The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-05-26

rior to the brute. WrongfuIy used memoir. mn
aeina ton and the allied faculties would, il per
sisted in. surely a~nnihilate our civilization.
The history of the past 10000 years as indeLt,v
written in the substance OF the earth Itself prove.
civilization to be an intermittent and recuTreut
phenomena. Nations rse. bloom and decay be
cause with the accumulation OF material wealth
the pressure of necessity decreases and the ird-
vidual citizen, ceasing to strive, relaXes and be.
comes soft and prematurely senlle-eVen neur4s
thenic, if YOU please.
When weary it is very easy and very pleaSan,
to relax and sink into that delightfully."- dreamy
state. but here lies the danger, tor IT is III that
state one so readily become interpretive and b.
impercepuble stages drifts into s~elf-sympathy and
selfpity and quickly becomes selfconscious and
selfcentered.
A selfcentered mind is like a root bound plant.
unless the roots are shaken out and free SO they
NAV continuously reach out into new soil that
plant will surely sicken and die. Smash the pot
and the roots will shoot out into new soil and tie
plant will grow and thrive. Just as the self
centered mind must break out Of its shell OF self
and forget itself in working, fighting, striving tor
something worth while. Refuse to be a shallow.
rooted dollhouse plant, the world needs minds
with strong roots deeply buried in human inter
ests, great enough to serve a cause tor the cause
sake in the face Of heavy odds. Such work does
not develop neurasthenics-it cures them.
The lowest forms of life merely sprawl and iced.
A baby sprawls and feeds too; but with the first
dawn of intelligence begins a struggle and a fight
to a definite end-the attainment OF knowledge
through experienced fight that never ceases,
and that never fails to react in personal develop
ment either, SO long as that wonderfully efficient
driving power, interest, is maintained. The
trouble with most of US larger children is that We
are not really interested in anything. We relax
and demand to be amused; we sprawl intellec
tuallv and feed on Sensuous excitement: such
ideas as current events incite are vague, diffuSe,
thin and weak-they do not grip us. That IS
why comparatively few of us ever think IN the
true sense Of the term, and that is why like little
children we must again learn to use our powers
If we would be we'll.
The dominating instinct in man is fear and
this is why self-contemplation is dangerous. There
are many store rooms in the basement of mans
consciousness, commonly known as the sub CON
sclous mind, and in these dark and forgotten cor.
ners many strange things are stored. only waiting
for the opportunity when they may come forth to
puzzle and contOund us.
There is nothing mysterious or terrible about
the subconscious phenomena if, with a full knowl-
edge of the laws Of the universe, Of which we are
a part, we frankly consider ourselves a link IN the
chain Of life extending from an incomprehensblv
remote past to an equally lncomprehensible and
remote future.
We deem it not at all strange, merely because
we happen to be familiar with the fact, that there
is handed down to us strong memories out of the
remote past in the form Of striking resemblances
to a grandparent, or to a greatgrandparent, or to
one even still more remote. All inherited traits
are but cell memories: then why strange or mys-
ferrous that there should be handed down to us
in the same way and from the same source out of
lar, but none the less memories, Of a past long
left behind in the advancing consciousness of the
racer
In these latent impressions will be found the
key to the very pitiful truth that the dominant
impression IN the mind of man is that of fear.
and that this is undoubtedly the source OF those
so-called causeless terrors Of early childhood com
ing at d period before terror should be known,
and lii later years coming to us SO furtive1y in the
night and in all weakened conditions due to IL
ness, to sudden surprise, or to relaxation from
any cause, a fear impossible to overcome bv anv
reasoning because it was burned into our svnpa-
thetlc nervous systems back in the past when
devils lurked behind every leaf and man was in
constant terror of the unknown.
With the dawn OF a more intelligent comprehen-
sion OF the universe there has come an appre-
cation that natures movements are so vast and
contain SO many complex and never to be under
stood forces that balance and coun ter balance
each other, that ones confidence in ones self is
always IN inverse proportion to ones knowledge
OF the laws involved. Hence. the most intelligent
physician uses the least medicine because he real
ICES more keenly than any one else the completely
OF the phenomena with which he has to deal and
the extent to which conclusions are likely TO be
Nlnated by unknown factors in the problem. And
today, throughout the world, the issue is being
49, Taypreptlv hut holdf,. ,o4