonal beauty. It is often possessed in ahigh degree by very plain women. This wasnotably the case with some of the women whoruled in the French salons more absolutelythan the king on his throne.

At a social gathering, when conversationdrags, and interest is at a low ebb, the en-trance of some bright woman with a magnetic


personality instantly changes the whole situ-ation. She may not be handsome, but every-body is attracted to her; it is a privilege toconverse with her.

People who possess this rare quality arefrequently ignorant of the source of theirpower. They simply know they have it, butcannot locate or describe it. While it is, likepoetry, music, or art, a gift of nature, born inone, it can be cultivated.

Much of the charm of magnetic personalitycomes from a fine, cultivated manner. Tact,also, is a very important element,—'next toa fine manner, perhaps the most important.One must know exactly what to do, and beable to do just the right thing at the propertime. Good judgment and common sense areindispensable to those who are trying to ac-quire this magic power. Good taste is alsoone of the elements of personal charm. Youcannot offend the tastes of others withouthurting their sensibilities.

One of the greatest investments one canmake is that of attaining a gracious manner,cordiality of bearing, generosity of feeling, —the delightful art of pleasing. It is infinitelybetter than money capital, for all doors flyopen to sunny, pleasing personalities. They

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are more than welcome; they are sought foreverywhere.

Many a youth owes his promotion or his firststart in life to the disposition to be accommo-dating, to help along wherever he could. Thiswas one of Lincoln's chief characteristics; hehad a passion for helping people, for makinghimself agreeable under all circumstances.Mr. Herndon, his law partner, says: " Whenthe Rutledge Tavern, where Lincoln boarded,was crowded, he would often give up his bed,and sleep on the counter in his store with aroll of calico for his pillow. Somehow every-body in trouble turned to him for help."This generous desire to assist others and toreturn kindnesses endeared Lincoln to thepeople.

The power to please is a tremendous asset.What can be more valuable than a personalitywhich always attracts, never repels? It is notonly valuable in business, but also in everyfield of life. It makes statesmen and politi-cians ; it brings clients to the lawyer, and pa-tients to the physician. It is worth everythingto the clergyman. No matter what career youenter, you cannot overestimate the importanceof cultivating that charm of manner, thosepersonal qualities, which attract people to you.


They will take the place of capital, or influ-ence. They are often a substitute for a largeamount of hard work.

Some men attract business, customers,clients, patients, as naturally as magnets at-tract particles of steel. Everything seems topoint their way, for the same reason that thesteel particles point toward the magnet, — be-cause they are attracted.

Such men are business magnets. Businessmoves toward them, even when they do notapparently make half so much effort to get itas the less successful. Their friends callthem " lucky dogs." But if we analyze thesemen closely, we find that they have attrac-tive qualities. There is usually some charmof personality about them that wins allhearts.

Many successful business and professionalmen would be surprised, if they should analyzetheir success, to find what a large percentageof it is due to their habitual courtesy and otherpopular qualities. Had it not been for these,their sagacity, long-headedness, and businesstraining would not, perhaps, have amountedto half so much; for, no matter how able aman may be, if his coarse, rude manners driveaway clients, patients, or customers, if his

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personality repels, he will always be placed ata disadvantage.

It pays to cultivate popularity. It doublessuccess possibilities, develops manhood, andbuilds up character. To be popular, one muststrangle selfishness, he must keep back hisbad tendencies, he must be polite, gentlemanly,agreeable, and companionable. In trying tobe popular, he is on the road to success andhappiness as well. The ability to cultivatefriends is a powerful aid to success. It iscapital which will stand by one when panicscome, when banks fail, when business concernsgo to the wall. How many men have beenable to start again after having everythingswept away by fire or flood, or some otherdisaster, just because they had cultivated popu-lar qualities, because they had learned the artof being agreeable, of making friends andholding them with hooks of steel! Peopleare influenced powerfully by their friendships,by their likes and dislikes, and a popular busi-ness or professional man has every advantagein the world over a cold, indifferent man, forcustomers, clients, or patients will flock tohim.

Cultivate the art of being agreeable. It willhelp you to self-expression as nothing else

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will; it will call out your success qualities; itwill broaden your sympathies. It is difficultto conceive of any more delightful birthrightthan to be born with this personal charm, andyet it is comparatively easy to cultivate, be-cause it is made up of so many other qualities,all of which are cultivatable.

I never knew a thoroughly unselfish personwho was not an attractive person. No personwho is always thinking of himself and tryingto figure out how he can get some advantagefrom everybody else will ever be attractive.We are naturally disgusted with people whoare always trying to get everything for them-selves and never think of anybody else.

The secret of pleasing is in being pleasantyourself, in being interesting. If you wouldbe agreeable, you must be magnanimous. Thenarrow, stingy soul is not lovable. Peopleshrink from such a character. There mustbe heartiness in the expression, in the smile,in the hand-shake, in the cordiality, which isunmistakable. The hardest natures cannot re-sist these qualities any more than the eyes canresist the sun. If you radiate sweetness andlight, people will love to get near you, for weare all looking for the sunlight, trying to getaway from the shadows.

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It is unfortunate that these things are nottaught more in the home and in the school;for our success and happiness depend largelyupon them. Many of us are no better than un-educated heathens. We may know enough,but we give ourselves out stingily and we livenarrow and reserved lives, when we should bebroad, generous, sympathetic, and magnani-mous.

Popular people, those with great personalcharm, take infinite pains to cultivate all thelittle graces and qualities which go to makeup popularity. If people who are naturallyunsocial would only spend as much time andtake as much pains as people who are socialfavorites in making themselves popular, theywould accomplish wonders.

Everybody is attracted by lovable qualitiesand is repelled by the unlovely, whereverfound. The whole principle of an attractivepersonality lies in this sentence: A fine man-ner pleases; a coarse, brutal manner repels.We cannot help being attracted to one who isalways trying to help us, — who gives us hissympathy, who is always trying to make uscomfortable and to give us every advantage hecan. On the other hand, we are repelled bypeople who are always trying to get something

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out of us, who elbow their way in front of usto get the best seat in a car or a hall, who arealways looking for the easiest chair, or for thechoicest bits at the table, who are always want-ing to be waited on first at the restaurant orhotel, regardless of others.

The ability to bring the best that is in youto the man you are trying to reach, to make agood impression at the very first meeting, toapproach a prospective customer as thoughyou had known him for years without offend-ing his taste, without raising the least preju-dice, but getting his sympathy and good will,is a great accomplishment, and this is whatcommands a great salary.

There is a charm in a gracious personalityfrom which it is very hard to get away. It isdifficult to snub the man who possesses it.There is something about him which arrestsyour prejudice, and no matter how busy orhow worried you may be, or how much youmay dislike to be interrupted, somehow youhaven't the heart to turn away the man with apleasing personality.

• Who has not felt his power multiplied manytimes, his intellect sharpened, and a keeneredge put on all of his faculties, when comingin contact with a strong personality which

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It is one of the most difficult things in theworld to change our first impression of aperson, whether good or bad. We do notrealize how rapidly the mind works when wemeet anyone for the first time. We are alleyes and ears; our mind is busy weighing theperson upon the scales of our judgment. Weare all alert, watching for earmarks of strengthor weakness. Every word, every act, the man-ner, the voice, — the mind takes in everythingvery rapidly, and our judgment is not onlyformed quickly, but also firmly, so that it isvery difficult and almost impossible for us toget this first picture of the person entirely outof our mind.

Careless, tactless people are often obligedto spend a great deal of time in trying to over-come the bad first impressions they make.They apologize and explain in letters. Butapology and explanation usually have verylittle effect, because they are so much weakerthan the strong picture of the first impressionwhich frequently persists in spite of all effortsto change it. Hence it is of the utmost im-portance for a youth who is trying to establishhimself to be very careful of the impressionhe makes. A bad first impression may bethe means of barring him from credit and de-

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knowledge is valuable, but the knowledgewhich comes from mind intercourse is in-valuable.

Two substances totally unlike, but having achemical affinity for each other, may producea third infinitely stronger than either, or evenboth, of those which unite. Two people witha strong affinity often call into activity ineach other a power which neither dreamed hepossessed before. Many an author owes hisgreatest book, his cleverest saying to a friendwho has aroused in him latent powers whichotherwise might have remained dormant.Artists have been touched by the power ofinspiration through a masterpiece, or by someone they happened to meet who saw in themwhat no one else had ever seen,—the power todo an immortal thing.

The man who mixes with his fellows is everon a voyage of discovery, finding new islandsof power in himself which would have re-mained forever hidden but for association withothers. Everybody he meets has some secretfor him, if he can only extract it, somethingwhich he never knew before, something whichwill help him on his way, something which willenrich his life. No man finds himself alone.Others are his discoverers.

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It is astonishing how much you can learnfrom people in social intercourse when youknow how to look at them rightly. But it isa fact that you can only get a great deal outof them by giving them a great deal of your-self. The more you radiate yourself, the moremagnanimous you are, the more generous o^yourself, the more you fling yourself out tothem without reserve, the more you will getback.

You must give much in order to get much.The current will not set toward you until itgoes out from you. About all you get fromothers is a reflex of the currents from your-self. The more generously you give, the moreyou get in return. You will not receive gen-erously if you give out stingily, narrowly,meanly. You must give of yourself in a whole-hearted, generous way, or you will receive onlystingy rivulets, when you might have had greatrivers and torrents of blessings.

A man who might have been symmetrical,well-rounded, had he availed himself of everyopportunity to touch life along all sides,remains a pygmy in everything except his ownlittle specialty, because he did not cultivate hissocial side.

It is always a mistake to miss an opportunity


to meet with our kind, and especially to mixwith those who are above us, because we canalways carry away something of value. It isthrough social intercourse that our roughcorners are rubbed off, that we become pol-ished and attractive.

If you go into social life with a determina-tion to give it something, to make it a schoolfor self-improvement, for calling out yourbest social qualities, for developing the latentbrain cells, which have remained dormantfrom the lack of exercise, you will not findsociety either a bore or unprofitable. Butyou must give it something, or you will notget anything.

When you learn to look upon everyone youmeet as holding a treasure, something whichwill enrich your life, which will enlarge andbroaden your experience, and make you moreof a man, you will not think the time in thedrawing-room wasted.

The man who is determined to get on willlook upon every experience as an educator,as a culture chisel, which will make his lifea little more shapely and attractive.

Frankness of manner is one of the mostdelightful of traits in young or old. Every-body admires the open-hearted, the people

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who have nothing to conceal, and who do nottry to cover up their faults and weaknesses.They are, as a rule, large-hearted and mag-nanimous. They inspire love and confidence,and, by their very frankness and simplicity,invite the same qualities in others.

Secretiveness repels as much as franknessattracts. There is something about the veryinclination to conceal or cover up whicharouses suspicion and distrust. We cannothave the same confidence in people whopossess this trait, no matter how good theymay seem to be, as in frank, sunny natures.Dealing with these secretive people is liketraveling on a stage coach on a dark night.There is always a feeling of uncertainty. Wemay come out all right, but there is a lurkingfear of some pitfall or unknown danger aheadof us. We are uncomfortable because of theuncertainties. They may be all right, and maydeal squarely with us, but we are not sure andcannot trust them. No matter how polite orgracious a secretive person may be, we cannever rid ourselves of the feeling that there isa motive behind his graciousness, and that hehas an ulterior purpose in view. He is alwaysmore or less of an enigma, because he goesthrough life wearing a mask. He endeavors


to hide every trait that is not favorable tohimself. Never, if he can help it, do we geta glimpse of the real man.

How different the man who comes out in theopen, who has no secrets, who reveals hisheart to us, and who is frank, broad, and lib-eral ! How quickly he wins 'our confidence!How we all like and trust him! We forgivehim for many a slip or weakness, because heis always ready to confess his faults, and tomake amends for them. If he has bad quali-ties, they are always in sight, and we are readyto make allowances for them. His heart issound and true, his sympathies are broad andactive. The very qualities he possesses —frankness and simplicity — are conducive tothe growth of the highest manhood.

In the Black Hills of South Dakota therelived a humble, ignorant miner, who won thelove and good will of everyone. " You can't'elp likin' 'im," said an English miner; andwhen asked why the miners and the people inthe town couldn't help liking him, he an-swered : " Because he has a 'eart in 'im; he'sa man. He always 'elps the boys when introuble. You never go to 'im for nothin'."

Bright, handsome young men, graduates ofEastern colleges, were there seeking their

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fortune; a great many able, strong men drawnthere from different parts of the country bythe gold fever; but none of them held the pub-lic confidence like this poor man. He couldscarcely write his name, and knew nothing ofthe usages of polite society, yet he so in-trenched himself in the hearts in his com-munity that no other man, however educatedor cultured, had the slightest chance of beingelected to any office of prominence while" Ike " was around.

He was elected mayor of his town, and sentto the legislature, although he could not speaka grammatical sentence. It was all because hehad " a 'eart in 'im "; he was a man.

V. HOW TO BE A SOCIAL SUCCESS

The power to please is a great success asset. Itwill do for you what money will not do. It willoften give you capital which your financial assetsalone would not warrant. People are governed bytheir likes and dislikes. We are powerfully influ-enced by a pleasing, charming personality. A per-suasive manner is often irresistible. Even judgeson the bench feel its fascination.

ORD CHESTERFIELD hascalled the art of pleasingone of the choicest gifts.It is a great social power.If you want to be popular,you must assume a popu-lar attitude, and, above all,

you must be interesting. If people are notinterested in you, they will avoid you. But ifyou can be so sunny and cheerful, helpfuland kind, if you can fling sunshine about youin every direction, so that people will crossthe street to meet you, instead of trying toavoid you, you will have no difficulty in be-coming popular.

The best way to draw people to you is tomake them feel that you are interested inthem. You must not do this for effect. You

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must be really interested in them, or they willdetect the deception.

Nothing else will win the heart of a youngperson to you so quickly as making him feelthat you take a genuine interest in him, inwhat he is doing, and especially in what he isgoing to do in the future.

If you avoid people, you must expect themto avoid you; and if you always talk aboutyourself and your wonderful achievements,you will find that people will move away fromyou. You do not please them. They wantyou to talk about them, to be interested inthat which concerns them.

If you wear a bulldog expression, if you goabout looking sour and disagreeable, you mustnot wonder that you are not popular with youremployees or other people. Everybody likesa pleasant face. We are always looking forthe sunshine, and we want to get away fromthe clouds and gloom.

There are many people who think that muchof what is real culture and refinement is merelyaffectation. They believe that a diamond inthe rough is the only genuine diamond. If aman is sincere, they argue, if he possessesmanly qualities and is loyal to truth, nomatter how uncouth and coarse he may be

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outwardly, he will be respected and will besuccessful.

This argument is good only to a limitedextent. What is true of an uncut gem is alsotrue of a human diamond in the rough. Nomatter how intrinsically valuable they may be,no one would think of wearing uncut dia-monds. A man might have a million dollars'worth of such gems; yet, if he refused to havethem cut and polished, no one would appreci-ate them. The unpractised eye would not beable to distinguish them from common peb-bles. They are valuable only in proportion tothe degree of brilliancy and beauty which thediamond-cutter can call out of them.

So, a man may be possessed of manyadmirable qualities, but, if they are coveredby a rough, uncouth exterior, they will berobbed of much of their intrinsic value. Theywill be discovered only by keen observers, orexpert character readers. What cutting andpolishing do for crystalized carbon, educa-tion and refined social intercourse do for thehuman diamond in the rough. The grace offine culture, a charming personality, and anexquisite manner enhance its value a thousand-fold.

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I has called forth hidden powers which he neverbefore dreamed he possessed, so that he couldsay things and do things impossible to himwhen alone? The power of the orator, whichhe flings back to his listeners, he first drawsfrom his audience, but he could never get itfrom the separate individuals any more thanthe chemist could get the full power fromchemicals standing in separate bottles in hislaboratory. It is in contact and combinationonly that new creations, new forces, are de-veloped.

We little realize what a large part of ourachievement is due to others working throughus, to their sharpening our faculties, radiat-ing hope, encouragement, and helpfulness intoour lives, and sustaining and inspiring usmentally.

We are apt to overestimate the value of aneducation from books alone. A large part ofthe value of a college education comes fromthe social intercourse of the students, the re-inforcement, the buttressing of character byassociation. Their faculties are sharpenedand polished by the attrition of mind withmind, and the pitting of brain against brain,which stimulate ambition, brighten the ideals,and open up new hopes and possibilities. Book


preciating his worth at the very outset of hiscareer.

If you can leave the impression that you area man first, that your manhood stands high upabove everything else, that your integrity andyour nobility are the most salient things aboutyou and tower high above your other quali-ties, if people can see a real man behind every-thing you exhibit, you will get the world'sconfidence.

I know a man — a type of thousands ofothers, — who cannot understand why peopleavoid him. If he is at a social gatheringeverybody seems repelled from his side of theroom. When others are enjoying themselves,chatting and laughing, he is silent, in a cornerby himself. If, by any accident, he gets intothe center of attraction, there seems to be acentrifugal force acting upon him, whichquickly draws him out again to his solitarycorner. He is rarely invited anywhere. Heappears to be a social icicle, — there is nowarmth about him, no magnetism.

The reason for this man's unpopularity is amystery to him. He has great ability, is a hardworker, and, when his day's work is done,likes to relax and mingle with his kind; but

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he gets none of the pleasure for which helongs. He is mortified to find himself persist-ently shunned while others, with not a titheof his ability, are welcomed wherever they go.He has no idea that selfishness is the principalbar to his popularity. He is always thinkingof self. He cannot get himself or his businessout of his mind long enough to take an interestin other people or their affairs. No matterhow often you talk with him, he always wantsto pull the conversation around to himself orhis business.

Another hindrance to his social success isthat he does not know the secret of attraction.He does not know that every person is a mag-net, which attracts in exact intensity and powerto the habitual thought and motive. The manwho is always thinking of himself becomes aself-magnet, attracting himself, nobody else.Many men become money magnets. Theirthoughts have been held on money so long thatthey attract money, — nothing else. Somemen become vicious because they have madethemselves vice magnets.

On the other hand, there are men and .womenso beautiful in mind and in character thateverybody who comes in contact with themfeels a sense of ownership or close kinship


with them. Everyone about them loves andadmires them. These large-hearted creaturesare loved because they love. They are mag-nets which attract all sorts of people becausethey are large enough to take them in. Theyare interested in them all; they have charityfor everyone.

We instinctively measure the predominatingqualities of a person, and estimate everythingabout him, under favorable conditions. Weperceive his dominating qualities and know atonce whether he is a Chinese wall of exclusive-ness, or don't-touch-me-ness, or a generous,open, magnanimous nature, without bars, orsecrets, or evasiveness, one who attracts andloves everybody else.

As long as a man remains cold, self-centered,and self-contemplative, he will have no mag-netism for others. He will be shunned anddisliked. No one will voluntarily seek him.It is just a question of the kind of magnet hemakes of himself. The moment he shows re-gard for and interest in others, he will takeon magnetic qualities, and attract, where be-fore he repelled. He will draw others to himjust in proportion to his interest in them. Assoon as he puts himself in another's place,takes a genuine interest in his welfare, and

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does not try to shift the conversation to him-self and his own affairs, just so soon and nosooner will others take an interest in him.There is only way to win love, and that isto love. Love will break the bonds of selfish-ness and self-consciousness. Stop thinking ofself, and take an interest in others; develop anadmiration and love for them, a real desire tohelp them, and you will not fail to be lovedand to be popular.

Many persons are avoided because they arealways shut up within themselves, absorbedin their own affairs. They have lived withthemselves so long that they have lost con-nection and sympathy with the outside world.They have lived a subjective life so long thatan objective one seems impossible. They didnot realize that living alone and not interest-ing themselves in others for years would shutoff their powers of attraction and dry up theirsympathies, until they would cease to generateany warmth or power, and would becomehuman icicles, so cold that their mere pres-ence would chill the whole atmosphere aboutthem.

Man is so constituted that he does not livenormally alone. A large part of the best ofhis life comes from others. He is a related


being, and, when cut off from his fellows, loseshalf his power. As a rule, a man is great onlyas he comes so in contact with other lives thaithere is a vital pulsating connection betweenhimself and other men, and their lives andthoughts surge through him, and his throughthem.

The moment a cluster of green grapes issevered from the parent stem it begins toshrivel. The moment the sap which feeds itis cut off, it grows stale and insipid. It be-comes worthless. The virtue of the clustercomes from its sap connection, its nourish-ment connection with the soil through themain vine. It can do nothing alone. Whenits source of power is cut off, it ceases to grow.It dies.

A man is but a cluster on the great humangrapevine. He begins to dry up the momenthe is cut off from his fellows. There is some-thing in the solidarity of the human race whichcannot be accounted for in the sum total ofall the individuals. As Kipling says: " Thestrength of the wolf is in the pack." Sepa-ration from the mass involves a mighty loss ofpower in the individual, just as there is a lossof cohesion and adhesion involved in the sepa-ration of the molecules and atoms of the dia-

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mond. The value of the gem is in the closecontact, the compactness, and the concentra-tion of the particles which compose it. Themoment they are separated its value is gone.So a strong, effective man gets a large part ofhis strength from the vital connection withhis fellows.

Man is omnivorous mentally as well as phys-ically. He requires a variety of mental food,which he can obtain only by mixing with agreat variety of people. The moment a humanbeing is separated from his kind, he begins todeteriorate. Children who have been impris-oned and kept many years from all communi-cation with other human beings have deteri-orated to idiocy.

A man is strong in proportion to the quan-tity, the quality, and the variety of forceswhich he absorbs from others. He is a powerin proportion to the extent of his contact, so-cially, mentally, and morally, with his kind,and a weakling just in proportion as he cutshimself off from others.

Some religious organizations have tried toevolve moral giants by separating the indi-viduals in monasteries or cloisters, by cut-ting off all communication with the outsideworld and practically also with one another.


But their method has proven a failure, as haveall plans which have interfered with theCreator's great plan of human solidarity.

There is a mighty telepathic force, playingbetween brain and brain, between soul and soul,which we do not yet know how to measure, butit is powerful to stimulate, mighty to build upor to tear down. There are scores of avenueswhich carry nutriment to the human mind, andto close up any of them must result in dwarf-ing the faculties, in shutting off power. Thefive senses are only a small number of thevehicles which carry impressions and infor-mation to the inner man. There are other,intangible, unknown soul senses, which illumi-nate the mind. We grow largely upon the nu-triment which the soul absorbs from every-where, but which the crude senses cannotweigh or measure. We drink in power throughthe eye and ear which does not come throughthe optic or auditory nerves. The greatestthing which comes from a master painting isnot in the tints or the shades or forms on thecanvas, but is back of all that, in the artist, —a mighty force which inheres in his person-ality, is made up of the sum of all he has in-herited and all he has experienced. Who canever measure the suggestive force which

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reaches the inner consciousness through theimagination ?

An opportunity to associate with peoplewho see the best instead of the worst in us isworth far, far more to us than an opportunityto make money. It increases a hundredfoldour power to develop noble characters.

Beware of people who are constantly be-littling others, finding flaws and defects intheir characters, or slyly insinuating that theyare not quite what they ought to be. Suchpersons are dangerous, and not to be trusted.A disparaging mind is a limited, rutty, un-healthy mind. It can neither see nor acknowl-edge good in others. It is a jealous mind: itis really painful to it to hear others spokenwell of, praised, or commended for any virtueor good point. If it cannot deny the exist-ence of the alleged good, it will seek to mini-mize it by a malicious " if," or " but," or tryin some other way to throw a doubt on thecharacter of the person praised.

A large, healthy, normal mind will see thegood in another much more quickly than theevil, but a narrow, belittling mind has an eyeonly for faults, — for the unlovely and thecrooked. The clean, the beautiful, the true,and the magnanimous are too large for its vis-

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ion. It delights in tearing down or destroy-ing, but it is incapable of upbuilding.

Whenever you hear a person trying to be-little another, discard him from your list offriends, unless you can help him to remedyhis fault. Do not flatter yourself that thosewho tell you of the failings of other people,and criticize and hold them up to ridicule,will not treat you in the same way when anopportunity presents itself. Such people areincapable of true friendship, for true friend-ship helps, instead of hinders; it never exposesthe weak point in a friend's character, or suf-fers anyone to speak ill of him.

One of the finest fruits of culture is thepower to see the man or woman whom Godmade in his own image, and not the one whois scarred by faults and deficiencies. It isonly the generous, loving soul who ever attainsto this degree of culture. It is only the broad,charitable, magnanimous, great-hearted manor woman who is blind to the defects of others,and always ready to enlarge upon their goodqualities.

We are all of us constantly, but uncon-sciously, molding others by our thoughts aboutthem. The qualities you see in your friendand those with whom you come in contact, you

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tend to enlarge. If you see only the little,mean, contemptible side of people, you cannothelp them out of their faults, for you onlyintensify and fix them; but if you see the good,the noble, the aspiring traits in them, you willhelp to develop these qualities until they crowdout the base, unworthy ones.

Everywhere, the world over, this uncon-scious interchange of influence is at work,hindering or helping according to its nature.

* * * *Many people become morbid in dwelling

upon the thought that they are peculiar insome respect. Some of these people thinkthey have inherited certain tendencies or pecu-liarities from their parents and are alwayslooking for their reappearance in themselves.Now this is just the way to make them appear,for what we encourage in the mind or holdthere persistently we draw to us. So thesepeople continually increase the evil by worry-ing about it and dwelling upon its sad effectson themselves. They become sensitive aboutreal or imaginary idiosyncrasies. They neverlike to speak of or hear of them, and yet thebelief that they possess them takes away theirself-confidence and mars their achievement.

Most of these peculiarities are usually im-


aginary or are exaggerated by imagination.But they have been nursed and brooded overso long that they have become real to thesufferers.

The remedy lies in doing precisely the op-posite, — dwelling on the perfect qualities andignoring any possible shortcomings. If youthink you are peculiar, form a habit of hold-ing the normal thought. Say to yourself, " Iam not peculiar. The idiosyncrasies that dis-turb me are not real. I was made in the im-age of my Maker, and a Perfect Being couldnot make imperfections, hence the imperfec-tions I think I have cannot be real, as thetruth of my being is real. There can be noabnormalities about me unless I produce themin thought, for the Creator never gave them tome. He never gave me a discordant note,because He is Harmony."

If you hold this thought persistently inmind, you will forget what seems abnormalto you; it will soon disappear and you willregain your confidence just by becoming con-vinced that you are not much unlike otherpeople.

Shyness sometimes becomes a disease; butit is a disease of the imagination only, and canbe easily overcome by driving the thought of

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it out of the mind and holding the oppositethought,—'by one's just making up his mindthat he is not being watched by everybody andthat people are too busy about their own selfishaims and ambitions to be observing him allthe time.

I know a girl who had become so morbidand despondent, through constantly dwellingon her plain features and ungainly manner,that she was on the verge of insanity. Shewas extremely sensitive, very proud, and wouldbrood for days over the fancied slight whenshe was not invited to a party or other enter-tainment with her more attractive acquaint-ances.

Finally a real friend came to her assistance,and told her that it was possible for her tocultivate qualities which would be far moreattractive and would make her much morepopular than the mere physical beauty andgrace whose absence she so deplored.

With this kind friend's assistance she com-pletely reversed her estimate of herself; sheturned about face, and, instead of over-em-phasizing mere physical grace and beauty, in-stead of thinking of herself as ugly and re-pulsive, she constantly held the thought thatshe was the expression of God's idea, that

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there was something divine in her, and sheresolved to bring it out.

She denied every suggestion that she couldpossibly be unpopular, or that she could reallybe ugly, and held persistently in mind theimage of her popularity and attractiveness, andthe thought that she could make herself inter-esting and even fascinating. She would notallow herself to harbor the suggestion that shecould be anything but attractive.

She began to improve herself intellectuallyin every possible way. She read the bestauthors; she took up different courses ofstudy; and determined that at every oppor-tunity she would make herself just as inter-esting as possible.

Hitherto she had been careless in her dressand manners because of the conviction that itdid not matter how she dressed or what shedid, for she would still be unpopular. Shebegan to dress as becomingly as possible andin better taste.

The result was, that, instead of being a wall-flower, as formerly, she began to attract littlegroups about her wherever she went. She be-came a fascinating talker, and made herselfso interesting in every way that she was in-vited out just as often as the more attractive

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girls whom she used to envy. In a short timeshe had not only overcome her handicap, buthad also become the most interesting girl inher community.

Her task had not been an easy one, but shehad worked with superb resolution and gritto overcome the things which had held herdown; and, in her determined effort to over-come what she regarded as a fatal handicap,as a curse, she was enabled to develop quali-ties which more than compensated for the per-sonal beauty that was denied her.

It is wonderful what a transformation wecan bring about by holding persistently in themind the image of the thing we desire orwould become, and struggling hard to attain it.This has a marvelous power to attract what wedesire, to make real the picture that we see.

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The speaking voice has much to do withone's popularity and social success. There isno one thing which marks the degree of goodbreeding, culture, and refinement so much asa sweet, modulated, cultivated voice.

" Shut me up in a dark room with a mixedmultitude," says Thomas Wentworth Higgin-son, " and I can pick out the gentlefolks bytheir voices."

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It is said that during the early history ofEgypt only written pleadings were allowedin the law courts, lest the judges on the benchmight be influenced or swayed by the elo-quence of the human voice. In announcingthe verdict, the presiding judge, with an imageof the goddess of Truth, merely touched insilence the person on trial.

Considering the marvelous power of thehuman voice is it not a shame, almost a crime,that our children at home and in the publicschools should not have their voices welltrained? Is it not pitiable to see a bright,promising child getting a good education andyet developing a harsh, coarse, strident, nasal,disagreeable voice, which will handicap hiswhole career ? Think of what a handicap thisis to a girl!

But in America one finds boys and girlsgraduated from schools and colleges, institu-tions supposed to have taught them how tomake the most and best of life, instructed inthe dead languages, in mathematics, in thesciences, art, and literature, yet with voicesrasping, nasal, repellent.

