Class _i5JjizEI 
 
 Book . 
 
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 COEflUGHT DEPOSm 
 
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 EFFICIENT LIVING 
 

 EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 BY 
 
 EDWARD EARLE PURINTON 
 
 Author of "The Triumph of the Man Who Acts," etc. 
 
 Director of the Efficiency Service of 
 
 The Independent 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 ROBERT M. McBRIDE & COMPANY 
 
 1915 
 
-$> 
 
 y^ 1 
 
 Copyright, 1915, by 
 Robert M. McBride & Co. 
 
 Published November, 1915 
 
 DEC -8 1915 
 
 ©CI.A416774 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I What Is Efficiency? i 
 
 II Study and Efficiency 34 
 
 III Food and Efficiency . . . . . .63 
 
 IV Home and Efficiency . . . . . . 91 
 
 V Work and Efficiency 124 
 
 VI Play and Efficiency 147 
 
 VII Hygiene and Efficiency 170 
 
 VIII Money and Efficiency 202 
 
 IX Thought and Efficiency . . . . . .219 
 
 X Guide to Efficiency Problems . . .258 
 
I 
 
 
 I 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
CHAPTER I 
 WHAT IS EFFICIENCY? 
 
 RECENTLY I talked with the highest- 
 salaried man in the world. I asked him 
 how he had succeeded. 
 He quietly answered, " I haven't succeeded. 
 No real man ever succeeds. [There is always a 
 larger goal ahead." 
 
 This multi-millionaire has outrun every rival 
 on earth. But he has not reached the goal of his 
 own satisfaction. He is an efficient man. Effi- 
 ciency begins with wanting something so hard the 
 whole world can't stop you. 
 
 Efficiency is new, and all new things are mis- 
 understood. Conversing with an anarchistic labor 
 leader, I chanced to mention the topic. He 
 snorted his sentiments. " I hate the very word," 
 he rampaged. " The idea of ticketing and mar- 
 keting a man by how many motions an hour he 
 can make, is a blot on the American flag," he 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 exclaimed patriotically. Then he begged me to 
 aid his cause with a few dollars that I had made 
 by studying efficiency. 
 
 Efficiency is the difference between wealth and 
 poverty, fame and obscurity, power and weakness, 
 health and disease, growth^ and death, hope and 
 despair. Efficiency makes kings of us all. 
 
 Only efficiency conquers fate. Every man's 
 life is a battle ground, with fate and efficiency 
 struggling for possession. Fate is against him, 
 efficiency for him, and all the man's forces are 
 lined up on one side or the other. Where do you 
 stand? Have you marshaled your thoughts, acts 
 and emotions under efficiency's banner? If not, 
 prepare to be assailed, overwhelmed and dismem- 
 bered by fate. 
 
 Efficiency tells us how great men have won their 
 battle with fate, and how we can win ours. 
 Efficiency leads us from a world of chance to a 
 realm of choice, changing us from automatons to 
 men. Efficiency provides our only freedom — 
 that of shaping circumstances and hewing events 
 to suit ourselves ! 
 
 Look back ten years. Think what you have 
 paid for experience. If you had known then what 
 you know to-day, how much time, health, money, 
 faith, energy, you could have saved. Efficiency 
 offers the only short cut to experience by show- 
 
 [2] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY f 
 
 ing us what other men, similarly placed, have 
 learned and done and been. 
 
 What is efficiency? 
 
 It is not motion-study, or vocation-test, or cost- 
 saving, or any other mechanical thing. It is not 
 an effort of greedy corporations to reduce their 
 workers to money-making machines. It is not a 
 panic to do so much that you wear yourself out. 
 
 Efficiency is the science of self-management. 
 
 We have none of us learned it. We feed our 
 kine properly — and dig our own graves with our 
 teeth. We curry our horses beautifully — and 
 neglect to take baths enough to keep us well. We 
 exercise our pet poodle daily — and pant for 
 breath if we run a block. We oil our engines 
 wisely — and allow rust to gather on our brain. 
 We demand a perfect telegraph system — and let 
 our nerves run wild. Man is the only machine 
 we have never learned how to use. 
 
