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EDITORIAL RACED
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN
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What Kind of a Game Do
You Play?
Is ’I our Mind on the Real Game or On a Dozen Outside Ones?
This is an editorial which might be headed KEEP YOUR
MIND ON THE ONE IMPORTANT THING ” It is an editorial
about concentration, about putting your REAL thought on your
real WORK.
You don't need the editorial and ought not to waste time
reading it if you are quite sure that the best that is in you is be
ing used every hour, and used to give you the best chance pos
sible.
Among a million men there may be one or two that really
play the game of life as a good player plays the game of chess.
The one or two men in a million do not need to talk, or think
about the importance of concentration—but all the rest of us do
need to realize what intense concentration might mean for us.
There isn't a man who doesn't WANT something that he
hasn t got. There isn 't one that isn't planning in a more or less
aimless way to do something, to get something, to BE some
thing. And there really is not one that could not succeed fairly
well, at least, IF HE COULD ONLY KEEP HIS MIND ON
REAL THINGS AND OFF OF OTHER THINGS
Have you ever seen two men play chess, a good player and
a bad player? The bad player begins apologizing for himself ,
before the thing starts, apologizes all the way through, and loses
at the end, even though the queen or other pieces be given him
in advance.
The good player sits down, looks good naturedly at his op
ponent, watches his first move, plans the thing out, wins smil
ingly and easily, BUT HIS MIND HAS BEEN ON THE GAME
Life is a game. Every one of us must play it whether he
wants to or not. And every one plays the game with the same
old partner—TIME.
At life's table, opposite you, sits Time with his scythe, and
at his elbow the stakes—SUCCESS.
Anything that takes your mind off' the game gives Time the
advantage. That is to say, anything that does not at the same
time add TO YOUR POWER of work and thought.
Time plays against us all, and he nearly* always wins. Mil
toons of men and women in the world are saying every day, If
I were YOUNGER I would do this” or ‘ I would do that.”
Every man thinks of what he would do if he had to live over
again the hours during which he let Time win while he lost.
There is no use going back over the moves that have been
made foolishly. The game is still on, and it is never too late to
win it if you will MAKE UP your mind, concentrate your mind
and brush aside interruptions.
Time is a goodmatured old man; he plays fairly and len
iently. He is relentless in his steady onward pace; he never
gives you back the day that you have given him for nothing.
That is one day OFF THE BOARD. But you can win and beat
him in the days that remain, if you will.
Lectures on concentration are needed by YOUNG men es
pecially. For their temptations are the most numerous. Much
intelligence is used up trying to get their minds away from the
real work.
Foolish fashion makes them waste on their clothes, their
.hats, THEIR LOOKS, when those looks amount to nothing. The
man of brains should simply make up his mind TO LOOK
CLEAN, TO SHOW SELF RESPECT; nothing else matters.
The hard thing for young men and others to remember is
that THEIR WORK is their real occupation. Take the average
young man playing a game of cards, of baseball, or any other
MERE AMUSEMENT. If you should try at THAT time to in
terest him in some outside tiling, some new kind of a hat band,
some new color for the cravat, he would say to you, Don't
bother me, I am busy NOW, you will make me lose the game.”
How many know enough to say the same thing when they
are playing life's REAL game, which is the game of work?
Many young men act like a man who has forgotten the
road, or like a drunken man staggering to the right and to the
left, falling down, getting up and finally landing in jail instead
of landing at home.
The road before every man is perfectly clear, and there is
only just ONE way of getting over that road, which is TO
WALK STRAIGHT AHEAD TO THE END OF IT
Suppose a man were locked up in jail and had to make his
way out. What would you think of him if one day he started
to bore a hole in ONE spot and next day started a hole in an
other spot, and kept on all his life starting little holes in differ
ent spots and never going on with any one of them? You would
think him a lunatic. Yet that is exactly what ninety nine men
out of a hundred do in this life. We are all of us locked up
here, all of us imprisoned by conditions through which we must
bore a hole if we want to get out and amount to anything. We
try this way and try that wav and try the other, and do noth
ing, WHEREAS BY TRYING ONF. WAY AND KEEPING AT
THAT WAY WE COULD GET OUT IN THE END
We have talked on this subject of concentration to young
men before. We shall talk about it again. YOU CANNOT
SUCCEED IN THE BIG THING IF YOU LET THE LITTLE
THINGS TAKE UP YOUR MIND AND YOUR TIME
If your best thought goes to the selection of a straw hat.
and your second best thought to the selection of your clothes,
and your third best thought to some profound speculation on the
races or the result of the baseball competition, WHAT KIND
OF THOUGHT IS LEFT FOR THE REAL WORK?
