Newspaper Page Text
' ' - " ■ " ■ ■ 11 — 1
Lucky Stones On the Elephant’s Back |
: ""XL7T — v-- ~ " T ~— " ’ _ '
- - .-■ *7 ——- -■' ■ ° _ . —-—* ~ ' . •* ■ ■ 11 - --■___
2_ "'■ ' “ ' ■■■—■'.:•— — Z - '■' ~7 ~ ~ -.JIZZ7~~ I—— ~~ _,_ "" . 7'.."*"‘" ~ _ »--■
'"- ■— < i | —:- • =
/ ~ , ■ - ' ———
— ■ , ’ , A b ••■ ■>-, '<'-• >/&• v .;■ .. . //ZV —Z> ■> gTZT - -- ->
- I • •-•-- I 'j ■
W' - wEp wE®— —
\\ . .. ■■'. •:• z.v • 1
' < Z-- 222 —==- ——
' .. ■ ZJ. 2 Z.Z: ’i '.<>.E . ■ ... . <||f
' --'/'t'A- i SF^ : w i -a ■■ • yjipivZ* *sgfe
- '- A*;/ I - /.h;,? 1 ‘ . .. ._ ivjgsposst- "- rB»- . ..
" -■ ■'4c -. e w / . \
<•* ' /"'" '-W' 4<Ri Wv« "'"’ <' -
■ ■ ? ■■■ -■-■ fcZ IStßw
r 1 SSSIBm
HIS picture shows you one of
many rough stone statues of
elephants that line the road
leading to the tomb of the Chi-
I nese emperors.
Along that road thickly
4 pH
strewn with superstition and terror are many
hideous, monstrous carvings of animals.
The Chinese coolie comes from afar to see
if he can throw a stone on the elephant’s back
and make it stick.
He selects his stone, flat on one side, he
makes his wish carefully, then with as much
skill as possible he throws the stone.
If it sticks on the back of the stone elephant
he believes that he will get his wish. If it rolls
off he believes that the wish will be denied.
Each of the huge elephants along the way
has a little pile of stones on its back. And
many other stones that have been thrown up
and have fallen down lie scattered about. To
play the game fairly you cannot throw the
same stone twice.
AAA
This is a very interesting picture of life and
of superstition. And beside it, to impress a
verv simple lesson, we show you a picture of
a mechanic BUILDING a brick wall.
The Chinaman throwing his stone, accom
plishing nothing, represents superstition ad
mirably.
And the mechanic laying each brick or stone
m its place, raising his wall steadily and surely,
’ng that he can finish the house that
he wants, represents science, modern, exact
thought.
It is very important that human beings
should, as rapidly as possible, get rid of super
stitions of every kind and that knowledge,
facts, logic, TRUTHS THAT CAN BE DEM
ONSTRATED should occupy usefully the
room in the brain taken up too often by super
stitions and all manner of stupid beliefs.
A A A
Never encourage young people to believe in
any superstition or falsehood, however pretty.
■ ancient or "respectable” it may be. Get out of
their minds all beliefs that are wasteful—ALL
SUPERSTITION IS WASTEFUL. If a child
has its mind on the idea that a pin on the
The Chinese Peasant Believes That if the Stone Sticks He Will Get His
Wish. If It Falls to the Ground He Will Lose the Wish.
The Difference Between Superstition and Sound Thought Is the Difference
Between the Ignorant Chinese Throwing Pieces of Stone to Stick On the Back
of the Stone Elephant and the Skilled Mechanic Laying His Bricks or His
Stones and BUILDING What He Wants.
To Get Your Wish in This World, Root Out Superstition and BUILD.
ground with the head toward you brings good
luck and should be picked up and that a pin
with the point toward you brings bad luck and
should be passed by, he wastes time on that.
He wastes THOUGHT, which is the one thing
that a man possesses of real value unless he
chooses to be a day laborer and sell muscle
without thought.
Make the children realize that there is no
such thing as good luck or bad luck, that there
is no such thing as a good omen or a bad one.
A horseshoe is not lucky; a black crow flying
across your path as you start out is not un
lucky.
It is not lucky for the Chinese peasant if
the stone that he throws sticks on the ele
phant’s back.
