Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1897-06-29
THE FOODS OF THE MIND.

Sweet. sweet Kitty Clover.
Little Kitty, the Flower OF kildee.
DANA HARLowE.
THE FOODS OF THE MIND.
Ifpeople would only be careful what
they put into their minds. II man
were like tree II would not make so
much difference. The tree ahsorbs only
what II needs for growth and beauty. IL
takes from filthy water, from mixed soil
or from unpleasant fertilizers, and trans
forms all that II needs into wholesome
nutrimeut. The mind OF man Ia not such
chemical laboratory. II the mind were
simply reservoir, In compartments, u
could be more easily managed. We
could pump il out and cleanse IL, and get
rid Of the bad material taken In, Ignorant
ly or inadvertently. Whatever the soul
| Ia, IL Is net this sort Of receptacle. II We
could conceive Of II "a material, IL might
be some volatile essense or gas, with a
hungry affinity for everything. Suppose
II to be pure originally; 1t seems 10 its
affinity TO lack the power OF selection or
rejection, Of Transforming what it absorbs
into healthy growth and beauty. The
pure essence IL changed In substsnce-it
Is colored: II Is stained; II Is tainted.
Sometimes II shines and sparkles, and this
iridescence, which perhaps IL OF decay,
like Cypriote glass, Is called beauty. A
sinful and beautiful soul. Is there any
process by which II can be redistilled and
purified: Unfortunately there Is men,
ory, which holds fast all II gets. Why,
this essence is more intractable to purify.
ing treatment than butter. The house
wife knows how nearly impossible 1t Is
to restore to purity tainted butter, which
has been permitted TO absorb alien and
dlssgreeable odors. IL Is strange that
she Il much more careful OF her butter
than OF her chiid's mind, which Is much
more susceptible and delicate, much more
liable to take In vitiating material, that
becomes a part OF the mind itself, and Is
practically inersdicable. One can see
why an Eternity Is needed to forget what
one has learned in the brief space called
Time.
Can you not see the difference between
vicious mind--a mind transformed as II
by chemical action by reason OF unwhole-
some infiuences-and a diseased body.
We can understand something OF the
chemistry Of the body. Until Its tissues
are DESTROYED, 1t has the power OF throw
ing of deleterious substances. Nay, orig
inally II acts somewhat as a tree acts.
II selects and appropriates only what II
needs. We say, therefore, when the body
Is sick, give nature chance. These Ills
are TO some extent foreign, and the nor
NAL life can cast them of. Even habit In
the body Is not so inexorably tyrant,
usually, as memory Ia in the soul. Look
ing at the soul, or the mind, asan en-
tity, n something separate from the body,
Il Ia made up of Impressions; so far as II
can manifest itself to US II Is what II has
gathered into itself. II ii Is made up OF
vicious impressions, what labor 1t will
be-memory standing by mocking-to
transform Its bad elements into good ele-
ments. The mind of the child, like some
ethers, takes In everything that offers,
without discrimination, and becomes OF
the substances II absorbs. What would
not many adult men and women give II
they could cast out from the very fibre
OF their minds the vile images and sug-
ges,ious got when the mind was In Its
most plastic state!
This Ia all theory. Yes. You cannot
raise mind under glass. No. There
must be knowledge, sll sorts OF knowl'
edge. The world, the whole world, must
flow into the mind. 1t must know evil
as well as good, and be strengthened to
resist the one and attain the other. True.
But let US talk little about children.
At no other period Of life Is acquisition
of knowledge 80 rapid as In the first ten
wears. The curious mind is infinitely
active in its attempt to know the uni
verse. Impressions made then are the
strongest. All the surroundings are
eagerly absorbed, and IL We could look
within We could see the process OF mind
being made by that absorption. No two
minds are alike 10 this power Of taking In
or In original capacity. But all alike are
formed. inyigorated, deteriorated, made
| noble or debased, colored or stained oy
what they take in. 1t is evident that the
quality Of the mind can be largely de.
termined in these plastic years. The child
must see the world, but its meaning VIII
be interpreted to him by what Is told him.
He will begin to form habit OF looking
at II In one way or In another way. This
| is the beginning Of the formation OF taste.
| Il depends upon his teaching and his sur
roundings whether he acquires taste
for that which Is pure and noble or that
which Is base and vulgar. A vast amount
of his knowledge Is Of course self-ac-
ouired, the necessary consequence In a
susceptible mind let loose In new and
| intensely interesting world. But the de-
termining bent for life may be In the
mental tastes and habits formed BY what
he hears daily and reads. Men and
women, some of them, learn by bitter
experience what is harmful, and when
they come to years of discretion, II they
ever do. they regret the intellectual food
| which they took that Is vicious. The
child can be helped in this habit Of dis
| criminarion. II care Is taken 10 the fam
/ ily. In the school, that what he hears
and reads Is pure and elevating, he will
get a strong liking for that which !.
good, and this liking, this b .bit will
| fortify him against the evil In liter
sture and In talk when he comes In con-
tact with 1t. Thus 1t is Of tremendous
importance that nothing should be put
into the mind Of the child by those In
authority that is not wholesome and
linyigorating. These are all common.
places, and would not need to be insisted
| =. 20 .,.onts a nd roo chera were az care