Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-06-14
CAN LITTLE WILLIE
BECOME A GENIUS?
Yes, Almost, If His Parents Go
About It in the Right Way-They
Must Look to Willie's Mental
Cellar.
BY ROSS HoLYoKE


fancy. There lies little Willie in his crib. Al
sorts Of potentialites reside in Willie. II
may become great builder of bridges. II
may write great poems, win great battles. o
he may die in the electric chair. Which vii
It be? Every fond parent has his hopes
nay. has his convictions. Is not every lttl'
Willie the brightest boy that ever toddied
Does any little Frankie or Georgie uttei
such bright remarlss7 The father Of little
Willie is an authority on this subject and
he emphatically says not.
Yet as little Willie grows 'closer and closer
to manhood, what is that manhood to be7
VIII he keep up his bright remarks and be-
come a great sage7-or Just an average sue
cessful corner grocer? There lies the hitch
Little Willie In his crib is after all only a
guess. Or he has been UP to now Until
today you never could be sure of Willie.
Even where Willie reallyihas grown UP to be
a great man, tho fact is often discovered
only after Willie has been dead for CEN
turtles.
"Bliffkins" in Letters Of Fire
Now all this is changed You may con-
fidently hope for the best in regard to Willie
More Ian that you may make deadly sure
of his becoming credit to the family BY
following simple directions William Bllfrkns
William Bllmlsns, Jr, will one day wake to
write the family name in letters Of fire across
the sky This is spoken on the authority of
the new psychology.
And after all It is very simple very plausi-
BILE It rings true, Psychology says that
every human being contains one complete
subconsciousness, given free with his life.
This subconsciousness carefully and auto
matically stores up every impression, every
experience encountered by the owner thereof
from his earliest days. The conscious men,
ory may not retain these Impressions but
tho subconsciousness does down to the last
detail. Everything that passes through the
eye, the ear, the nose, is dumped forever into
this subcellar of the mind. Most of these inn
presslons lie there unusued A few of them
creep up into the conscious memory and
stick there. Some of them only creep up
when you are asleep, and scare you dread
fully. But they are there all the time, never
theless. And the man Of genius is only the
man who has learned how to fish up useful
matter from his mental cellar and put 1t to-
gether effectively. So, at least, the new
psychologist says.
1t stands to reason, too, when you listen to
his argument. Most men of genius were re-
garded as fools in their boyhood. Scott was
always at the foot of his class Darwin was
the despair of his father who wanted him to
be a minister. Balzac's papa trained him to
be a lawyer, and worried nights about his
boy. And why this apparent stupidity? Only
that the boy deliberately or not, is devoting
all the resources of his mentality to stock
that cellar of his with all the Impressions he
can gather. He is too busy with that to
bother his conscious mind with learning
dates in history or the names of English
kings.
When the man of genius Is at work, he
scarcely needs to work his brain at all He
just Dreams and up come the impressions
from his mental cellar Colerldge wrote
"Kubla Khan from a dream. All he had to
do was to rhyme 1t, and there II was. Goethe
often woke from sort of somnambulistic
state in which he wrote poetry without even
taking the trouble to be awake Great mathe-
matcians have had excruclatingly difficult
problems solved for them by their subcon-
ciousness, and while their real brain was
enjoying the comforts Of sleep. In OTHER
words genius consists simply of having a
well-stocked cellar. And of course, knowing
how to use 1t.
Stocking Up the Cellar
But as every human being is presented |
with one of these mental cellars at birth, |
what simpler than to teach him how to fill it |
well, and then utilize its contents Find out
what chiefly interests little Willie, and then
slap that to him with all your might II
Willie displays an early aptitude for flowers.
perhaps it means that he has an eve for
color and will become a painter Take him
gently by the hand and walk him out into
the country and let the landscape soak into
him. Show him the subtle differences be-
tween the noses of your friends. Help him
TO gather all the details essential to his craft.
Soon he will let go your hand and forage for
impressions on his own account. And be
sure you give him his head. The little bud
ding genius win know better than you what
TO put into his cellar,
or you might put pen In his hand, and
study II he have an inborn aptitude for it's
use 1t may well be that he is destined 10
be a great poet. Next try a saw. Engineer
ing or architecture may be his forte. But
once you have detected his true bent throw
everything you can into his cellar that can
be OF any practical use TO him afterward.
Show him the Brooklyn bridge. Let him
hear sweet music And above all be sure you
do not interrupt those moments when he sits
and seems to be thinking Of nothing, Those
are the dreams of genius. He is listening TO
the impressions swirling round in his cellar.
You see, we have never properly harnessed
up our subconsciousness. Anybody can do f.
The man or genius is what ne Is only be-
cause all untaught he has learned the trick
OF making his subconsciousness do his work
Tor him. 1t seems TO be a willing worker.
once you have learned how to drive IT,
The new psychologist viii tell you how
TO set to work. You win find this mat
ter far from being Joke. Because you NAV
do harm as well good with the subeon.
OF your darling While. For In
stance. never threaten Willie with the police
man when he Is naughty. Later IN life that