Many brilliant young women, who havebeen graduated with degrees from universities,possess voices so discordant and harsh that

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a person with sensitive nerves can scarcelycarry on a conversation with them.

What is so fascinating, so charming, as thehuman voice when properly modulated andwhen properly trained? It is a real treat tolisten to a voice that enunciates clearly, flingsout the words clean-cut, liquid, and musical,as from a divine instrument.

I know a lady whose voice has such a charmthat wherever she goes everyone listens when-ever she speaks, because they cannot help it.Her voice simply captivates one. Her featuresare plain, almost to the point of ugliness, buther voice is divine; the charm is irresistible,and indicative of her highly cultivated mindand charming character.

I have heard female voices in society whichwere so high-keyed, which rasped so terriblyupon the nerves, and so offended the sensi-bilities, that I have been obliged, time andagain, to retreat from their reach.

A pure, low-keyed, trained voice, whichbreathes of culture and refinement, and givesout clean-cut words and sentences and sylla-bles with perfect enunciation, a voice which ex-presses the very soul, rising and falling in sweetundulations that captivate, is a divine possessionpossible to most persons, especially women.

VI. THE MIRACLE OF TACT • i f ' 1•Ik? i

1" Talent is something, but tact is everything."

" Talent is no match for tact; we see its failureeverywhere. In the race of life, common sense hasthe right of way."

ACT is an extremely delicatequality, difficult to define,hard to cultivate, but abso-lutely indispensable to onewho wishes to get onin the world rapidly andsmoothly.

Some people possess this exquisite sense insuch a degree that they never offend, and yetthey say everything that they wish to. Theyapparently do not restrain themselves, and saythings with impunity which, if said by manyothers, would give mortal offense.

On the other hand, certain people, no mat-ter what they say, cannot seem to avoid irri-tating the sensitiveness of others, althoughthey mean well. Such people go through lifemisunderstood, for they cannot quite adjustthemselves to circumstances. The way isnever quite clear. They are continually run-ning against something. They are always

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causing offense without meaning to, uncov-ering blemishes or sore spots. They invari-ably appear at the wrong time and do thewrong thing. They never get hold of theright end of the thread, so that the skein doesnot unravel, but the more they pull, the worsethey tangle the threads.

Who can estimate the loss to the worldwhich results from the lack of tact, — theblundering, the stumbling, the slips, the falls,the fatal mistakes which come to people be-cause they do not know how to do the rightthing at the right time! How often we seesplendid ability wasted, or not used effect-ively, because people lack this indefinable, ex-quisite quality which we call " tact."

You may have a college education; youmay have a rare training in your specialty;you may be a genius in certain lines, and yetnot get on in the world; but if you have tactand one talent combined with stick-to-it-ive-ness, you will be promoted, you will surelyclimb.

No matter how much ability a man mayhave, if he lacks the tact to direct it effectively,to say the right thing and to do the rightthing at just the right time, he cannot make iteffective.

THE MIRACLE OF TACT 99

Thousands of people accomplish more withsmall ability and great tact than those withgreat ability and little tact.

Everywhere we see people tripping them-selves up, making breaks which cost friend-ships, customers, money, simply because theyhave never developed this faculty. Merchantsare losing customers; lawyers, influentialclients; physicians, patients; editors sacrific-ing subscribers; clergyman losing their powerin the pulpit and their hold upon the public;teachers losing their situations; politicianslosing their hold upon the people, because ofthe lack of tact.

Tact is a great asset in business, especiallyfor a merchant. In a large city where hun-dreds of concerns are trying to attract thecustomer's attention, tact plays a very import-ant part.

One prominent business man puts tact at thehead of the list in his success recipe, the otherthree things being: enthusiasm, knowledgeof business, dress.

The following paragraph, in a letter whicha merchant sent out to his customers, is an ex-ample of shrewd business tact:

" We should be thankful for any informationof any dissatisfaction with any former tran- : I

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sactions with us, and we will take immediatesteps to remedy it."

Think of the wealthy customers that havebeen driven away from banks by the lack oftact on the part of a cashier or teller!

A man must possess the happy faculty ofwinning the confidence of his fellow-beingsand making steadfast friends, if he wouldbe successful in his business or profession.Good friends praise our books at every oppor-tunity, " talk up" our wares, expatiate atlength on our last case in court, or on ourefficiency in treating some patient; they protectour name when slandered, and rebuke our ma-ligners. Without tact, the gaining of friendswho will render such services is impossible.

A young man with very ordinary abilitygained a seat in the United States Senatelargely because of his wonderful tact.

A great many men are held down, kept back,because they cannot get along well with others.They are so constituted that they nettle others,run against their prejudices. They cannotseem to cooperate with other people. Theresult is they have to work alone, and theylose the strength which comes from solidarity.

I know a man whose effectiveness duringa very strenuous life has been almost ruined

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by the lack of tact. He can never get alongwith people. He seems to have every otherquality necessary to make a large man, aleader of men, but his faculty for antagoniz-ing others has crippled his life. He is alwaysdoing the wrong thing, saying the wrong thing,hurting people's feelings without meaning to,counteracting the effectiveness of his ownwork, because he has not the slightest appre-ciation of what the word tact means. He isconstantly giving offense.

We all know men who pride themselves onsaying what they think, on being blunt. Theythink it is honest, a sign of strength of char-acter ; and that it is weak to " beat about thebush " and to resort to diplomacy in dealingwith people. They believe in " striking rightout from the shoulder," " calling things bytheir right names."

These men have never been much of a suc-cess. People believe them to be honest, buttheir lack of tact, good judgment, and goodsense is all the time queering their proposi-tions. They do not know how to managepeople,— cannot get along with them, and arealways " in hot water."

The truth is, we all like to be treated withconsideration, with tact, and to deal with peo-

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pie who use diplomacy. Diplomacy is com-mon-sense reduced to a fine art.

Bluntness is a quality which people do notlike or appreciate. People who pride them-selves on saying just what they think, do notusually have a great many friends, nor a verylarge business or successful profession. Oftentruths which will hurt are better unsaid.

Mark Twain says: " Truth is so very pre-cious that we should use it sparingly."

" A man may have not much learning norwit," says Addison, " but if he has common-sense and something friendly in his behavior,it will conciliate men's minds more than thebrightest thoughts without this disposition."

" A little management may often have re-sistance which a vast force may vainly striveto overcome," says another writer.

To quote again:" A tactful man will not only make the most

of everything he does know, but also of manythings he does not know, and will gain morecredit by his adroit mode of hiding his igno-rance than a pedant by his attempt toexhibit his erudition."

When the French Revolution was at itsheight and the exciting mob was surgingthrough the Paris streets, a detachment of sol-

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diers filled one of the streets and a command-ing officer was about to order his men to fire,when a young lieutenant asked permission toappeal to the people. Riding out in front ofthe soldiers, he doffed his hat and said: " Gen-tlemen will have the kindness to retire, for Iam ordered to shoot down the rabble." Themob at once dispersed as if by magic, and thestreet was cleared without bloodshed.

Tact enabled Lincoln to extricate himselffrom a thousand unfortunate and painful situ-ations with politicians during the Civil War.In fact, without it, the result of the war mighthave been entirely changed.

" The kindly element of humor almost al-ways enters into the use of tact, and sweetensits mild coercion. We cannot help smiling,oftentimes, at the deft way in which we havebeen induced to do what we afterwards recog-nize as altogether right and best. There needbe no deception in this use of tact, only sucha presentation of rightful inducements asshall most effectively appeal to a hesitatingmind. It is the fine art of getting the rightthing done in the nick of time."

Someone has said, " Every fish has its fly."As every fish has its fly, so every person canbe reached, no matter how odd or peculiar, by

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the person who has tact enough to touch himin the right place.

A teacher in one of the public schools re-proved a little eight-year-old Irish boy forsome mischief. The boy was about to denythe fault when the teacher said, " I saw you,Jerry." " Yes," replied the boy as quick as aflash, " I tells them there ain't much you don'tsee with them purty black eyes of yours."

Tactful people make friends rapidly becausethey have a way of drawing people out andinducing them to express the best within them.We always admire people who interest them-selves in our affairs and who are not forevertrying to talk about themselves and their owninterests.

When William Penn went to pay his re-spects to Charles II, true to his Quaker prin-ciples, he kept on his hat. But the MerryMonarch, instead of showing anger, respect-fully doffed his. "Prithee, Friend Charles,put on thy hat," said the great Friend. " No,Friend Penn," replied the king, " it is usualfor only one man to stand covered here."

King Edward, when a prince, was the mostpopular man in the United Kingdom, becauseof his never-failing tact and urbanity.

Some people seem to be incapable of learn-


ing tactfulness, because they do not appreci-ate delicate situations. They are often thick-skinned themselves and cannot understandsensitive people.

A lady who had been a guest in a countryhome wrote to her hostess saying what a nicevisit she had had, and that she was all right ex-cept that her hand was sore from mosquitobites, and that it did seem good to get backonce more to a comfortable bathroom.

Someone has said, " The secret of all suc-cess lies in being alive to what is going onaround one; in adjusting oneself to one's sur-roundings; in being sympathetic and helpful;in knowing the wants of the time; in sayingto one's fellows what they want to hear, whatthey need to hear at the right moment.

It is not enough to do the rightthing; it must be done at the right time andplace."

Tact is a combination of good temper, readywit, quickness of perception, and ability to takein the exigency of the occasion instantly. Itis never offensive, but is a balm allaying sus-picion, and soothing. It is appreciative. It isplausible without being dishonest, apparentlyconsults the welfare of the second party anddoes not manifest any selfishness* It is never

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antagonistic, never opposes, never strokes thehair the wrong way, and never irritates.

Tact, like a fine manner eases the way, takesthe jar out of the jolts; oils the bearings,opens doors barred to others; sits in the draw-ing-room when others must wait in the recep-tion hall; gets into the private office whenothers are turned down. It admits you intoexclusive circles, where wealth abounds, eventhough poor. It secures the position whenmerit is turned away.

Tact is a great manager; it easily controlspeople, even when combined with small ability,where genius cannot get along.

With tact, one woman, even with mediocreability, is able to be a leader in society andwield great influence over statesmen and bril-liant men in all vocations, while- anotherwoman very much h'er superior in other intel-lectual endowments remains in obscurity andapparently without influence, because she lacksthis exquisite quality.

I was once in a home where the wife usedto perform what to me seemed almost a dailymiracle. The husband would come to break-fast always in a great rush, with his paperin his hand, cross and crabbed from his per-plexing business and late hours at the club.


He was a very nervous man, and everythingseemed to irritate him in the morning. Hewas always late at breakfast, and if everythingwas not ready on the instant, piping hot, hewould fly into a rage, which, but for the wife'smarvelous tact, would have destroyed the peaceand comfort of the family for the entire day.The servants stood in fear of their master,because they dreaded his tongue lashings, hishot temper.

The calm, serene, gentle wife, however, wasusually equal to the emergency. No matterwhere the trouble was, with marvelous tactand gentleness she would slip in and calm thestorm. If the husband's coffee did not pleasehim, she would immediately remove his cup,go to the kitchen, and in a few minutes returnwith a fresh, deliciously creamed, boiling hotcup, which would temporarily quiet her bearhusband.

This man would sometimes throw food thatdid not suit him across the dining-room in hisfits of anger. But the patient wife wouldmake excuses that her husband's business wasvery trying, and that he had not been wellof late.

Sometimes he was so domineering that theservants threatened to leave immediately; but

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the wife in her tactful manner would smootheverything over.

She always seemed to be equal to any emer-gency, and usually managed to calm the storm,to pour the oil of gentleness and sweetnessupon the troubled waters. She went aboutthe home like a ray of sunshine, shedding light,warmth, and beauty everywhere.

Many a patient has lost his life for the lackof tact in physician or relatives. A patientought to be benefited by a visit from a physi-cian even without medicine. A physicianought to be so cheerful, buoyant, exuberantwith life, that his very presence would cheerthe patient, give hope and encouragement. Agloomy, sad-faced, moody, tactless physicianis a poor health restorer. Only those whoare happy and cheerful should administer tothe unfortunate sick. The personality of aphysician has a great deal to do with his suc-cess, and with the chances of his patients.

Everything which tends to depress and dis-courage and take away hope should be keptaway from the ill. The coming of the physi-cian ought to be a signal of encouragement.Hope and confidence should come with him.He should radiate cheerfulness, encourage-ment. A brutal, coarse physician is a calamity


to any community. In fact, a physician's per-sonality and his tact are often much more im-portant than his remedies.

Some physicians are so conscientious —and so tactless, — that they think they musttell patients the whole truth when they believethey cannot recover, instead of giving themthe benefit of the doubt, for every physicianknows that, nearly always, there is a doubtwhich way the case will turn. Cheerful en-couragement has saved many a life by helpingit to pass a crisis favorably, when the actualtruth might have killed the patient or reducedhis rallying powers to the danger-point. Inall the affairs of life, cruel bluntness in statingbrutal facts has caused untold misery andbroken many friendships.

Napoleon actually terrified ladies by hiscoarse brutality and his selfishness in conver-sation.

He once said to one of the most beautiful,courtly women of his time, Madame Reynault,in a large company and in hearing of courtladies who were envious of her, " Do youknow, Madame, you are aging terribly ? " Shewas only twenty-eight and replied with ex-quisite self-command, " What your majestydoes me the honor to say to me would be very

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painful to hear were I of an age to be afflictedby it."

Once when Napoleon was introduced to alady whom he was very anxious to meet, hesaid, " Why, they told me you were verybeautiful."

There are many people who do not try to beagreeable to others who do not interest them,and show a deplorable lack of tact. If aperson has any little habit or peculiarity whichoffends them, they do not care to associatewith him, and do not hesitate to show theirdislike. If forced into the company of a per-son who does not attract them, they eitherfreeze him with their cold indifference, so as toshut off the intercourse altogether, or theymake him feel' very uncomfortable in someway.

There is no better discipline in the worldthan to force ourselves to be sociable and in-teresting to those for whom we do not care.It is really surprising how much one can findof interest, even in those who at first repel us.It is not difficult for an intelligent, culti-vated person to find something of real interestin everyone.

The fact is, our prejudices are often verysuperficial, based frequently upon an unfortu-

THE MIRACLE OF TACT i n

nate first impression, so that we often find thatpeople who repelled us at first, who seemedvery unattractive, and not likely to have any-thing in common with us, finally become ourbest friends. Knowing this, we ought atleast to give another the advantage of a fairtrial before we jump to the conclusion that weare not going to like him or her.

We are creatures of prejudice, and we knowfrom experience that even people towardswhom we feel kindly often misjudge and donot like us simply because they do not know us.They are prejudiced by some false impressionor hasty opinion of us; but when they arebetter acquainted the prejudice wears off andthey can appreciate our good points.

Some writer has thus described the qualitieswhich enter into tact:

" A sympathetic knowledge of human na-ture, its fears, weaknesses, expectations, andinclinations.

" The ability to put yourself in the otherperson's place, and to consider the matter asit appears to him.

" The magnanimity to deny expression tosuch of your thoughts as might unnecessarilyoffend another.

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" The ability to perceive quickly what is theexpedient thing, and the willingness to makethe necessary concessions.

" The recognition that there are millions ofdifferent human opinions, of which your ownis but one.

" A spirit of unfeigned kindness such asmakes even an enemy a debtor to your innategood-will.

" A recognition of what is customary underthe circumstances and a gracious acceptanceof the situation.

" Gentleness, cheerfulness, and sincerity."

Some people are color-blind and have notthe slightest appreciation of delicate tints.Many are tact-blind.

" Don't, on any account, allude to the exe-cution that is to take place to-day," said thewife of a tactless man as she and her liegelord were on their way to a luncheon party." The people of the house are distantly relatedto Miss H— though they don't talk about thecousinship."

All went well as long as the man borethis in mind, but before the visit was over hebroke a rather oppressive silence by remark-ing:

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" Well, I suppose Miss H— has beenhanged by now."

When tactful people first meet us they tryto find out what we are interested in and talkabout that. They do not talk about them-selves or what they are doing, for they knowthat there is nothing which will interest youquite so much as your own affairs, or conver-sation along the line of your own ambition.On the other hand, tactless people are al-ways talking about what interests themselvesand often become breat bores to strangers aswell as to their friends.

It is a great art to interest oneself in others,to be able to strike a responsive chord so thatyou will make a stranger feel at the introduc-tion that there is something in common be-tween you. It is said that the test of a beauti-ful woman's popularity is that she seems tobelong to everybody.

How easy it is to meet tactful peoplefor the first time! No matter how embar-rassing or strained the occasion, they put usat ease at once. They make us feel perfectlyat home. This is the test of tact; that youcan put shy people, timid people, people whohave had little experience in the world, atease at once. Never mind what you know.

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Do not try to dazzle others with your greatknowledge upon a certain subject. Just tryto find out what will interest them, and makethem feel comfortable and unrestrained.

VII. " I HAD A FRIEND "

Oh, friendship! of all things the most rare, andtherefore most scarce because most excellent, whosecomforts in misery are always sweet, and whosecounsels in prosperity are ever fortunate.—LILLY.

HAD a friend! " Is thereanything more beautiful inall this world than theconsciousness of possessingsweet, loyal, helpful friends,whose devotion is not af-fected in the least by a for-

tune or the lack of it; friends who love us evenmore in adversity than in prosperity?

At the breaking out of the Civil War, whenthe qualifications of the different candidatesfor the Presidency were being discussed, andLincoln was mentioned, someone said: " Lin-coln has nothing, only plenty of friends." Itis true that Lincoln was poor, that when hewas elected to the legislature of his State heborrowed money to buy a suit of clothes, inorder that he might make a respectable ap-pearance, and that he walked a hundred milesto take his seat. It is a matter of history thathe also borrowed money to move his familyto Washington after he was elected President,

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n 6 SELF-INVESTMENT

but how rich was this marvelous man in hisfriendships!

Friends are silent partners — every one ofthem interested in everything that interests theother, every one trying to help the other tosucceed in life, to make a good impression, tostand for the best thing in him and not theworst, trying to help the other do what he isendeavoring to do, rejoicing in every goodthing that comes to him. Can anything bemore sublime, more beautiful than the loyalty,the devotion of friends!

Even with all his remarkable ability, Theo-dore Roosevelt could never have accomplishedanything equal to what he has but for thepowerful, persistent, enthusiastic assistance ofhis friends. It is doubtful whether he wouldever have been President but for the loyaltyof friends, especially of those he made while astudent at Harvard University. Hundreds ofhis classmates and college mates were workinghard for him, both while he was candidate forGovernor of New York and for President ofthe United States. The wonderfully enthusi-astic friendship of his regiment of " RoughRiders " came back to him in tens of thousandsof votes in the South and West in the Presi-dential election.

" I HAD A FRIEND " 117

Just think of what it means to have en-thusiastic friends always looking out for ourinterests, working for us all the time, sayinga good word for us at every opportunity, sup-porting us, speaking for us in our absencewhen we need a friend, shielding our sensi-tive, weak spots, stopping slanders, killinglies which would injure us, correcting falseimpressions, trying to set us right, overcom-ing the prejudices created by some mistakeor slip, or a bad first impression we mayhave made in some silly moment; alwaysdoing something to give us a lift or to help usalong!

What sorry figures many of us would cutbut for our friends! What marred and scarredreputations most of us would have but for thecruel blows that have been warded off by ourfriends, the healing balm that they have ap-plied to the hurts of the world! Many of uswould have been very much poorer financially,too, but for the hosts of friends who sent uscustomers and clients and business, and whohave always turned our way everything theycould.

Oh, what a boon our friends are to ourweaknesses, our idiosyncrasies and shortcom-ings, our failures generally! How they throw

n 8 SELF-INVESTMENT

a mantle of charity over our faults, and coverup our defects!

What is more beautiful than to see a mantrying to draw the curtain before the weak-nesses or the scars of his friend, to shield himfrom the harsh criticism of the thoughtlessor heartless, to bury his weaknesses in silence,and to proclaim his virtues upon the house-top ! We cannot help admiring such a man, be-cause we know that he is a true friend.

Is there anything more sacred in this worldthan the office of a true friend? How few ofus appreciate what it means to have the repu-tation of another in our keeping! The reportwe send out, our estimate of another, mayhave a great deal to do with the success orfailure of the individual. The scandal whichwe allow to pass unchallenged may mar areputation for life.

One of the most touching things I know ofis the office of a real friend to one who is nota friend to himself—.one who has lost hisself-respect, his self-control, and fallen to thelevel of the brute. Ah! this is friendship,indeed, which will stand by us when we willnot stand by ourselves! I know a man whothus stood by a friend who had become such aslave to drink and all sorts of vice that even

I HAD A FRIEND " 119

his family had turned him out-of-doors.Even when father and mother and wife andchildren had forsaken him, this friend re-mained loyal. He followed him at night inhis debauches, and many a time saved himfrom freezing to death when he was so in-ebriated that he could not stand. Scores oftimes this man left his home and searchedin the slums for his friend, to keep him fromthe hands of a policeman and to shield himfrom the cold; and this great love and devo-tion finally redeemed the fallen man andsent him back to decency and to his home.Can any money measure the value of suchdevotion!

Oh! what a difference a friend has made inthe lives of most of us! How many peoplea strong loyal friendship has kept from utterdespair, from giving up the struggle for suc-cess ! How many men and women have beenkept from suicide by the thought that some-one loved them, believed in them; how manyhave preferred to suffer tortures to dishonor-ing or disappointing their friends! The thrillof encouragement which has come from thepressure of a friendly hand, or a sympathethic,friendly word, has proved the turning-pointin many a life.

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Many a man endures hardships and suffersprivations and criticism in the hope of winningat last for the sake of his friends, of thosewho love and believe in him, and who see inhim what others do not, when, if he had onlyhimself to consider, he would give up withlittle effort.

The faith of friends is a perpetual stimulus.How it nerves and encourages us to do ourbest, when we feel that scores of friendsreally believe in us when others misunderstandand denounce us!

" Life is to be fortified by many friendships,"said Sydney Smith. " To love and to be lovedis the greatest happiness of existence."

Was there ever such capital for startingin business for oneself as plenty of friends?How many people, who are now successful,would have given up the struggle in somegreat crisis of their lives, but for the encour-agement of a friend which tided them overthe critical place! How barren and lean ourlives would be if stripped of all that our friendshave done for us!

If you are starting out in a profession orin business, the reputation of having a lot ofstanch friends will give you backing, willbring you patients, clients, customers. It has


been said that " destiny is determined byfriendship."

It would be interesting and helpful if wecould analyze the lives of successful people,and those who have been highly honored bytheir fellow men, and find out the secret oftheir success.

I have tried to make this analysis in thecase of one man, whose career I have for along time carefully studied, and I believethat at least twenty per cent, of his success isdue to his remarkable ability to make friends.He has cultivated the friendship faculty mostassiduously from boyhood, and he fastenspeople to him so solidly and enthusiastically,that they would do almost anything to pleasehim.

When this man began his career the friend-ships formed in school and college were ofimmense value in helping him to positionswhich not only opened up unusual opportu-nities, but added very largely to his reputationas well.

In other words, his natural ability has beenmultiplied many times by the help of his hostsof friends. He seems to have a peculiarfaculty of enlisting their interest, their hearty,enthusiastic support in everything he does, so

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that they are always trying to advance hisinterests.

Very few give the credit they ought to theirfriends. Most successful men think that theyhave won out because of their great ability, be-cause they have fought and conquered; andthey are always boasting of the wonderfulthings they have done. They attribute theirsuccess wholly to their own smartness, theirown sagacity and shrewdness, to their push,their progressiveness. They do not realizethat scores of friends, like so many unpaidtraveling salesmen, have been helping them atevery opportunity.

" True friendship," says C. C. Colton, " islike sound health, the value of it is seldomknown until it be lost."

The character and standing of your friendswill have a very marked influence upon yourlife. Make it a rule to choose upwards justas far as possible. Try to associate withpeople who are your superiors, not so muchwith people who have more money, but withthose who have had greater advantages forculture and self-improvement, who are bettereducated and better informed, in order thatyou may absorb as much as possible that willhelp you. This will tend to raise your own


ideals, to inspire you to higher things, to makea greater effort to be somebody yourself.

I know young people who have plenty offriends, but they are not the kind that helpor elevate them. They have chosen down-ward, instead of upward.

If you habitually associate with people be-low you, they will tend to drag you down,lower your ideals, your ambition.

We little realize what a great molding,fashioning influence our friends and acquaint-ances have upon us. Every person we comein contact with stamps an indelible influenceupon us, and the influence will be like hischaracter. If we form a habit of always try-ing to better our friendships and acquaint-ances, we unconsciously acquire the habit ofperpetual self-betterment, self-improvement.

The great thing is to keep the life standardshigh. An aspiring habit will tend to do this.However, we should not be intolerant and ex-pect too much of our friends.

" Take your friends more as you find them,without the desire to make them live up tosome ideal standard of your own," says awriter. " You may find that their own stand-ard, while different, may not be so bad, afterall."

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It is possible to measure up a man we havenever seen, by studying his friends. It ispossible to tell pretty nearly how much of aman he is, whether he will stand by his wordor whether he is unreliable, or treacherous.

Look out for the man who has practicallyno friends. You will find something wrongin him somewhere. If he was worthy offriends he would have had them.

" To be rich in friends " is not a sentimen-tal expression; it is of real market worth. Tothe man or woman " rich in friends" doorsare opened and opportunities presented thatoften are not within reach of those merelyrich in money, and are never heard of by thewoe-begone who live in the depths.

He is poor indeed who has no friends!What wealth would be a substitute for friend-ships! How many millionaires would give alarge part of their wealth to regain the friendsthey have lost by neglect while they were mak-ing their money!

Not half a dozen people outside of hisimmediate family attended the funeral of avery rich man who died not long since in NewYork. But a few weeks later a large churchwas filled to the doors and the streets wererendered impassable by the crowds assembled


to pay the last respects to a man who died with-out leaving even a thousand dollars behindhim.

The latter loved his friends as a miser loveshis gold. Everybody who knew him seemedto be his friend. He took infinitely more pridein thinking that he was rich in friendshipsthan he could possibly have taken in a fortune.He would divide his last dollar with anyonewho needed it. He did not try to sell his ser-vices as dearly as possible. He gave himselfto his friends — gave himself without reserve,royally, generously, magnanimously. Therewas no stinting of effort or service in thisman's life, nothing that ever suggested self-ishness or greed. Is it any wonder that thou-sands of people should regard his death as agreat personal loss?

" In friendship," says Seneca, " there mustbe no reserve; as much deliberation as youplease before the league is struck, but nodoubtings nor jealousies after. . . . Itrequires time to consider a friendship, but theresolution once taken entitles him to my veryheart. . . . The purpose of friendshipis to have one dearer to me than myself, andfor the saving of whose life I would gladly laydown my own, taking with me the conscious-

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ness that only the wise can be friends; othersare mere companions."

It is only he who loses his life, who givesit royally, in kindly, helpful service to others,that finds it. This is the sowing that gives thebountiful harvest. The man who gets all hecan and gives nothing, cannot get real riches.He is like the farmer who thinks too much ofhis seed-corn to sow it and hoards it, thinkinghe will be richer for the hoarding. He doesnot give it to the soil because he cannot seethe harvest in the seed. It is not so much aquestion of how far we have gotten along inthe world ourselves, as of how many otherswe have helped to get on.

Perhaps really the richest man who everlived upon this continent was AbrahamLincoln, because he gave himself to his people.He did not try to sell his ability to the highestbidder. Great fees had no attraction for him.Lincoln lives in history because he thoughtmore of his friends — and all his countrymenwere his friends — than he did of his pocket-book. He gave himself to his country as afarmer gives his seed to the earth, and what aharvest from that sowing! The end of it noman shall see.

One of the saddest phases of our strenuous

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American life is the terrible slaughter offriendships by our dollar chasers.

Our strenuous, rushing, electric life in thiscountry is not conducive to the formation ofreal friendships, such as exist in some foreigncountries. We do not have time for them.The vast resources and marvelous opportu-nities tend to develop an abnormal ambition.The great prizes appeal to our selfish natures,to the brute in us, and we rush and drive atsuch a killing pace that we cannot take timeto cultivate friendships, except those whichwill help us to our goal.

The result is that we Americans have agreat many very pleasant acquaintances, help-ful acquaintances, acquaintances which pay uswell, but we have comparatively few friendsin the highest sense of the word.

The fact is that the tremendous materialprizes abnormally develop some very unde-sirable qualities, and stunt and starve many ofour most desirable qualities, making us one-sided.

We have developed colossal money glandsin our brain for secreting dollars; and, in theprocess, we have lost that which is invaluable.We have commercialized our friendships,commercialized our ability, our energy, our

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time. Everything possible has been turnedinto dollars; and the result is that we havemoney, but many of us have not much else.

Thousands of rich men are nobodies outsideof their own little business ruts. They havenot developed enough of their higher brain-cells, not enough of the better part of them-selves to rank as high-class men. They arefirst-class money makers, second or third classin everything else. They have cashed in every-thing— their friendships, their influence, theirlife-work — everything into dollars.

Is there anything more chilling in this worldthan to have a lot of money but practicallyno friends? What does that thing whichwe call success amount to if we have sacrificedour friendships, if we have sacrificed the mostsacred things in life in getting it? We mayhave plenty of acquaintances, but acquaint-ances are not friends. There are plenty ofrich people in this country to-day who scarcelyknow the luxury of real friendship.

There is something that is called friendshipwhich follows us as long as we are prosperousand have anything to give of money or influ-ence, but which forsakes us when we are down." True friendship," said Washington, " is aplant of slow growth, and must undergo and

" I HAD A FRIEND 129

withstand the shocks of adversity before it isentitled to the appellation."

I knew a man who once thought he wasunusually rich in real friendships, but, when helost his money and with it much of his in-fluence, those who were apparently devoted tohim before forsook him, and the poor man wasso distressed and disappointed over their dis-affection that he nearly lost his mental balance.