It is not unlucky for the American child if
he spills the salt it is only wasteful.
* A A
The child brought up to believe in super
stitions of number 13 and Friday and all the
others must be a superstitious man or woman.
And such a man or woman cannot ever hope
to be in the first class. Let young people look
at this picture and make them see the differ
ence between trusting to luck and trusting to
your own effort and steady work in the strug
gle to get the things that we need in this world.
The Chinese peasant might throw his stone
up in the air for fifty years and have nothing
at the end.
The level headed mechanic laying the
bricks or stones in his wall works for a few
weeks or months and has a house that will shel
ter him throughout life.
We can succeed, build up and achieve real
success only when we build methodically, build
on knowledge and on facts.
Superstition poisons the mind and makes it
act falsely. The young; man or woman believ.
ing in "luck” finds a ready excuse for failure,
and a reason for not trying.
The superstitious and credulous say after a
few failures, "Luck is against me. Why should
I try? I cant succeed anyhow. lam unlucky.
And once that feeble, weakening thought
gets into the mind, hope is at an end.
The man who knows that there is no such
thing as luck, and that we get what we create,
what »?e deserve, what we work for, keeps on
trying, knowing that each day his chance is as
good as it ever w r as.
Superstition is a vice and a mental disease
very ancient. Our forefathers hundreds of
thousands of years ago explained everything
in some superstitious and childish way. The
earthquake was the result of a great monster,
sleeping below the soil. The Chinese believe
to-day that the great sleeping dragon causes
earthquakes. They are afraid to dig mines or
to build railways for fear of annoying that
dragon.
The wind was supposed to be a thinking
being, powerful, coming out of some great cave
to. do harm And the lightning was a power
that some imaginary Jupiter, sitting in the sky,
used to hurl at'poor human beings on earth.
Diseases and plagues of all kinds were
looked upon as special punishments, and
charms and prayers and special vows were
made to get rid of them. Now we know that
the best way to get rid of disease is to keep
clean, destroy the germs, take care of yourself
and live decently.
Superstition in the days of the dreadful
plague made men lose courage—and half of all
the people in Europe died in a year. Science
to-day tells us how to fight plagues—and they
do not menace any except the ignorant races,
osneciallv those of Asia, whose religion teaches
them that diseases are sent down from above.
The superstitious people do not know, as we
know, that plagues are not from heaven, but
the result of filth and. stupidity among men.
Men’s lives, even in the days of the intelli
gent Greeks and Romans, were influenced by
their superstitions, by their dreams, by the
fanciful pictures that the priests at the altar
read in the bowels of animals freshly cut open.
The flight of birds could determine the begin-
or the postponing of a battle.
We have got rid of some superstitions, but
not of all. The work is to be done with the
very voung people—the children.
KEEP SUPERSTITION OUT OF YOUR
CHILDREN’S MINDS. Allow no one to talk
to a child about ghosts, or good or bad luck or
omens. Better tell your children the truth
about Santa Claus, explaining that Santa Claus
is an imaginary fairy-like kind of a person
SUPPOSED to come down the chimney and
bring the toys. The youngest child will be just
as weL pleased to know that the toys come
from an affectionate father and mother.
Give your children a chance in life by keep
ing their minds free from the heavy load of
false beliefs and stupidities.
* * *
T one other idea in this picture—
ITS WORK MUST BE CARE
FULLY PLANNED.
We Americans do not throw stones on a
-<one elephant’s back and hope that the stones
wi.l stick. But in managing our lives, planning
lor the future, the great majority of us are
aoout as aimless and foolish as the Chinese
m this picture.
We do not build methodically, planning the
Suructure from the bottom to the top, and keep
in £ as it. We hone and wish and drift.
..-or/ of us that wish for something and
b e . cau se we are too much like
the Chinese. throwing stones up in the air and
hoping to get a nice comfortable house some
day.
The only way to GET a house is to BUILD
A HOUSE.
The only way to GET what you want is
to BUILD UP what you want.
You know that the mechanic in this picture
in time will have a substantial wall or build
ing. And you know also that the Chinese peas
ant in this nicture will in all probability never
have anything.
LET US ALL MAKE SURE THAT WE
ARE BUILDING, NOT MERELY WISHING