 For our ignorance, we pay. It is estimated 
 that seventy-three men out of every hundred are 
 in the wrong job; that most men utilize only about 
 a third of their mental and spiritual forces; that 
 the average American family could live on what 
 they waste; that our business firms lose 
 $100,000,000 a year through ineffective advertis- 
 ing; that in the United States there are always 
 3,000,000 persons on the sick list; that the num- 
 
 rci 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ber of preventable deaths each year is 630,000; 
 that the annual waste from preventable death 
 and disease is $1,500,000,000; and that some- 
 where in this country a workman is being killed 
 every four minutes, and another being injured 
 every four seconds! Do we not need efficiency? 
 
 The American slogan is efficiency. We aim at 
 world-supremacy. And the world-master must be 
 first a self-master. 
 
 England has had the efficient navy, Germany 
 the efficient army, France the efficient household, 
 Italy the efficient art, Japan the efficient hygiene, 
 Scotland the efficient thrift, New Zealand the 
 efficient government. And America? The ef- 
 ficient nerve. We will try anything, and try for 
 anything. Our destiny lies in our daring. Our 
 nation's flag is the Stars and Stripes, because we 
 aim at the stars — and smile at the stripes ! 
 
 But we waste more than we use — more money, 
 more strength, more time, more thought, more op- 
 portunity. W T e must learn conservation and direc- 
 tion through efficiency. Then we shall rule the 
 world — if we deem it worth ruling. 
 
 I was going to ask, " Are you efficient? " But, 
 on second thought, I see how vain it would be. 
 The only person who knows all about a man is his 
 office-boy, and the only person who knows all 
 about a lady is her kitchen-maid. I assume that 
 
 [4] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY f 
 
 you are neither the office-boy nor the kitchen-maid; 
 so why bother you with foolish questions? A bet- 
 ter method — a scientific test — herewith appears. 
 
 It is safe to conclude that, if you are engaged 
 in a large enterprise, and have not applied ef- 
 ficiency methods to yourself and your associates, 
 you are losing from $1,000 to $100,000 a year. 
 If you are an individual, professional or indus- 
 trial worker, your loss will perhaps run from $100 
 to $5,000 a year. Why go on wasting this 
 money? 
 
 The difference between a hod-carrier and the 
 head of a million-dollar corporation is that the 
 hod-carrier works his hod instead of his head. 
 For the hod he has trained his muscles, to the 
 hod he is bound. To get ahead — get a head! 
 The leader of men has trained not only his mus- 
 cles, but I as well his nerves, his brain, his lungs 
 and pores and organs or digestion, his thoughts, 
 actions and emotions, his instincts, habits, aims 
 and ambitions, his financial status and his moral 
 sinew. 
 
 How does the prize athlete gain his laurels? 
 By setting a fixed goal, curbing his appetites and 
 passions, living on the scant fare of the " training 
 table," combining rigid self-control with huge self- 
 exertion. The game of business, the game of 
 life, demands as much. And efficiency sets the 
 
 [5] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 training table for the man who is going to be a 
 mental, financial or spiritual leader. 
 
 Efficiency is the power of doing one's most and 
 best, in the shortest time and easiest way, to the 
 satisfaction of all concerned. 
 
 I put this in italics, to make it stand out. And 
 I would recommend that every so-called " ef- 
 ficiency expert " swiftly and humbly paste it in his 
 hat. Your work is not done when you go into 
 a corporation and show the president how to save 
 a million dollars a year. Efficiency is more than 
 speed and economy — it is the reeducation and 
 reconstruction of men. No worker is efficient 
 until he would rather work than eat. Man is 
 both a machine and a spirit. You've got to reach 
 the spirit side, to make the machine go. The 
 greatest corporations are doing this, and the suc- 
 cess of modern institutions like the National Cash 
 Register Company and the New York Edison 
 Company lies in their habit of making their work- 
 ers bigger men while making them better ma- 
 chines. 
 
 Are you doing your most and best? Do you 
 execute your work in the shortest possible time 
 and the easiest known way? Is everybody satis- 
 fied with results — from president to office-boy, 
 including clerks, clients, competitors, and your 
 folks at home? If so, then you are ioo per cent 
 
 [6] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 
 
 efficient — kindly hand this article to a neighbor 
 who needs it. (You will have no trouble finding 
 him, because you are the only man i 1 the world 
 who is perfect on all these five points.) 
 
