Millions of us, tied down by foolish superstition, are like that elephant--the chains are off, but we stand still. The road to peace, happiness and universal progress has been shown us in the teachings of great leaders, but we still stand in the same old place, fighting, hating, cheating, suspecting, harming one another. Here and there there is a little progress; gradually we begin to appreciate and enjoy the freedom that has been given to us with the striking away of old mental chains. The process is slow. Look into your own mind. Do you take advantage of all the possibilities that are before you? Do you use your brain to control your existence, acts and habits for your own benefit and the benefit of others? If not, you ought to sympathize with this poor elephant, and realize that as your brain exceeds his in bulk proportionately, so do you exceed him in the folly that misses opportunity. LET US BE THANKFUL You get tired of reading editorials in which one man, spouting from his editorial pulpit, lays down the law for you--without giving you a chance to reply or contradict. So let us write this editorial together. There you sit--the reader--in your street car, or perhaps clinging to a strap, and here we sit, impersonal editorial creature, thinking over thankfulness, Thanksgiving Day, and what reasons we have for feeling thankful. Let us talk as few platitudes as possible, and try to get at a few of the inside workings of human life. ---- You look across the car and hate the fat man who lounges and spreads his feet around so boorishly. LET US BE THANKFUL THAT WE SO READILY PERCEIVE THE SHORTCOMINGS OF OTHERS. Much comfort is derived from others' failings. In the quiet evenings we talk of our neighbors' weaknesses and we enjoy them. By contrast we admire ourselves. LET US BE THANKFUL THAT WE NEVER APPRECIATE OUR OWN LIMITATIONS. Each man's children are beautiful and promising in his view. He cannot see the hopeless construction of their foreheads, nor can he read in their eyes the sad absence of "speculation." Let us be thankful for that. The future depends on the good care awarded to almost worthless specimens now. ---- FOR THE UNIVERSAL INSTINCT OF THANKFULNESS, LET BE DEEPLY THANKFUL. The thick-lipped negro on the Congo finds a dead hippopotamus, half eaten by wild beasts, and in his woolly brain a dim, misty feeling of THANKFULNESS is born. The Tartar bandit surprises mild Chinese conducting a tea caravan across the stony desert. He murders the mild Celestials and feels THANKFUL as he contemplates the booty. A great Trust manager finds ways to add some millions to those which he already has and does not need. In THANKFUL mood he gives two millions or three to education. As inborn, as instinctive as the beating of the heart in the human being is THANKFULNESS. Thankfulness is the unconscious acknowledgment of a Higher Power.