But a few real friends clung to him in hisadversity. When his home and his large busi-ness were gone, two of his old servants drewevery penny they had out of the savings-bankand insisted upon his taking it to help him tostart again. An engineer who used to workfor him also remained loyal in adversity andloaned him every cent he had. Through thedevotion of those true friends, this man soonrecovered his standing and in a comparativelyshort time became rich again.

Never trust people who trade on friendship,who use it as their greatest asset; people whosee capital in your friendship because they canuse you to their own advantage. There neverwas a time when so many used their friendsfor personal gain as now.

He who prizes his friends should be verycareful about his business transactions with

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them, and especially careful about borrowingmoney from them. It is a remarkable trait ofhuman nature that some people will do almostanything for us, and we can ask almost anyfavor of them without losing their confidenceor friendship, except that of loaning us money.

How many of us regret the day that weasked a friend for a loan, for, even when itwas freely granted, there was not always quitethe same feeling afterwards. Some peoplecan never loan others money without havinga sort of contempt for them ever afterwards.This ought not to be so, but it is. There arepeople who will forgive almost anything ex-cept a request for money or material assist-ance. Somehow this is not compatible withthe average friendship. You say that realfriendship would not be so easily forfeited, butunfortunately most of us have had a sad ex-perience along this line. We may have gottenthe money or the help, but a little estrangement,a strained relation between us and our friend,has resulted.

There is a new kind of friendship which iscoming more and more into vogue; and thatis, business friendship, —• the friendship thatmeans pecuniary gain. It is a dangerousfriendship because of the selfish motive. It is

"I HAD A FRIEND"

dangerous because it simulates the genuine sonearly that it is difficult to distinguish be-tween one's real friends and those who arefalse.

I know a man who is thoroughly wanting inthe capacity for real friendship; and yet hehas so assiduously cultivated the friendship ofpeople for business purposes, — cultivatedit as so much power to be used to furtherhis own ends, — that he appears to be friendlyto everybody, and a stranger who meets himfor the first time often thinks that he hasgained a real friend, when he would reallysacrifice him at the first opportunity, withoutthe slightest hesitation, if he saw it would beto his advantage.

It is impossible for the man who looks ateverything through selfish glasses to be a realfriend to anybody.

There are plenty of people in New Yorkand the large cities who make a profession oftrading in their friendships. They have thatpeculiar magnetic power which attracts peoplequickly and strongly; but all the time they areweaving their little spider's web, and beforethe victim is aware of it, he finds himself hope-lessly immeshed.

One of the most despicable things a man

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can do is to use others as a ladder to climbto some coveted position, and then, after hehas attained it, kick the ladder down.

The habit of cultivating friendships becauseit pays, because it will increase one's business,one's pull, one's influence, one's credit; becauseit brings more clients, more patients, morecustomers, is dangerous, for it tends to killthe real friendship faculties.

What a delightful, delicious thing it is tohave friends who love us for our own sake,who have no " axes to grind," who are alwaysready to make any sacrifice of comfort, oftime, or money when we are in need!

Cicero said that man had received nothingbetter from the immortal gods, nothing moredelightful than friendship. But friendshipmust be cultivated. It cannot be bought; it ispriceless. If you abandon your friends for aquarter of a century or more while you areburied in your pursuit of wealth, you cannotexpect to go back and find them where youleft them. Did you ever get or keep anythingworth while without an effort equal to itsvalue ?

Only he has friends worth while who iswilling to pay the price for making and keep-ing them. He may not have quite as large a

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fortune as if he gave all of his time to moneymaking. But wouldn't you rather have moregood, stanch friends who believe in you, andwho would stand by you in the severest ad-versity, than have a little more money ? Whatwill enrich the life so much as hosts of goodloyal friends?

Many people seem to think that friendship isa one-sided affair. They enjoy their friends,enjoy having them come to see them, but theyrarely think of putting themselves out to re-ciprocate, or take the trouble to keep up theirfriendships, while the fact is, reciprocation isthe very essence of friendship.

It does not matter how much knowledge youhave or what your accomplishments are, youwill live a cold, friendless, isolated life andwill be unattractive, unless you have come inclose constant contact with other lives, unlessyou have cultivated your sympathies and havetaken a real interest in others, have sufferedwith them, rejoiced with them, helpedthem.

I am acquainted with a young man who isalways complaining that he has no friends, andwho says that in his loneliness he sometimescontemplates suicide; but no one who knowshim wonders at his isolation, for he possesses

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qualities which everybody detests. He is close-fisted, mean, stingy in money matters, is al-ways criticizing others, is pessimistic, lackscharity and magnanimity, is full of prejudice,is utterly selfish and greedy, is always ques-tioning people's motives when they do a_ gen-erous act, and yet he wonders why he does nothave friends.

If you would have friends, you must culti-vate the qualities which you admire in others.Strong friendships rest upon a social, gener-ous, hearty nature. There is nothing likemagnanimity and real charity, kindness, anda spirit of helpfulness, for attracting others.Your interest in people must be a real one,or you will not draw them to you.

No great friendship can rest, upon pretenseor deception. Opposite qualities cannot attracteach other. After all, friendship rests largelyupon admiration. There must be somethingworthy in you, something lovable, before any-body will love you.

Many people are not capable of forminggreat friendships because they do not havethe qualities themselves which attract noblequalities in others. If you are chock-full ofdespicable qualities, you cannot expect anyone to care for you.

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If you are uncharitable, intolerant, if youlack generosity, cordiality, if you are narrowand bigoted, unsympathetic, small, and mean,you cannot expect that generous, large-hearted,noble characters will flock around you. Ifyou expect to make friends with large-souled,noble characters you must cultivate large-heartedness, generosity, and tolerance. Onereason why so many people have so few friendsis that they have so little to give, and they ex-pect so much. A happy temperament, a desireto scatter joy and gladness, to be helpful toeverybody with whom one comes in contact,are wonderful aids to friendship.

You will be amazed to see how quicklyfriends will flock about you just as soon as youbegin to cultivate attractable and lovablequalities.

Justice and truth are absolutely essential tothe highest friendship, and we respect a friendall the more because he is just and true, evenwhen it hurts and mortifies us most. Wecannot help respecting justice and truth be-cause we are built on these lines; they are apart of our very nature. The friendship whichshrinks from telling the truth, which cannotbear to pain one when justice demands it, doesnot command as high a quality of admiration

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as the friendship which is absolutely just andtruthful.

There is something inherent in humannature which makes us despise the hypocrite.We may overlook a weakness in a friend,which makes it hard for him to be absolutelytruthful, but if we ever detect him trying todeceive us, we never have quite the sameconfidence in him again, and confidence is thevery basis of real friendship.

" Friendship carries with it love. The truefriend is not one made in a hurry. There isno friend like the old one with whom youwent birdnesting in your youth, the friend thathas plodded along life's road with you shoul-der to shoulder.

" When you have a friend who has provenhimself such, never let up so long as you livein your evidences of gratitude for the kindnesshe has shown you. Repay him with interestfor his good offices, and let your actions to-wards him ever be a source of happiness andpleasure to him.

" Nothing is so much appreciated betweenfriends as gratitude, and nothing will killfriendship like ingratitude.

" Genuine friendship is such a rare jewelthat when you have a positive demonstration


of it, let it be your great concern that youwill do nothing to mar this friendship, forbroken friendship is a source of grief to bothfriends so long as they live."

The friendships that last rest more upona solid respect, admiration, and great con-geniality than upon a passionate love. Wherethe love is so great that it defeats justice andtruth, friends are more likely to fall out. Thestrongest, the most lasting, devoted friend-ships are those which are based upon princi-ple, upon respect, admiration, and esteem.

" I would go to hell, if there were such aplace, with any friend of mine, and I wouldwant no heaven of which I have ever read ifany friend of mine were in the outer dark,"was the startling assertion of the Rev. MinotJ. Savage, in the course of a sermon on" The Companionship of Friends."

" False friends are like our shadows, keep-ing close to us while we walk in the sunshine,but leaving us the instant we cross into theshade," says Bovee.

Real friendship will follow us into the shad-ows, into the dark as well as into the sunshine.

The capacity for friendship is a great test ofcharacter. We instinctively believe in peoplewho are known to stick to their friends through

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thick and thin. It is an indication of the pos-session of splendid qualities. You can gener-ally trust a man who never goes back on afriend. People who lack loyalty have nocapacity for great friendship.

After all, isn't a man's success best measuredby the number and quality of his friendships?For, no matter how much money he may haveaccumulated, if he doesn't have a lot of friendsthere is certainly some tremendous lack in himsomewhere, a great lack of sterling qualities.Children ought to, be taught that the mostsacred thing in this world is a true friend, andthey ought to be trained to cultivate a capac-ity for friendships. This would broaden theircharacters, develop fine qualities, and sweetentheir lives as nothing else could.

One of the most beautiful things that' canever be said of a human being is that he hasa host of loyal, true friends. " No man isuseless," said Robert Louis Stevenson, " whilehe has a friend."

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'

VIII. AMBITION

" The youth who does not look up will look down,and the spirit that does not soar is destined togrovel."

" Whoever is satisfied with what he does hasreached his culminating point. He will progress no

T is astonishing how manypeople there are who haveno definite aim or ambition,but just exist from one dayto another with no well-defined life plan. All aboutus on the ocean of life we

see young men and women aimlessly driftingwithout rudder or port, throwing away time,without serious purpose or method in any-thing they do. They simply drift with thetide. If you ask one of them what he is goingto do, what his ambition is, he will tell youhe does not exactly know yet what he will do.He is simply waiting for a chance to take upsomething.

How can a man who lives without a pro-gram ever expect to arrive anywhere butin chaos, confusion? A clear-cut purpose hasa powerful influence upon the life. It unifies

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our efforts and gives direction to our work,so that every blow counts.

I have never known anyone who followedan indolent inclination ever to amount tomuch. It is the man who struggles againstthe things that are fighting with his ambitionwho gets to the front.

No one ever amounts to much who does nottake himself in hand and force himself to dothe thing that is best for him in the end, notthe pleasantest or the easiest.

Every man should be a stern schoolmasterto himself. He cannot sit and take it easyevery time he has the opportunity; he cannotlie abed until he feels like getting up in themorning, and work only when he is in themood, and ever amount to anything. He mustlearn to master his moods and to force himselfto work no matter how he feels.

Most of the ambitionless people who fail aretoo lazy to succeed. They are not willing toput themselves out, to pay the price, to makethe necessary effort. They want to have agood time. Why should they struggle andstrive and strain? Why not enjoy life, takeit easy?

Physical laziness, mental indifference, aninclination to let things slide, to go along the

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AMBITION 141

line of the least resistance, — these are thecauses which have made up the great failurearmy.

One of the first symptoms of deteriorationin one's work is the gradual, unconscious ooz-ing out, shrinkage, of one's ambition. Thereis no one quality in our lives that requiresmore careful watching and constant bracingup, jacking up, so to speak, than our ambition,especially when we do not keep in an atmos-phere which tends to arouse one to life's pos-sibilities.

The habit of watching the ambition con-stantly and keeping it awake, is absolutely im-perative to those who would keep from deteri-orating. Everything depends on the ambition.The moment it becomes weak all the lifestandards drop with it. One must keep theambition lamp ever-trimmed and burningbrightly.

It is dangerous to dally with ambition-kill-ing influences.

When a person has taken an overdose ofmorphine, a doctor knows that sleep would befatal, and every effort is made to keep thepatient awake. He is sometimes obliged to re-sort to what seems t,p be most cruel treatment,pinching and pounding the patient, to keep

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,"I

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off that slumber from which there would be noawakening. So it is with ambition; if it oncegoes to sleep, it is almost impossible to arouseit.

Everywhere we see human watches withsplendid equipment, apparently all ready torun, and we wonder why they are silent, whythey do not keep good time. The reason is,they have no mainspring, no ambition.

A watch may have perfect wheels, it mayhave a very costly jeweled setting, but if itlacks a mainspring, it is useless. So a youthmay have a college education, excellent health,but if he lacks ambition, all his other equip-ments, no matter how superb, will not amountto much.

I know capable men more than thirty yearsof age who have not yet chosen their life-work.They say they do not know for what they arefitted.

Ambition often begins very early to knockfor recognition. If we do not heed its voice,if it gets no encouragement after appealingto us for years, it gradually ceases to troubleus, because, like any other unused quality orfunction, it deteriorates or disappears whenunused.

Nature allows us to keep only that which

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AMBITION 143

is in constant use. The moment we stop exer-cising muscle, brain, or faculty, deteriorationsets in, and the power is taken away fromus.

If you do not heed the early call of " Up-ward ! " if you do not encourage and nourishyour ambition, and constantly strengthen itby vigorous exercise, it will soon die.

An unfed ambition is like a postponed res-olution. Its demand for recognition becomesless and less imperious, just as the constantdenying of any desire or passion tends to itsextinction.

All about us we see people in whom ambi-tion has died. They haye the appearance ofhuman beings, but the fire that was once inthem has gone out. They walk the earth, butthey barely exist. Their usefulness is gone.They are of no account to themselves or theworld.

If there is a pitiable sight in the world, itis a person in whom ambition is dead, — theman who has denied and denied that inwardvoice which bids him up and on, the man inwhom ambition's fires have cooled from thelack of fuel.

There is always hope for a person, no matterhow bad he is, as long as his ambition is alive;

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but when that is dead beyond resuscitation, thegreat life-spur, the impelling motive is gone.

One of the most difficult things a humanbeing can do is to keep his ambition fromfading out, his aspirations sharp and fresh,his ideals clear and clean-cut.

Many deceive themselves into thinking thatif they keep aspiring, if they keep longing tocarry out their ideals, to reach their ambition,they are actually realizing their dreams. Butthere is such a thing as aspiring too much, asforming the dreaming habit to one's injury.

Ambition requires a great deal and a greatvariety of food to keep it vigorous. A namby-pamby ambition does not amount to anything.It must be backed by a robust will power, sternresolve, physical energy, powers of endurance,to be effective.

The fact that you have an almost uncontrol-lable impulse, a great absorbing ambition todo a thing which meets with the approval ofyour judgment and your better self, is a noticeserved upon you that you can do the thing, andshould do it at once.

Some people seem to think that the ambitionto do a certain thing in life is a permanentquality which will remain with them. It isnot. It is like the daily manna which fell for

AMBITION 145

the daily needs of the Israelites in the desert.They had to use it at once. When their faithwas weak they tried to store it up, but theyfound it would never keep until the next day.

The time to do a thing is when the spirit isupon us, when it makes a sharp, clean-cut im-pression upon us. Resolution fades and be-comes dimmer at every postponement. Whenthe desire, the ambition, comes fresh andstrong with zeal and enthusiasm, it is easy;but after we have postponed it a few times,we find ourselves less and less inclined tomake the necessary effort or sacrifice to attainit, because it does not appeal to us with thesame emphasis as at first.

Do not allow the ambition to cool. Makeup your mind that you cannot and will notspend your life being half satisfied. Rouseyour spirit, and go toward the goal which isworth while.

It is one of the most discouraging problemsin the world to try to help the ambitionless,the half satisfied, those who have not discon-tent enough in their natures to push them on,initiative enough to begin things, and persist-ency enough to keep going.

You cannot do much with a young man whois apparently contented to drift along in a

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humdrum way, half content with his accom-plishments, undisturbed by the fact that hehas used but a very small part of himself, avery small percentage of his real ability, thathis energies are running to waste in all sortsof ways. You cannot do much with a youngman who lacks ambition, life, energy, andvigor, — who is willing to slide along the lineof the least resistance, and who exerts himselfas little as possible. There is nothing uponwhich to build. Even those foundations whichhe had at the start are slowly crumbling touselessness.

It is the young man who is not satisfied withwhat he does, and who is determined to betterit every day, who struggles to express the ideal,to make the possible in him a reality, thatwins.

The trouble with many men is that theirideals are too low, too common, too dull. Theydo not keep their hope bright or aspire enough.They live in their animal senses. We mustaspire if we would rise. We cannot climbwhile looking down. The ambition mustalways precede the achievement. The highercivilization climbs, the higher the ambition;the higher the ambition, the finer the people.

What would become of the human race if

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AMBITION 147

everyone had reached his goal, had attainedhis ambition? Would anyone want to workany more than he felt like working? Whowould do all the drudgery ?

Suppose everyone was in the condition ofthe sons and daughters of many rich parentswhose sole object is to have a good time, toenjoy all the pleasant things, and to avoid allof the work and disagreeable experience pos-sible. How long would it take a world sopeopled to retrograde to barbarism?

The struggle of man to rise a little higher, toget into a little more comfortable position, tosecure a little better education, a little betterhome, to gain a little more culture and refine-ment, to possess that power which comes frombeing in a position of broader and wider in-fluence through the acquirement of property,is what has developed the character and thestamina of our highest types of manhood to-day. This upward life-trend gives othersconfidence in us.

Ambition is the Moses that has led thehuman race through the wilderness and intosight of the promised land, the millenium. Itis true that vast multitudes of human beingsare still following far in the rear, so far thatit would seem almost impossible for them ever

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to get a glimpse of the land of promise, butstill there is an improvement even in the semi-civilized.

The quality of the ambitions of a people atany time locates them in the scale of civiliza-tion. The ideals of an individual or a nationmeasure the actual condition and the futurepossibilities and probabilities.

One of the most hopeful signs in our civi-lization to-day is the evolution in ideals.

In every department of life our ideals or am-bition are becoming higher, purer, cleaner.Our march of progress and improvement is sorapid that it requires a greater ambition, loftierideals, a higher order of intellect, and strongereffort for achievement in every line of en-deavor than formerly.

The ideals are gradually leavening the wholehuman mass, and will ultimately bring everyhuman being into his own, into that state ofblessedness which is undoubtedly his birth-right.

It is only the man who has stopped growingthat feels satisfied with his achievements. Thegrowing man feels a great lack of wholeness,of completeness. Everything in him seems tobe unfinished because it is growing. The ex-panding man is always dissatisfied with his

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accomplishment, is always reaching out forsomething larger, fuller, completer.

Nothing else contributes to one's advance-ment in life as the formation of the climbinghabit in everything, the perpetual ambition andeffort to do a little better to-day than yester-day, to do everything we attempt a little betterthan we have done it in the past.

It is a wonderful aid to growth to associateconstantly with people who are above us, whoare better educated, more cultivated, more re-fined, who have had rich experience in linesof which we know little. We all know howquickly one deteriorates when all his ten-dencies are downward, when he seeks thecompany of those below him, and common,demoralizing pleasures. When this processis reversed, the upward tendency, the upwardprogress, is equally as pronounced.

The lofty aspiration habit becomes a greatuplifting force in any life. It broadens all themental faculties and arouses new powers, newpossibilities in the sub-consciousness whichwould never respond to the ordinary ambitionor sordid motive. It awakens the GreatWithin, arouses the resourcefulness in the sub-conscious nature which would remain dormantunder ordinary conditions.

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No one can do anything very great unlesshe is spurred on by an ambition which takesthe drudgery out of his task, an enthusiasmwhich lightens his burdens and cheers theway. The man who goes to his work as agalley-slave to his oar, as a tired horse to hisload too heavy to pull, can never accomplishmuch; there must be a zeal and great ambitionand love for the work, or either mediocrity orfailure must result.

It is a very difficult thing to succeed in lifeunder the most favorable conditions, but tolove your work is a tremendous help,- a greattonic. Enthusiasm seems to make us un-conscious of danger and obstacles. If youfind your ambition dying out, if you do not feelthe old zeal for your work, if you are notso interested that you long to go to it in themorning and hate to leave it at night, thereis something wrong somewhere. Perhaps youhave not found your right place; discourage-ment may have killed your enthusiasm anddiminished your zest; but, whatever the causeof your lowering standard, if you find yourambition on the decline, if you find it harass-ing to go to your task, if you feel the drudgeryof your work increasing, do everything toremedy it.

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AMBITION 151

It is not difficult to increase enthusiasm, tospur on a lagging ambition, if you set aboutit as you do about the task you are determinedto accomplish. You cannot keep up yourfriendships without constant cultivation, andthe same thing is true of your ambition.

Everywhere we see people side-tracked withtheir fires banked, the water in their boilerscooled down, and yet they are wondering whyexpress trains fly past them, while they creepalong like snails. They fail to remember thatbanked fires and luke-warm water will not pulltheir trains at express speed.

These people never renew their rails, donot keep the water in their engines at the boil-ing point, yet they complain if they fail toreach their destination. They cannot under-stand why they are so much slower than theirneighbor, who flies rapidly past them onperfectly ballasted roads, and with up-to-dateengines and cars. If they run off theirwretched tracks, they attribute it to hard luck.

The great majority of people who do notamount to anything in the world, those whoare sidetracked — the idle, the indolent, themediocre — have failed from the lack of am-bition.

The youth who hungers for an education,

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who longs for improvement, no matter howpoor, generally finds a way. But there islittle hope for the ambitionless; there is no wayof firing, of stirring up, of stimulating thosewho lack the inclination or ambition to geton in the world.

It is not an easy matter to keep back a boywith an ambition to do something and to besomebody in the world. No matter what hissurroundings, no matter how badly he ishandicapped, he will find a way out, he willforge ahead. You could not keep back aLincoln, a Wilson, or a Greeley; if too poor tobuy books, they would borrow them and pickup an education.

We need never despair of a youth, no matterhow dull or stupid, who has a taste for some-thing better.

You may think your life very commonplace,your opportunity of amounting to muchvery small, but it does not matter how humbleyour position or what you are doing, if youhave a taste for something better, if there isan out-reach and an up-reach in your life, ifyou aspire to something higher and are willingto pay the price for advancement in downrighthard work, you will succeed. You will riseout of your commonness just as surely as the

AMBITION 153

germ, struggling up through the sod, willreach the surface, by persistent, pushing.

We should not judge a person by what heis doing, for it may be just a stepping-stone tosomething higher up, further on. Judge himby what he is ambitious and determined to do.An honest man will do any respectable workas a stepping-stone to his goal.

There is something in the atmosphere ofevery person which predicts his future; forthe way he does things, the energy, the degreeof enterprise which he puts into his work, hismanner, — everything is a telltale of what isawaiting him.

" If you are only swabbing a deck, swab itas if old Davy Jones were after you," saysDickens.

A man may be very dissatisfied with whathe is doing without having the aspiration forsomething higher and the stamina to reachhis aim. Mere dissatisfaction with one's posi-tion does not always indicate ambition. Itmay indicate laziness, indifference.

But when we see a man filling a positionjust as well as it can be filled, trying to doeverything to a complete finish, taking greatpride in it, and yet having a great longing forsomething higher and better, we feel certain

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he will attain it. We cannot tell much abouta man until we know what his ambition is.This, if he has grit, persistency, and applica-tion, will readily locate him on the humanscale.

When young Franklin was struggling toget a foothold in Philadelphia, shrewd busi-ness men there predicted, even when he waseating, sleeping, and printing in one room,that he had a great future before him, becausehe was working with all his might to get uphigher, and he carried himself in a way thatgave confidence. Everything he did was doneso well, with such ability, that it was a pre-diction of very much larger things. When hewas only a journeyman printer he did his workso much better than others, and his system wasso much superior even to his employer's, thatpeople predicted he would some day have thebusiness which went to that firm, — which hedid.

Many people who live in remote countrydistricts do not come in contact with standardsby which they can measure and compare theirown powers. They live a quiet, uneventfullife, and there is little in their environmentto arouse the faculties which are not activein their vocation.

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The ambition of the boy who has lived ona farm in the back country is often arousedthe first time he goes to the city. To him thecity is a colossal world's fair, where every-body's achievement is on exhibition. The pro-gressive spirit which pervades the city is likean electric shock to him and arouses all of hislatent energies, calls out his reserves. Every-thing he sees seems to be a call to him to goforward, to push on.

This is one advantage of city life, andof travel, —. coming in contact with othersconstantly gives us an opportunity to compareourselves with others, to measure our abilitywith theirs. There is the contagion of exam-ple which tends to arouse and prod. The con-tact with others helps to arouse the love ofconquest, the passion to try our strength withothers.

Then, in the city or in traveling, we areconstantly reminded of what others have done.We see the tremendous engineering feats,great factories and offices, vast businesses, allhuge advertisers of man's achievement. Allthese things fill an ambitious youth with in-terrogation points, and he is always wonderingwhy he does not do something himself. Andwhen he wants to do it, when he longs to do

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a thing and believes he can, his power ismultiplied.

Men often fail because of an impatient am-bition. They cannot wait to prepare for theirlife-work, but think they must leap into aposition which others have been years in reach-ing. They are over-ambitious/ impatient ofresults, and have no time to do anything prop-erly. Everything is hurried and forced. Suchpeople do not develop symmetrically, but areone-sided, lacking judgment and good sense.

"The heights by great men reached and keptWere not attained by sudden flight,

But they, while their companions slept,Were toiling upward in the night."

We frequently see sad examples of un-bridled ambition — men who have been spurredon by an overvaulting ambition, men whosesensibilities have been so benumbed by theambition to become rich or powerful, that theyhave stooped to do very questionable things.Ambition often blinds one to justice.

There is nothing more pitiable than to see aman the victim of an inordinate, selfish ambi-tion to advance himself at all costs, to gainfame, or notoriety, no matter who is sacri-ficed in the process.

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AMBITION 157

It is very difficult to see the right, to get aclear perspective of justice, when we becomevictims of an overvaulting ambition. Menso intoxicated have stopped at no crime.Napoleon and Alexander the Great are goodexamples of the wrecks which an unbridledambition makes of its victims.

Just an ambition to excel may become avery dangerous force, and may lead to allsorts of sacrifices of character."Everyone should have an ambition to do

something distinctive, something individual,something which will take him out of medioc-rity, which will lift him above the ambition-less, the energyless. It is perfectly proper tobe ambitious to get up as high in the world aspossible, and this we may do with all charityand kindliness of heart toward our neighbors.

The fellow who must be aroused is your-self, and every man is entitled to draw his in-spiration from whatever source is at hand.

Sometimes the conversation or encourage-ment of an inspiring man or woman in whomwe have great confidence, the faith of someonewho believes in us when others do not, whosees something in us which others do notsee, arouses the ambition and gives us aglimpse of our possibilities. We may not

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think much about this at the time, but it maybe a turning point in our career.

Multitudes of men and women have caughtthe first glimpse of themselves by the readingof some inspiring book or some vigorousarticle. Without it, they might have remainedignorant of their real power forever. Any-thing that will give us a glimpse of ourselves,that will awaken us to our possibilities, isinvaluable.

Choose for your friends those who stimu-late you, who arouse your ambition, who stiryou up with a desire to do something and tobe somebody in the world. One such friend isworth a dozen passive or indifferent friends.

Get close to people who arouse your ambi-tion, who get hold of you, who make youthink and feel. Keep close to people who area perpetual inspiration to you. The greattrouble with most of us is that we never getaroused, never discover ourselves until late inlife, — often too late to make much out of theremnant that is left. It is very important thatwe become aroused to our possibilities whenyoung, that we may get the greatest possibleefficiency out of our lives.

Most people die with the largest percentageof their possibilities still undeveloped. They

AMBITION 159

have improved little patches of their abilityhere and there, while the great estate of theirpossible selves is untilled, — with great minesof wealth untouched.

We cannot use what we do not first discoveror see.

There are tens of thousands of day laborersin this country—> common workmen — put-ting their lives inj;o drudgery, who, if they hadonly been arous^, would have been employersthemselves, — would have been men of force,of standing in their community,—but theyhave been held down by their ignorance oftheir own power. They have never discoveredthemselves, and so they must be " hewers ofwood and drawers of water." We see themeverywhere, — splendid men and women, whoimpress us as giants in possibility, but whoare totally ignorant of the great forces that aresleeping within them.

There are thousands of girls who are spend-ing their lives as clerks or operatives, or inordinary situations, who, if they could butdiscover themselves and once see their pos-sibilities, might improve their condition im-measurably and become great living forces inthe world.

Sit down and take an inventory of yourself.

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If you are dissatisfied with what you are doingand think you ought to do better, try todiscover, no matter how long it takes you, justwhere your trouble lies. Find out the thingsthat keep you back. Make long searchingtours of discovery in your own consciousness.Say to yourself over and over again, " Whycan others do such remarkable things whileI do ordinary, common things? Constantlyask yourself, " If others can do them, whycannot I? "

You may find some great nuggets of goldin these tours of self-discovery, which younever dreamed you possessed, — great possi-bilities of power which you never uncoveredbefore, and which may, if developed, revolu-tionize your life.

One of the fatal dangers of remaining along time in one position, as a clerk, for ex-ample, is that habit tends to make slaves ofus. What we did yesterday we are more likelyto do to-day; and if we do it to-day, it is stillmore certain that we will do it to-morrow;and, after a while, using the same faculties ina dry routine, the other, unused faculties beginto wane, grow weaker, atrophy, until we beginto think that what we are doing is the onlything we can do.

AMBITION 161

What we use becomes stronger; what wedo not use weaker; and we are likely to deceiveourselves in underrating the powers we reallypossess.

Low aim is crime because it pulls downevery other quality to its level. Low aimdestroys the executive ability. The facultiesand the entire man follow the aim. We mustclimb, or we must go down. There is no suchthing as clinging forever upon one rung ofLife's great ladder.

II 1

IX. EDUCATION BY READING

Books are the windows through which the soullooks out.—H. W. BEECHER.

UMBLING around in a li-brary " was the phrase Oli-ver Wendell Holmes usedin describing in part hisfelicities in boyhood. Oneof the most importantthings that wise students

get out of their schooldays is a familiaritywith books in various departments of learning.The ability to pick out from a library whatwill be most helpful in life is of the greatestvalue. It is like a man selecting his toolsfor intellectual expansion and social service." Men in every department of practical life,"says President Hadley of Yale, " men in com-merce, in transportation, or in manufactures,have told me that what they really wantedfrom our colleges was men who have thisselective power of using books efficiently. Thebeginnings of this kind of knowledge are bestlearned in any home fairly well furnishedwith books."