And what in the world can help you or give you any kind
of success, except steady grinding at the real work?
When you wake up in the morning say to yourself, ”1 am
going to keep at my work and think of nothing else to-day.'
Don t think with how little work you can get through to day,
but. on the contrary. HOW MUCH work you can get into it.
Whatever you have undertaken to do. do it better than the next
man, and not only better than the next man, BUT AS WELL AS
IT IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO DO IT
We do not share the comfortable theory that ANY man can
achieve anything that he desires if he wall work hard enough.
That is not true. Edison could not possibly have painted as well
as Sargent, and Sargent could not possibly have developed Edi
son's inventive genius
But neither Edison nor Sargent, nor any other man that
vou hear about, would have been a success if he hadn't KEPT
ONE THING IN HIS MIND ALL THE TIME
Your mind is the tool that you have got to work with. Hand
and feet are the small tools, the servants of ihe working brain,
the real tool. Keep the brain clear, clean and concentrated.
Don't load it up with unnecessary burdens, unnecessary inter
ests. Toward life's frivolities and useless discussions—except
ing those that really improve the mind—let your mental atti
tude be “I don't know and I don't care. I am playing a game
gainst time and against life. I have got to win it, and I can t
let other things interfere with it. ”
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ISMIHn
'i'liiMT is a Talmud parable which sa\ s that Satan came one day to drink with Xoali and slew a lamb,
a lion, a piy and an ape to teach Noah that man, before drink is in him, is a lamb; when he drinks
moderately he is a lion: when like a sot he is a swine, hut after that any further excess makes him an
ape, which senselessly chatters and jabbers.
By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX.
Coif* tfiit ii*lG. by Star Publishing Co.
I T IS A great thing for the re
former and the altruist to use
common sense and logic with
his ideals. Next to faith, they are
the most valuable qualities for
any human being to possess. Kx-
travaganee and wastefulness are
sins; so are stinginess and parsi
mony. The woman who wears ex
pensive gowns only once, and de
purchase of new costumes, sins
against har best self and good
taste. The woman who wears old
and cheap clothing when she can
want to rejoice that you live in
this age and not in any other past
era. Never since the spiritual
man took on material form and
began to evolve back to the spir
itual has there been such hope
for struggling souls as now. Bad
j Much Need for Right.
♦ w
ELLA WHEELE!
1LCOX.
>r the btneht ami pleasure of
ihers as well as himself.
the w<
Back to N
lit ions of the la-
art' better than
shall find its own. These worlds
exist.
But while we live in this body
let us try to look on the sane side
of every question, on all sides,
and avoid becoming warped In
judgment, or fanatical or incapa
ble of holding a just and fair
opinion on any subject of the day.
Many peopel who are clamoring
for the Simple Life, and who.are
condemning every phase of luxu
ry, fall to realize that all luxury is
comparative, and that to the na
tive Indians of America the sim
plest house and clothing would
seem luxuries, and a bath tub and
swimming tank inexcusable ex
travagances.
Back to Nature is a popular
phrase, but there is a dividing line
In each mind between the possible
and impossible limit of that jour
ney backward.
Opinions Differ.
>ne man may insist that the
proper boundary lies in sleeping
out of doors. Another on an out
er balcony, and still another may
be quite satisfied with a good
- ping room well ventilated. Yet
r:u- Indian would consider all of
these condir!'*ns far from Nature.
OrHy by rolling himself in his
blanket on the earth could he feel
he was back to Nature.
