The Washington herald., 1915-08-15

ny JOHN ID. BARRY

| One hears good deal nowadays about the i'm
portance of health. The relation of mind and
body is strongly emphasized 1t is generally &C
cepted that sick body may produce sick mental
and that sick mental states may cause phys
cal ills.
The tendency of the day is to lay great stress on
keeping the mind wholesome. We all know that
some of the most terrible ills of life result from
Embellishments of. mind.
But there is kind of mental unwholesome-
ness that is seldom mentioned in connec-
ton with homilies on this subject.
1t is keeping the mind closed.
Most OF us keep our< minds closed in some
directions.
Some OF us keep our minds closed in nearly
all directions. They grow to be like sunless, i'll
ventilated rooms.
| know a man who seldom reads book. From
the point of view OF some academic lover of
knowledge he would be considered uncducatcd,
perhaps ignorant.
And yet he is one of the most highly educated
of men.
How has he received his education?
Chiefly by listening and by looking, by keeping
open-minded.
There many ways of acquiring education
There the schools and the colleges and the
universities. Some educators believe that these
institutions provide the only way.
In this matter they show that they have not in
themselves achieved the chief aim of education
which is to throw open the doors of the mind to
all the wholesome influences of life. They are
unaware of the vast number of intellectual sources
lying all around us.
On an Atlantic steamship once | met an
ceedngly interesting He well-known
gambler. By gambling he had made fortune.
In the reading of the ship | used to see him
reading books by John Fiske By chance we fell
into talk. He told me about his love of books OF
old furniture and of paintings. He had made a
collection Of Whistlcr's paintings and he had
known Whistler intimately. About Whistler,
both as an artist and man. he related many
delightful anecdotes. u became interested in
paintings" he said because | wanted my chill
dren to learn to love the best things in the worI
OF art. And for similar reason | developed an
interest in reading. Later, in furnishing my
home, l began to take an interest in furniture.
After all he sagcly remarked, they arc one and
the same interest They show the mind of man
at work to express itself in forms of beauty
Now that impressed me as being an cdu-
Gated and cultivated man. In spite of devoting
himself to occupation that tends to concentrate
the mind one interest and to close it to most
OF the wholesome interests OF the world, he had
performed the feat of keeping open-mindcd.
The money that he acquired by gambling ena-
bled him to develop his mind.
And it was both interesting and pathetic to me
to see how the cultivation Of his mind had brought
its penalties. He had developed from gambler
into of intellectual cultivation, which is so
closely allied to moral cultivation, and in this
way, he had placed himself in situation that
must have been in many ways distressing.
Wealth in itself may be an education.
1t provides all kind of opportunities for reach
ing out and securing the things that develop the
mind Buying beautiful things usually develops
a taste for beautiful things
But, OF course, in the holding of wealth, there
must be the kind of mind that is ready to receive
and TO profit by the opportunities.
There plenty of rich people who show a |
phenomenal capacity for resisting their opportuni-
ties for education. They keep their minds closed
like fortress at the approach of the enemy.
OF late | have been hearing stories about the |
effort of club here to arrange a discussion of
the cruel treatment given by the Russian govern
mcnt to the revolutionaries. Some member of |
the club wanted to secure a speaker that should i
present the side of the Gar. Others objected. |
1t seemed to that those who wished to have
both sides presented showed the right attitude |
The others merely showed that they not
open-minded.
Here is OF the dangers of caring too much
about opinion OF cause. 1t may be the means
Of closing the mind. When we refuse to hear the
other side matter how strong our feelings may
be or how righteous, in bad way. The
instant we find ourselves struggling to silence
others whose opinions differ from our own VIC
may be sure that ought to do some careful self
We are harming, not merely the
cause OF the truth, but also violating the
spirit of tolerance, and making ourselves
he victims of own prejudice and fear.
The intellectually and morally tirnid always
lccp the doors OF the mind closed.
To keep the doors of the mind open is the
iabt of the intellectually and morally free
South America and Mexico.