 The efficient person feels that he can do any- 
 thing — but that he has done nothing. When I 
 see the average " self-made " man, pompous and 
 fat and wheezy, I with difficulty restrain myself 
 from laughing impolitely. He looks like a house 
 with the roof blown off, and half the basement 
 caved in. An efficient man, like an efficient house, 
 has four sides. His body forms the foundation, 
 his mind the outer walls, his heart the inner hang- 
 ings and treasures and pictures, his soul the gable- 
 windows, the tower and the roof. To be merely 
 an intellectual or financial giant is to be the hulk 
 of a man. Efficiency must build on a splendid 
 physique, and must crown its work with a spiritual 
 faith. A dyspeptic is a house with no founda- 
 tion, an agnostic is a house with no roof. 
 
 Now for a practical, personal example. I know 
 a man who has increased by about 500 per cent, 
 his daily output of work, his optimism and will 
 power, his health reserve and his financial re- 
 sourcefulness. Let me tell how he did it. 
 
 First. He analyzed himself. He discovered 
 what he most wanted to do and have and be, in 
 life. He was not dismayed by the fact that his 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 desires looked about as unattainable as the moon. 
 He said nothing, and took the next step. (What 
 makes a dream visionary is not the dream but the 
 do-lessness of the dreamer.) 
 
 Second. He studied his possibilities and limi- 
 tations, physical, mental and spiritual. By con- 
 sulting authorities on athletics, higher metaphysics, 
 vocational training, physiognomy and experimental 
 psychology, he learned that his ambitions lay 
 within the reach of his natural gifts. (We may 
 remark in passing that these methods of character- 
 reading are not infallible, and few of their expo- 
 nents are reliable ; they contain, however, sufficient 
 truth to make them valuable in choosing a career.) 
 
 Third. He read the lives of the world's great 
 man who had been leaders in his chosen field. He 
 formed the acquaintance of living leaders, through 
 mutual friends. He saw that he was out of gear 
 in certain ways — and he proceeded to repair his 
 faulty machinery, of body, brain, equipment and 
 environment. 
 
 Fourth. He resigned his position in a dignified 
 profession; and got a menial, trivial job that paid 
 next to nothing. The job was in line with his 
 goal — the profession was not. And $5 a week 
 in a place with an open door is a better wage 
 than $50 a week in a place that leads nowhere. 
 
 Fifth. He made the most of his job. The 
 [8] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY? 
 
 men who look for a job are so many because the 
 men who look into a job are so few. Every job 
 is a gold-mine of possibility; but you must work it 
 by seeking and digging in your spare time. This 
 youth took up motion-study, time-study, tool-study, 
 and other methods of modern " scientific manage- 
 ment." He learned to save two hours a day, 
 which he spent in talking with men higher up, in 
 reading trade books and magazines, in experiment- 
 ing on ways of improving his work, and in plan- 
 ning his line of advance. 
 
 Sixth. He observed that he was handicapped 
 by the presence of chronic ailments and disorders, 
 which resulted in fatigue, headache, irritability, 
 auto-intoxication, and other hindrances to good 
 work. He studied hygiene, found that no disease 
 is incurable, stopped the use of drugs, changed 
 his methods of eating, began to take regular exer- 
 cise and a morning sponge, kept his chamber win- 
 dow wide open, did a few more sensible things 
 that most people don't do till they have to — and 
 presently watched his troubles disappear. By 
 adopting health habits, he increased the daily out- 
 put of energy at least 200 per cent and got so 
 much more done. 
 
 Seventh. He changed his mind. (This is 
 supposed to be a custom for ladies only, but men's 
 minds need changing oftener because they get 
 
 [»] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 soiled quicker.) This man was naturally a pessi- 
 mist and grumbler, harsh, cruel, hasty, blunt, sur- 
 rounding himself with enemies and worries. 
 Gaining sense enough to see what a fool he had 
 been, he applied himself to a systematic cultiva- 
 tion of optimism, faith, tact, patience, tolerance, 
 courtesy, and other mental factors in efficiency. 
 Having grown friendly minded, he attracted 
 thousands of friends. And his work prospered 
 accordingly. 
 
 Eighth. He arranged to secure the best avail- 
 able cooperation, financial, industrial and moral 
 support, from his associates inside and outside the 
 business. 
 
 Ninth. He discerned that specific moral quali- 
 ties were needed in him to produce leadership ; so 
 he developed courage, will power, conviction, en- 
 thusiasm, inspiration — as athletes develop physi- 
 cal muscles. 
 
 Tenth. He married the woman of his heart, 
 and she made him do the impossible, to reach her 
 ideal of strength and wisdom in a man. (This 
 was not a part of his efficiency scheme. In order 
 to be sure they will get discipline the good Lord 
 lets men think they are marrying for happiness — 
 else would they never marry.) 
 