Waste or ]
Penn
ry 1
[ual
ly Sinful
Since Nature adorns its animals
and birds and fish and insects in
such beautiful attire, and in such
splendid colors, it would seem
thaf man was not presumptuous
or vain if he believed he had the
right to provide himself with at-
ractive apparel.
Man has been given the mental
>ower to obtain whatever he
•vishes. He was born naked, but
< von the most fanatical reformer
'•an not say that he believes he
was intended by Nature, or Na
ture's God, to remain naked.
Powers of Achievement.
And if he is to be clothed, sure-
it is his privilege to decide
upon the «tyie and coloring of his
garments.
And it should be his pleasure
and aim to make himself as
agreeable to the eye as God has
made the lesser animals.
The world in which we live is
opulent.
There are trillions of precious
gems in our rocks and seas; our
fields are fertile; our industries
are unlimited: and better still,
i’ll more important. MAN’S
FmVKRS OF ACHIEVEMENT
\HE r.XI.IMlTKD. HE CAN Do
\ XD HAVE. AND BE. WHAT
EVER HE WISHES. IF HE
WILL RECOGNIZE HIS OWN
POSSIBILITIES'.
And no Powers or Principali
ties or Monopolies can stop him
or binder his progress if he de
termines to go ahead.
Therefore Ter each one of us
t ink largely, live wisely, work
justly, and win*worthily.
Ami let us not limit our
. h ; i- . »■:r.■''Its i*.»■ narrow ideals or
parsimonious rules of life.
I F, in the middle of a hot sum
mer night, a chill breeze sud
denly enters a bedrom win
dow. the sleepers awaken, with a
shiver, and pull up a sheet to re
store their comfort by restraining
the escape of bodily heal.
The earth, according to the re
sult® of recent investigations,
sometimes does practically the
same thing, but in a reverse way,
using ITS blanket to promote in
stead of to prevent the escape *>f
heat.
And. most remarkable thing of
all. the earth obtains its cooling
blanket from volcanoes! It is as
if the globe were a gigantic
gnome who, finding nimseif un
comfortably warm, opens a magic
bottle, out of which issues a re
frigerating cloud.
Most readers will remember the
great eruption of the Katmai vol
cano 1n Alaska early last year. It
was one of the grandest displays
of volcanic forces on record. The
top of the mountain was blown
off. as a cork is shot out of a
champagne bottle; volcanic smoke
and dust were hurled many miles
high in the atmosphere. thou.-«nds
of square miles of the surround
ing land and sea were buried un
der white ashes, and wherever the
mighty cloud passed overhead im
penetrable night prevailed.
Cool Summer Followed.
The dust that reached an ele
vation above the level of the sea
at which rain and snow clouds
are formed was borne swiftly
round the earth, and within a few
months ifs presence was detected
all over the northern hemisphere
by it* restraining effect upon the
light and heet rays of the sun. A
fall of temperature resulted and a
cool summer followed.
If tlris experience were an iso
lated or unprecedented one, the
conclusions that have been drawn
from It would be less convinc
ing than they now appear to he.
But the same thing has happened
at leaet three times within the
memory of the present generation.
In 1883 occurred the tremen
dous explosion of the volcano
Krakatoa in the East Indies, in
which not only a mountain, but an
entire island, was demolishedl. The
sounds of that explosion were ac
tually heard, like the booming of
distant artillery, THREE THOU
SAND MILES AWAY, and it sent
sea wave* completely across the
Pacific Ocean! It blew millions
of tons of dust Into the upper at
mosphere. and this dus»t, circling
rapidly round the earth, produced
for several years afterward the
most magnificent sunsets that
have ever been known.
But this was not all. During
1884, 1885 and 1886 careful ther
mometric observations showed
everywhere a lowering of the
By GARRETT P SERVISS.
?
general temperature, amounting
to several degrees below the av
erage. This is now ascribed to
the screening effect of the vol
canic dust in the air.
In 1902 the slumbering volcano
of Mont Peiee, in Martinique, was
uncorked, with the most terrible
consequences to the inhabitants
of that beautiful island, 30,000 of
whom perished, almost in an in
stant, from the blast of withering
fire that swept the city of St.
