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Contents |
LAUGH AND LIVE
CHAPTER XI
SELF-EDUCATION BY GOOD READING
The character of a man expresses itself by the
books he reads. Every well-informed man since
the invention of printing has been a close reader
of a few books that stand out from among the
many. We read of Lincoln devouring the few
books he had, over and over again and studying
from cover to cover and word for word the Web-
ster's dictionary of his day. We know that Grant
had his favorite volumes from which he drew
inspiration and solace. These men made eternal
friends of certain great thinkers and drank in
their learning with all the fervor of their natures.
"A few good books, digested well, do feed
The mind."
"Feed the mind!" That's the idea—but how
shall we feed it? The answer is easy—with some-
thing worth while—something that will inform [93]
and inspire. We can cram our minds to the point
of indigestion with useless, frivolous information
just as easily as we may cram our stomachs with
certain foods that tear down rather than build
up. The habit of reading the right sort of books
should begin early in life and continue through-
out our days.
Good books are real . . . and as we read we
feel, hear, see and understand in the way the
author did. If what is said appeals to our way
of thinking a new world is unfolded to our vision
filled to the brim with things we can think about
and add to our stock of knowledge. While we
are buried in its leaves we may live over the
thoughts that the writer lived. For the time be-
ing he becomes as real and vital to us as the dear-
est friend we possess. Gradually, as the time
passes by, he creeps into our affections until our
lives would not be complete without the com-
radeship of his cherished book.
Books that become our "pals" are not neces-
sarily books of the so-called classical type. Lit-
tle known volumes may prove to have enough [94]
thought stored away between their covers to keep
us interested all our days. The great books will
prove their worth in a short time no matter how
poor the binding, how bad the type or how cheap
the paper. These things are after all only the
outward manifestations and though we like to
see our friends dressed well yet we know that the
clothes do not make character unless there is,
character there in the first place. And so it is
with books. These little ungainly volumes which
we purchase on the stands may be the classics of
tomorrow . . . who knows?
We select our library carefully. No matter if
we live in a tiny hall bedroom on the top floor of
a boarding house we have a shelf somewhere with
a few good books on it. Emerson's "Essays" can
be had in one volume and are well worth having.
No other American writer has been so inspiring,
so invigorating as this thinker of Concord. One
cannot read his essays without having a desire
to get up and do. It is like a breath of fresh
air . . . a tonic . . . a stiff morning walk. It
stirs the mind to action and inspires us to lift [95]
ourselves out of the rut into which we have
fallen. One returns to them time after time,
each reading opening up new vistas of thought,
new lines of mental development.
As a man's stomach is what he eats, a man's
mind is what he reads. It goes without saying
that no healthy, active mind could exist without
the companionship of Shakespeare. Nowadays
it is possible to secure the entire works of the
immortal poet in one volume. There is a special
Oxford University edition which can be had for
a small sum. The type is large, the paper good
and there are many notes to help one over the
rocky places. There is no doubt of the truth of
the saying that a man who reads Shakespeare con-
sistently and with understanding needs no other
education. Like the philosopher Emerson he
boiled down the world's thoughts into terse sen-
tences and one goes into a new universe when
reading any of the plays. It is a good thing to
learn parts of them by heart so that we can
apply them to our own lives. They strengthen
the mind . . . their beauty lifts us into a great [96]
realism of splendid thought . . . and they fill
the heart with a longing to do something great.
Such books should become steady companions
through life. No matter where our duties call
us we should see to it that we do not leave be-
hind the thoughts of this master mind of Shake-
speare. The very fact that we have them near us
lifts us out of the monotony of nothing to do.
Among the books about America for Ameri-
cans perhaps Roosevelt's "Winning of the West"
is among the best. Not only has he thrown the
whole vigor of his interesting personality into
the writing of it, but he has given us a vivid pic-
ture of the conquest of the States by the set-
tlers. No man could read it without being
thrilled at the dangers our forefathers faced . . .
at the great courage they possessed . . . at their
hardihood . . . their bulldog tenacity. The
reading of such a book is like going back over
the years and living with them, sharing their
troubles and their enthusiasms. The man who
contemplates gathering a small library could not
afford to do without the inspiration of what his [97]
countrymen have done for him.
In choosing our books we must bear in mind
one thing—let them be inspiring. Let them be
of such a nature that when we read them we
will feel like going out into the world to accom-
plish something big!
That is probably the mission of great books—
to inspire and uplift. The world's greatest men
have been readers—would they have cared for
books unless they were inspiring? It is said that
when Napoleon was being taken to St. Helena
he advised one of the officers never to stop
reading.
