Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-07-29

Orson Fowler. the phrenOlogist ex
claimed TO his partner. My, what a
fine ANIMAL Mr.. Beecher was u fine
animal. As you look upon the picture
OF that magnificent head you are not
surprised to hear that young Henry
Ward Beecher was the finest football
kicker Of his class In Amherst college
But as | look upon long row of pic
lures of the worlds most eminent min
listers of the past generation find that
almost without exception they were all
good animals. 1t is almost an impos-
sibility for any man to stand in the
front rank Of the ministry today with
out being II physical athlete. Rev.
Robert Collyer. the poetic preacher of
New York. graduated from the black
smiths forge. but many ministers
who are preaching in our large cities
today could easily step from the pulpit
to the blacksmith forge and strike a
herculean blow. so great Is their phys
ical as well as mental stamina.
! enter the law offices Of the late Sem
ator William NJ. Evarts. "Mr. Choate,"
/ say, why did your partner make the
wonderful success he did? For years
he stood at the head of the New York
bar" Our late ambassador to Eng
land answers: Because Mr. Evarts
was good animal He could sit down
at his desk and work on case day in
and day out for eighteen hours out of
every twentyfour. He had mental
equipment. and he had also unlimited
physical resources" William NJ. Evarts
was able to succeed when others failed
because his backbone was strong as IL
made of steel. What Is true of the
lawyer and minister is also true of the
physician. the inventor and the mer-
chant. The reason one class of men
fails and the other succeeds is often
due not more 10 great mental strength
than to physical stamina.
THE survival of the fittest." Oh. yes.
We find it in the law of physical equip
ment. Young men. young women. in
this struggle of life are you going to
allow yourselves 10 be trampled under
foot merely because you do not look
after your physical health? Are YOU
going TO let the great opportunities Of
life slip from your grasp merely be-
cause you have not taken the proper
physical exercise and food and sleep
for your lungs and heart and stomach?
oh" said William L. Sherman to
General Grant one day. Il feel just as
able TO carry on another war as | did
twenty years ago" You may feel so.
Sherman" answered General Grant,
but feeling so does not make you able.
We may be mentally as bright as we
ever were. but we could not stand the
physical strain" The civil war was
fought and Won Just as much by
Grants stomach as by Grants brain
Young people. by the law OF the surviv-
al of the iittest God bids you take care
OF yourselves physically This is tru-
ism, but 1t Is truism the Darwinian
teachings. as well as the divine COM
mandments. never tire of pressing
home TO human hearts. l see the broad.
stout chested farmers boy coming to
the town and pushing the pale faced
physical weaklings to right and left
Christian Comm utsm.
l would also tell you that there is an
memorable law of the survival of the
fittest in the mental world The man
who can think the quickest. the man
who can supply some long felt want In
the community, is the man who is going
10 crowd his competitors to the wall,
and there is no help for il. The same
law which makes it possible for a cat
to pOunce upon little chicken or
leopard to leap upon the back of
fawn is precisely the same law which
makes il possible for the man Of brains
to climb TO his throne over the backs of
men who have no brains. Communism
says: THAT is not right No one man
should have more than his fellows"
But communism may talk from now
until doomsIay. Talking will do no
good. There is a universal law Of the
survival of the fittest I'm mental way,
and no communism except the COM
munism of Christian love can change it.
How is this law working out-that
brains which think trample over brains
which do not think: Why, you can see
its results on every hand. Thirty or
forty years ago every little town had
its cobbler. This cobbler not only re-
paired the shoes and boots, but also
made the shoes and boots. but one day
there came along u man with brains.
He said to himself: What is the use
Of all these cobblers making their
boots by hand? l will make machinery
do the work of flesh and blood" This
man Of brains went to work. He built
a large factory. He employed 200
hands. He made these 200 hands. with
the use of machinery, do five times the
work which the same number of hands
used to do. lie also lowered the SELL
ing prices. The shoes and boots were
sold one third cheaper than they used
to he. The man of brains who drove
out the village cobbler was the same
kind OF man that drove out the village
wheelwright. The man of brains who
drove away the village cobbler is also
the kind Of man of brains who took
away the business Of the typesetter.
One day this man OF brains walked