Pierre out of existence. Peiee also
blew its vast dust clouds into the
upper air.
Screened Off Solar Light.
And during the following, year
they produced the customary ef
fects by screening off the solar
light and heat and causing a no
table lowering of the temperature
of the earth.
Now. to return to the eruption
of Katmai, which, being the most
recent occurrence of this mag
nitude, has been the most careful
ly studied. Professor C. G. Ab
bot. of the Smithsonian Institu
tion, reports that, being in Al
geria last year, he found the sky
obscured to such a degree by
volcanic* haze, which he does not
doubt proceeded from Katmai,
that the mean temperature was
lowered several degrees, and he
calculates that over the whole
northern temperate zone the
available solar heat was dimin
ished 10 per cent from this cause.
Professor W. J. Humphreys ex
plains the action of the volcanic
dust blankets in this way: The
fine dust scatters the short waves
of light and heat proceeding from
the sun. but has little, if any. ef
fect upon the longer thermal
waves radiated, from the earth,
w’hich pass through the dust, and
escape Into outer space without
obstruction. The consequence is
that the earth's radiation of heat
gets out more pasily than the
sun's radiation can get in. and
thus the equilibrium of tempera
ture at the earth’s surfac e is upset
and the earth grow r s colder.
Our Intellectual Duty.
He Wen suggests that the mys
terious glacial epochs of past,
time, when ice covered what are
now some of the richest lands of
the Northern Hemisphere, may
have been Induced by volcanic
dust blankets mote extensive ant!
more impenetrable than any that
have been thrown round the globe
within historic times.
Are these studies and specula
tions worth while? Most surely
they are. Perhaps we shall never
be able to interfere with such tre
mendous exhibitions of nature’s
powers, but, even so, it is our IN
TELLECTUAL DUTY to under
stand them. „Our physical exist
ence is the least of the gifts be
stowed upon us.
By REV. THOMAS B. GREGORY.
I T was 38 years ago that the
famous battle between Charles
Bradlaugh and the British
Parliament began.
In 1880 Bradlaugh was elected
to Parliament by the Northamp
ton constituency, and. being an
atheist, he asked that he be al
lowed to "affirm ' instead of tak
ing the oath in the usual form
The pririlege was denied him. Of
fering. then, to take the oath, he
was declared to be disqualified,
was ordered to leave the House,
and upon refusing to do so was
placed in custody His seat was
declared vacant by the courts.
In 1881 his constituency re
turned him. Upon his again pre
senting himself he was denied the
privilege of taking the oath, was
again ordered from the House
and upon his refusal to leave was
forcibly ejected.
His Northampton constituency
stood faithfully by him and re
turned him in 1882 and 1883.
whereupon the same scenes oc
curred in the Parliament. In the
meantime he brought suit against
the sergeant-at-arms for unlaw
ful ejection, and tvon; but later
the invalidity of his title to a
seat in the House was reaffirmed
In 1885 he was again returned
to Parliament, when the same old
taetiA were resorted to, with the
same result, but upon his being
returned in 1886 he was permit
ted to take the oath and occupy
his seat. The man of the iron will
and unconquerable spirit had
worn them out.
By and by both the House and
the country learned that Brad-
laugh was as honest as he was
courageous, as grand a man as he
was a fighter, and Before he died,
in January, 1891, the House voted
to expunge from its Journal all the
ugly resolutions that had been
passed against him. it was a
doable victory, a' victory for
Bradlaugh, and a victory for the
members of the House of Com
mons, for when that vote to ex
punge the resolutions prevailed,
their good sense and finer human
sentiment triumphed over their
inherited ignorance and bigotry.
Bradlaugh was born in London,
in 1833. of the poorest of parents,
and at the age of 10 began life as
an errand boy. His education,
such as it was, was self-acquired.
He was a natural-born orator and
ruler of men: a man of rugged,
but powerful mentality; big-
hearted. and rough in his ways,
but honest to the core and a great
lover of everything but oppressors
and oppression, hypocrites and
hypocrisy.