Most of the things worth while are at some
time or other stored away in books by the think-
ers. Every phase of history, every movement to
better mankind and lift it above the drudgery
of mere toil, every beautiful thought is to be
found in them and the better the book the more
will be found in it of these very things. When
we have finished the day's work we can pull down
a volume from the shelf and in a moment be lost
in an entirely different world. The man who [98]
neglects to read surely misses the one best means
of broadening his mind.
All books of the better class furnish food for
thought and are excellent tools for the man of
initiative. To read means keeping in touch with
the big visions. We cherish these dreams and
make them real in plans of our own. Aspiration
is behind the pages of every worth-while volume.
It was the motive power which drove the author
to produce it and it should become a part of the
forces which drive us on to victory. Without
such inspiration we grope as children in the dark.
We are without a light to guide us on our way.
Books by such men as Marden and Hubbard
are great generators of the electricity of doing
things. They have put into words those inner-
most emotions which are the instruments of suc-
cess. They point out a way we may safely fol-
low. They loan us inspiration which causes us
to act for ourselves. They give us thoughts that
are useful and practical which we never would
have gained by virtue of our own reasoning
power. They made it a life work to coin into [99]
phrases words that inspire. Out of their large
experience came the logical sequences of cause
and effect. Not to profit by their teachings is a
crime against our own prospects—without them
we lag behind. Instead of progressing we look
on in wonder at what is going on in the world.
Somehow we cannot connect ourselves with the
big enterprises. And all because we failed to feed
our minds properly.
There is much to be gained both in pleasure
and knowledge by reading historical novels, and
the lives of great men. The books of Sir Walter
Scott and James Fenimore Cooper are rated
among the best in the world. Grant's autobiog-
raphy and the personal stories of other famous
Americans provide fascinating material with
which to establish and fortify our test for good
literature. The tales of modern American finan-
ciers is another field of absorbing interest.
The man with small means can provide himself
with a working library for a very little money.
Books are cheap. The public library is always
nearby and there is hardly a town of any size but [100]
what has one. When we purchase a book we
should be sure to obtain the best edition and be
careful that it is printed from good type and on
clear paper. Books are likely to become warm
friends. We should never purchase an abridged
edition.
Binding is not such an important factor,
although we like to have our favorite books put
up in a handsome fashion. With Shakespeare,
Emerson, Roosevelt, Scott, Cooper, Marden and
Hubbard one would have quite a representative
collection for a start. It would be easy to expand
the list into many more. Of course, those collect-
ing a small library who have a specialty, will want
books dealing with the subjects in which they are
interested. However, every practical library in-
cludes books of inspirational character, and if one
makes a study of the books written by great
authors it will be found that all of them profited
by the reading of books which caused them to
think. The Bible causes us to think!—and no
library is complete without it.
CHAPTER XII
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL PREPAREDNESS
It is not the object of this chapter to deal with
a set course of physical culture, but rather to
emphasize the necessity of keeping our physical
house in order. There are plenty of books on
physical culture which can be relied upon and
also any number of physical instructors who are
able to advise and help along a set program.
There are hundreds of places, institutions, clubs,
Y. M. C. A.'s, and the like, which provide gym-
nasiums and every other facility for those who
determine to build themselves up through con-
sistent physical exercise. That is all very well
to begin with, but afterward we must have some
simple methods of our own which will not make
it a hardship or a chore to keep ourselves in trim
—a state of physical preparedness. It should
become a part of our daily scheme to obey cer-
tain, simple rules which tend toward an auto- [102]
matic effort instead of a discipline, and we should
persevere in these until they become fixed habits.
It is no trouble at all to take exercise uncon-
sciously, and we only arrive at this by turning
into an exercise any of our ordinary physical ac-
tions during the day as we go along. For in-
stance, we can sit down in a chair and in so doing
can add a certain amount of exercise to the ac-
tion itself—also in rising. With very little effort
we can come into the habit of sitting correctly—
posing the body as it should be—holding the
shoulders in proper position—also the chin so
that it becomes a hardship to sit improperly.
All of this has to do with general physique.
In walking we can go along with a spring, elas-
ticity, and vigor of motion which forces a fine
blood circulation throughout the entire system.
We can stoop over in the act of picking up some
object from the floor and at the same time
make it a matter of physical exercise, and we
may take a hat from the rack while standing
away from it, thus stretching ourselves, as it
were, into a little needful action. Putting on [103]
an overcoat, or any part of our clothing, may be
done in such a way as to set the blood to racing
through the body. Morning and night—upon
getting up and upon retiring—there is every rea-
son to make it a rule to exercise freely.
