The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-03-05
A DEEP SUBJECT
CLEvERLY HANDLED
Blackstone's Chautauqua Paper on "Suc-
cessfuI Achievement" Proves the Wri-
ter's, Ability to Handle Weighty Topics
With Eminent Credit.
BRAIN POWER LESSON

| WIN eutuVut VtVuts
BRAIN POWER LESSON
The following paper on Success
full Achievement" was read by
Blackstone" at the quarterly meet
ing of the Chautauqua, and drew
forth generous applause from the
audience:
There are certain questions that
the thoughtful mind has always ask
ed, and is asking today, who am I:
what am 1? and whence came l:
These questions have puzzled the
ages, and are no nearer solution to-
day, than the formala of scientists
who glibly refer to basic principles
governing the law of cause and ef-
feet. We find ourselves confronted
with fact and not a theory. Why
do some men attain successful
achievement in the battle of life,
while others miserably fail? The
answer is PLAIN; successful men use
their brain by intelligent thinking,
while the unsuccessful man merely
initiates and is content to be a
spoke" and to be used as a spoke" "
Locke, on his celebrated treatise
on Human Understanding" main
tains thai man possessed with a
normal brain is capable of doing
anything, no matter how difficult or
intricate, provided, there is present
a desire and willingness to use his
brain for successful achievement.
That any one by practice may ac-
quire skill and proficiency in any
art or profession. Therefore, his
theory use legs and ban legs
Use your brain if you desire brain
power.
Education is not reading or cram
ming the mind full of facts and fig
ures. Education is thinking =
thinking intelligently concerning
what you have read. DR.. Frank
Crane in the January Cosmopolitan
concisely states the thought in these
words: There are two kinds OF
people, the strong and the weak
the capable and the incapable. The
difference between them is only;
that the strong change their motives
likes and passions at will, through
patience and practice, while the
weak are impotent to resist the in
ward desires that produce deeds"
The Difference in Men
Pass through any large manufac-
turing stabfishment and note the
difference between the skilled me-
cnan1c and the common laborer.
Why does one receive four dollars a
day and the other two dollars? 1t
is simply a question of brains and
their use-one~was ambitious, capa-
ble and willing to make the most of
the advantages offered him; the 9TH
er was selfish, lazy, and unwilling to
exert himself to become an efficient
workman. He was in groove
without ambition to advance or to
assume any new responsibility.
We find then, that with brain
power is allied ambition-the two
are inseparable. Did you ever know
brainy fellow who was not also,
an ambitious one?
1t is maintained by many that the
lack of college education is an in
surmountable obstacle in the fight
for name and place in the business
world, and those unable to go to col
lege often pity themselves. But they
need not do so,-a graduate of the
College of Hard Knocks has an
equipment that will carry him to
the front. while the individual with
a piece of sheepskln neatly printed
is merely a polished spoke in the
commercial wheel. You may say of
college life, as the French proverb
says of travel: Les voyages for
ment la junesse, quand ills ne la de
torment pas" (That it forms youth,
when it does not deform YOUTH.
Many of the thousands who are
sent to college by fond parents imi-
tate the ways of the rich and are
filed with the foolish ambitions of
the rich, relying for success upon
the childish, easily broken and for
gotten friendships of college days,
their energies and ambitions are too
often misdirected and when compel
led to make place for themselves
in the business world find that col
lege graduate with pen in his hand
sitting at his desk, is no better than
any other boy able to multiply. add,
or copy in a fair handwriting.
1t is not my intention to under
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