Norwich bulletin., 1922-12-30
HE MAN WHO TALKS

There are two opposite. tendene.4s of | the human r1End fn. regard to matters ofE belief: First, not only the disposition to, cling tenaciously to the old with. little CT i no devfation from the past, but looking critically, on everything new; secondly, is 1 the fad of turning down all that is old as | outgrowu and useless, and looking on all conservatives as nossbacks and oppo- nents to progress. Probably the truth lies about midway between these two DO sitions. When a conservative carries his logic to absurdfty, some reactionary comes along and swings just as far to the opposite extreme. Each thinks he is tight and each has some of the truth, but, the extremes Of belief on any sub tect do not contain all the truth And right here is where the trouble of con troversy comes in: the refusal of one side to, credit their opponents with hon. esty. One side claims that the others do not want to see the truth. They seem to think there is no truth apart from their
 views. This is clearly seen in letters written to newspapers.
 . This general statement is sufSested by the coming of Emile coue, the eminent Frenchman. to America to lecture and exhibit his theory of mind cure. Of
 course, this healing of the body through mental phenomena is not new to us Its
 basis is ln the ideaiistic philosophy. which is as old as Aristotle Outward body is derived from inward soul because the soul is form which the body interprets ! The theory propoundeds and so ingenious l ly worked by Mrs Macy Baker C. Eddy was not original with her but she gave
 it a modern twist. It is perfectly idle to say that 1t does not. have some basis Of
 fact. but it Is a case where logic runs 1 into absurdity. Mrs Eddy served very 1 important purpose, She showed the American people that it was perfectly ab- surd to make drug stores of their stom- achs. Coue like Mrs Eddy, perhaps is overemphasizing the influence of mind
 over matter, but that 1t does have infn- ence over matter Is clearly indisputabIe.
 The Emmanuel treatment by Dr. worces- | ter in Boston, and the New Thought sys-
 tenn. are but variations of the same Idea. Now the eminent Coue comes here win i the same great stun which is "se1f-mas-
 tery through conscious imagination"
 l By the time these sayings appear in l print the year. of 1929 will have nearly 1 finished its course. At. such a time 1t is l perfectly r1atucal and rational to take the backward look. People sometimes make a mistake-that is, some people do-in living too much in the past. To them there have never been such glorious times as in the days of tfleir ancestors The present is the period of decadence Degeneracy marks all human events. To them the temple rebuilt simply accentu. l ates the departed glory of the departed temple. It is quite possible to make a
 mistake in the opposite direction, i. G. living altogether. in the present having no organic connection with the past and f no purpose for. the future. At New Years such people are brought up with d jolt l if .anythins can jolt them. What have they derived from the sum total of ex- ner' encAs tfat have come into their lives l in 1922? These things ought to be the
 Dasis of bur action in the coming year.
 There arc many ways in which people | generally find themselves in a dilemma, Il in other words, between the devil and the deep sea" That is two courses oi
 action may be taken Tn a given matter either of which will be violently resented
 by somebody. The only thing to be done in such a case is. of course, to act ac
 cording to our best judgment presume that more than one householder has gont
 through the following experience durint [ the recent icy period. His sidewalk be
 came very dangerous because of tht :. son. to come along is some middle azet : or quite aged man or woman: saving. or : at least, thinking 'The man who will tol crate such sidewalk ought to De ar lI rested And they go nipping along an, al possibly swearing-inSide. Soon a buncl | of rosy school children come along art : shouts: .""Ain't this fine! Some ma, . lives here !''~Bttt if later in the dav the, ]! find tfeir. Slide covered with sand 6 /, ashes they grow red in the face and ex
 claim. Darn the old crab; lie ought t sii be huue!'
 : ,,. The riEht sort of an educdti6n is thas :. which seeks to develop every human fat I ulty. If only one-half of "a man is edr cated we have the wopbler who goes zie Ii zagging through life getting nowhere. I c this way fanatics are made who are, fr . capable of looking at two sides of a l question; The public schools put emphs
 sis upon the. cultivation of the ment: l. | powers, while churches and Sunda ' schools, are supposed to incu.cate nor. 2 instruction. Along this line greater Etres ? ought to be put On the exercise of kint Q ness. Sometimes 1t is frightful to hes 2, the names that school children give or l. another, and how they push. and strik ,. and claw one another; to see the d;spos
 ton to stone dogs, cats and other ino Se fensivs animals. One of the worst sie1 z that a boy or girl Can show is cruelt 2 It forecasts a low, mean, selfish. trut | life in the adult period.
 ,s FerefathersP day. ont of whose sbaao ,et We have not yet entirely passed. has mo "a than one lesson. It celebrates a gre
 deal more than fidelity to religious CO
 vtctions; much more than the establfs
 ment of that form of government tn
 was best suited to their political nee6 Is As: for boldness and daring 1t stands asit the side of the great achievements
 Columbus; In both instances it showed
 willingness to take 2 great chance for .saf great cause. Has. this phase of the st of tlement of New England been suficfer ts ly ernphasized? The daring spirit of
 tof these carly expiorers of the unknos
 tcontinent cannot be too highly praise ;t No ffoughtfui person can enjoy the l pal ;I taaf comforts of a transatlantic tfin VI tday without feeling how. much the leatly adventurers made possible
 great blessing has come to the woi ey apart from someone's bo1dness and q: of ing. The world has few greater ass;
 than courage.
 Some scientist haS be<il bsi6 efoss.. hs to predict that the tir1s Is coming vii s,, we shsW know enough about the piai s5 Mars t! discourse intelIigentiy upon
 different tvnes Of mind that it's peo
 possess. This prediction is made on
 strength Of the increase Of the knowieS on of Mars that has been made during 4h last decade Rit what a calamity -n- tFne Just think Of the tTia! of cfp9g
 our poor minds with any more types
 mind than we are trying to digest 4 present. A mere glance at EuronA V sM sn an atteynnt to understand the "i.ffer ms types of mind" that stravgle all the w