 The result? A few years ago this man's wages 
 were $4 a week and board. He is to-day master 
 
 [10] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 
 
 of three different lines of work, any one of which 
 would yield a splendid income. And the mental 
 and moral gains have been even greater. 
 
 Now for the application. You and I can't fol- 
 low the particular method of any other man on 
 earth ; but we can recognize the scientific principles 
 in the foregoing history and apply them in our 
 way. 
 
 The first move toward efficiency is to find how 
 much we need it. When a man's grade falls be- 
 low 80 per cent in college, he is considered a 
 poor student, either very lazy or very dull. Yet 
 in the appended self-examination for the school of 
 life, not one person in a hundred reaches 80 per 
 cent. Go over the questions and figure out where 
 you stand. Then give a copy of the Test to each 
 member of your family, club, class or business or- 
 ganization. Properly used, the Test is worth 
 more than a year of academic study, which costs 
 perhaps $500. 
 
 I judge that on this Test the average grade is 
 40 per cent. 
 
 This means that the $40-a-week man could, and 
 should, earn $100 — and then be less tired and 
 worried than he is now. What is your income? 
 What might it be, on this ratio ? Efficiency meas- 
 ure is money, and every item of this Test has a 
 money value. 
 
 [11] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 But the efficient man does not put money first. 
 The pulse of the battle, with Fate and surround- 
 ings and himself; the call of an unconquered world 
 to gigantic effort; the inspiration of heroic deeds 
 by other men; the might of self-rule, and the joy 
 of self-expression; the loves of the heart and the 
 longings of the soul; the far, lone gleam of des- 
 tiny; these things nerve and impel the efficient 
 man to do always more and be always greater. 
 
 Magnificent possibilities lie unexplored, undis- 
 covered, unimagined, within the mental recesses 
 and spiritual treasure-troves common to us all. 
 Only a crisis — a great responsibility, a matchless 
 opportunity, a sudden death or disaster — avails 
 to rouse and develop these unused powers. Lack- 
 ing the crisis, we are prone to sleep or fritter our 
 lives away. 
 
 The transcendental problem of humanity is to 
 be as great always as one can be at rare moments. 
 Men are as great as they force themselves to use 
 themselves. Genius is but an irresistible urge to 
 be occupied. The man who succeeds has become 
 a self-winding watch on his own movements, so 
 that he knows by intuition when he is either run- 
 ning down or wearing himself out. Starvation is 
 the best remedy for under-action, sleep the best 
 remedy for over-action. 
 
 There is no error unattended by repression. 
 
 [12] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY f 
 
 We make mistakes because we are deficient in the 
 power to see, or in the power to do as we see. 
 But spiritual sight and sinew may be cultivated, 
 will be cultivated systematically in the ages to 
 come. The time is fast approaching when only a 
 spiritual Hercules can move the world. Mental 
 giants rule now, but their crude force merely cor- 
 responds to the primitive condition of the race. 
 First body-rule, now brain-rule, next heart-rule, 
 finally soul-rule; this is the plan of world-sov- 
 [ ereignty. 
 
 What are some of the unused powers that we 
 own but do not turn to advantage ? 
 
 Unused muscles, unused lungs, unused instincts, 
 unused emotions, unused perceptions, unused facul- 
 ties, unused ideals. We say nothing of unused 
 stomachs (gentlemen please note) or of unused 
 tongues (ladies please note). If exercise alone 
 could keep us healthy, the stomach and the tongue 
 would exhibit so blithe a vigor that all meandering 
 microbes would flee in disgust. (If you expected 
 here only a sermon, and object to the ghost of a 
 smile that may have come flitting across the hori- 
 zon, please remember that of all our unused pow- 
 ers, none more fully repays conscientious develop- 
 ment than our somewhat timorous sense of 
 humor.) 
 
 Unused muscles cripple us. Not externally, but 
 [13] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 vitally. If you ever witnessed the marvelous feats 
 performed by Sandow or any other " strong man," 
 you know what a beautiful network of muscles 
 envelop and support the fine torso of the trained 
 athlete — his body is a work of art. But do you 
 know that his superb digestion is maintained 
 largely by these interlaced muscular fibers, which 
 hold the digestive organs in true position, thus en- 
 abling them to act freely? Are you anaemic, thin, 
 troubled with poor circulation? Then look to 
 the muscles of arms and legs; for live blood fol- 
 lows live muscles, and where there is weak assim- 
 ilation there is weak sinew. So apparently re- 
 mote a thing as sleep is affected by muscular con- 
 dition; if your sleep is fitful, and your body tied 
 in a bow-knot, your back muscles and shoulder 
 muscles need attention — their flabbiness permits 
 the spine to crook and the chest to sag, hence the 
 nerves cannot relax nor the blood circulate. 
 Withered muscles work havoc throughout the 
 whole system. 
 