The morning exercise wakes us up and sits
us down finally at the breakfast table with a zest
for the food set before us. The morning bath is
an agency for good in this direction after we have
given ourselves a good shake-up from head to
foot. By the same token, exercises at night be-
fore retiring induces sound sleep and takes away
the strain of the preceding day.
A very successful system is that of exercising
in bed. Instead of immediately jumping to the
floor in the morning it is very inviting to go
through some simple form of gymnastics in
which the physical structure is brought into play.
Physical exercise is something which can be
carried to extremes. We can go at the work so
intensely that we become muscle-bound and de-
velop some structural enlargements that we do
not need. This happens very often among ath- [104]
letes. The ordinary man should fight shy of
such plans. Superfluous strength is only for
those who have need of it. What we really want
is strength enough to carry us through our daily
rounds with comfort and a feeling of efficiency.
In a sense we all live by our wits and these
decline when not properly fed by our general
physical organization. Prize fighters are not
the longest lived people, nor are the professional
athletes. Their calling requires extra building
up which would be a positive handicap to the av-
erage man whose manner of life doesn't require
this super-development. In other words, there
are intemperate methods of exercising just as
there are of eating and drinking. We may easily
go too far. Again, we can sin just as greatly by
not going far enough. There was a time when
men of forty were as worn and old as men of
sixty-five and seventy are today. As a matter
of fact, nowadays a half-century mark is no
longer a badge of senility when a man has kept
himself fit and treated himself right.
We all have friends who are pretty well along [105]
in years by virtue of their carefully planned
physical training, plus their cheerful dispositions.
They are as sprightly and companionable as
though they were many years younger. We
should come to know early in life what a large
part good humor plays in physical fitness. In
previous chapters hearty laughter was extolled
as one of the very best of exercises. It is an
organizer in itself and opens up the heart and
lungs as nothing else will do. It makes the blood
go galloping all through the system. It is one
of the best automatic blood circulators in the
business.
Laughter takes the stress off of the mind, and
whatever is ahead of us for the day that seems
likely to become a burden is soon turned into an
ordinary circumstance. We smile as we go about
doing it.
A friend once said to a banker:
"How do you know when to lend money?"
The banker replied:
"I look a man in the eye and then I do or I [106]
don't."
The friend said:
"I would like to borrow ten thousand dollars
—now!"
"You shall have it, Sir," the banker replied.
This meant that the man who asked for the
loan was in a state of physical and mental pre-
paredness. If he had gone into the banker's
office looking like an animated tombstone he
wouldn't have had much of a chance to borrow
the ten thousand. It goes without saying that
the open-faced, hearty fellow inspires confidence.
There is nothing coming to the dried-up, sour
chap, and that's what he usually gets. And what
we get is largely a matter of our physical well
being. A modern philosopher observed that "the
blues are the product of bad livers"—and there
is no doubt but that he was right.
The problem of life is to fill our days with
sunshine. In so doing we shall find that the "lit-
tle graces" are those which will lend us the most
help. Tiny favors extended, words of encour-
agement, courtesies of all sorts, unselfish work [107]
carried out in an open manner, true friendships
and love, a hearty laugh, a sincere appreciation
of the other fellow's struggle to keep his head
above water, the conscientious carrying out of
all tasks assigned us—these are our helpmates
and they are the products of our physical and
mental equipment. Through these we come into
our knack of detecting friends among those who
are the salt of the earth.
It is impossible for the person who desires good
health to obtain it, or having it, to retain it, with-
out consistent effort. A watch will not run with-
out the proper regulation of the mainspring. We
must keep up our activities. We have taken the
earth and are turning it into something to serve
us—therefore the need of fine bodily prepared-
ness. Nothing can take the place of achievement
and it comes through physical and mental effi-
ciency. The one must not be neglected for the
other; both must be cultivated and developed
alike in order that each may help the other.
Happiness comes only to those who take care
of themselves. It is the natural product of clean- [108]
mindedness. No pleasure can surpass that of
a conscious feeling of our strength of character.
It is an all important element in men who aspire
to succeed. The man who rises in the morning
from a healthy slumber and plunges into the
bath after some vigorous exercise is prepared to
undertake anything. His world seems fair, and
though the sun may not be shining literally, it is
to all intents and purposes. Thus, we go swing-
ing along with a cheery smile, carrying the mes-
sage of hope and joy to all those with whom we
come in contact. Oh! It's fine to be physically
and mentally fit!
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