The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1919-03-06
REV. MR.. NUCENT MAKES
ABLE ADDRESS TO ELKS
Discusses Control of The Mind in
Connection With The Regulation
OF Ones Activities-Misses Sew
ard And Richardson Furnish Ex-
celient Music.

! The Rev. Howard S. Nugent, assis-
tant rector of Great Choptank Par
| ish, was the speaker last Sunday at
| ternoon at the exercises at the Elks
Home, and delivered very able adj
dress upon the control of the human
machine Prof. James B. Noble, SUI
perintendent of the Public Schools OF
the county, presided, and in intro
| ducing Mr.. Nugent, stated that 1t
gave him especial pleasure to intro
duce to the audience former pupil,
in whose development he had taken
unusual interest, and that his pleas
ure was further augmented by the
| fact that the soloist of the occasion
had also been one of his former
pupils.
Rev. Nugent opened his address by
stating that it gave him great deal
of pleasure to have the opportunity
of addressing meeting that was at
tended by so many men, for it was
the experience Of most ministers that
usually the ladies predominated in
the bodies which they addressed.
While ministers were usually expec-
ted to make religious addresses, he
intended to take advantage of the
situation and discuss subject that
was only indirectly related to the re-
ligious side of life, but which still
had a very great bearing upon it, his
subject being "The Human Machine"
There are a great many men; in
fact, most men have hobbies of some
kind; some will spend practically all
of their leisure hours in tinkering
upon a piece of machinery; they will
take it apart, they will ascertain the
direct and indirect relations to each
other and to the whole of each OF
the many parts of an intricate ma
chine, they will endeavor to improve
upon it, they will try to master the
whole in all it's details, and become
experts upon the subject. They try
out the machine, and if it fails to
meet their expectations, with infinite
care and patience they will continue
their work. One develops his inter-
est in one thing, another in another,
and so all along the line Of human
endeavors.
But how few men make any effort
to analyze the human machine, them
selves; how few realize how delicate
ly and yet how strongly it is con-
structed; how few realize that upon
it's proper regulation and control de-
ponds not only their own happiness,
but, perhaps, the happiness of many
others. How few seek to controI
their minds, how few can concen-
trate their minds upon any subject
for any given length of time. How
many there are who let impulse gov
ern actions instead of mature thou
ght and elaboration. How many
have ever sat down and determined
to concentrate their mind solely up
on some one subject for given lem
9Th of time? How many tried to do
this, and have found their minds
fitting from one subject to another;
how many in conversation and In
their activities find themselves par-9
exterior matters to intrude
upon the very thing that they have
set themselves tc do.
A man may start out to take
piece of machinery to pieces, and to
put it together, and he permits moth
ing to interfere with his work, but
when he starts out to control his
own mind, to master that portion of
his own machinery which he most
needs to control, all kinds of matters
and subjects are permitted to inter-
fere; impulses both good and bad
are allowed to break down the con-
troll and throw the machinery out of
gear; he allowes outside matters to
control the one part of his machinery
of which he most needs to be master.
The way, he stated, to control
ones mind, in order that the mes
sages that may be sent from the
brain to. the hands, the feet, the
tongue and the different portions of
the mechanism making up the hui
man machine, is by practice; by care
fully cultivating that control; by sit
ting down and requiring ones mind
to think upon one subject, to the ex-
clusion of all others, for a given per-
iod of time, the time being short at
first, and gradually heightened, un-
til complete mastery is obtained.
One cannot expect to accomplish this
in one attempt, but practice makes
perfect, and continued efforts along
the line will result in the control
desired, and how many sharp words
could thus be avoided, how many
serious differences, how many awk-
ward situations, how much unpleas-
antness could be averted, and how
much more happiness would come in-
to the lives of all, how much sweeter
life would be, how much better
would everyone feel.
The meeting was opened with an
instrumental solo by Miss Maud
Richardson, after which Miss Mary
Blanche Seward rendered solo, at
ter which came the address by Mr..