Libraries are no longer a luxury, but a162

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EDUCATION BY READING 163

necessity. A home without books and periodi-cals and newspapers is like a house withoutwindows. Children learn to read by being inthe midst of books; they unconsciously absorbknowledge by handling them. No family cannow afford to be without good reading.

It is related that Henry Clay's mother fur-nished him with books by her own earningsat the washtub.

Children who are well supplied with diction-aries, encyclopedias, histories, works of ref-erence, and other useful books, will educatethemselves unconsciously and almost withoutexpense, and will learn many things of theirown accord in moments which would other-wise be wasted; and which, if learned inschools, academies, or colleges, would costten times as much as the expense of the bookswould be. Besides, homes are brightened andmade attractive by good books, and childrenstay in such pleasant homes; while thosewhose education has been neglected are anx-ious to get away from home, drift off, andfall into all manner of snares and dangers.

It is splendid for children to be brought upin the atmosphere of books, and it is astonish-ing how much a bright child will absorb fromgood books, if allowed to use them constantly,

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to handle them, to be familiar with their bind-ings and titles.

Many people never make a mark on a book,never bend down a leaf, or underscore a choicepassage. Their libraries are just as clean asthe day they bought them, and often theirminds are just about as clean of information.Don't be afraid to mark your books. Makenotes in them. They will be all the more valu-able. One who learns to use his books in earlylife grows up with an increasing power foreffective usefulness.

Wear threadbare clothes and patched shoes,if necessary, but do not pinch or economize onbooks. If you cannot give your children anacademic education, you can place within theirreach a few good books which will lift themabove their surroundings, into respectabilityand honor.

Is not one's early home the place where heshould get his principal training for life? Itis here we form habits which shape ourcareers, and which cling to us as long as welive. It is here that regular, persistent mentaltraining should fix the life ever after.

I know of pitiable cases where ambitiousboys and girls have longed to improve them-selves, and yet were prevented from doing so


by the pernicious habits prevailing in thehome, where everybody else spent the even-ings talking and joking, with no effort atself-improvement, no thought of higher ideals,no impulse to read anything better than acheap, exciting story. The aspiring membersof the family were teased and laughed at untilthey got discouraged and gave up the struggle.

If the younger ones do not want to read orstudy themselves, they will not let anybodyelse so inclined do so. Children are naturallymischievous, and like to tease. They areselfish, too, and cannot understand why any-one else should want to go off by himself toread or study when they want him to play.

Were the self-improvement habit once wellestablished in a home, it would become a de-light. The young people would look forwardto the study hour with as much anticipation asto playing.

I know a New England family in which allthe children and the father and mother, bymutual consent, set aside a portion of eachevening for study or some form of self-culture.After dinner, they give themselves completelyto recreation. They have a regular romp andplay, and all the fun possible for an hour.Then when the time comes for study, the entire

166 SELF-INVESTMENT

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house becomes so still that you could hear apin drop. Everyone is in his place reading,writing, studying, or engaged in some formof mental work. No one is allowed to speakor disturb anyone else. If any member of thefamily is indisposed, or for any reason doesnot feel like working, he must at least keepquiet and not disturb the others. There isperfect harmony and unity of purpose — anideal condition for study. Everything thatwould scatter the efforts or cause the mind towander, all interruptions that would break thecontinuity of thought, are carefully guardedagainst. More is gained in one hour of close,uninterrupted study than in two or threebroken by many interruptions, or weakened bymind wandering.

Were it possible for every family that squan-ders precious time to spend an evening insuch a home, it would be an inspiration. Abright, alert, intelligent, harmonious atmos-phere so pervades a self-improving home thatone feels insensibly uplifted and stimulated tobetter things.

Sometimes the habits of a home are revolu-tionized by the influence of one resolute youthwho declares himself, taking a stand and an-nouncing that, as for himself, he does not

i


propose to be a failure, that he is going totake no chances as to his future. The mo-ment he does this, he stands out in strong con-trast with the great mass of young people whoare throwing away their opportunities andhave not grit and stamina enough to do any-thing worth while.

The very reputation of always trying toimprove yourself in every possible way, ofbeing dead in earnest, will attract the attentionof everybody who knows you, and you willget many a recommendation for promotionwhich never comes to those who make nospecial effort to climb upward.

There is a great deal of time wasted evenin the busiest lives, which, if properly organ-ized, might be used to advantage.

Many housewives who are so busy frommorning to night that they really believe theyhave no time for reading books, magazines,or newspapers* would be amazed to find howmuch they would have if they would morethoroughly systematize their work. Order isa great time saver, and we certainly ought tobe able so to adjust our living plan that wecan have a fair amount of time for self-im-provement, for enlarging life. Yet many peo-ple think that their only opportunity for self-

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improvement depends upon the time left aftereverything else has been attended to.

What would a business man accomplish ifhe did not attend to important matters untilhe had time that was not needed for anythingelse? The good business man goes to hisoffice in the morning and plunges right intothe important work of the day. He knowsperfectly well that if he attends to all the out-side matters — all the details and little thingsthat come up — sees everybody that wants tosee him, and answers all the questions peoplewant to ask, it will be time to close his officebefore he gets to his main business.

Most of us manage somehow to find timefor the things we love. If one is hungry forknowledge, if one yearns for self-improve-ment, if one has a taste for reading, he willmake the opportunity.

Where the heart is, there is the treasure.Where the ambition is, there is time.

It takes not only resolution but also de-termination to set aside unessentials for essen-tials, things pleasant and agreeable to-day forthe things that will prove best for us in theend. There is always temptation to sacrificefuture good for present pleasure; to put offreading to a more convenient season, while


we enjoy idle amusements or waste the timein gossip or frivolous conversation.

The greatest things of the world have beendone by those who systematized their work,organized their time. Men who have lefttheir mark on the world have appreciated thepreciousness of time, regarding it as theirgreat quarry.

If you want to develop a delightful form ofenjoyment, to cultivate a new pleasure, a newsensation which you have never before ex-perienced, begin to read good books, good peri-odicals, regularly every day. Do not tire your-self by trying to read a great deal at first.Read a little at a time, but read some everyday, no matter how little. If you are faithfulyou will soon acquire a taste for reading —the reading habit; and it will, in time, give youinfinite satisfaction, unalloyed pleasure.

In a gymnasium, one often sees lax, listlesspeople, who, instead of pursuing a systematiccourse of training to develop all the musclesof the body, flit aimlessly from one thing toanother, exercising with pulley-weights for aminute or two, taking up dumb-bells andthrowing them down, swinging once or twiceon parallel bars, and so frittering away timeand strength. Far better it would be for such

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people to stay away from a gymnasium alto-gether, for their lack of purpose and continu-ity makes them lose rather than gain muscularenergy. A man or woman who would gatherstrength from gymnastic exercise must setabout it systematically and with a will. Hemust put mind and energy into the work, orelse continue to have flabby muscles and anundeveloped body.

The physical gymnasium differs only in kindfrom the mental one. Thoroughness and sys-tem are as necessary in one as in the other.It is not the tasters of books — not those whosip here and there, who take up one bookafter another, turn the leaves listlessly andhurry to the end, — who strengthen and de-velop the mind by reading.

To get the most from your reading youmust read with a purpose. To sit down andpick up a book listlessly, with no aim exceptto pass away time, is demoralizing. It ismuch as if an employer were to hire a boy,and tell him he could start when he pleased inthe morning, work when he felt like it, restwhen he wanted to, and quit when he gottired!

Never go to a book you wish to read for apurpose, if you can possibly avoid it, with a

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EDUCATION BY R E A ' D J N G ' 171;

tired, jaded mentality. If you doV ydU' Will'derive nothing from it. Go to it fresh,vigorous, and with active, never passive, fac-ulties. This practise is a splendid and effect-ive cure for mind-wandering, which afflicts somany people, and which is encouraged by themultiplicity of and facility for obtaining read-ing matter at the present day.

What can give greater satisfaction thanreading with a purpose, and that consciousnessof a broadening mind that follows it; theconsciousness that we are pushing ignorance,bigotry, and whatever clouds the mind andhampers progress a little further away fromus?

The kind of reading that counts, that makesmental fiber and stamina, is that upon whichthe mind is concentrated. One should ap-proach a book with all one's soul intent uponits contents.

Passive reading is even more harmful in itseffects than desultory reading. It will notstrengthen the brain any more than sitting ina gymnasium will develop the body. The mindremains inactive, in a sort of indolent revery,wandering here and there, without focusinganywhere. Such reading takes the spring andsnap out of the mental faculties, weakens the

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intellect,: and makes the brain torpid and in-capable of grappling with great principles anddifficult problems.

What you get out of a book is not neces-sarily what the author puts into it, but whatyou bring to it. If the heart does not lead thehead, if the thirst for knowledge, the hungerfor a broader and deeper culture, are not themotives for reading, you will not get the mostout of a book. But, if your thirsty soul drinksin the writer's thought as the parched soilabsorbs rain, then your latent possibilities andthe potency of your being, like delayed germsand seeds in the soil, will spring forth intonew life.

When you read, read as Macaulay did, asCarlyle did, as Lincoln did — as did everygreat man who has profited by his reading —with your whole soul absorbed in what youread, with such intense concentration that youwill be oblivious of everything else outside ofyour book.

" Reading furnishes us only with the ma-terials of knowledge," said John Locke; " itis thinking that makes what we read ours."

In order to get the most out of books, thereader must be a thinker. The mere acquisi-tion of facts is not the acquisition of power.


To fill the mind with knowledge that cannotbe made available is like filling our houses withfurniture and bric-a-brac until we have noroom to move about.

Food does not become physical force, brain,or muscle until it has been thoroughly digestedand assimilated, and has become an integralpart of the blood, brain, and other tissues.Knowledge does not become power until di-gested and assimilated by the brain, until ithas become a part of the mind itself.

If you wish to become intellectually strong,after reading with the closest attention, formthis habit: frequently close your book and sitand think, or stand and walk and think — butthink, contemplate, reflect. Turn what youhave read over and over in your mind.

It is not yours until you have assimilated itby your thought, taken it into your life. Whenyou first read it, it belongs to the author. Itis yours only when it becomes an integral partof you.

Many people have an idea that if they keepreading everlastingly, if they have a book intheir hands during every leisure moment,they will, of necessity, become full-roundedand well-educated. This is a mistake. Theymight just as well expect to become athletes

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by eating at every opportunity. It is evenmore necessary to think than to read. Think-ing, contemplating what we have read, is whatdigestion and assimilation are to the food.

Some of the biggest numskulls I know arealways cramming themselves with knowledge,everlastingly reading. But they never think.When they get a few minutes' leisure theysnatch a book and go to reading. In otherwords, they are always eating intellectually,but never digesting their knowledge or assimi-lating it.

I know a young man who has formed sucha habit of reading that he is almost never with-out a book, a magazine, or a paper. He isalways reading, at home, on the cars, at therailway stations, and he has acquired a vastamount of knowledge. He has a perfect pas-sion for knowledge, and yet his mind seems tohave been weakened by this perpetual braincramming.

By every reader let Milton's words be bornein mind:

Who readsIncessantly, and to his reading brings notA spirit and judgment equal or superior, . . .Uncertain and unsettled still remains,Deep versed in books and shallow in himself,

'¥1


Crude or intoxicate, collecting toysAnd trifles for choice matters, worth a sponge,As children gathering pebbles on the shore.

When Webster was a boy, books werescarce, and so precious that he never dreamedthat they were to be read only once, butthought they ought to be committed to mem-ory, or read and re-read until they becamea part of his very life.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning says, " Weerr by reading too much, and out of propor-tion to what we think. I should be wiser, Iam persuaded, if I had not read half as much;should have had stronger and better exercisedfaculties, and should stand higher in my ownappreciation."

People who live more quietly do not have somany distracting influences as others, and con-sequently they think more deeply and reflectmore. They do not read so much but theyare better readers.

You should bring your mind to the readingof a book, or to the study of any subject, asyou take an ax to the grindstone; not forwhat you get from the stone, but for thesharpening of the ax.

The greatest advantage of books does notalways come under what we remember of

i l

SELF-INVESTMENT

them, but from their suggestiveness, theircharacter-building power.

" It is not in the library, but in yourself,"says Fr. Gregory, " in your self-respect andyour consciousness of duty nobly done—thatyou are to find the ' Fountain of Youth,' the' Elixir of Life,' and all the other things thattend to preserve life's freshness and bloom.

" It is a grand thing to read a good book—it is a grander thing to live a good life — andin the living of such life is generated the powerthat defies age and its decadence."

It is not the ability, the education, theknowledge that one has that makes the differ-ence between men. The mere possession ofknowledge is not always the possession ofpower; knowledge, which has not becomea part of yourself, knowledge which cannotswing into line in an emergency is of littleuse, and will not save you at the critical mo-ment.

To be effective, a man's education must be-come a part of himself as he goes along. Allof it must be worked up into power. A littlepractical education that has become a partof one's being and is always available, willaccomplish more in the world than knowledgefar more extensive that cannot be utilized.

. ) * '

If


No one better illustrates what books will dofor a man, and what a thinker will do with hisbooks, than Gladstone, who was always fargreater than his career. He rose above Parlia-ment, reached out beyond politics, and was al-ways growing. He had a passion for intellec-tual expansion. His peculiar gifts undoubtedlyfitted him for the church, or he would havemade a good professor at Oxford or Cam-bridge, but circumstances led him into thepolitical arena, and he adapted himself readilyto his environment. He was an all-roundwell-read man, who thought his way throughlibraries and through life.

One great benefit of a taste for reading andaccess to the book world, is the service it ren-ders as a diversion and a solace.

What a great thing to be able to get awayfrom ourselves, to fly away from the harass-ing, humiliating, discouraging, depressingthings about us, to go at will to a world ofbeauty, joy, and gladness!

If a person is discouraged or depressed byany great bereavement or suffering, the quick-est and the most effective way of restoring themind to its perfect balance, to its normal con-dition, is to immerse it in a sane atmosphere,an uplifting, encouraging, inspiring atmos-

SELF-INVESTMENT

phere, and this may always be readily foundin the best books. I have known people whowere suffering under the most painful mentalanguish, from losses and shocks which almostunbalanced their minds, to be completely rev-olutionized in their mental state by the sug-gestive power which came from becomingabsorbed in a great book.

Everywhere we see rich old men sittingaround the clubs, smoking, looking out of thewindows, lounging around hotels, travelingabout, uneasy, dissatisfied, not knowing whatto do with themselves, because they had neverprepared for this part of their lives. They putall their energy, ambition, everything into theirvocation.

I know an old gentleman who has been anexceedingly active business man. He haskept his finger upon the pulse of events. Hehas known what has been going on in theworld during his whole active career. And heis now as happy and as contented as a child inhis retirement, because he has always been agreat reader, a great lover of his kind.

People who keep their minds bent in onedirection too long at a time soon lose theirelasticity, their mental vigor, freshness, spon-taneity.

i


If I were to quote Mr. Dooley, it would be:—" Reading is not thinking; reading is thenext thing this side of going to bed for restingthe mind."

To my own mind, however, I would rathercite that- versatile Englishman, Lord Rose-bery. In a speech at the opening of a Carnegielibrary at West Calder, Midlothian, he madea characteristic utterance upon the value ofbooks; saying in substance:

" There is, however, one case in which booksare certainly an end in themselves, and thatis to refresh and to recruit after fatigue. Whenthe object is to refresh and to exalt, to lose thecares of this world in the world of imagina-tion, then the book is more than a means. Itis an end in itself. It refreshes, exalts, andinspires the man. From any work, manualor intellectual, the man with a happy taste forbooks comes in tired and soured and falls intothe arms of some great author, who raises himfrom the ground and takes him into a newheaven and a new earth, where he forgets hisbruises and rests his limbs, and he returns tothe world a fresh and happy man."

" Who," asks Professor Atkinson, " canoverestimate the value of good books, thosestrips of thought, as Bacon so finely calls them,

i8o SELF-INVESTMENT

voyaging through seas of time, and carryingtheir precious freight so safely from genera-tion to generation? Here are finest mindsgiving us the best wisdom of present and pastages; here are the intellects gifted far beyondours, ready to give us the results of lifetimesof patient thought, imaginations open to thebeauty of the universe."

The lover of good books can never be verylonely; and, no matter where he is, he canalways fine pleasant and profitable occupationand the best of society when he quits work.

Who can ever be grateful enough for theart of printing; grateful enough to the famousauthors who have put their best thoughts wherewe can enjoy them at will? There are someadvantages of intercourse with great mindsthrough their books over meeting them in per-son. The best of them lives in their books,while their disagreeable peculiarities, theiridiosyncrasies, their objectionable traits areeliminated. In their books we find the authorsat their best. Their thoughts are selected,winnowed in their books. Book friends arealways at our service, never annoy us, raspor nettle us. No matter how nervous, tired,or discouraged we may be, they are alwayssoothing, stimulating, uplifting.

ft]


We may call up the greatest writer in themiddle of the night when we cannot sleep, andhe is just as glad to be with us,as at any othertime. We are not excluded from any nookor corner in the great literary world; we canvisit the most celebrated people that ever livedwithout an appointment, without influence,without the necessity of dressing or of ob-serving any rules of etiquette. We can dropin upon a Milton, a Shakespeare, an Emerson,a Longfellow, a Whittier without a moment'snotice and receive the warmest welcome.

" You get into society, in the widest sense,"says Geikie, " in a great library, with the hugeadvantage of needing no introduction, andnot dreading repulses. From that great crowdyou can choose what companions you please,for in the silent levees of the immortals thereis no pride, but the highest is at the service ofthe lowest, with a grand humility. You mayspeak freely with any, without a thought ofyour inferiority; for books are perfectly wellbred, and hurt no one's feelings by any dis-criminations."

" It is not the number of books," says Pro-fessor William Mathews, " which a youngman reads that makes him intelligent and wellinformed, but the number of well-chosen ones

182 SELF-INVESTMENT

that he has mastered, so that every valuablethought in them is a familiar friend."

It is only when books have been read andreread with ever deepening delight that theyare clasped to the heart, and become whatMacaulay found them to be, the old friendswho are never found with new faces, who arethe same to us in our wealth and in our pov-erty, in our glory and in our obscurity. Noone gets into the inmost heart of a beautifulpoem, a great history, a book of delicatehumor, or a volume of exquisite essays, byreading it once or twice. He must have itsprecious thoughts and illustrations stored inthe treasure-house of memory, and brood overthem in the hours of leisure.

" A book may be a perpetual companion.Friends come and go, but the book may beguileall experiences and enchant all hours."

"The first time," says Goldsmith, "that Iread an excellent book, it is to me just as ifI had gained a new friend; when I read overa book I have perused before, it resembles themeeting with an old one."

" No matter how poor I am," says WilliamEllery Channing, " no matter though the pros-perous of my own time will not enter myobscure dwelling; if the sacred writers will

»


enter and take up their abode under my roof—if Milton will cross my threshold to sing tome of Paradise; and Shakespeare to open tome the worlds of imagination and the work-ings of the human heart, — I shall not pinefor want of intellectual companionship, thoughexcluded from what is called the best societyin the place where I live."

" Books," says Milton, " do preserve as ina violl, the purest efficacie and extraction ofthat living intellect that bred them. A goodBooke is the pretious life-blood of a masterspirit, imbalm'd and treasur'd up on purposeto a Life beyond Life."

" A book is good company," said HenryWard Beecher. " It comes to your longingwith full instruction, but pursues you never.It is not offended at your absent-mindedness,nor jealous if you turn to other pleasures, ofleaf, or dress, or mineral, or even of books.It silently serves the soul without recompense,not even for the hire of love. And yet morenoble, it seems to pass from itself, and to enterthe memory, and to hover in a silvery trans-formation there, until the outward book is buta body and its soul and spirit are flown to you,and possess your memory like a spirit."

I!:

h

life-

•:i

X. DISCRIMINATION IN READING

Cultivate the habit of reading something goodfor ten minutes a day. Ten minutes a day will intwenty years make all the difference between acultivated and an uncultivated mind, provided youread what is good. I mean by the good the provedtreasures of the world, the intellectual treasures ofthe world in story, verse, history, and biography.

CHARLES W. ELIOT,Ex-President of Harvard University.

II

FEW books well read, andan intelligent choice of thosefew,—these are the funda-mentals for self-educationby reading.

If only a few well chosen,it is better to avail yourself

of choices others have already made — oldbooks, the standard works tested by manygenerations of readers. If only a few, let thembe books of highest character and establishedfame. Such books are easily found, even insmall public libraries.

It is a cardinal rule that if you do not likea book, do not read it. What another likes,you may not. Any book list is suggestive; it

184

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DISCRIMINATION IN READING 185

can be binding only on those who prize it.Like attracts like.

Did you ever think that the thing you arelooking for is looking for you; that it is thevery law of affinities to get together?

If you are coarse in your tastes, vicious inyour tendencies, you do not have to work veryhard to find coarse, vicious books; they areseeking you by the very law of attraction.

One's taste for reading is much like his tastefor food. Dull books are to be avoided, as onerefuses food disagreeable to him; to someoneelse the book may not be dull, nor the fooddisagreeable. Whole nations may eat cabbage,or stale fish, while I like neither. Ultimately,therefore, every reader must make his ownselection, and find the book that finds him.Anyone not a random reader will soon selecta short shelf of books that he may like betterthan a longer shelf that exactly suits someoneelse. Either will be a shelf of good books andneither a shelf of the best books, since if bestfor you or me, they may not be best for every-body.

A most learned man in India, in turning theleaves of a book, as he read, felt a little prickin his finger; a tiny snake dropped out andwriggled out of sight. The pundit's finger be-

jl I

fen

186 SELF-INVESTMENT

gan to swell, then his arm; and in an hour, hewas dead.

Who has not noticed in the home a snake ina book that has changed the character of a boythrough its moral poison so that he was neverquite the same again?

How well did Carlyle divide books intosheep and goats.

It is probable that the careers of the major-ity of criminals in our prisons to-day mighthave been vastly different if the character oftheir reading when they were young had beendifferent; had it been uplifting, wholesome,instead of degrading.

" Christian Endeavor " Clark saw a noticeconspicuously posted in a large city:—" Allboys should read the wonderful story of thedesperado brothers of the Western plains,whose strange and thrilling adventures of suc-cessful robbery and murder have never beforebeen equaled. Price five cents." Thf nextmorning, Dr. Clark read in a newspaper ofthat city that seven boys had been arrested forburglary, and four stores broken into by the" gang." One of the ringleaders was onlv tenyears old. At their trial, it appeared that eachhad invested five cents in the story of bordercrime. " Red-eyed Dick, the Terror of tke


Rockies," or some such story has poisonedmany a lad's life. A seductive, demoralizingbook destroys the ambition unless for viciousliving. All that was sweet, beautiful, andwholesome in the character before seems tovanish, and everything changes after the read-ing of a single bad book. It has aroused theappetite for more forbidden pleasures, untilit crowds out the desire for everything bet-ter, purer, healthier. Mental dissipation fromthis exciting literature, often dripping withsuggestiveness of impurity, giving a passportto the prohibited, is fatal to all soundness ofmind.

A lad once showed to another a book fullof words and pictures of impurity. He onlyhad it in his hands a few moments. Laterin life he held high office in the church, andyears afterward told a friend that he wouldhave given half he possessed had he neverseen that book.

Light, flashy stories, with no moral tothem, seriously injured the mind of a brilliantyoung lady I once knew. Like the drug fiendwhose brain has been stupefied, her brain be-came completely demoralized by constant men-tal dissipation. Familiarity with the bad ruinsthe taste for the good. Her ambition and

i88 SELF-INVESTMENT

J

ideas of life became completely changed. Heronly enjoyment was the excitement of her im-agination through vicious, unhealthful litera-ture.

Nothing else will more quickly injure agood mind than familiarity with the frivolous,the superficial. Even though they may not beactually vicious, the reading of books whichare not true to life, which carry home no greatlesson, teach no sane or healthful philosophy,but are merely written to excite the passions,to stimulate a morbid curiosity, will ruin thebest of minds in a very short time. It tends todestroy the ideals and to ruin the taste for allgood reading.

In our reading we can take, in secret, thepoison which kills, or we can drink in en-couragement and inspiration which bids uslook up. The poison in some books is ex-tremely dangerous, because so subtle; the evilis often painted to look like good. Beware ofbooks which, though they may not contain asingle bad word, yet reek with immoral sug-gestions.

The spirit which pervades a book, the subtlemotive in the author's mind when he wrote it,has everything to do with its influence. Readbooks which make you look up, which inspire

Ml1


you to be a little bigger man or woman, toamount to a little more in the world.

Read books that make you think more ofyourself and believe more in yourself and inothers. Beware of books that shake yourconfidence in your fellow-man. Read construc-tive books, books that are builders; avoidthose that tear down. Beware of authorswho sap your faith in men and your respectfor womanhood, who shake your faith in thesanctity of the home and scoff at religion, whoundermine sense of duty and moral obligation.

The books which we handle most often andvalue the highest are great tell-tales of ourtastes and our ambition. A stranger couldwrite a pretty good biography of a man he hadnever seen by careful examination and analysisof his reading matter.

Read, read, read all you can. But neverread a bad book or a poor book. Life is tooshort, time too precious, to spend it in read-ing anything but the best.

Any book is bad for you, the reading ofwhich takes away your desire for a betterone.

Many people still hold that it is a bad thingfor the young to read works of fiction. Theybelieve that young minds get a moral twist

190 SELF-INVESTMENT

UI

from reading that which they know is nottrue, the descriptions of mere imaginary heroesand heroines, and of things which neverhappened. Now, this is a very narrow, limitedview of a big question. These people do notunderstand the office of the imagination; theydo not realize that many of the fictitious heroesand heroines that live in our minds, even fromchildhood's days, are much more real in theirinfluence on our lives than some of those thatexist in flesh and blood.

Dickens' marvelous characters seem morereal to us than any we have ever met. Theyhave followed millions of people from child-hood to old age, and influenced their wholelives for good. Many of us would look uponit as a great calamity to have these charactersof fiction blotted out of our memory and theirinfluence taken out of our lives.

Readers are sometimes so wrought up bya good work of fiction, their minds raisedto such a pitch of courage and daring,their faculties so sharpened and braced, theirwhole nature so stimulated, that they can forthe time being attempt and accomplish thingswhich were impossible to them without thestimulus.

This, it seems to me, is one of the great,


values of fiction. If it is good and elevating,it is a splendid exercise of all the mental andmoral faculties; it increases courage; it rousesenthusiasm; it sweeps the brain-ash off themind, and actually strengthens its ability tograsp new principles and to grapple with thedifficulties of life.

Many a discouraged soul has been refresh-ened, reinvigorated, has taken on new life bythe reading of a good romance. I recall a bitof fiction, called " The Magic Story," whichhas helped thousands of discouraged souls,given them new hope, new life, when theywere ready to give up the struggle.

The reading of good fiction is a splendidimagination exerciser and builder. It stimu-lates it by suggestions, powerfully increasesits picturing capacity, and keeps it fresh andvigorous and wholesome, and a wholesomeimagination plays a very great part in everysane and worthy life. It makes it possible forus to shut out the most disagreeable past, toshut out at will all hideous memories of ourmistakes, failures, and misfortunes; it helps usto forget our trouble and sorrows, and to slipat will into a new, fresh world of our ownmaking, a world which we can make as beauti-ful, as sublime, as we wish. The imagination

192 SELF-INVESTMENT

¥l>

t 8! « < • .

is a wonderful substitute for wealth, luxuries,and for material things. No matter how poorwe may be, or how unfortunate—we may bebedridden even—we can by its aid travelround the world, visit its greatest cities, andcreate the most beautiful things for ourselves.

Sir John Herschel tells an amusing anec-dote illustrating the pleasure derived from abook, not assuredly of the first order. Ina certain village a blacksmith got holdof Richardson's novel " Pamela, or VirtueRewarded," and used to sit on his anvil inthe long summer evenings and read it aloud toa large and attentive audience. It is by nomeans a short book, but they fairly listened toit all. " At length, when the happy turn offortune arrived, which brings the hero andheroine together and sets them living longand happily according to the most approvedrules, the congregation were so delighted asto raise a great shout, and, procuring thechurch keys, actually set the parish bellsringing."

" It all comes back to us now," said theeditor of the Interior not long ago, " thatwinter evening in the old home. The curtainsare down, the fire is sending out a cheerfulwarmth and the shaded lamp diffusing a well-


tempered radiance. The lad of fifteen is bentover a borrowed volume of sea tales. Forhours he reads on, oblivious of all surround-ings, until parental attention is drawn towardhim by the unusual silence. The boy is seento be trembling from head to foot with sup-pressed excitement. A fatherly hand is laidupon the volume, closing it firmly, and theedict is spoken, ' No more novels for fiveyears.' And the lad goes off to bed, half glad,half grieved, wondering whether he has foundfetters or achieved freedom.

" In truth he had received both; for thatundiscriminating command forbade to him,during a formative period of his life, workswhich would have kindled his imagination,enriched his fancy, and heightened his powerof expression; but it saved him from a pos-sible descent to the Inferno; it made heroes ofhistory, not demigods of mythology, his com-panions, and reserved to maturer years thoseexcursions in the literature of the imagina-tion which may lead a young man up toheaven or as easily drag him down to hell.

