Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-10
Ideas

him he would tell me Of some new
idea that came to his mind since he
last saw me. Frequently he would re-
sort to paper and pencil and demon
strate some new way of getting rich
quick" Sometimes he would try to
persuade me to believe that the IDEAS
of a De Lcsscps. Stephenson, Tesla, Ed
son or MarConi are insignificant as
compared with his. This man of ideas,
however, had hard time to make
ends meet. He was, in fact, 'as poor
as church mouse"
one day / told him that his ideas
were OF no use to anyone, not even to
himself. and he became angry. He
never again showed the least DISPOSE
tion to tell me what new road he had
discovered leading to King Solomon's
mines. l was more or less anxious to
know. however. what had occupied his
mind since l disillusioned him, and
asked him about it, but he refused to
tell me. Thereafter he did not try to
meet me. but rather avoided me.
We all know that there is nothing
new under the sun" and ideas are no
exception Everything that was, is
and will be so long as the universe
lasts, ideas included. Ideas are. in fact,
the pillars of the universe; in other
words, the universe could not exist a
moment unsupported by ideas. Ideas
are evident everywhere. Man is the re-
suit of an idea; so is the blade of
grass, the beast in the forest, the ocean.
the mountain. etc. All manifestations
represent ideas in the abstract
The foregoing is true not only as re-
CARDS ideas of infinity, but also of
ideas in the lower scale of infinity, for
instance, ideas of men. Everything
which is the result of mental or ply
steal labor represents an idea of some
man OF woman. Did 1 say woman?
Well, l did; but pray do not criticize
me. | am aware that some men deny
that the gentle sex become possessed
of ideas, but | know that they do. The
only reason why we do not see more
objections as the result of mental or
physical labor of women is because
well, | will confess for them-not many
are anxious to exert themselves.
More and more do men as well as
women realize that ideas are either
good or bad. and when they have good
ideas they are quite willing, nay, anX-
ious to put them to practical tests.
There is hardly a human being who
does not become possessed of a good
idea during his or her lifetime, and If
he or she would only tell it to some
reliable person of sound judgment 1t
may become a means for great good.
We are as much in need of good ideas
today as we were in the past. There is
room for improvement in every field
of human endeaVor.
There is no denying the fact that
many have reduced their ideas to writ
ing or put them to practical tests, but
instead of being adopted or used the
individuals who put them forth were
ridiculed and ostraciSed. Let this,
however, not deter anyone from coming
forward with his or her idea. They
may be ridiculed and ostracised at first
but eventually the snobs and ignoram-
uses will come to their senses. People
are slow to adopt new ideas or make
use of new inventions because-well
there is a slight degree of coWardice
in everyone of us.
Make sure. however. that the idea is
a good one-one that would become use
full. For the world is full of dreamers
and cranks, and you would be wise to
keep out of that class. Right here
wish to say that there are dreamers
and dreamers, as we'll as cranks and
cranks IN other words, there are in
dividuals who may be regarded as non
compos mentis, as we'll as individuals
who have ideas too grand for the aver
age mortal to comprehend.
The birth of an idea, be it remem-
bered no one can command. Ideas
come and go, and no one knows whence
or whittier. The brain is not always
conscious that it is about to become
possessed of an idea, but when the for
mer is conscious of the latter's eX-
istence it must try to hold on to it.
Different individuals have different de-
grees of ability to receive and retain
ideas. Some can receive and retain
them until an opportunity presents it
self to put them to practical tests,
whereas others can neither receive nor
retain them. or if they can do the for
mer they cannot do the latter.
To some ideas come complete; to
others incomplete. Hence one must
know when an idea is and when not
complete This one can readily do by
studying the essence of the idea. But
whatever the idea may be of which you
become possessed, try to do something
with it, Do not let it linger in your
brain until it gets tired of its abode,
so to speak, and seeks more congenial
environments. True, you may not be-
come rich, no matter how much you
exert yourself i'm behalf of an idea, but
YOU will have satisfaction in enriching
mankind. Ideas are spiritual gifts, and
such gifts must never be weight with
those of mammOn.