The Llano colonist. [volume] (Llano, Calif.) 191?-1937, 1922-10-07

ne athlete, the miner, tine IuInDcI-
man, the blacksmith, the ditcher, and
all that class Of hard-working people,
develop sinewy physique. but are
many times lacking in mental capacity.
On the other hand. the lawyer, the
preacher. the teacher, the book keep
er, the business man. and all that class
are overdeveloped in their particular
lines, with mental ability in COMPARE
son with their physical bodies.
So we'drift from one extreme to the
other. We become totally physical
man or mental prodigy. This. of
course, is not the path of us all; but
lit is the unbalanced life career that
millions of us follow, until, at the pre-
sent time, science can make the rigid
statement that we use but one seventh
lof our brain power.
Some men become so skilled in type
writing that they do it automatically;
others reach the same perfection in 9TH
Ter lines Of work. Such man has be-
come but machine and if he is not
careful, he will be Of no more use to
the world than piece Of machinery.
Men who do the same work day after
day, week after week, month after
month, and year after year, and whose
children and children's children con-
tinue to do the same work, decade after
decade, become worse than a piece of
machinery. They do not improve or
better their lives one particle; but,
, when an old piece of machinery, they
will run no more and will be replaced
with a new and better one, more up
to-date, more easily manipulated. and
more productive. Some particular set
of cells and muscles of this generation
of generations has become so we'll train
: edand the rest SO "well'' neglected that
the individuals are as one-sided as a
pair of trousers with one leg. .
Such are our lives. We become
electricians and develop only our me-
chanical ability, or lawyers and devel-
OPP only our desire for oratoy, memo
DRY and dominance; or we become mu-
sicians and develop only our musical
talent; or farmers, and become worms
q of the soil. We become but monoman-
4 Iiacs, in world of boundless learning,
simply because we fail to exercise our
e bodies, including the brain. We must
exercise every cell in cur bodies. es-
: pecially those Of the brain, if we in
Il tend to be real men and women. Take
\ physical exercise daily to keep the phys
II icaI body fit and mental exercise daily
{ to keep the mental body clear, alert,
II and active. One is as essential as the
: Iother, and both MUST be taken if the
;. whole body is to be strong and healthy.
Il Physical exercise is taken thru ex-
= erting energy. Mental exercise is tax
$ en- thru learning. Learn not one pro-
= fession, but a dozen. Be not satisfied
: with knowing how to lay bricks, but
\ learn to make the bricks and the NOR
& tar they are laid with. Be not salts
\ fled to build a mansion for your mas
\ ter while you live in leaky shack, but
} find out why the labor you give should
\ not go to make you mansion also.
\ And when you have found that out, be
l not satisfied to still live in your shack,
hut help to remedy the cause and put
to rout the system that has made you a
slave. That is mental exercise. That
is education. That is what makes men
powerful. A man is not longer con-
sidered a great man because he has
brawny muscles. He is great because
his mind is brawny, so to speak, and he
has made it SO by exercise.
The great men Of to-day are not
men with strong physiques. They are
men with ordinary muscular power
and thousands thoughts. Henry Ford
is mechanic, an inventor, writer, a
business man, and. above all, logical
thinker. So are all other men of inn
portance; thinkers and doors.
The world is emerging into new
era Of learning. and it is being led by
men and women who exercise every
muscle and every brain cell in their
bodies. The world to come will be a
world of learning and service render
: ing. He who has a broad knowledge
and can put it to practice for the good
lof humanity will be the leader in the
future. He who has but one idea and
one goal will follow
Thus, let us exercise every muscle
and every cell Of our bodies and be
men and women as we were born to be.
Let us live to learn; for knowledge is
power.
1893