" There was never such a demand for fictionas now, and never larger opportunities for itsusefulness. Nothing has such an attraction forlife as life. But what the heart craves is not

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194 SELF-INVESTMENT

' life as it is. ' I t is life as it ought to be. W ewant not the feeble but the forceful; not thecommonplace but the transcendent. Nobodyobjects to the ' purpose n o v e l ' except thosewho object to the purpose. Dealing as it does,in the hands of a great master, with the grand-est passions, the most tender emotions, thedivinest hopes, it can portray all these spirit-ual forces in their majestic sweep and up-lift. And as a matter of history, we haveseen the novel achieve in a single generationthe task at which the homily had laboredineffectively for a hundred years. Realizingthis, it is safe to say that there is not a theoryof the philosopher, a hope of the reformer,or a prayer of the saint which does not event-ually take form in a story. The novel haswings, while logic plods with a staff. Inthe hour it takes the metaphysician to definehis premises, the story-teller has reached thegoal — and after him tumbles the crowdtumultuous."

Arranged in the order of their popularity,as decided by the readers of the Literary Newssome years ago, the following are the world'sten best novels:

David Copperfield DickensIvanhoe Scott

•k t I


Adam Bede EliotThe Scarlet Letter HawthorneVanity Fair ThackerayJane Eyre BronteUncle Tom's Cabin StoweThe Newcomes ThackerayLes Miserables Victor HugoJohn Halifax, Gentleman Mulock-Craik

The ten next best novels, as decided.by thesame constituency, and constituting, with theforegoing list of ten, the world's most pop-ular twenty, are:

Kenilworth ScottHenry Esmond ThackerayRomola George EliotThe Last Days of Pompeii ... LyttonMiddlemarch EliotThe Marble Faun HawthornePendennis ThackerayHypatia Charles KingsleyThe House of Seven Gables HawthorneThe Mill on the Floss George Eliot

To those who enjoy novels with strongunderlying themes, this list, prepared byHamilton Wright Mabie for the Ladies'Home Journal, will offer a delightful rangefor selection:

196 SELF-INVESTMENT

1

"PROBLEM" NOVELS

Red Pottage CholmondeleyThe Awakening of Helena Richie DelandPhilip and His Wife DelandThe Patriot FogazzaroThe Saint FogazzaroThe Sinner FogazzaroThe Undercurrent GrantUnleavened Bread GrantTess of the D'Urbervilles HardyThe Common Lot HerrickHer Son VachellThe House of Mirth WhartonThe Fruit of the Tree Wharton-

NOVELS ON SOCIOLOGICAL SUBJECTS

Put Yourself in His Place ReadeIt Is Never Too Late to Mend ReadeFelix Holt, the Radical EliotAll Sorts and Conditions of Men BesantThe Pit NorrisFathers and Sons TurgeniefTruth ZolaLooking Backward BellamyBeggars All DougallLes Miserables HugoUncle Tom's Cabin Stowe

NOVELS OF PLOT

The Moonstone CollinsTreasure Island Stevenson

BfJfc

DISCRIMINATION IN READING 197Jane Eyre BronteThe Heart of Midlothian ScottNotre Dame de Paris HugoIt Is Never Too Late to Mend ReadeThe Mill on the Floss EliotUnder the Greenwood Tree HardyOur Mutual Friend DickensThe Three Musketeers DumasMonte Cristo Dumas

NOVELS OF CHARACTER STUDY

Pride and Prejudice AustenSentimental Tommy BarrieMiddlemarch EliotAnna Karenina TolstoiJoseph Vance De MorganThe Mayor of Chesterbridge HardyThe Scarlet Letter HawthorneThe Rise of Silas Lapham HowellsThe Portrait of a Lady JamesThe Egoist MeredithThe Sanctuary WhartonDivine Fire SinclairVanity Fair ThackerayDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Stevenson

NOVELS OF REALISM

Anna Karenina TolstoiDaisy Miller JamesThe Bostoriians JamesAdam Bede Eliot

f1

for

198 SELF-INVESTMENT '

The Mill on the Floss EliotOliver Twist DickensA Pair of Blue Eyes HardyHazard of New Fortunes HowellsThe House of Mirth WhartonThe Common Lot Herrick

ROMANTIC NOVELS

Notre Dame de Paris HugoDavid Balfour StevensonSt. Ives StevensonPrince Otto StevensonTo Have and to Hold JohnstonCharles O'Malley LeverGuy Mannering ScottQuentin Durward ScottMarble Faun HawthorneMr. Isaacs Crawford

NOVELS OF HUMOR

The Vicar of Wakefield GoldsmithUnder the Greenwood Tree HardyDeephaven JewettRudder Grange StocktonOldtown Folks StoweDon Quixote Cervantes

The noted scholar, Sir John Lubbock, in-cluded in his list of "The Hundred BestBooks" the 'following representatives ofmodern fiction:


Either Emma or Pride and PrejudiceMiss Austen

Vanity Fair and Pendennis ThackerayPickwick and David Copperfield DickensAdam Bede George EliotWestward Ho! KingsleyLast Days of Pompeii Bulwer-LyttonScott's Novels

The graded list of books for young peo-ple which follows was compiled by HamiltonWright Mabie. It will be appreciated espe-cially by teachers and parents.

Books for Children Under Five Years of Age

GIRLS

Mother GooseClassic Nursery Tales—Cinderella; The Three

Bears; Little Red Riding Hood; Hop o'My Thumb, etc.

Fables and Folk Stories H. E. ScudderThe Storyland Elizabeth HarrisonIn the Child's World Emilie PoulssonSmall Songs for Small SingersThe Story Hour

Kate D. Wiggin and Nora A. SmithThe Good Fairy and the Bunnies

Allen A. GreenCat Stories Helen Hunt JacksonBible Stories "

2OO SELF-INVESTMENT

BOYS

Mother Goose (Illustrated edition by Nister)The Book of the Zoo; The Book of the Farm;

The Moo Cow Book; Our Dog FriendsAnimal Books by Ernest Nister

Fables and Folk Stories H. E. ScudderFairy Tales Grimm's and Andersen'sThe Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children

Jane AndrewsAesop's FablesChild's Garden of Verses R. L. StevensonBible Stories

For Children from Five to Ten Years of Age

GIRLS

Alice in Wonderland; Through the Looking-Glass Lewis Carroll

Lullaby-Land Eugene FieldThe Seven Little Sisters Jane AndrewsPrimer of Work and Play Edith G. AlgerLittle Goody Two Shoes

Edited by Charles WelshMiss Muffet's Christmas Party

Samuel M. CrothersGoops and How to be Them; More Goops and

How Not to be Them Gelett BurgessHiawatha LongfellowFive Minute Stories Laura E. Richards

DISCRIMINATION IN READING 201The Little Lame Prince; The Adventures of a

Brownie Dinah Maria Mulock-CraifcThe Peterkin Papers Lucretia HaleLegends of King Arthur . . . Frances N. GreeneThe Rose and the Ring ThackerayChild Stories from the Masters, Maud MenefeeAt the Back of the North Wind

George MacdonaldBallads for Little Folk-.A lice and Phoebe Cary

BOYS

The King of the Golden River RuskinWater Babies KingsleyJust So Stories KiplingNights with Uncle Remus HarrisGlimpses of Nature for Little Folks, K. A. GrielCrib and Fly: A Tale of Two Terriers

Edited by Charles WelshThe Boy's King Arthur Sidney LanierWonder Book of Horses; Story of Roland;

Story of Siegfried; Story of the GoldenAge James Baldwin

Visit to London E. V. LucasToby Tyler James OtisGods and Heroes • • R. E. FrancillonBuz Maurice NoelThe Jungle Book; The Second Jungle Book

KiplingRab and His Friends Dr. John BrownBlack Beauty Anna SewellTen Boys Who Lived on the Road from Long

Ago to Now Jane Andrews

202 SELF-INVESTMENT

Stories of Great AmericansEdward Eggleston

Wonder Book; Tanglewood Tales, Hawthorne

For Children from Ten to Fifteen Years of Age

GIRLS

Little Women; Little Men; An Old-FashionedGirl; Under the Lilacs; Jo's Boys

Louisa M. AlcottTwo Little Waifs; Us Mrs. MolesworthTales from Shakespeare LambFranconia Stories Jacob AbbottSara Crewe; Little St. Elizabeth

Mrs. BurnettPilgrim's Progress BunyanSilas Marner; The Mill on the Floss

George EliotUndine FoqueLorna Doone BlackmoreHildegard Series (5) Laura E. RichardsThe Little Minister J. M. BarrieRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Kate D. WigginRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm; New Chroni-

cles of Rebecca Kate D. WigginAdventures of Dorothy Jocelyn LewisGypsy Books . . . Elizabeth Stuart Phelps WardLittle Pussy Willow . . . Harriet Beecher StoweSix to Sixteen Juliana Horatia EwingMemories of a London Doll . . . . Mrs. FairstarToinette's Philip C. V. JamisonAbbe Constantin Ludovic Halevy

DISCRIMINATION IN READING 203The Daisy Chain; Pillars of the House

Charlotte M. Yonge

BOYS

Arabian Nights Large editionJ. Fenimore Cooper's NovelsJolly Fellowship StocktonThe Nurnberg Stove OuidaThe Hoosier School-Boy Edward EgglestonThe Land of the Midnight Sun . . . . Du ChatlluTom Brown's School Days HughesTwo Years Before the Mast R. H. DanaTwo Little Savages E. Thompson SetonBoy's Life of Lincoln Helen NicolayThe Hill H. A. VachellStories of Adventure; Boys' Heroes, E. E. HaleSquirrels and Other Fur-Bearers; Birds and

Bees BurroughsTreasure Island StevensonThe Story of a Bad Boy AldrichMasterman Ready F. MarryatThe Swiss Family Robinson J. R. WyssRip Van Winkle; The Legend of Sleepy Hol-

low IrvingAround the World in the Sloop " Spray "

J. SlocumBoys of Other Countries Bayard TaylorTwo Little Confederates, Thomas Nelson PageAztec Treasure House Thomas A. JanvierWestward Ho! KingsleyBirds Through an Opera Glass

F. A. Merriam Bailey

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Translation of the Odyssey G. H. PalmerThree Greek Children; The Young Macedonian

Story of the Iliad ChurchThe Travels of Marco Polo T. W. KnoxCadet Days Charles KingLife at West Point H. I. HancockKnocking 'Round the Rockies

Ernest IngersollHans Brinker Mary Mapes DodgeThe Half Back; Behind the Line

Ralph Henry BarbourLife of Garfield W. O. StoddardThe Man Without a Country E. E. HaleBlue Jackets of 1898; Battle Fields of '61

W. J. AbbotPlutarch for Boys and Girls John S. WhiteHeart, a School-boy's Journal (trans, by Isabel

Hapt^od) Edmondo De AmicisLays of Ancient Rome MacaulayHarold Lytton

For Young People from Fifteen to TwentyYears of Age

GIRLS

John Halifax, Gentleman .. Mrs. Mulock-CraikNew England Nun and Other Stories

Mary E. WilkinsT. B. Aldrich's Short StoriesJane Austen's NovelsCharles Reade's Novels


Essays of Elia LambSesame and Lilies; Crown of Wild Olive

RuskinLittle Rivers; The Ruling Passion

Henry van DykeUarda; Homo Sum EbersGold Elsie E. MarlittTo Have and to Hold Mary JohnstonThomas Nelson Page's Short StoriesSant Ilario; Saracinesca; Corleone; Marietta

F. Marion CrawfordPenelope in England; Penelope's Progress;

Penelope in Ireland . . Kate Douglas WigginThe Rise of Silas Lapham; An Indian Sum-

mer HowellsLittle Masterpieces of English Poetry by Brit-

ish and American AuthorsHenry van Dyke and Hardin Craig

American Anthology; Victorian AnthologyStedman

BOYS

Ben Hur Lew WallaceRob Roy; Ivanhoe; The Heart of Midlothian;

The Abbot; Kenilworth; The Pirate; Boys'and Girls' Plutarch Sir Walter Scott

The Sketch-Book Washington IrvingThe Autocrat of the Breakfast Table . . HolmesRepresentative Men EmersonFenimore Cooper's NovelsKim; Captain Courageous KiplingJack Hazard J. T. Trowbridge

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Gift

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Kidnaped; David Balfour; The Master of Bal-lantrae Stevenson

Henry Esmond; The Virginians; The New-comes ; Pendennis Thackeray

David Copperfield; Nicholas Nickleby; MartinChuzzlewit; Tale of Two Cities Dickens

Francis Parkman's HistoriesBiographies in the Great Writers SeriesBiographies in the American Statesmen SeriesBiographies in the American Men of Letters

SeriesThree Guardsmen; The Black Tulip . . . . DumasThe Call of the Wild Jack LondonThe Cloister and the Hearth; Put Yourself in

His Place Charles ReadeThe Man with the Broken Ear; The King of

the Mountains Edmond AboutThe Virginian Owen WisterShort Stories of the English People

J. R. GreenJohn Fiske's HistoriesThe Rise of the Dutch Republic .. J. L. MotleyBrave Little Holland W. E. GriffinFerdinand and Isabella PrescottCharles the Fifth William RobertsonThe American Revolution . . . . G. O. TrevelyanCharles the Bold J. F. KirkMakers of Florence; Makers of Venice; Royal

Edinburgh Mrs. OliphantAve Roma Immortalis . . . F. Marion CrawfordThe Story of Germany S. B. GouldThe Story of Norway H. H. BoyesenThe Conquest of Mexico Prescott

DISCRIMINATION IN READING 207Heroes of the Middle West • • Mrs. CatherwoodThe Conquest DyeBeginnings of a Nation . . . . Edward EgglestonAmericans of 1776 SchoulerThe Winning of the West RooseveltLife of Ctesar FroudeLife of Johnson BoswellEarly Life of Charles James Fox; Life of Ma-

caulay TrevelyanLife of Scott LockhartLife of Nelson SoutheyThe Four Georges ThackerayLife of Lincoln , . Nicolay and HayLife of Robert E. Lee

..' John Esten Cook or W. P. TrentGeorge Washington Horace E. ScudderRalph Waldo Emerson HolmesOliver Cromwell John Morley

XI. READING, A SPUR TO AMBITION

I know of nothing else which will enlarge one'sideals and lift one's life standards more than thestudy of the lives of great and noble characters;the reading of biographies of great men and women.

Abroad, it is impossible for me to avoid thesociety of fools. In my study, I can call up theablest spirits, the learnedest philosophers, thewisest counsellors, the greatest generals, and makethem serviceable to me.—SIR WILLIAM WALLER.

1

HE great purpose in readingis for self-discovery. In-spirational, character-mak-ing, life-shaping books arehelpful to this end.

There are books that haveraised the ideals and mate-

rially influenced entire nations. Who can es-timate the value of books that spur ambition,that awaken slumbering possibilities?

Cotton Mather's " Essay to Do Good " influ-enced the whole career of Benjamin Franklin,we are told.

Are we ambitious to associate with peoplewho inspire us to nobler deeds? Let us thenread uplifting books, which stir us to makethe most of ourselves.

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READING, A SPUR TO AMBITION 209

We all know how completely changed wesometimes are after reading a book which hastaken a strong, vigorous hold upon us.

Thousands of people have found themselvesthrough the reading of some book which hasopened the door within them and given themthe first glimpse of their possibilities. I knowmen and women whose whole lives have beenmolded, the entire trend of their careers com-pletely changed, uplifted beyond their fondestdreams, by the good books they have taken timeto read.

It has been said by President White ofCornell that, " The great thing needed tobe taught in this country is truth, simpleethics, the distinction between right and wrong.Stress should be laid upon what is best inbiography, upon noble deeds and sacrifices, es-pecially those which show that the greatestman is not the greatest orator, or the trickypolitician. They are a curse; what we need isnoble men. National loss comes as the penaltyfor frivolous boyhood and girlhood, that gainsno moral stamina from wholesome books."

If youths learn to feed on the thoughts ofthe great men and women of all times, theywill never again be satisfied with the commonor low; they will never again be content

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with mediocrity; they will aspire to some-thing higher and nobler.

A day which is passed without treasuringup some good thought is not well spent.Every day is a leaf in the book of life.

The Bible, such manuals as " Daily Strengthfor Daily Needs," such books as ProfessorC. C. Everett's " Ethics for Young People ";Lucy Elliot Keeler's " If I Were a Girl Again " ;" Beauty through Hygiene," by Dr. Emma F.Walker; such essays as Robert L. Stevenson's"Gentlemen" (in his "Familiar Studies ofMen and Books"); Smiles' "Self Help";John Ruskin's " Sesame and Lilies "; and, ac-cording to a statement made a few years agoby Hamilton Wright Mabie in the Ladies'Home Journal, the author's Inspirational Book," Pushing to the Front"—this is literaturethat makes young men and women trustworthy,so that the Marshall Fields and John Wana-makers want their aid in the conduct of greatbusiness concerns. Blessed are they who gomuch farther in later years, and who becomefamiliar with those

" Olympian bards who sangDivine ideas below,Which always find us youngAnd always keep us so."


The readers who do not know the Concordphilosopher Emerson, and the great writers ofantiquity, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, andPlato, have pleasures to come.

Aside from reading fiction, books of travelare of the best for mental diversion; thenthere are nature studies, and science andpoetry, — all affording wholesome recreation,all of an uplifting character, and some ofthem opening up study specialties of the highestorder, as in the great range of books classifiedas Natural Science.

The reading and study of poetry is muchlike the interest one takes in the beauties ofnatural scenery. Much of the best poetry isindeed a poetic interpretation of nature. Whit-tier and Longfellow and Bryant lead theirreaders to look on nature with new eyes, asRuskin opened the eyes of Henry WardBeecher.

A great deal of the best prose is in styleand sentiment of a true poetic character, lack-ing only the metrical form. To become famil-iar with Tennyson and Shakespeare and thebrilliant catalogue of British poets is in itselfa liberal education. Rolfe's Shakespeare is inhandy volumes, and so edited as to be ofmost service. Palgrave's " Golden Treasury,"

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of the best songs and lyrical poems in theEnglish language, was edited with the adviceand collaboration of Tennyson. His " Chil-dren's Treasury " of lyrical poetry is most at-tractive. Emerson's " Parnassus," and Whit-tier's " Three Centuries of Song " are excellentcollections of the most famous poems of theages.

Never before was a practical substitute fora college education at home made so cheap,so easy, and so desirable. Knowledge ofall kinds is placed before us in a most at-tractive and interesting manner. The best ofthe literature of the world is found to-dayin thousands of American homes where fiftyyears ago it could only have been obtainedby the rich.

What a shame it is that under such con-ditions as these an American should grow upignorant, should be uneducated in the midstof such marvelous opportunities for self-im-provement ! Indeed, most of the best literaturein every line to-day appears in the currentperiodicals, in the form of short articles.Many of our greatest writers spend a vastamount of time in the drudgery of travel andinvestigation, in gathering material for thesearticles, and the magazine publishers pay thou-


sands of dollars for what a reader can getfor ten or fifteen cents. Thus the readersecures for a trifle in periodicals or books theresults of months and often years of hardwork and investigation of our greatest writers.

A New York millionaire, — a prince amongmerchants, — took me over his palatial resi-dence on Fifth Avenue, every room of whichwas a triumph of the architect's, of the deco-rator's, and of the upholsterer's art. I wastold that the decorations of a single sleeping-room had cost ten thousand dollars. On thewalls were paintings which cost fabulous prices,and about the rooms were pieces of massiveand costly furniture and draperies repre-senting a small fortune, and covering the floorswere carpets on which it seemed almostsacrilege to tread. He had expended a fortunefor physical pleasure, comfort, luxury, and dis-play, but there was scarcely a book in the house.It was pitiful to think of the physical surfeitand mental starvation of the children of sucha home as that. He told me that he cameto the city a poor boy, with all his worldlypossessions done up in a little red ban-danna. " I a r a a millionaire," he said, " butI want to tell you that I would give halfI have to-day for a decent education."

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Many a rich man has confessed to confi-dential friends and his own heart that hewould give much of his wealth, — all, if nec-essary, — to see his son a manly man, free fromthe habits which abundance has formed andfostered till they have culminated in sin anddegradation and perhaps crime; and has re-alized that, in all his ample provision, he hasfailed to provide that which might have savedhis son and himself from loss and torture, —good books in the home.

There is a wealth within the reach of thepoorest mechanic and day-laborer in this coun-try that kings in olden times could not possess,and that is the wealth of a well-read, culturedmind. In this newspaper age, this age ofcheap books and periodicals, there is no excusefor ignorance, for a coarse, untrained mind.To-day no one is so handicapped, if he havehealth and the use of his faculties, that he can-not possess himself of wealth that will enrichhis whole life, and enable him to converseand mingle with the most cultured people.No one is so poor but that it is possible forhim to lay hold of that which will broadenhis mind, which will inform and improve him,and lift him out of the brute stage of exist-ence into the godlike realm of knowledge.


" No entertainment is so cheap as reading,"says Mary Wortley Montague; " nor anypleasure so lasting." Good books elevate thecharacter, purify the taste, tak* the attract-iveness out of low pleasures, and lift us upona higher plane of thinking and living.

" A great part of what the British spend onbooks," says Sir John Lubbock, " they save inprisons and police."

It seems like a miracle that the poorest boycan converse freely with the greatest phi-losophers and scientists, statesmen, warriors,authors of all time, with little expense, thatthe inmates of the humblest cabin may followthe stories of the nations, the epochs of history,the story of liberty, the romance of the world,and the course of human progress.

Carlyle said that a collection of books is auniversity. What a pity that the thousands ofambitious, energetic men and women whomissed their opportunities for an education atthe school age, and feel crippled by their loss,fail to catch the "significance of this, fail torealize the tremendous cumulative possibilitiesof that great life-improver, that admirablesubstitute for a college or university education— reading.

Have you just been to a well-educated,

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sharp-sighted employer to find work? Youdid not need to be at any trouble to tell himthe names of the books you have read, becausethey have left their indelible mark upon yourface and your speech. Your pinched, starvedvocabulary, your lack of polish, your slangexpressions, tell him of the trash to which youhave given your precious time. He knows thatyou have not rightly systemized your hours.He knows that thousands of young men andwomen whose lives are crowded to overflow-ing with routine work and duties, manage tofind time to keep posted on what is going onin the world, and for systematic, useful read-ing.

" Of the things which man can do or makehere below," it was said by the Sage ofChelsea, " by far the most momentous, won-derful, and worthy are the things we callbooks! Those poor bits of rag-paper withblack ink on them; from the daily newspaperto the sacred Hebrew Book, what have theynot done, what are they not doing ? "

President Schurmann of Cornell points withpride to a few books in his library which hesays he bought when a poor boy by goingmany a day without his dinner.

The great German Professor Oken was not


ashamed to ask Professor Agassiz to dinewith him on potatoes and salt, that he mightsave money for books.

King George III. used to say that lawyersdo not know so much more law than people ofother callings, but that they know betterwhere to find it.

A practical working knowledge of how tofind what is in the book world, relating to anygiven point, is worth a vast dear from a finan-cial point of view. And by such knowledge,one forms first an acquaintance with books,then friendship.

" When I consider," says James FreemanClarke, " what some books have done for theworld, and what they are doing, how they keepup our hope, awaken new courage and faith,soothe pain, give an ideal of life to those whosehomes are hard and cold, bind together distantages and foreign lands, create new worlds ofbeauty, bring down truths from heaven, — Igive eternal blessings for this gift."

Not long ago President Eliot of HarvardCollege aroused widespread controversy overhis selection of a library of books which mightbe contained on a five-foot shelf, in the beliefthat " the faithful and considerate reading ofthese books will give any man a liberal educa-

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tion even if he can devote to them but fifteenminutes a day." The titles of the books sofar selected are:

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The Autobiography of Benjamin FranklinThe Journal of John WoolmanSome Fruits of Solitude William PennThe Apology, Phasdo, and Crito (translated by

Benjamin Jowett) PlatoThe Golden Sayings of Epictetus (translated

by H. Crossley)The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius (trans-

lated by J. S. Long)The Essays of Francis BaconThe New Atlantis (Spedding Text)

Francis BaconAreopagitica John MiltonTractate on Education John MiltonReligio Medici Sir Thomas BrowneThe Complete Poems of John MiltonEssays and English Traits

Ralph Waldo EmersonThe Poems of Robert BurnsThe Confessions of St. Augustine (Pusey Text)The Imitation of Christ Thomas a KempisNine Greek Dramas: Agamemnon, The Liba-

tion-Bearers, The Furies (translated byE. D. A. Morshead) Aeschylus

Prometheus Bound (translated by E. H.Plumptre) Aeschylus

Oedipus the King, Antigone (translated byE. H. Plumptre) Sophocles


Hippolytus, The Bacchas (translated by GilbertMurray) Euripides

The Frogs (translated by B. B. Rogers)Aristophanes

The Letters of Cicero (translated by E. S.Shuckburgh)

Cicero's Treatise on Friendship and Old Age(translated by W. Melmoth)

The Letters of Pliny (revised by F. C. T.Bosanquet)

The Wealth of Nations (edited by Professor J.C. Bullock, Harvard University)

Adam SmithThe Origin of Species Charles DarwinLives of Themistocles, Pericles, Aristides,

Alcibiades, Coriolanus, Demosthenes, Cicero,Caesar, Antony (from the translation knownas Dryden's corrected and revised by ArthurHugh Clough) Plutarch

The Aeneid (translated by John Dryden)Virgil

Don Quixote (translated by Thomas Shelton)Cervantes

Pilgrim's Progress John BunyanThe Lives of Donne and Herbert

Izaak WaltonStories from the Arabian Nights (Stanley

Lane-Poole translation)Folk-Lore and Fables:Aesop's Fables, 82 titles.Grimm's Household Tales, 41 titlesTales from Hans Christian Andersen, 20 titlesModern English Drama:All for Love John Dryden

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The School for ScandalRichard Brinsley Sheridan

She Stoops to Conquer Oliver GoldsmithThe Cenci Percy Bysshe ShelleyA Blot in the 'Scutcheon Robert BrowningManfred Lord ByronFaust (translated by Anna Swanwick)

GoetheHermann and Dorothea (translated by Ellen

Frothingham) GoetheEgmont (translated by Anna Swanwick)

GoetheDoctor Faustus Christopher MarloweThe Divine Comedy (Cary's translation)

DanteI Promessi Sposi Alessandro ManzoniThe Odyssey of Homer (Butcher and Lang

translation)Two Years Before the Mast

Richard Henry Dana, Jr.Essays on Taste; on the Sublime and Beautiful;

Reflections on the French Revolution; Letterto a Noble Lord Edmund Burke

Essays on Liberty; AutobiographyJohn Stuart Mill

Inaugural Address as Lord Rector of Edin-burgh University; Characteristics; Essay onScott Thomas Carlyle

Continental Drama:

CalderonCorneille

LessingMoliere

Racine

[iM


English Essays:

Abraham CowleyJohn LockeJonathan SwiftSamuel JohnsonSydney SmithWilliam HazlittColeridgeLeigh Hunt

Charles LambThomas de QuinceyJoseph AddisonSir Richard SteeleDaniel DefoeDavid HumePercy Bysshe ShelleyThomas B. Macaulay

English and American Essays:

Cardinal NewmanJohn RuskinJames A. FroudeEdward A. FreemanEdgar Allan PoeJames Russell Lowell

Dean SwiftMatthew ArnoldWalter BagehotThomas H. HuxleyRobert Louis StevensonHenry D. Thoreau

I

William Makepeace ThackerayThe Voyage of the Beagle . . . . Charles Darwin

Scientific Papers—Chemistry, Physics, Astron-omy:

FaradayLord Kelvin

HelmholtzNewcomb

Essays—French, German, Italian:

MontaigneRenanSchillerGrimmKant

MazziniSainte-BeuveLessingGoethe

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Ancient and Elizabethan Voyages and Travels:

HerodotusSir Francis DrakeSir Humphrey GilbertCoronado

Descartes, Voltaire, etc.

TacitusSir Walter RaleighMagellanCaptain John Smith

Scientific Papers—Biology, Medicine, etc., in-cluding articles by Sir John Lister andAmbroise Pare

Famous PrefacesCaxtonRaleighJohn KnoxHeminge and CondellFieldingSchillerWhitmanBerners

SpenserCalvinBaconDrydenJohnsonTaineWordsworthNewton

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American Historical Documents, containing 40important documents, such as

Cabots' VoyageColumbus's LetterFirst Charter of VirginiaMayflower CompactCornwallis's Proposal of SurrenderWashington's First InauguralMonroe DoctrineLincoln's First Inaugural


Lincoln's Second Inaugural

Chronicles

National Epics

Machiavelli, More, and others

Comparative Religions and Hymns

Elizabethan Dramas

Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt selectedfor his famous African trip the followingbooks:

BibleApocryphaBible in Spain; Zingali; Lavengro; Wild Wales;

The Romany Rye BorrowShakespeareFaerie Queene SpenserMarloweSea Power MahanHistory; Essays; Poems MacaulayIliad; Odyssey HomerLa Chanson de RolandNibelungen LiedFrederick the Great CarlylePoems Shelley-Essays BaconLiterary Essays; Biglow Papers LowellPoems EmersonLongfellow

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TennysonTales; Poems PoeKeatsParadise Lost (Books I. & II) MiltonInferno (Carlyle's translation) DanteAutocrat; Over the Teacups HolmesPoems; Tales of the Argonauts; Luck of Roar-

ing Camp Bret HarteSelections BrowningGentle Reader CrothersHuckleberry Finn; Tom Sawyer . • Mark TwainPilgrim's Progress BunyanHippolytus; Bacchae (Murray's translation)

EuripidesThe FederalistRome GregoroviusLegend of Montrose; Guy Mannering; Waver-

ley; Rob Roy, Antiquary ScottPilot; Two Admirals CooperFroissartPercy's ReliquesVanity Fair; Pendennis ThackerayMutual Friend; Pickwick Dickens

Colonel Roosevelt says: " The list repre-sents in part Kermit's taste, in part mine;and, I need hardly say, it also represents in noway all the books we most care for, but merelythose which, for one reason or another, wethought we should like to take on this particu-lar trip."

It is the author's hope and desire that the


lists given, limited as they are, may prove ofvalue to those seeking self-education, andthat the books may encourage the disheartened,stimulate ambition, and serve as stepping-stones to higher ideals and nobler purposes inlife.

