Menticulture; or, the A-B-C of True LivingFletcher, Horace
Religion
Menticulture; or, the A-B-C of True Living
Fletcher, Horace
Anger; Conduct of life; Worry
I was traveling with a friend from the South who is one of the best
fellows that I know. He is kind, considerate, chivalrous, and all that
characterizes a Southern gentleman; but he has a false idea of dignity
in some respects, and precipitates controversy sometimes without cause,
and when he himself is to blame in the matter. We were discussing the
theory of Emancipation, and he agreed with me on almost all of the
points at issue, in fact to such an extent that I felt that he absorbed
the idea fully, when he said: "Yes, it is true, and I believe in it,
and I think I have practiced it somewhat; but I can't stand
impertinence from niggers; they rub up against me all the time, and
annoy me terribly, especially these Pullman porters." "Yes," said I in
reply, "you have attained pretty good self-control and have reason to
be proud of it; you are pretty nearly a perfect man; the only thing you
are not superior to is a nigger." The rebuke impressed him as a truism
that had never occurred to him in that light before.
The truth of the matter is, and I have had both experiences to prove it
to my own satisfaction, antagonism invites antagonism. A fostered
dislike or an anticipated friction sends out a shaft in advance which
rebounds and rebounds with quickening vibrations. If one is looking for
impertinence from any source he will be pretty sure to find it; but if
he carries a mind and heart free from prejudice, which is the condition
of Emancipation, the shaft will not be unloosed, and the disturbing
vibrations will not occur. I do not believe that Pullman porters were
ever discourteous to Phillips Brooks, or Edward Everett Hale, or
Professor Swing or men of their caliber of mind; or if they were, I do
not believe that the impertinence made any impression on them except to
excite pity.
FEAR DISPELLED
[Sidenote: Fear Dispelled]
The most remarkable evidence in support of my theory that fear is
dispelled with worry, and which corroborates my own experience, comes
from an old friend who once had a shock from a stroke of lightning, and
who, on account of it, has for years suffered wretchedly from a
depression akin to involuntary fear whenever the weather has indicated
an approaching storm. He has accepted the possibility of Emancipation
and enjoyed deliverance from the passions, but strangely enough has
also now immunity from any uncomfortable feeling during electric
storms.
TIMIDITY DISAPPEARS
Another convert states that he has lost all timidity, in the presence
of an audience, which formerly he could not overcome.
THOMSON J. HUDSON
[Sidenote: Psychic Evidence]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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