XII. THE SELF-I MPROVEMENTHABIT, A GREAT ASSET

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A boy is better unborn than untaught.GASCOIGNE.

It is ignorance that wastes; it is knowledge thatsaves, an untaught faculty is at once quiescent anddead.—N. D. HILLIS.

The plea that this or that man has no time forculture will vanish as soon as we desire culture somuch that we begin to examine seriously into ourpresent use of time.—MATTHEW ARNOLD.

DUCATION, as commonlyunderstood, is the process ofdeveloping the mind bymeans of books and teach-ers. When education hasbeen neglected, either byreason of lack of opportu-

nity, or because advantage was not taken ofthe opportunities afforded, the one remaininghope is self-improvement. Opportunities forself-improvement surround us, the helps toself-improvement are abundant, and in thisday of cheap books, free libraries, and eveningschools, there can be no good excuse forneglect to use the faculties for mental growth

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THE SELF-IMPROVEMENT HABIT 227

and development which are so abundantly sup-plied.

When we look at the difficulties which hin-dered the acquisition of knowledge fifty yearsto a century ago; the scarcity and the costli-ness of books, the value of the dimmest candle-light, the unremitting toil which left so littletime for study, the physical weariness whichhad to be overcome to enable mental exertionin study, we may well marvel at the giants ofscholarship those days of hardship produced.And when we add to these limitations physicaldisabilities, blindness, deformity, ill-health,which many contended against, we may feelshame as we contemplate the fulness of modernopportunity and the helps and incentives tostudy and self-development which are solavishly provided for our use and inspiration,and of which we avail ourselves so little.

Self-improvement implies one essential feel-ing: the desire for improvement. If the de-sire exists, then improvement is usually accom-plished only by the conquest of self — thematerial self, which seeks pleasure and amuse-ment. The novel, the game of cards, thebilliard cue, idle whittling and story-telling,will have to be eschewed, and every availablemoment of leisure turned to account. For all

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who seek self-improvement " there is a lionin the way," the lion of self-indulgence, andit is only by the conquest of this enemy thatprogress is assured.

Show me how a youth spends his evenings,his odd bits of time, and I will forecast hisfuture. Does he look upon this leisure as pre-cious, rich in possibilities, as containing goldenmaterial for his future life structure? Ordoes he look upon it as an opportunity forself-indulgence, for a light, flippant " goodtime"?

The way he spends his leisure will give thekeynote of his life, will tell whether he is deadin earnest, or whether he looks upon life as ajoke.

He may not be conscious of the terribleeffect, the gradual deterioration of charac-ter which comes from a frivolous wasting ofhis evenings and half-holidays, but the charac-ter is being undermined just the same.

Young men are often surprised to find them-selves dropping behind their competitors, butif they will examine themselves, they will findthat they have stopped growing because theyhave ceased their effort to keep abreast of thetimes, to be widely read, to enrich their lifewith self-culture.


The right use of spare moments in readingand study is an indication of superior qualities.And in many historic cases the " spare"moments utilized for study were not sparein the sense of being the spare time ofleisure. They were rather spared moments,moments spared from sleep, from meal times,from recreation.

Where is the boy to-day who has less chanceto rise in the world than Elihu Burritt, ap-prenticed at sixteen to a blacksmith, in whoseshop he had to work at the forge all the day-light, and often by candle-light? Yet hemanaged, by studying with a book before himat his meals, carrying it in his pocket that hemight utilize every spare moment, and study-ing at night and on holidays, to pick up anexcellent education in the odds and ends oftime which most boys throw away. While therich boy and the idler were yawning andstretching and getting their eyes open, youngBurritt had seized the opportunity and im-proved it.

He had a thirst for knowledge and a desirefor self-improvement, which overcame everyobstacle in his pathway. A wealthy gentlemanoffered to pay his expenses at Harvard, butElihu said he could get his education him-

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self, even though he had to work twelve orfourteen hours a day at the forge. Here wasa determined boy. He snatched every sparemoment at the anvil and forge as if it weregold. He believed, with Gladstone, that thriftof time would repay him in after years withusury, and that waste of it would make himdwindle. Think of a boy working nearly allthe daylight in a blacksmith shop, and yetfinding time to study seven languages in asingle year!

It is not lack of ability that holds men downbut lack of industry. In many cases the em-ployee has a better brain, a better mentalcapacity than his employer. But he does notimprove his faculties. He dulls his mind byvicious habits. He spends his time and moneyat the pool table and in the saloon and as hegrows old, and the harness of perpetual serv-ice galls him, he grumbles at his lack of luck,his limited opportunity.

The number of perpetual clerks is constantlybeing recruited by those who did not thinkit worth while as boys to learn to write a goodhand or to master the fundamental branchesof knowledge requisite in a business career.The ignorance common among young men andyoung women in factories, stores, and offices,

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everywhere, in fact, in this land of opportunitywhere youth should be well educated, is apitiable thing. On every hand we see menand women of natural ability occupying inferiorpositions because they did not think it ofenough importance in their youth to concen-trate their attention on the acquisition of knowl-edge that would make them proficient workers.

Thousands of men and women find them-selves held back, handicapped for life, becauseof the seeming trifles which they did not thinkit worth while to pay attention to in theiryouth.

Many a girl of good natural ability spendsher most productive years as a cheap clerkor in a mediocre position because she neverthought it worth while to develop her mentalfaculties or to take advantage of opportuni-ties within reach to fit herself for a superiorposition. Thousands of ;girls unexpectedlythrown on their own resources have been helddown all their lives because of neglected tasksin youth, which at the time were dismissedwith a careless " I don't think it worth while."They did not think it would pay to go to thebottom of any study at school, to learn tokeep accounts accurately, or fit themselves todo anything in such a way as to be able to

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make a living by it. They expected to marry,and never prepared for being dependent onthemselves, — a contingency against whichmarriage, in many instances, is no safeguard.

The trouble with most youths is that theyare not willing to fling the whole weight oftheir being into their vocation. They wantshort hours, little work and a lot of play.They think more of leisure and pleasure thanof discipline and training in their great lifespecialty.

Many a clerk envies his employer and wishesthat he could go into business for himself andbe an employer also, but he thinks it is too muchwork to make the effort to rise above a clerk-ship. He likes to take life easy; and he wondersidly whether, after all, it is worth while tostrain and strive and struggle and study to pre-pare oneself for the sake of getting up a littlehigher and making a little more money.

The trouble with a great many people isthat they are not willing to make present sacri-fices for future gain. They prefer to have agood time as they go along, rather than spendtime in self-improvement. They have a vaguewish to do something great, but few havethat intensity of longing which impels themto make the sacrifice of the present for the


future. Few are willing to work undergroundfor years laying a foundation for their lifestructure. They yearn for greatness, buttheir yearning is not the kind which is willingto pay any price or make any sacrifice for itsobject.

So the majority slide along in mediocrityall their lives. They have ability for some-thing higher up, but they have not the energyand determination to prepare for it. They donot care to make the necessary effort. Theyprefer to take life easier and lower downrather than to struggle for something higher.They do not play the game for all they areworth.

If a man or woman has but the dispositionfor self-improvement and advancement he willfind opportunity to rise, or " what he cannotfind, create." Here is an example from theeveryday life going on around us and inwhich we are all taking part.

A young Irishman who had reached the ageof nineteen or twenty without learning to reador write, and who left home because of theintemperance that prevailed there, learned toread a little by studying billboards, and even-tually got a position as steward aboard a man-of-war. He chose that occupation and got

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leave to serve at the captain's table becauseof a great desire to learn. He kept a littletablet in his coat-pocket, and whenever heheard a new word wrote it down. One day anofficer saw him writing and immediately sus-pected him of being a spy. When he and theother officers learned what the tablet was usedfor, the young man was given more oppor-tunities to learn, and these led in time topromotion, until, finally, he won a prominentposition in the navy. Success as a naval officerprepared the way for success in other fields.

Self-help has accomplished about all thegreat things of the world. How many youngmen falter, faint, and dally with their purpose,because they have no capital to start with,and wait and wait for some good luck to givethem a lift! But success is the child of hardwork and perseverance. It cannot be coaxedor bribed; pay the price and it is yours.

One of the sad things about the neglectedopportunities for self-improvement is that theyput people of great natural ability at a dis-advantage among those who are their mentalinferiors.

I know a member of one of our state legis-latures, a splendid fellow, immensely popular,who has a great, generous heart and broad


sympathies, but who cannot open his mouthwithout so murdering the English languagethat it is really painful to listen to him.

There are a great many similar examples inWashington of men who have been elected toimportant positions because of their greatnatural ability and fine characters, but whoare constantly mortified and embarrassed bytheir ignorance and lack of early training.

One of the most humiliating experiencesthat can ever come to a human being is to beconscious of possessing more than ordinaryability, and yet be tied to an inferior positionbecause of lack of early and intelligent train-ing commensurate with this ability. To knowthat one has ability to realize eighty or ninetyper cent of his possibilities, but because ofthe lack of proper education and training, tobe unable to bring out more than twenty-fiveper cent of it, is humiliating. In other words,to go through life conscious that you are mak-ing a botch of your capabilities just becauseof lack of training, is a most depressing, morti-fying thing.

Nothing else outside of sin causes moresorrow than that which comes from not hav-ing prepared for the highest career possible toone. There are no more bitter regrets than those

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which result from being obliged to let passopportunities for which one never preparedhimself.

I know a pitiable case of a born naturalistwhose ambition was so suppressed and whoseeducation so neglected in youth that later, whenhe came to know more about natural historythan almost any man of his day, he could notwrite a grammatical sentence, and could nevermake his ideas live in words, perpetuate themin books, because of his ignorance of even therudiments of an education. His early vocabu-lary was so narrow and pinched, and hisknowledge of his language so limited, that healways seemed to be painfully struggling forwords to express his thought.

Think of the suffering of this splendid man,who was conscious of possessing colossalscientific knowledge, and yet was absolutelyunable to express himself grammatically!

How often stenographers are mortified bythe use of some unfamiliar word or term, orquotation, because of the shallowness of theirpreparation! It is not enough to be able totake dictation when ordinary letters are given,not enough to do the ordinary routine of officework. The ambitious stenographer must beprepared for the unusual word or expression,


must have good reserves of knowledge to drawfrom in case of emergency. If she is con-stantly slipping up on her grammar, or is allat sea the moment she steps out of her or-dinary routine, her employer knows that herpreparation is shallow, that her education islimited, and her prospects will be limited also.

A young lady writes me that she is so handi-capped by the lack of an early education thatshe fairly dreads to write a letter to anyoneof education or culture for fear of makingignorant mistakes in grammar and spelling.Her letter indicates that she has considerablenatural ability. Yet she is always placed ata disadvantage because of this lack of an earlyeducation. It is difficult to conceive of agreater misfortune than always to be embar-rassed and handicapped just because of theneglect of early years.

I am often pained by letters from people,especially young people, which indicate thatthe writers have a great deal of natural ability,that they have splendid minds, but that a largepart of their ability is covered up, rendered in-effectual by their lack of education.

Many of these letters show that the writersare like diamonds in the rough, with only hereand there a little facet ground off, just enough

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to let in the light and reveal the great hiddenwealth within.

I always feel sorry for such people whohave passed the school age and who will prob-ably go through life with their splendid mindshandicapped by ignorance which, even late inlife, they might largely or entirely overcome.

It is such a pity that a young man, for in-stance, who has the natural ability whichwould make him a leader among men, must,for the lack of a little training and prepara-tion, work for somebody else, perhaps withscarcely half of his ability but with a betterpreparation, more education.

Everywhere we see clerks, mechanics, em-ployees in all walks of life, who cannot riseto anything like positions which correspondwith their natural ability, because they havenot had the education. They are ignorant.They cannot write an intelligent letter. Theymurder the English language, and hence theirsuperb ability cannot be demonstrated, andremains in mediocrity.

The parable of the talents illustrates andenforces one of nature's sternest laws: " Tohim that hath shall be given; from him thathath not shall be taken away even that whichhe hath." Scientists call this law the survival


of the fittest. The fittest are those who usewhat they have, who gain strength by strug-gle, and who survive by self-developmentthrough control of their hostile or helpfulenvironment.

The soil, the sunshine, the atmosphere arevery liberal with the material for the growthof the plant or the tree, but the plant must useall it gets, must work it up into flowers, intofruit, into leaf or fiber or something, or thesupply will cease. In other words, the soilwill not send any more building material upthe sap than is used for growth, and the fasterthis material is used the more rapid the growth,the more abundantly the material will come.

The same law holds good everywhere.Nature is liberal with us if we utilize whatshe gives us, but if we stop using it, if we donot do some building somewhere, if we do nottransform the material which she gives usinto force and utilize that force, we not onlyfind the supply cut off, but also that we aregrowing weaker, less efficient.

Everything in nature is on the move, eitherone way or the other. It is either going up ordown. It is either advancing or retrograding;we cannot hold without using.

Nature withdraws muscle or brain if we

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do not use them. She withdraws skill themoment we stop using it efficiently. The forceis withdrawn when we cease exercising it.

A college graduate is often surprised .yearsafter he leaves his college to find that aboutall he has to show for his education is hisdiploma. The power and efficiency which hegained there have been lost because he has notbeen using them. He thought at the time wheneverything was still fresh in his mind, afterhis examination, that this knowledge wouldremain with him, but it has been slippingaway from him every minute since he stoppedusing it, and only that has remained and in-creased which he has used; the rest has evap-orated.

A great many college men ten years aftergraduation find that they have but very littleto show for their four years' course, be-cause they have not utilized their knowledge.They have become weaklings without know-ing it. They constantly say to themselves, " Ihave a college education, I must have someability, I must amount to something in theworld." But the college diploma has no morepower to hold the knowledge you have gainedin college than a piece of tissue paper over agas jet can hold the gas in the pipe.

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Everything which you do not use is con-stantly slipping away from you. Use it orlose it. The secret of power is use. Abilitywill not remain with us; force will evaporatethe moment we cease to do something withit.

The tools for self-improvement are at yourhand. Use them. If the ax is dull the morestrength must be put forth. If your oppor-tunities are limited you must use more energy,put forth more effort. Progress may seemslow at first, but perseverance assures success." Line upon line, and precept upon precept"is the rule of mental upbuilding, and " In duetime ye shall reap if ye faint not."

.vi

XIII. THE RAISING OF VALUES" Destiny is not about thee, but within,—

Thyself must make thyself."

HE world is no longer clay,but rather iron in the handsof its workers," says Emer-son, " and men have got tohammer out a place forthemselves by steady andrugged blows."

To make the most of your " stuff," be itcloth, iron, or character — this is success.Raising common " stuff " to priceless value isgreat success.

The man who first takes the rough bar ofwrought iron may be a blacksmith, who hasonly partly learned his trade, and has no ambi-tion to rise above his anvil. He thinks thatthe best possible thing he cah do with his baris to make it into horseshoes, and congratulateshimself upon his success. He reasons that therough lump of iron is worth only two or threecents a pound, and that it is not worth whileto spend much time or labor on it. His enor-mous muscles and small skill have raised thevalue of the iron from one dollar, perhaps, toten dollars.

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Along comes a cutler, with a little bettereducation, a little more ambition, a little finerperception, and says to the blacksmith: " Isthis all you can see in that iron? Give me abar, and I will show you what brains and skilland hard work can make of it." He sees alittle further into the rough bar. He hasstudied many processes of hardening and tem-pering; he has tools, grinding and polishingwheels, and annealing furnaces. The iron isfused, carbonized into steel, drawn out, forged,tempered, heated white-hot, plunged into coldwater or oil to improve its temper, and groundand polished with great care and patience.When this work is done, he shows the aston-ished blacksmith two thousand dollars' worthof knife-blades where the latter only saw tendollars' worth of crude horseshoes. The valuehas been greatly raised by the refining process.

" Knife-blades are all very well, if you canmake nothing better," says another artisan, towhom the cutler has shown the triumph of hisart, " but you haven't half brought out what isin that bar of iron. I see a higher and betteruse; I have made a study of iron, and knowwhat there is in it and what can be made ofit."

This artisan has a more delicate touch, a

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finer perception, a better training, a higherideal, and superior determination, which en-able him to look still further into the moleculesof the rough bar, — past the horseshoes, pastthe knife-blades, — and he turns the crudeiron into the finest cambric needles, with eyescut with microscopic exactness. The pro-duction of the invisible points requires a moredelicate process, a finer grade of skill than thecutler possesses.

This feat the last workman considers marvel-ous. He has multiplied many times the valueof the cutler's product, and he thinks he hasexhausted the possibilities of the iron.

But, behold! another very skilful mechanic,with a still more finely organized mind, a moredelicate touch, more patience, more industry,a higher order of skill, and a better training,passes with ease by the horseshoes, the knife-blades, and the needles, and returns theproduct of his bar in fine mainsprings forwatches. Where the others saw horseshoes,knife-blades, or needles, worth only a fewthousand dollars, his penetrating eye saw aproduct worth one hundred thousand dollars.

Yet a higher artist-artisan appears, whotells us that the rough bar has not even yetfound its highest expression; that he possesses

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the magic that can perform a still greatermiracle in iron. To him even mainspringsseem coarse and clumsy. He knows that thecrude iron can be manipulated and coaxed intoan elasticity that cannot even be imagined byone less trained in metallurgy. He knowsthat, if care enough be used in tempering thesteel, it will not be stiff, trenchant, and merelya passive metal, but so full of its new qualitiesthat it almost seems instinct with life.

With penetrating, almost clairvoyant vision,this artist-artisan sees how every process ofmainspring making can be carried further;and how, at every stage of manufacture, moreperfection can be reached; how the texture ofthe metal can be so much refined that even afiber, a slender thread of it, can do marvelouswork. He puts his bar through many proc-esses of refinement and fine tempering, andin triumph turns his product into almost in-visible coils of delicate hairsprings. Afterinfinite toil and pain, he has made his dreamtrue; he has raised the few dollars' worth ofiron to a value of one million dollars, perhapsforty times the value of the same weight ofgold.

But still another workman, whose processesare so almost infinitely delicate, whose prod-

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uct is so little known by even the average edu-cated man that his trade is unmentioned bythe makers of dictionaries and encylopedias,takes a fragment of one of the bars ofsteel, and develops its higher possibilities withsuch marvelous accuracy, such ethereal fine-ness of touch, that mainsprings and even hair-springs are looked back upon as coarse, crude,and cheap. When his work is done, he showsyou a few of the minutely barbed instrumentsused by dentists to draw out the finestbranches of the dental nerves. While a poundof gold, roughly speaking, is worth about twohundred and fifty dollars, a pound of theseslender, barbed filaments of steel, if a poundcould be collected, might be worth hundredsof times as much.

Other experts may still further refine theproduct, but it will be many a day before thebest will exhaust the possibilities of a metalthat can be subdivided until its particles willfloat in the air.

It sounds magical, but the magic is onlythat wrought by the application of the homeli-est virtues; by the training of the eye, thehand, the perception; by painstaking care, byhard work, and by determination and grit.

If a metal possessing only a few coarse


material qualities is capable of such marvelousincrease in value, by mixing brains with itsmolecules, who shall set bounds to the possi-bilities of the development of a human being,that wonderful compound of physical, mental,moral, and spiritual forces? Whereas, in thedevelopment of iron, a dozen processes arepossible, a thousand influences may be broughtto bear upon mind and character. While theiron is an inert mass acted upon by externalinfluences only, the human being is a bundleof forces, acting and counteracting, yet allcapable of control and direction by the higherself, the real, dominating personality.

The difference in human attainment is dueonly slightly to the original material. It isthe ideal followed and unfolded, the effortmade, the processes of education and experi-ence undergone, that fuse, hammer, and moldour life-bar into its ultimate splendid develop-ment.

Life, everyday life, has counterparts of allthe tortures the iron undergoes, and throughthem it comes to its highest expression. Theblows of opposition, the struggles amid wantand woe, the fiery trials of disaster and be-reavement, the crushings of iron circumstances,the raspings of care and anxiety, the grind-

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ing of constant difficulties, the rebuffs thatchill enthusiasm, the weariness of years ofdry, dreary drudgery in education and dis-cipline, — all these are necessary to the manwho would reach the highest success.

The iron, by this manipulation, is strength-ened, refined, made more elastic or more re-sistant, and adapted to the use of which eachartisan dreams. If every blow should fractureit, if every furnace should burn the life out ofit, if every roller should pulverize it, of whatuse would it be ? It has that virtue, those qual-ities that withstand all; that draw profit fromevery test, and come out triumphant in theend. In the iron the qualities are, in the main,inherent; but in ourselves they are largelymatters of growth, culture, and development,and all are subject to the dominating individualwill.

Just as each artisan sees in the crude ironsome finished, refined product, so must we seein our lives glorious possibilities, if we wouldbut realize them. If we see only horseshoesor knife-blades, all our efforts and struggleswill never produce hairsprings. We must real-ize our own adaptability to great ends; wemust resolve to struggle, to endure trials andtests, to pay the necessary price, confident that


the result will pay us for our suffering, ourtrials, and our efforts.

Those who shrink from the forging, therolling, and the drawing out, are the ones whofail, the " nobodies," the faulty characters, thecriminals. Just as a bar of iron, if exposedto the elements, will oxidize, and becomeworthless, so will character deteriorate if thereis no constant effort to improve its form, toincrease its ductility, to temper it, or to betterit in some way-

It is easy to remain a common bar of iron,or comparatively so, by becoming merely ahorseshoe; but it is hard to, raise your life-product to higher values.

Many of us consider our natural gift-barspoor, mean, and inadequate, compared withthose of others; but, if we are willing, bypatience, toil, study, and struggle, to hammer,draw out, and refine, to work on and up fromclumsy horseshoes to delicate hairsprings, wecan, by infinite patience and persistence, raisethe value of the raw material to almost fabu-lous heights. It was thus that Columbus, theweaver, Franklin, the journeyman printer,iEsop, the slave, Homer, the beggar, Demos-thenes, the cutler's son, Ben Jonson, the brick-layer, Cervantes, the common soldier, and

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Haydn, the poor wheelwright's son, developedtheir powers, until they towered head andshoulders above other men.

There is very little difference between thematerial given to a hundred average boys andgirls at birth, yet one with no better means ofimprovement than the others, perhaps with in-finitely poorer means, will raise his materialin value a hundredfold, five-hundredfold, aye,a thousandfold, while the ninety-nine willwonder why their material remains so coarseand crude, and will attribute their failure tohard luck.

While one boy is regretting his want of op-portunities, his lack of means to get a collegeeducation, and remains in ignorance, anotherwith half his chances picks up a good educa-tion in the odds and ends of time which otherboys throw away. From the same material,one man builds a palace and another a hovel.From the same rough piece of marble, oneman calls out an angel of beauty which de-lights every beholder, another a hideous mon-ster which demoralizes everyone who sees it.

The extent to which you can raise thevalue of your life-bar depends upon yourself.Whether you go upward to the mainspring orhairspring stage depends very largely upon


your ideal, your determination to be the higherthing, upon your having the grit to be ham-mered, to be drawn out, to be thrust from thefire into cold water or oil in order to get theproper temper.

Of course, it is hard and painful, and ittakes lots of stamina to undergo the processesthat produce the finest product, but would youprefer to remain a rough bar of iron or ahorseshoe all your life ?

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XIV. SELF-IMPROVEMENT THROUGHPUBLIC SPEAKING

T DOES not matter whetherhe wants to be a publicspeaker or not, a personshould have such completecontrol of himself, shouldbe so self-reliant and self-poised, that he can get up

in any audience, no matter how large or for-midable, and express his thoughts clearly anddistinctly.

Self-expression in some manner is the onlymeans of developing mental power. It maybe in music; it may be on canvas; it may bethrough oratory; it may come through sellinggoods or writing a book; but it must comethrough self-expression.

Self-expression in any legitimate formtends to call out what is in a man, his re-sourcefulness, inventiveness; but no otherform of self-expression develops a man sothoroughly and so effectively, and so quicklyunfolds all of his powers, as speaking beforean audience.

It is doubtful whether anyone can reach thehighest standard of culture without studying

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the art of expression, especially public vocalexpression. In all ages oratory has been re-garded as the highest expression of humanachievement. Young people, no matter whatthey intend to be, whether blacksmith orfarmer, merchant or physician, should makeit a study.

Nothing else will call out what is in a manso quickly and so effectively as the constanteffort to do his best in speaking before anaudience. When one undertakes to think onhis feet and speak extemporaneously beforethe public, the power and the skill of the en-tire man are put to a severe test.

The practise of public speaking, the effortto marshal all one's forces in a logical andforceful manner, to bring to a focus all thepower one possesses, is a great awakener of allthe faculties. The sense of power that comesfrom holding the attention, stirring the emo-tions, or convincing the reason of an audience,gives self-confidence, assurance, self-reliance,arouses ambition and tends to make one moreeffective in every way.

One's judgment, education, manhood, char-acter, all the things that go to make a manwhat he is, are being unrolled like a panoramain his effort to express himself. Every mental

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faculty is quickened, every power of thoughtand expression stirred and spurred. Thespeaker summons all his reserves of experi-ence, of knowledge, of natural or acquiredability, and masses all his forces in the en-deavor to express himself with power and tocapture the approval and applause of hisaudience.

A writer has the advantage of being ableto wait for his moods. He can write whenhe feels like it; and he knows that he can burnhis manuscript again and again if it does notsuit him. There are not a thousand eyesupon him. He does not have a great audi-ence criticizing every sentence, weighingevery thought. He does not have to stepupon the scales of every listener's judgmentto be weighed, as does the orator. Hemay write as listlessly as he pleases, use muchor little of his brain or energy, just as hechooses or feels like doing. No one is watch-ing him. His pride and vanity are nottouched, and what he writes may never beseen by anyone. Then, there is always achance for revision. In music, whether vocalor instrumental, what one gives out is only par-tially one's own; the rest is the composer's. Inconversation, we do not feel that so much de-

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pends upon our words; only a few personshear them, and perhaps no one will ever thinkof them again. But when a person attemptsto speak before an audience, all props areknocked out from under him; he has nothingto lean upon, he can get no assistance, no ad-vice ; he must find all his resources in himself;he stands absolutely alone. He may havemillions of money, broad acres of land, and maylive in a palace, but none of these avail himnow; his memory, his experience, his education,his ability, are all he has; he must be measuredby what he says, what he reveals of himself inhis speech; he must stand or fall in the esti-mation of his audience.

Anyone who lays any claim to cultureshould train himself to think on his feet, sothat he can at a moment's notice rise andexpress himself intelligently. The occasionsfor after-dinner speaking are increasing enor-mously. A great many questions which oncewere settled in the office are now discussed anddisposed of at dinners. All sorts of businessdeals are now carried through at dinners.There was never before any such demand fordinner oratory as to-day.

We know men who have, by dint of hardwork and persistent grit, lifted themselves

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into positions of prominence, and yet theyare not able to stand on their feet in public,even to make a few remarks or to put amotion, without trembling like an aspenleaf. They had plenty of opportunities whenthey were young, at school, in debating clubs,to get rid of their self-consciousness and toacquire ease and facility in public speaking,but they always shrank from every opportu-nity, because they were timid, or felt thatsomebody else could handle the debate orquestions better.

There are plenty of business men to-daywho would give a great deal of money if theycould only go back and improve the earlyopportunities for learning to think and speakon their feet which they threw away. Nowthey have money, they have position, but theyare nobodies when called upon to speak inpublic. All they can do is to look foolish,blush, stammer out an apology, and sit down.

Some time ago I was at a public meetingwhen a man who stands very high in the com-munity, who is king in his specialty, wascalled upon to give his opinion upon the mat-ter under consideration, and he got up andtrembled and stammered and could scarcelysay his soul was his own. He could not even

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make a decent appearance. He had powerand a great deal of experience, but therehe stood, as helpless as a child, and hefelt cheap, mortified, embarrassed. Probablyhe would have given anything if he hadearly in life trained himself to speak extem-poraneously, so that he could think on his feetand say with power and effectiveness thatwhich he knew.

At the very meeting where this strong man,who had the respect and confidence of every-body who knew him, had made such a miser-able failure of his attempt to give his opinionupon the important public matter on which hewas well posted, a shallow-brained businessman of the same city who hadn't a hundredthpart of the other man's practical power in af-fairs, got up and made a brilliant speech, andstrangers no doubt thought that he was muchthe stronger man. He had simply cultivatedthe ability to say his best thing on his feet, andthe other man had not.

A brilliant young man in New Yorkwho has climbed to a responsible position ina very short time, tells me that he has beensurprised on several occasions when he hasbeen called upon to speak at banquets, or atother public functions, at the new discoveries

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he has made of himself of power which henever before dreamed he possessed, and henow regrets more than anything else that hehas in the past allowed so many opportunitiesfor calling himself out to go by.

The effort to express one's ideas in lucid,clean-cut, concise, telling English tends tomake one's everyday language choicer andmore direct, and to improve one's diction gen-erally. In this and other ways speech-makingdevelops mental power and character. Thisexplains the rapidity with which a young mandevelops in school or college when he beginsto take part in public debates or in debatingsocieties.

Every man, says Lord Chesterfield, maychoose good words instead of bad ones andspeak properly instead of improperly; he mayhave grace in his motions and gestures, andmay be a very agreeable instead of disagree-able speaker if he will take care and pains.

It is a matter of painstaking and prepara-tion. There is everything in learning whatyou wish to know. Your vocal culture, man-ner, and mental furnishing, are to be made amatter for thought and careful training.

In thinking on one's feet before an audi-ence, one must think quickly, vigorously,

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effectively. At the same time he must speakthrough a properly modulated voice, withproper facial and bodily expression and ges-ture. This requires practise in early life.

Nothing will tire an audience more quicklythan monotony, everything expressed on thesame dead level. There must be variety; thehuman mind tires very quickly when this isnot supplied.

This is especially true of a monotonoustone. It is a great art to be able to raise andlower the voice with sweet flowing cadenceswhich please the ear-

Gladstone said, " Ninety-nine men in everyhundred never rise above mediocrity becausethe training of the voice is entirely neglectedand considered of no importance."' It was said of a certain Duke of Devon-shire that he was the only English states-man who ever took a nap during the progressof his own speech. He was a perfect geniusfor dry, uninteresting oratory, moving for-ward with a monotonous droning, and pausingnow and then as if refreshing himself byslumber.

In youth the would-be orator must cultivaterobust health, since force, enthusiasm, con-viction, will-power are greatly affected by

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physical condition; and, too, he must cultivatebodily posture, and have good habits at easycommand. What would have been the resultof Webster's reply to Hayne, the greatestoratorical effort ever made on this continent,if he had sat down in the Senate and put hisfeet on his desk? Think of a great singerlike Nordica attempting to electrify an audi-ence while lounging on a sofa or sitting in aslouchy position!

There is no class of people put to such asevere test of showing what is in them aspublic speakers; no other men who run sucha risk of exposing their weak spots, or makingfools of themselves in the estimation of others,as do orators. Public speaking—thinkingon one's feet — is a powerful educator exceptto the thick-skinned man, the man who hasno sensitiveness, or who does not care forwhat others think of him. Nothing else sothoroughly discloses a man's weaknesses orshows up his limitations of thought, his pov-erty of speech, his narrow vocabulary; noth-ing else is such a touchstone of character andthe extent of one's reading, the carefulnessor carelessness of his observation as his publicutterances.

An early training for effective speaking will

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make one careful to secure a good vocabularyby good reading and a dictionary- One mustknow words.

Close, compact statement is imperative.Learn to stop when you get through. Donot keep stringing out conversation or argu-ment after you have made your point. Youonly neutralize the good impression you havemade, weaken your case, and prejudice peopleagainst you for your lack of tact, good judg-ment, or sense of proportion.

The attempt to become a good publicspeaker is a great awakener of all the mentalfaculties. The sense of power that comesfrom holding the attention, stirring the emo-tions or convincing the reason of an audience,gives self-confidence, assurance, self-reliance,arouses ambition, and tends to make onemore effective in every particular. One'smanhood, character, learning, judgment ofhis opinions — all things that go to makehim what he is—are being unrolled like apanorama. Every mental faculty is quick-ened, every power of thought and expressionspurred. Thoughts rush for utterance, wordspress for choice. The speaker summons allhis reserves of education, of experience, ofnatural or acquired ability, and masses all his

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forces in the endeavor to capture the approvaland applause of the audience.

Such an effort takes hold of the entire na-ture, beads the brow, fires the eye, flushes thecheek, and sends the blood surging throughthe veins. Dormant impulses are stirred,half-forgotten memories revived, the imagina-tion quickened to see figures and similes thatwould never come to calm thought.

This forced awakening of the whole per-sonality has effects reaching much furtherthan the oratorical occasion. The effort tomarshal all one's reserves in a logical andorderly manner, to bring to the front all thepower one possesses, leaves these reservespermanently better in hand, more readily inreach.

The Debating Club is the nursery of ora-tors. No matter how far you have to go toattend it, or how much trouble it is, or howdifficult it is to get the time, the drill you willget by it is often the turning point. Lincoln,Wilson, Webster, Choate, Clay, and PatrickHenry got their training in the old-fashionedDebating Society.

Do not think that because you do not knowanything about parliamentary law you shouldnot accept the presidency of your club

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or debating society, or take an active part.This is just the place to learn, and when youhave accepted the position you can post your-self on the rules, and the chances are that youwill never know the rules until you are thrustinto the chair where you will be obliged togive rulings. Join just as many young peo-ple's organizations—especially self-improve-ment organizations—as you can, and forceyourself to speak every time you get a chance.If the chance does not come to you, make it.Jump to your feet and say something uponevery question that is up for discussion.Do not be afraid to rise to put a motion or tosecond it or to give your opinion upon it. Donot wait until you are better prepared. Younever will be.

Every time you rise to your feet will in-crease your confidence, and after a while youwill form the habit of speaking until it willbe as easy as anything else. There is noone thing which will develop young peopleso rapidly and effectively as debating clubsand discussions of all sorts. A vast numberof our public men have owed their advancemore to the old-fashioned debating societiesthan anything else. Here they learned confi-dence, self-reliance; they discovered them-

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selves. It was here they learned not to beafraid of themselves, to express their opinionswith force and independence. Nothing willcall a young man out more than the struggleto hold his own in a debate. It is strong, vig-orous exercise for the mind just as wrestlingis for the body.

Do not remain way back on the rear seat.Go up front. Do not be afraid to show your-self. This shrinking into a corner and get-ting out of sight and avoiding publicity isfatal to self-confidence.

It is so easy and tempting, especially forboys and girls in school or college, to shrinkfrom the public debates or speaking, on theground that they are not quite well enougheducated at present. They want to wait untilthey can use a little better grammar, until theyhave read more history and more literature,until they have gained a little more cultureand ease of manner.

But the way to acquire grace, ease, facility,the way to get poise and balance so that youwill not feel disturbed in public gatherings,is to get the experience. Do the thing somany times that it will become second natureto you. If you have an invitation to speak,no matter how much you may shrink from it,

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or how timid or shy you may be, resolve thatyou will not let this opportunity for self-enlargement slip by you.

I know of a young man who has a greatdeal of natural ability for public speaking,and yet he is so timid that he always shrinksfrom accepting invitations to speak at ban-quets or in public because he is so afraid thathe has not had experience enough. He lacksconfidence in himself. He is so proud, andso afraid that he will make some slip whichwill mortify him, that he has waited andwaited and waited until now he is discouragedand thinks that he will never be able to doanything in public speaking at all. He wouldgive anything in the world if he had only ac-cepted all of the invitations he has had, becausethen he would have profited by experience. Itwould have been a thousand times better forhim to have made a mistake, or even to havebroken down entirely a few times, than tohave missed the scores of opportunities whichwould undoubtedly have made a strong publicspeaker of him.

What is technically called " stage fright"is very common. A college boy recited anaddress " To the conscript fathers." His pro-fessor asked,—" Is that the way Csesar would

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have spoken i t?" "Yes," he replied, "ifCaesar had been scared half to death, and asnervous as a cat."

An almost fatal timidity seizes on an inex-perienced person when he knows that all eyesare watching him, that everybody in his audi-ence is trying to measure and weigh him,studying him, scrutinizing him to see howmuch there is in him, for what he stands, andmaking up their minds whether he measuresmore or less than they expected.

Some men are constitutionally sensitive andso afraid of being gazed at that they don'tdare open their mouths, even when a ques-tion in which they are deeply interested andon which they have strong views is being dis-cussed. At debating clubs, meetings of liter-ary societies, or gatherings of any kind, theysit dumb, longing, yet fearing to speak. Thesound of their own voices, if they should geton their feet to make a motion or to speak in apublic gathering, would paralyze them. Themere thought of asserting themselves, of put-ting forward their views or opinions on anysubject as being worthy of attention, or asvaluable as those of their companions, makesthem blush and shrink more into themselves.

This timidity is often, however, not so much

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the fear of one's audience, as the fear lestone can make no suitable expression of histhought.

The hardest thing for the public speakerto overcome is self-consciousness. Thoseterrible eyes which pierce him through andthrough, which are measuring him, criticizinghim, are very difficult to get out of his con-sciousness.

But no orator can make a great impressionuntil he gets rid of himself, until he can abso-lutely annihilate his self-consciousness, forgethimself in his speech. While he is wonderingwhat kind of an impression he is making,what people think of him, his power is crip-pled, and his speech to that extent will bemechanical, wooden.

Even a partial failure on the platform hasgood results, for it often arouses a determina-tion to conquer the next time, which neverleaves one. Demosthenes' heroic efforts, andDisraeli's " The time will come when you willhear me," are historic examples.

It is not the speech, but the man behind thespeech, that wins a way to the front.

One man carries weight because he is him-self the embodiment of power, he is himselfconvinced of what he says. There is nothing

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of the negative, the doubtful, the uncertain inhis nature- He not only knows a thing, buthe knows that he knows it. His opinioncarries with it the entire weight of his being.The whole man gives consent to his judgment.He himself is in his conviction, in his act.

One of the most entrancing speakers I haveever listened to—a man to hear whom peoplewould go long distances and stand for hoursto get admission to the hall where he spoke—never was able to get the confidence of hisaudience because he lacked character. Peopleliked to be swayed by his eloquence. Therewas a great charm in the cadences of his per-fect sentences. But somehow they could notbelieve what he said.

The orator must be sincere. The public isvery quick to see through shams. If the audi-ence sees mud at the bottom of your eye, thatyou are not honest yourself, that you areacting, they will not take any stock in you.

It is not enough to say a pleasing thing,an interesting thing, the orator must be ableto convince; and to convince others he musthimself have strong convictions.

Very few people ever rise to their greatestpossibilities or ever know their entire power

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unless confronted by some great occasion.We are as much amazed as others are when,in some great emergency, we out-do ourselves.Somehow the power that stands behind usin the silence, in the depths of our natures,comes to our relief, intensifies our facultiesa thousandfold and enables us to do thingswhich before we thought impossible.

It would be difficult to estimate the greatpart which practical drill in oratory may playin one's life.

Great occasions, when nations have been inperil, have developed and brought out someof the greatest orators of the world. Cicero,Mirabeau, Patrick Henry, Webster, and JohnBright might all be called to witness to thisfact.

The occasion had much to do with thegreatest speech delivered in the United StatesSenate—Webster's reply to Hayne. Websterhad no time for immediate preparation, butthe occasion brought out all the reserves in thisgiant, and he towered so far above his oppo-nent that Hayne looked like a pygmy in com-parison.

The pen has discovered many a genius, butthe process is slower and less effective thanthe great occasion that discovers the orator.

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Every crisis calls out ability previously unde-veloped and perhaps unsuspected.

No orator living was ever great enough togive out the same power and force and mag-netism to an empty hall, to empty seats, thathe could give to an audience capable of beingfired by his theme. In the presence of the au-dience lies a fascination, an indefinable mag-netism that stimulates all the mental faculties,and acts as a tonic and vitalizer. An oratorcan say before an audience what he could notpossibly have said before he went on the plat-form, just as we can often say to a friend inanimated conversation things which we couldnot possibly say when alone. As when twochemicals are united, a new substance is formedfrom the combination which did not exist ineither alone, he feels surging through his brainthe combined force of his audience, which hecalls inspiration, a mighty power which didnot exist in his own personality.

Actors tell us that there is an indescribableinspiration which comes from the orchestra,the footlights, the audience, which it is impos-sible to feel at a cold mechanical rehearsal.There is something in a great sea of expectantfaces which awakens the ambition and arousesthe reserve of power which can never be felt

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except before an audience. The power wasthere just the same before, but it was notaroused.

In the presence of a great orator, theaudience is absolutely in his power. Theylaugh or cry as he pleases, or rise andfall at his bidding, until he releases them fromthe magic spell.

What is oratory but to stir the blood of allhearers, to so arouse their emotions that theycannot control themselves a moment longerwithout taking the action to which they areimpelled ?

" His words are laws " may. be well saidof the statesman whose orations sway theworld. What art is greater than that ofchanging the minds of men?

Wendell Phillips so played upon the emo-tions, so changed the convictions of Southern-ers who hated him, but who were curious tolisten to his oratory, that for the time beinghe almost persuaded them that they were inthe wrong. I have seen him when it seemedto me that he was almost godlike in his power.With the ease of a master he swayed hisaudience. Some who hated him in the slav-ery days were there, and they could not resistcheering him.

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When James Russell Lowell was a student,said Wetmore Story, he and Story went toFaneuil Hall to hear Webster. They meantto hoot him for his remaining in Tyler's cab-inet. It would be easy, they reasoned, to getthe three thousand people to join them. Whenbe began, Lowell turned pale, and Story livid.His great eyes, they thought, were fixed onthem. His opening words changed theirscorn to admiration, and their contempt torespect.

" He gave us a glimpse into the Holy ofHolies," said another student, in relating hisexperience in listening to a great preacher.

XV. WHAT A GOOD APPEARANCEWILL DO

The apparel oft proclaims the man.SHAKESPEARE.

As a general thing an individual who is neat inhis person is neat in his morals.—H. W. SHAW.

HERE are two chief factorsin good appearance; clean-liness of body and comeli-ness of attire. Usuallythese go together, neatnessof attire indicating a sani-tary care of the person,while

outward slovenliness suggests a carelessnessof appearance that probably goes deeper thanthe clothes covering the body.

We express ourselves first of all in ourbodies. The outer condition of the body isaccepted as the symbol of the inner. If it isunlovely, or repulsive, through sheer neglector indifference, we conclude that the mindcorresponds with it. As a rule, the conclusionis a just one. High ideals and strong, clean,wholesome lives and work are incompatiblewith low standards of personal cleanliness. Ayoung man who neglects his bath will neglect

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his mind; he will quickly deteriorate in everyway. A young woman who ceases to care forher appearance in minutest detail will sooncease to please. She will fall little by littleuntil she degenerates into an ambitionlessslattern.

It is not to be wondered at that the Talmudplaces cleanliness next to godliness. I shouldplace it nearer still, for I believe that absolutecleanliness is godliness. Cleanliness or purityof soul and body raises man to the highest es-tate. Without this he is nothing but a brute.

There is a very close connection between afine, strong, clean physique and a fine, strong,clean character. A man who allows himselfto become careless in regard to the one will,in spite of himself, fall away in the other.

But self-interest clamors as loudly as es-thetic or moral considerations for the fulfil-ment of the laws of cleanliness. Every daywe see people receiving " demerits " for fail-ure to live up to them. I can recall instancesof capable stenographers who forfeited theirpositions because they did not keep their fingernails clean. An honest, intelligent man whomI know lost his place in a large publishingfirm because he was careless about shavingand caring for his teeth. Not very long since

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a lady remarked that she went into a store tobuy some ribbons, but when she saw the sales-girl's hands she changed her mind and madeher purchase elsewhere. " Dainty ribbons,"she said, " could not be handled by such soiledfingers without losing some of their fresh-ness." Of course, it will not be long untilthat girl's employer will discover that she isnot advancing his business, and then, — well,the law will work inexorably.

The first point to be emphasized in themaking of a good appearance is the necessityof frequent bathing. A daily bath insures aclean, wholesome condition of the skin, with-out which health is impossible.

Next in importance to the bath is the propercare of the hair, the hands, and the teeth.This requires little more than a small amountof time and the use of soap and water.

Manicure sets are so cheap that they arewithin the reach of almost everyone. If youcannot afford to buy a whole set, you can buya file and keep your nails smooth and clean.

Keeping the teeth in good condition is avery simple matter, yet perhaps more peoplesin in this particular point of cleanliness thanin any other. I know young men, and youngwomen, too, who dress very well and seem to

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take considerable pride in their personal ap-pearance, yet neglect their teeth. They do notrealize that there could hardly be a worseblot on one's appearance than dirty or decay-ing teeth, or the absence of one or two infront. Nothing can be more offensive in manor woman than a foul breath, and no one canhave neglected teeth without reaping this con-sequence. No employer wants a clerk, orstenographer, whose appearance is marredby a lack of one or two front teeth. Manyan applicant has been denied the position hesought because of bad teeth.

For those who have to make their way inthe world, the best counsel on the subject ofclothes may be summed up in this short sen-tence, " Let thy attire be comely, but notcostly." Simplicity in dress is its greatestcharm, and in these days, when there is suchan infinite variety of tasteful but inexpensivefabrics to choose from, the majority can affordto be well dressed. But no one need blush fora shabby suit, if circumstances prevent hishaving a better one. You will be more re-spected by yourself and everyone else with anold coat on your back that has been paid forthan a new one that has not. It is not theshabbiness that is unavoidable, but the sloven-


liness that is avoidable, that the world frownsupon. If you are dressed according to yourmeans, no matter how poorly, you are ap-propriately dressed. The consciousness ofmaking the best appearance you possibly can,of always being scrupulously neat and clean,and of maintaining your self-respect and in-tegrity at all costs, will sustain you under themost adverse circumstances, and give you adignity, strength, and magnetic forcefulnessthat will command the respect and admirationof others.

Herbert H. Vreeland, who rose in a shorttime from a section hand on the Long IslandRailroad to the presidency of all the surfacerailways in New York City, in the courseof an address on how to attain success, said:—

" Clothes don't make the man, but goodclothes have got many a man a good job. Ifyou have twenty-five dollars, and want a job,it is better to spend twenty dollars for a suitof clothes, four dollars for shoes, and the restfor a shave, a hair-cut, and a clean collar, andwalk to the place, than go with the money inthe pockets of a dingy suit."

Most large business houses make it a rulenot to employ anyone who looks seedy, orslovenly, or who does not make a good appear-

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ance when he applies for a position. The manwho hires all the salespeople for one of thelargest retail stores in Chicago says: " Whilethe routine of application is in every casestrictly adhered to, the fact remains that themost important element in an applicant'schance for a trial is his personality."

It does not matter how much merit or abilityan applicant for a position may possess, hecannot afford to be careless of his personalappearance. Diamonds in the rough of infi-nitely greater value than the polished glass ofsome of those who get positions may, occa-sionally, be rejected. Applicants whose goodappearance helped them to secure a place mayoften be very superficial in comparison withsome who were rejected in their favor; buthaving secured it, they may keep it, thoughnot possessing half the ability of the man orwoman who was turned away.

That the same rule that governs employersin America holds in England, is evidenced bythe " London Draper's Record." It says:—>

" Wherever a marked personal care is ex-hibited for the cleanliness of the person andfor neatness in dress, there is also almost al-ways found extra carefulness as regards thefinish of work done. Work people whose per-


sonal habits are slovenly produce slovenlywork; those who are careful of their own ap-pearance are equally careful of the looks ofthe work they turn out. And probably whatis true of the workroom is equally true of theregion behind the counter. Is it not a factthat the smart saleswoman is usually ratherparticular about her dress, is averse to wear-ing dingy collars, frayed cuffs, and faded ties?The truth of the matter seems to be that extracare as regards personal habits and generalappearance is, as a rule, indicative of a certainalertness of mind, which shows itself antago-nistic to slovenliness of all kind."

No young man or woman who wishes toretain that most potent factor of the success-ful life, self-respect, can afford to be negli-gent in the matter of dress, for " the characteris subdued to what it is clothed in." As theconsciousness of being well dressed tends tograce and ease of manner, so shabby, ill-fitting, or soiled attire makes one feel awkwardand constrained, lacking in dignity and im-portance. Our clothes unmistakably affectour feelings and self-respect, as anyone knowswho has experienced the sensation — and whohas not?—.that comes from being attired innew and becoming raiment. Poor, ill-fitting,

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itn

or soiled garments are detrimental to moralsand manners. " The consciousness of cleanlinen," says Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, " is inand of itself a source of moral strength, secondonly to that of a clean conscience. A well-ironed collar or a fresh glove has carriedmany a man through an emergency in whicha wrinkle or a rip would have defeated him."

The importance of attending to little de-tails— the perfection of which really consti-tutes the well-dressed man or woman — iswell illustrated by this story of a youngwoman's failure to secure a desirable position.One of those large-souled women of wealth,in which our generation is rich, had estab-lished an industrial school for girls in whichthey received a good English education andwere trained to be self-supporting. She neededthe services of a superintendent and teacher,and considered herself fortunate when thetrustees of the institution recommended toher a young woman whose tact, knowledge,perfect manners, and general fitness for theposition they extolled in the highest terms.The young woman was invited by the founderof the school to call on her at once. Appar-ently she possessed all the required qualifica-tions; and yet, without assigning any reason,

I


Mrs. V. absolutely refused to give her a trial.Long afterward, when questioned by a friendas to the cause of her seemingly inexplicableconduct in refusing to engage so competent ateacher, she replied: " It was a trifle, but atrifle in which, as in an Egyptian hieroglyphic,lay a volume of meaning. The young womancame to me fashionably and expensivelydressed, but with torn and soiled gloves, andhalf of the buttons off her shoes. A slovenlywoman is not a fit guide for any young girl."Probably the applicant never knew why shedid not obtain the position, for she was un-doubtedly well qualified to fill it in every re-spect, except in this seemingly unimportantmatter of attention to the little details of dress.

From every point of view it pays well todress well. The knowledge that we are be-comingly clothed acts like a mental tonic.Very few men or women are so strong and soperfectly poised as to be unaffected by theirsurroundings. If you lie around half-dressed,without making your toilet, and with yourroom all in disorder, taking it easy becauseyou do not expect or wish to see anybody,you will find yourself very quickly taking onthe mood of your attire and environment.Your mind will slip down; it will refuse to

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exert itself; it will become as slovenly, slip-shod, and inactive as your body. On the otherhand, if, when you have an attack of the" blues," when you feel half sick and not ableto work, instead of lying around the house inyour old wrapper or dressing gown, you takea good bath, — a Turkish bath, if you canafford it, —• put on your best clothes, andmake your toilet as carefully as if you weregoing to a fashionable reception, you will feellike a new person. Nine times out of tenbefore you have finished dressing your" blues " and your half-sick feeling will havevanished like a bad dream, and your wholeoutlook on life will have changed.

By emphasizing the importance of dress Ido not mean that you should be like BeauBrummei, the English fop, who spent fourthousand dollars a year at his tailor's alone,and who used to take hours to tie his cravat.An undue love of dress is worse than a totaldisregard of it, and they love dress too muchwho, like Beau Brummei, devote most of theirchief object in life to the neglect of theirmost sacred duty to themselves and others, orwho, like Beau Brummei, devote most of theirwaking hours to its study. But I do claim,in view of its effect on ourselves and on those

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with whom we come in contact, that it is aduty, as well as the truest economy, to dress aswell and becomingly as our position requiresand our means will allow.

Many young men and women make the mis-take of thinking that " well dressed " neces-sarily means being expensively dressed, and,with this erroneous idea in mind, they fallinto as great a pitfall as those who thinkclothes are of no importance. They devotethe time that should be given to the culture ofhead and heart to studying their toilets, andplanning how they can buy, out of their limitedsalaries, this or that expensive hat, or tie, orcoat, which they see exhibited in some fash-ionable store. If they cannot by any possi-bility afford the coveted article, they buy somecheap, tawdry imitation, the effect of which isonly to make them look ridiculous. Youngmen of this stamp wear cheap rings, vermilion-tinted ties, and broad checks, and almost in-variably they occupy cheap positions. Likethe dandy, whom Carlyle describes as " aclothes-wearing man, — a man whose trade,office, and existence consists in the wearing ofclothes, — every faculty of whose soul, spirit,person, and purse is heroically consecrated tothis one object," they live to dress, and have

if,

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no time to devote to self-culture or to fittingthemselves for higher positions.

The overdressed young woman is merelythe feminine of the overdressed young man.The manners of both seem to have a subtleconnection with their clothes. They are loud,flashy, vulgar. Their style of dress bespeaksa type of character even more objectionablethan that of the slovenly, untidily dressed per-son. The world accepts the truth announcedby Shakespeare that " the apparel oft pro-claims the man "; and the man and the woman,too, are frequently condemned by the verygarb which they think makes them so irre-sistible. At first sight, it may seem hasty orsuperficial to judge men or women by theirclothes, but experience has proved, again andagain, that they do, as a rule, measure thesense and self-respect of the wearer; and as-pirants to success should be as careful inchoosing their dress as their companions.The old adage: " Tell me thy company and Iwill tell thee what thou art," is offset by thiswise saying of some philosopher of the com-monplace : " Show me all1 the dresses a womanhas worn in the course of her life, and I willwrite you her biography."

" How exquisitely absurd it is," says Syd-


ney Smith, " to teach a girl that beauty is ofno value, dress of no use. Beauty is of value.Her whole prospect and happiness in life mayoften depend upon a new gown or a becomingbonnet. If she has five grains of commonsense, she will find this out. The great thingis to teach her their proper value."

It is true that clothes do not make the man,but they have a much larger influence onman's life than we are wont to attribute tothem. Prentice Mulford declares dress to beone of the avenues for the spiritualization ofthe race. This is not an extravagant state-ment, when we remember what an effectclothes have in inciting to personal cleanli-ness. Let a woman, for instance, don an oldsoiled or worn wrapper, and it will have theeffect of making her indifferent as to whetherher hair is frowsy or in curl papers. It doesnot matter whether her face and hands are cleanor not, or what sort of slipshod shoes shewears, for " anything," she argues, " is goodenough to go with this old wrapper." Herwalk, her manner, the general trend of herfeelings, will in some subtle way be domi-nated by the old wrapper. Suppose shechanges, — puts on a dainty muslin garment in-stead ; how different her looks and acts! Her

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hair must be becomingly arranged, so as notto be at odds with her dress. Her face andhands and finger nails must be spotless as themuslin which surrounds them. The down-at-heel old shoes are exchanged for suitable slip-pers. Her mind runs along new channels.She has much more respect for the wearer ofthe new, clean wrapper than for the wearer ofthe old, soiled one. " Would you change thecurrent of your thoughts? Change your rai-ment, and you will at once feel the effect."

Even so great an authority as Buffon, thenaturalist and philosopher, testifies to the in-fluence of dress on thought. He declaredhimself utterly incapable of thinking to goodpurpose except in full court dress. This healways put on before entering his study, noteven omitting his sword.

There is something about ill-fitting, un-becoming, or shabby apparel which not onlyrobs one of self-respect, but also of comfortand power. Good clothes give ease of man-ner, and make one talk well. The' conscious-ness of being well dressed gives a grace andease of manner that even religion will notbestow, while inferiority of garb often inducesrestraint.

One cannot but feel that God is a lover of


appropriate dress. He has put robes of beautyand glory upon all His works. Every floweris dressed in richness; every field blushes be-neath a mantle of beauty; every star is veiledin brightness; every bird is clothed in thehabiliments of the most exquisite taste. Andsurely He is pleased when we provide a beau-tiful setting for the greatest of His handi-works.

XVI. SELF-RELIANCE

1tefejig

VERY normal person iscapable of independenceand self-reliance, yet com-paratively few people everdevelop their ability tostand alone. It is so mucheasier to lean, to trail, to

follow somebody else, to let others do the think-ing and the planning and the work.

One of the worst faults of the typicalAmerican is that, if he does not possess com-manding talents in some particular direction,he usually does not think it worth while tomake the most of what he has.

Do not think that, just because you are nota born leader, you are a born leaner. Becauseyou have no great commanding qualitiesof leadership is no reason why you shouldnot cultivate the little you have. We neverknow what resources or possibilities of strengthare ours until we put our powers to the test.Many a man has proved himself a great leaderwho did not seem to be so naturally — whoshowed at first very little evidence of self-reliance.

Leaders do not copy. They do not reflect288

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the opinion of the majority. They think.They create. They make their own programand carry it out.

How few people stand for anything in par-ticular! The majority of mankind are merelyso many individuals in the census; they helpmake a little larger crowd; but how few menstand above or beyond their fellows and areself-sufficient!

Almost everybody you see is leaning onsomething or somebody. Some lean on theirmoney, some on their friends; some dependupon their clothes, their pedigree, their socialstanding; but how seldom we see a man whostands fair and square on his own feet; whogoes through life on his own merits, and isself-reliant and resourceful.

In later life we never quite forgive thosewho have allowed us to lean upon them, for weknow that it has deprived us of our birthright.

A child is not satisfied when his father showshim how to do a certain thing. But watchthe exultant expression on his face when byactually doing it he has conquered the thinghimself. This new sense of conquest is anadded power which increases self-confidenceand self-respect.

A college education does not develop the

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practical faculties. It merely furnishes theworkman with his tools. He must learn bypractise how to wield them skilfully. It isthe school of " hard knocks" that developscharacter and brings out the success materialin a man.

Henry Ward Beecher used to tell the fol-lowing story of how he was taught, when aboy, to depend on himself:

" I was sent to the blackboard, and went,uncertain, full of whimpering.

" ' That lesson must be learned,' said myteacher, in a quiet tone, but with terrible in-tensity. All explanations and excuses he trodunder foot with utter scornfulness. ' I wantthat problem; I don't want any reason whyyou haven't it,' he would say.

" ' I did study two hours.'" ' That's nothing to me; I want the lesson.

You need not study it at all, or you may studyit ten hours, just to suit yourself. I wantthe lesson.'

" It was tough for a green boy, but it sea-soned me. In less than a month, I had themost intense sense of intellectual independ-ence and courage to defend my recitations.

" One day his cold, calm voice fell uponme in the midst of a demonstration, ' No! '

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" I hesitated, and then went back to thebeginning; and, when I reached the same pointagain, ' No! ' uttered in a tone of conviction,barred my progress.

" ' The next!' I sat down in red confusion." He, too, was stopped with ' No! ' but went

right on, and finished; and, as he sat down,was rewarded with ' Very well.'

" ' Why,' whimpered I, ' I recited it just ashe did, and you said " No! " '

" ' Why didn't you say " Yes," and stick toit? I t is not enough to know your lesson;you must know that you know it. You havelearned nothing until you are sure. If allthe world says " No," your business is to say" Yes," and prove it.' "

The greatest service a teacher can render apupil is to train him to depend upon himself,to trust to his own powers. If the youth doesnot practise self-reliance, the man will be aweakling, a failure.

One of the greatest delusions that a hu-man being could ever have is that he is per-manently benefited by continued assistancefrom others.

Power is the goal of every worthyambition, and only weakness comes fromimitation or dependence on others. Power is

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self-developed, self-generated. We cannot in-crease the strength of our muscles by sitting ina gymnasium and letting another exercise forus. Nothing else so destroys the power tostand alone as the habit of leaning upon others.If you lean, you will never be strong or origi-nal. Stand alone or bury your ambition to besomebody in the world.

The man who tries to give his children astart in the world so that they will not have tostruggle as hard as he had to, is unknowinglybringing disaster upon them. What he callsgiving them a start will probably give thema setback in the world. Young people need allthe motive power they can get. They are natu-rally leaners, imitators, copiers, and it is easyfor them to develop into echoes, imitations.They will not walk alone while you furnishcrutches; they will lean upon you just as longas you will let them.

It is self-help, not pulls or influence, self- re-liance, not leaning upon others, that developsstamina and strength.

" He who sits on the cushion of advantagegoes to sleep," said Emerson.

What is there so paralyzing to strenuousendeavor, so fatal to self-exertion, to self-help, as to be helped, as to feel that there is

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no necessity for exertion because somebodyelse has done everything for us!

" One of the most disgusting sights in theworld is that of a young man with healthyblood, broad shoulders, a presentable pair ofcalves, and one hundred and fifty pounds moreor less of bone and muscle, standing with hishands in his pockets longing for help."

Did you ever think how many of the peopleyou know are just waiting for something?Many of them do not know just what; butthey are waiting for something. They havean indefinite idea that somehow somethingis coming to them, that there will be somefortunate conjunction of circumstances, orsomething will happen which will make anopening for them, or some one will help them,so that without very great education or prep-aration or capital, they can get a start forthemselves, or get ahead some way.

Some are waiting for money which maycome from a father's fortune, from a richuncle, or some other distant relative. Othersare waiting for that mysterious somethingcalled " luck," a " pull " or a " boost " to helpthem.

I have never known a person who had thishabit of waiting for help, or for somebody

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to give him a boost, of waiting for somebody'smoney, or for assistance of any kind, or forluck to come to him, that never really amountedto much.

It is the man who strips himself of everyprop, who throws away his crutches, burnshis bridges behind him, and depends uponhimself, that wins. Self-reliance is the keythat opens the door to achievement. Self-reliance is the unfolder of power-

There is nothing that will so undermineself-confidence, which is the very foundationstone of all achievement, as the habit of ex-pecting help from others.

A man at the head of a large company re-cently said that he was trying to place hisson in another business house, where he wouldget hard knocks. He did not want him tostart with him because he was afraid hemight lean on him or expect favors.

Boys who are pampered by their fathers,allowed to come to business at all sorts ofhours, to leave when they please, and to remainaway when they feel like it, rarely amount tomuch. It is the development of self-reliancethat gives strength and confidence. Depend-ing on oneself is what develops the power ofachievement, the ability to do things.

SELF-RELIANCE 295

It is a dangerous thing to put a boy wherehe can lean on his father or expect favors.It is a difficult thing to learn to swim inshallow water, where one knows he can touchbottom. A boy will learn a great deal quickerwhere the water is over his head, where he iscompelled to swim or sink. When he has cutoff all chances for retreat he will reach theshore safely. It is human nature to leanwhen possible, not to do a thing until we feelthe spur of necessity. It is the " must" inour lives that brings out the best thing in us.

This is why boys who never amount tomuch at home, when they are always helpedby their fathers, often develop marvelous abil-ity in a very short time when they are thrownupon their own resources, when they areobliged to do, or bear the disgrace of failure.

The moment you give up trying to get helpfrom others, and become independent and self-reliant, you will start on the road to success.The moment you throw overboard all help out-side of yourself, you will develop strengthyou never before realized you possessed.

There is nothing so valuable in this worldas your own self-respect; and you cannot keepthis if you go from one person to anothertrying to get help. You will be an infinitely

IIi

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stronger man or woman if you will justmake up your mind that you are going torely upon yourself, that you will put your-self in a position of independence.

Outside help may seem to you a blessing attimes; but it is usually a curse because ofits crippling power. People who give youmoney are not your best friends. Yourfriends are those who urge you, who force youto depend upon yourself, to help yourself.

There are plenty of people older than youare, with only one leg or one arm, who man-age to earn a living, while you who arehealthy and physically able to work are look-ing to others for assistance.

No able-bodied person can feel that he isquite a man while he is dependent. Whenone has a trade, a profession, or some kind ofoccupation which makes him absolutely in-dependent, he feels a sense of added power,resourcefulness, completeness, which nothingelse can give. Responsibility discovers abil-ity. Many a youth discovers himself for thefirst time when he goes into business for him-self. He might have worked for years forsomebody else without ever finding himself.

It is not possible to develop one's utmostpossibilities while working for somebody else.

SELF-RELIANCE 297

There is not the motive, the same reach ofambition or enthusiasm. No matter how con-scientious to duty, there is not the same stim-ulus or incentive to bring out the possibleman that God intended. The best in a manis his independence, his self-reliance, his orig-inality, and these will never reach their high-est expression under service to somebody elsewhile human nature remains what it is now.

It does not take a great amount of skill, along experience in seamanship, to steer a shipin a calm. It is when the ocean is lashed intofury by the tempest; it is when the ship isplowing through the trough of the sea whichthreatens to engulf it; when everybody elseis terrified; when there is a panic on boardamong the passengers and when the crew isin mutiny, that the captain's seamanship istested.

It is only when the brain is tested to itsutmost, when every bit of ingenuity and sa-gacity a young man possesses must cometo the rescue of a possible failure, that he willdevelop his greatest strength. It takes monthsand years of effort to stretch small capital overa larger business without disaster. It is theperpetual struggle to keep up appearances, toget and to hold customers, that will call out

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the reserve in a young man. It is when moneyis scarce and business dull, and living high,that the real man is making his greatest prog-ress. Where there is no struggle, there is nogrowth, no character.

What are the chances of a youth develop-ing his own innate resources who knows hehas money enough to buy his " education " andneed not work for it, and who pays a tutorto help him cram for examinations? Whatare the chances of his buckling down to hardstudy, working nights and parts of holidays,of seizing every spare minute for self-better-ment, self-improvement, in the same way asthe boy who knows he will not have a dollarwhich he does not earn, who knows there isno rich father or uncle or generous friendbacking him?

How can a boy develop any self-reliance orindependent manliness by having somebodyelse do practically everything for him? It isthe exercise of a faculty that makes it strong.It is the struggle to attain that brings outthe stamina.

I do not believe it is possible for a manto put forth the same amount of exertion,to struggle with the same exasperation of pur-pose as when he feels that all outside help

SELF-RELIANCE 299

has been cut off; that he must stand or fall byhis own exertion; that he must make his ownway in the world or bear the ignominy offailure.

There is something about the situation ofbeing thrown absolutely upon one's own re-sources, with no possibility of outside help,that calls out the greatest, grandest thing ina man, that brings out the last reserve of effort,just as a mighty emergency, a great fire orother catastrophe calls out powers which thevictim never before dreamed he possessed.Power from somewhere has come to his relief.He feels himself a giant, doing things whichwere impossible for him just before the emer-gency. But now his life is in peril. Thewrecked car in which he is imprisoned maytake fire, or he may drown if he clings to thewrecked ship. Something must be done in-stantly; and, like the invalid mother who seesher child in peril, the power, the force, whichcomes only in sheer desperation, rushes tohim and he feels a strength which he never be-fore felt aiding him to escape.

Man has always remained close to the brutewhere he has not had to struggle to supplyhis necessities. Want has ever been the greatdeveloper of the race. Necessity has been the

.

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spur which has whipped man up from theHottentot to the highest civilization.

Inventors, with pinched, hungry faces ofchildren staring them in the face, have reachedinto the depths of their being and laid hold ofpowers which wrought miracles. Oh, whathas not been achieved under the pressure ofwant, of stern necessity! We never knowwhat is in us until we are put to the test, un-til some great crisis uncovers the hidden powerwhich lies so deep in our beings that no ordi-nary occasion can call it out. It responds onlyin emergencies, in desperation, because we donot know how to reach deep enough in thegreat within of ourselves to lay hold of it.

A boy once told his father he had seen awoodchuck up a tree. His father said thatthat was impossible, for woodchucks didnot climb trees. The boy insisted that a doggot between the woodchuck and his hole andhe just had to climb the tree. There was noother way out of it.

We do " impossible " things in life simplybecause we have to.

Self-reliance has been the best substitute forfriends, influence, capital, a pedigree, or as-sistance. It has mastered more obstacles, over-come more difficulties, carried through more

SELF-RELIANCE 301

enterprises, perfected more inventions, thanany other human quality.

The man who can stand alone, who is notafraid of difficulties, who does not hesitatebefore obstacles, the man who believes in hisown inherent power to do things — he is theman who will win.

One reason why so many people carry suchlittle weight in the world is because they areafraid to do things or to have convictions.They do not dare to do their own thinking,or to be positive. They must trim a littlehere and a little there so as not to antagonize.They put out feelers to see how you standand whether you agree with them before theydare assert what they think, and then theiropinion is merely a modification of your own.

There is something in human nature whichloves the genuine, the true, the man whohas an opinion of his own and dares to assertit, who has a creed and dares to live it, whohas convictions and dares to stand by them.

We only feel contempt for the man whodoes not dare to show himself, to express hisopinion until he knows ours, for fear he mayrun counter to them or offend us. The manwe respect and would imitate is he who fixeshis aim beyond the range of the narrow vision

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of those about him, who has the courage aridgrit to stand forth and do his duty regardlessof criticism. Such a man is not disheartenedbecause he is not understood, for he knowsthat it is only the long-sighted who can seehis target, that if he takes a long range hisobject must invariably be invisible to mostof those about him.

There is a powerful tonie in holding theconviction that you are in the world for apurpose, that you are there to help, that youhave a part to perform which no one else cantake for you, because everyone else has hisown part to fill in the great life drama. Ifyou do not act your role, there will be some-thing lacking, a want in the production. Noone ever amounts to much until he feels thispressure — that he was made to accomplish acertain thing in the world, to fill a definite part.Then life seems to take on a new meaning.

XVII. MENTAL FRIENDS AND FOES

We can make our minds art galleries of beautyor chambers of horror; we can furnish them withanything we please.

E THINK in mental images.They always precede thephysical realities. The men-tal pictures are copied intothe life, etched upon thecharacter. The whole physi-cal economy is constantly

translating these images, these mental pictures,into life, into the character.

A thousand times better allow thieves toenter your home and steal your most valuabletreasures, to rob you of money or property,than to allow the enemies of your successand happiness — discordant thoughts, diseasethoughts, sick thoughts, morbid thoughts,jealous thoughts — to enter your mind andsteal your comfort, rob you of that peace andserenity without which life is a living tomb.

Whatever you do or do not do for a liv-ing, resolve that no morbid, discordant,sick thoughts shall get access to your mind.Everything depends upon keeping your men-

3°3

304 SELF-INVESTMENT

tal faculties clear and clean. Keep the holyshrine of your mind, God's temple, pure andfree from all your thought enemies.

A discordant thought, a morbid mood,when once harbored, breeds more discordantthoughts and more morbid moods. The mo-ment you harbor the one or the other it willbegin to multiply a thousandfold, and growmore formidable. Do not have anything todo with discord or error, or the brood of mor-bid moods. They spoil everything they touch.They leave their wretched impression on every-thing. They rob one of hope, happiness, andefficiency. Tear down all these sable picturesfrom your mind, all the black images. Dispelthem. They only mean mischief, failure,paralysis of ambition, and the death of hope.

We must stand on guard at the door of ourthoughts; keep out all the enemies of our hap-piness and achievement. We have no realenemies except those which live in our ownminds, which are generated by our own pas-sion, prejudice, and selfishness.

We are so constituted that we must doright, we must go straight, we must be cleanand pure and true and unselfish, magnanimousand charitable and loving, or we cannot bereally healthy, successful, or happy. Perfect

[1 iff

MENTAL FRIENDS AND FOES 305

harmony of mind and body means a cleanmentality-

What a tremendous amount of wear andtear, wrenching, rasping, aging friction wecould prevent, if we had only been taught aschildren always to shut the doors of ourminds to all tearing down, destructive enemythoughts, and to hold in the mind ideas thatuplift and encourage, that cheer, gladden, andrefreshen, encourage and give hope! I haveknown instances where a fit of the " blues,"depressing, gloomy, melancholy thoughts,sapped the life of more vitality and energyin a few hours than weeks of hard work wouldhave taken out of the man.

We sometimes see the power of thoughtstrikingly illustrated when a great sorrowor a disappointment or a heavy financial lossin a short time so changes the personal appear-ance of a man that his friends scarcely recog-nize him. The cruel thought bleaches the hairand seems to laugh demoniacally from thewrinkles it has made in the face.

What fearful havoc jealousy will make in alife within a few days or weeks! How it ruinsthe digestion, dries up the very source of life,whittles down the vitality, and warps thejudgment! It poisons the very centers of life.

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It is pitiful to see the wreckage of hopes andhappiness and ambition in a life after hurri-canes of passion have swept through themental kingdom.

If the child were properly trained in theart of thinking, what an easy thing it wouldbe for the grown person to avoid all this — tobring beauty, poise, and serenity to the mind,instead of the desolation wrought by the enemythoughts, the thieves of joy, the burglars ofhappiness and contentment.

Why do we learn so quickly that on thephysical plane hot things burn.us, that sharptools cut us, that bruises make us suffer, andendeavor to avoid the things which give painand to use and enjoy the things that give pleas-ure and comfort, while in the mental realmwe are constantly burning ourselves, gashingourselves, poisoning our brain, our blood, oursecretions with deadly, destructive thoughts?How we suffer from these thought lacerations,these mental bruises, these burnings of passion;and yet we do not learn to exclude the causesof all this suffering.

It was not intended that man should suffer,but that he should rejoice, and forever behappy, buoyant, and glad. It is the pervertedthought habit that has deteriorated the race.


Everybody ought to be happier than the hap-piest of us. This was the Divine plan. Wemight as well say that the maker of the mostperfect watch that was ever constructedplanned for and intended a certain amount offriction and imperfection, as that the Creatorwho " doeth all things well" intended thatman should have more or less suffering.

To get rid of our thought enemies requiresconstant, systematic, persistent effort. Wecannot accomplish anything else worth whilewithout energy and determination, and howcan we expect to keep the enemies of our peaceand prosperity out of the mind without ener-getically resisting them, driving them out ofconsciousness, locking the door of the mindagainst them ?

We do not seem to have any trouble in keep-ing personal enemies out of the home, peoplewe dislike very much, people who injure usand lie about us; why can't we keep out of thereception rooms of the mind the enemies ofour thought?

If we walk barefoot in the country we learnto avoid the sharp stones and briers whichwould lacerate our feet. It is not difficult tolearn to avoid the thoughts which hurt us,which lacerate us and leave ugly scars,—

308 SELF-INVESTMENT

the hate thoughts, jealous, selfish thoughts,which leave us bleeding and suffering. It isnot a deep problem; it is only a question ofkeeping out of the mind its enemies, and enter-taining its friends.

Some thoughts send hope and joy, glad-ness and encouragement, bounding throughthe whole system; others restrict, repress allhope, joy, and contentment.

Think of the possibilities for happiness, pros-perity, and long life could we all keep in themind strong, vigorous, resourceful, productivethoughts!

It is impossible to entertain the thought ofdiscord while the mind is dwelling upon harm-ony; of ugliness while beauty is reflected inthe mental mirror; or of sorrow while joy andgladness predominate. Sadness and melancholycannot outpicture themselves upon the bodywhen good cheer, hope, and joy live in themind.

If you persistently keep these enemythoughts — fear thoughts, anxious thoughts,disease thoughts, sick thoughts — out of yourmind a while, they will leave you forever; butif you entertain them, nourish them, they willkeep returning for more nourishment, moreencouragement. The way to do is to discourage

N1'


them by Closing the door of your mind againstthem. Have nothing to do with them, dropthem, forget them. When things have goneagainst you, do not say, " That is just my luck.I am always getting into trouble. I knew itwould be just so. It always is." Do not pityyourself. It is a dangerous habit. It is not avery difficult art to learn to keep the mind-slate clean; to erase unfortunate experiences,sad memories, recollections, memories whichhumiliate, pain us; to wipe them all out andkeep a clean mental slate so far as the past isconcerned.

You have no conception of the peace, com-fort, and happines that will come to you aftervigorously making up your mind and persist-ently carrying out your resolution never againto have anything to do with the things whichhave kept you back, have crippled, cramped,strangled your efforts; the things which havepained you and made you suffer bitter pangs.

Have nothing more to do with your mistakes,short-comings. No matter how bitter theyhave been, blot them out, forget them, andresolve never again to harbor them.

Of course, this cannot be done by a singleact of the will; but by persistency and deter-mination and watchfulness one can gradually

3io SELF-INVESTMENT

clear his mind of most of his enemies; and thebest way to get unfortunate, bitter, cruel ex-periences out of the mind is to fill it with goodthings, bright, cheerful, hopeful thoughts.

Ideas, thoughts, like everything else, attractwhat is akin to them. The thoughts whichdominate in the mind will tend to drive outtheir opposites. Optimism will drive out pes-simism. Cheerfulness will tend to drive outdespondency; hope, discouragement. Fill themind with the sunshine of love, and all hatredand jealousy will flee. These black shadowscannot live in love's sunshine.

Persistently keep the mind filled to over-flowing with good thoughts, generous, mag-nanimous, charitable thoughts; love thoughts,truth thoughts, health thoughts, harmonythoughts,—and all the discordant thoughts willhave to go. Two opposite thoughts cannotexist in the mind at the same moment. Truththoughts are the antidote for error; harmonyfor discord; and good for evil.

Most of us fail to appreciate the differencebetween the influence of diverse thoughts orsuggestions. We all know how a cheerful, op-timistic, encouraging idea gives a thrill of well-being, how it rejuvenates, re-creates. We feelits tingle to the tips of our fingers. It per-


meates and quickens as an electric shock ofjoy and gladness; it brings with it fresh cour-age, hope, and a new lease of life.

The man who can keep his thought right cansubstitute hope for despair, courage for timid-ity, decision and firmness for hesitancy, doubt,or uncertainty. The man who can keep outthe enemies of his success by filling his mindwith his friend thoughts, optimistic, coura-geous, hopeful thoughts, has a tremendous ad-vantage over the one who is the victim of hismoods, the slave of the " blues," discourage-ment, doubt. He can accomplish more withfive talents than the man who cannot masterhis moods can with ten.

The value of our life output will depend verylargely upon the degree with which we cankeep ourselves in harmony and keep from ourminds the multitude of enemies which killinitiative and neutralize efficiency through de-structive friction.

You cannot affirm too often or too vigor-ously the idea that you were made in the imageof perfection, love, beauty, and truth, made toexpress these qualities and not their opposites.Say to yourself: — " Every time an idea ofljatred, malice, revenge, discouragement, orselfishness comes into my mind, I have

312 SELF-INVESTMENT

done myself an injury. I have struck myselfa blow that is fatal to my peace of mind,my happiness, my efficiency; all these enemythoughts cripple my advance in life. I mustdestroy them immediately by neutralizing themwith their opposites."

It does not matter whether it is fear, anxiety,worry, dread, jealousy, envy, selfishness; what-ever can in any way mar the symmetry andbeauty of life should be expelled as a fatalenemy.

Acute worry, anxiety, jealousy, bad temper,nasty disposition, — all these things are symp-toms of a diseased mind, acute or chronic.Any sort of discord or unhappiness is an evi-dence that there is something wrong inside ofyou.

The time will come when we shall realizethat every fit of anger which racks andwrenches the delicate nervous system, everytouch of the hatred and revenge thoughts,every vibration of selfishness and fear, anxi-ety and worry — even the temporary passingthrough the mind of a jarring or discordantthought — will leave its indelible mark in thelife and will mar the career.

When discordant from worry, anxiety,anger, revenge, or jealousy, you may know


that these things drain your energy andwaste your vitality at a fearful rate. Theselosses not only do no good, but grind away thedelicate mental machinery, inducing prematureage and shortening the life. Worry thoughts,fear thoughts, selfish thoughts are so manymalignant forces within us, poisoning the bloodand brain, destroying harmony and ruiningefficiency, while the opposite thoughts producejust the opposite result. They soothe insteadof irritate, increase efficiency, multiply mentalpower. Five minutes of hot temper may makesuch a havoc in the delicate cell life of differ-ent parts of the body that it will take weeks ormonths to repair the injury, or it may never berepaired. Terror, horror, a great fear shock,have many a time permanently' whitened thecoloring matter in the hair, and producedpermanent aging marks on the face.

When we realize, therefore, that these emo-tions and all forms of animal passion are de-bilitating, demoralizing, that they mar, scar,and make fearful havoc in the mental realm,and that their hideousness is outpictured inthe body in pain and suffering, in correspond-ing ugliness and deformities, we shall learn toavoid them as we would avoid physical pesti-lence.

314 SELF-INVESTMENT

'i-

I

It was not intended that man should suffer,but rejoice and forever be happy, buoyant,jubilant, and prosperous. It is the pervertedthought habit that has deteriorated the race.

All that seems discordant to us is but theabsence of the divine harmony, just as dark-ness is not an entity in itself, but an absenceof light. The time will come when discordwill be lost, neutralized in harmony.

Love, charity, benevolence, kindliness, goodwill towards others, all arouse the noblest feel-ings and sentiments within us. They are life-giving, uplifting. They make for health, har-mony, power. They all tend to the normal, toput us in tune with the Infinite.

If we can preserve the integrity of the mindand protect it from its enemies — evil andvicious thoughts and imaginings — we havesolved the problem of scientific living. A well-trained mind is always able to furnish theharmonious note in any condition.

Every man builds his own world, makes hisown atmosphere. He can fill it with difficul-ties, fears, doubts, and despair and gloom, sothat the whole life will be influenced to gloomand disaster; or he can keep the atmosphereclear, transparent and sweet by dispelling everygloomy, envious, malicious thought.

LU11


Hold the enduring, the immortal thoughtin the mind, and all discord will disappear.When the mind is held in the creative attitude,all that is minus, all that is negative — theshadows and the discords — will flee. Darknesscannot live in the presence of sunlight; dis-cord cannot dwell with harmony. If you holdharmony persistently in the mind, discord can-not enter; if you cling to the truth, error willflee.

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newed ambition. I shall ever keep it near at hand asa frequent reminder and an invaluable text-book."

H. H. WILLIAMS, Brockton, Mass.

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' I


Ibe Can Mbo ftbtnfte ibe Can

Will Do Amazing Good" I believe ' He Can Who Thinks He Can,' compris-

ing some of your editorials, which appear akin to divineinspiration in words of cheer, hope, courage and success,will do amazing good."

JAMES PBTER, Independence, Kas.

Greatest Things Ever Written"Your editorials on the subjects of self-confidence

and self-help are the greatest things ever written alongthat line." H. L. DUNLAP, Waynesburg, Pa.

Gripping Power" Presents the truth in a remarkably clear and for-

cible manner, with a gripping power back of the writing.It is beautiful and inspiring."

C. W. SMELSKR, Coopertown, Okla.

Beginning of My Success" Your editorials have helped me more than any other

reading. The beginning of my success was when Icommenced to practise your teachings."

BRUCE HARTMAN, Honolulu, T. H.

Wishes to. Reprint It" I have been very much impressed by the chapter on

' New Thought, New Life.' I would like to send acopy of it to two thousand of my customers, giving duecredit of course." JOHN D. MORRIS, Philadelphia, Pa.

Full of Light and Joy" I have studied the subject of New Thought for ten

years, but have never seen anything so comprehensive,so full of light and joy, as your treatment of it. WhenI think of the good it will do, and the thousands it willreach, my heart rejoices."

LOUISE MARKSCHEKFEL, Toledo, O.

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to tbe jFrontWhat President McKinley Saia

" It cannot but be an inspiration to every boy or girlwho reads it, and who is possessed of an honorable andhigh ambition. Nothing that I have seen of late ismore worthy to be placed in the hands of the Americanyouth." WILLIAM MCKINLEY.

An English View" I have read ' Pushing to the Front' with much

interest. It would be a great stimulus to any youngman entering life." SIR JOHN LUBBOCK.

A Powerful Factor" This book has been a powerful factor In making a

great change in my life. I feel that I have been borninto a new world."

ROBERT S. LIVINGSTON, Deweyville, Tex.

The Helpfulest Book"'Pushing to the Front' is more of a marvel to me

every day. I read it almost daily. It is the helpfulestbook in the English language."

MYRON T. PRITCHARD, Boston, Mass.

A Practical Gift"I t has been widely read by our organization of some

fifteen hundred men. I have personally made presentsof more than one hundred copies."

E. A. EVANS, President Chicago Portrait Co.

Its Weight in Gold"If every young man could read it carefully at the

beginning of his career it would be worth more to himthan its weight in gold." R. T. ALLEN, Billings, Mon.

I27HO., cloth, illustrated, $1.50

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OPINIONS OF

"Hieing in tbe THflorlb" A storehouse of incentive,

a treasury of precious sayings; a granary ofseed-thoughts capable, under proper cultivation, ofa fine character harvest."—EDWARD A. HORTON.

" A stimulating bookwhich is pitched at a high note and rings true."

— EDWIN M. BACON.

" Has all the excellences of styleand matter that gave to ' Pushing to theFront' its signal success. Dr. Marden's powerof pithy statement and pertinent illustration seemsinexhaustible."—W. F. WARREN,

Former President of Boston University.

Touches the Springs of Life" Dr. Marden has touched the springs of life

and set forth with marvellous and convincingpower the results obtained by those inspired byhigh resolves, lofty aspirations, and pure motives.No one can rise from reading this book withoutcleaner desires, firmer resolutions, and sublimeambition."—MYRON T. PRITCHARD,

Master of Everett School, Boston.

Its Immortal Possibilities"Has the same iron in the blood, the same

vigorous constitution, the same sanguine temper-ament, the same strong fibre, the same nervoustension, the same immortal possibilities as ' Push-ing to the Front.'"—THOMAS W. BICKNELL,

Ex- U. S. Commissioner of Education.

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BU"?

PRESS REVIEWS OF

Qttp fnmtg Mwx Entering IBuatttaaa

" A readable volumeon a substantial topic, which discusses actualquestions. The counsel of an experiencedperson." Pittsburgh Post.

Abounds in Specific Advice" We can easily conceive that a young man who

gets this book into his hands may, in after life,date his success from reading it. It is sound,wholesome, stimulating. The treatment is con-crete. It abounds in specific advice and tellingillustration." Southern Observer.

Stimulates and Encourages" Packed as it is with sensible, practical coun-

sels, this volume can be cordially recommendedto stimulate and encourage young men startingout in business life." Brooklyn Times.

A Necessity to Earnest Young lien" There is such a thing as the science of suc-

cess. Dr. Marden has made a study of it. Hewrites in simple, attiactive style. He deals withfacts. The book should be in the hands of everyearnest young man who wants to succeed in life,and succeed in the right way."

Christian Advocate.Entertaining as Well as Helpful

" So interwoven with personal incident andillustration that it is an entertaining as well as ahelpful book." Christian Observer.

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Opiniohs and Reviews of Dr. Marden's

Zbe Secret of achievementExasperating

" ' The Secret of Achievement' is one of those exas-perating books which you feel you ought to present toyour young friends, yet find yourself unwilling to partwith." WILLIAM B. WARREN, Former PresidentBoston University.

Art of Putting Things" I have studied Dr. Marden's books with deep inter-

est. He has the art of putting things; of planting inthe mind convictions that will live. 1 know of no worksthat contain equal inspiration for life."

HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH.

A Great Service" I thoroughly feel that you are rendering a great

service to young men and women in America andthroughout the world."

REV. R. S. MACARTHUR, D. D., New York City.

The Difference" ' Pushing to the Front' is a great book and' Rising

in the World' is a magnificent book, but ' The Secretof Achievement' is a superb book."

Success against Odds" This volume contains a series of stimulating anec-

dotes and advice showing how energy, force of well-di-rected will, application, lofty purpose, and noble idealsserve to win success even against the greatest odds.Many a young man will draw inspiration from it whichwill aid him in making his life work a success."

School Journal.A Healthy Book

" It is a healthy book and encourages everything that ismanly and straightforward." New Orleans Picayune.

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PRESS REVIEWS OF

ffalfte vottb greatA Practical Book

" We could hardly place a more practical bookthan this in the hands of the young; for nothingis more fascinating than the romance of reality,the study of worthy achievement under difficulty,the contrast between obscure beginnings and tri-umphant endings ; nothing is more valuable thanto teach just such lessons as these through themedium, not of fiction, but of fact."

The Palladium.Of Impressive Interest

" Very vividly reported and pertinent to livingquestions and aspirations of the hour. The vol-ume of interviews as a whole is of impressive in-terest. It affords many specially interesting bitsof personal opinion and experience."

New York World.A Stimulus to Endeavor

" The book is a good one for young men andwomen who need a stimulus to endeavor."

Buffalo Express." It will pay anybody to read

in this book how representative successful peopleof a representatively successful age advanced totheir present positions in the world. This vol-ume is vital with interest besides being full ofphilosophy and practical hints." Boston Herald.

Of Value to the Ambitious" Will not only prove interesting reading, but

of the highest possible value to ambitious menand women striving after success."

Omaha World-Herald.

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PRESS REVIEWS OF

©ptimietic XtfeHolds the Attention

" The title of this book attracts the attention,and the contents rivet it." The Watchman.

Rich in Thought and Suggestion" A book rich in noble thought. Few are those

who will not wince under the good-natured thruststhat Dr. Harden gives their foibles and weak-nesses, but few also are they who may not findmuch helpful suggestion here."

San Francisco Chronicle.

Strengthens Spirit and Body"Dr. Marden has done an immense amount

of good by this practical advice and encouraginginsistence upon the essentials of happiness. Thespirit of the toiler needs strengthening quite asmuch as his body." Christian Advocate.

Its Wholesome Brain Fare"This volume contains quantities of plain,

wholesome brain fare for the misanthrope andthe cynic. One closes it with an irresistiblecraving to hunt up Dr. Marden and get acquainted."

Des Moines Register.

Both Uplifting and Necessary" 'Do not look on life through smoked glasses'

is Dr. Marden's motto. He believes so enthusi-astically in cheerfulness, energy, and kindnessthat he can almost persuade one to believe thereis no necessity for old age, sorrow, or discourage-ment. Still there is no doubt but his message isnot only uplifting but necessary."

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