 Unused lungs cripple us. The majority of 
 civilized people exert only a fraction of their nor- 
 mal breathing capacity; and a host of ills, from 
 brain-fag and ennui to dyspepsia, come from this 
 defect in respiration. Great singers, champion 
 swimmers, and other such lung-developers, are 
 usually marvels of robustness. On taking sudden 
 
 [14] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 
 
 exercise, do you feel dizziness, vertigo, or rush 
 of blood to the head. Then your lung chambers 
 have been short of oxygen, since the effort to fill 
 them causes unaccustomed pressure, which you feel 
 accordingly. How long can you hold your breath 
 without discomfort? If for a minute or longer, 
 you may be glad of a pair of lungs that know 
 their business and stick to it. The lungs are the 
 organs of liberation; exercised deeply and regu- 
 larly, they free us mentally and spiritually as well 
 as physically. Conquerors have often been men 
 of small stature — but of gigantic breathing 
 power. From Cromwell on the battlefield to 
 Beecher in the pulpit, the takers of the world's cita- 
 dels have found their source of power in the 
 breath. 
 
 Unused instincts cripple us. The instinct of the 
 animal guards him against foes, against poisons, 
 against all outer perils known or unknown. At 
 the approach of danger, the snail retreats into his 
 shell, the porcupine bristles, the deer flees with 
 the wind. Yet we, who are supposed to know 
 more, do less. We regularly eat what we know 
 isn't good for us, allowing poison, in quality or 
 quantity, to enter the system through the mouth; 
 we are guided by appetite instead of by hunger; 
 we choke our food down when we should rest and 
 ruminate ; we add tonics and peptonizers to the gas- 
 
 [15] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 tronomic insult — then we sadly complain how 
 afflicted we are with a poor stomach ! Moreover, 
 we entertain as regular guests such thoughts as 
 lead to mental paralysis and spiritual decrepitude 
 — worry, fear, jealousy, doubt, dependence, de- 
 ceit, compromise. The snail, the deer and the 
 porcupine would do it better — in the presence 
 of such intruders we must cultivate our shell, our 
 sinews of flight, or our bristles if need be. 
 
 Unused emotions cripple us. The height of 
 our attainment is directly proportioned to the 
 depth of our feeling. All great men have one 
 trait in common; a fierce intensity, which annihi- 
 lates all things superficial and irrelevant. Con- 
 vention forbids this — convention thrives on petti- 
 ness. It is not "good form" to feel deeply; it 
 is good form to die prematurely, the coffin is the 
 symbol of good form. So long as the favorite 
 disease of fashion is repression, so long will nerves 
 be the favorite symptoms of fashion. We might 
 almost say that no man is healthy who has not 
 experienced a sublime joy or an overwhelming sor- 
 row. Our emotions extend us into a realm divine, 
 the knowledge of which provides our human lives 
 with infinite capacity for growth. To feel deeply 
 is to understand the world, to feel nobly is to 
 penetrate the heavens; to feel strongly is to force 
 Fate. 
 
 [16] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY"? 
 
 Unused perceptions cripple us. Until we es- 
 cape the dominion of the senses, we dwell in chaos 
 personified. That is why the Oriental mystic re- 
 fuses to converse, to eat, to shake hands, to see 
 his friends, to enjoy music or perfume — until his 
 outer senses have been silenced, that his inner sensi- 
 bilities may be uttered. The self-banishment of 
 Tolstoi on the eve of death, after his self-depriva- 
 tion through life, was but an echo of the world-old 
 cry of the soul to be loosed from the flesh, and per- 
 ceive more clearly with the trammels gone. We 
 cannot all be sages, seers or mystics, we have work 
 to do on the earth-plane ; but we can all recognize 
 the presence of finer forces about it, and so attune 
 ourselves as to hear and voice in our own way 
 the heavenly strains of the Great Monition. You 
 tell me that prayer exalts the soul? I tell you 
 that prayer clears the eye, steadies the hand, calms 
 the nerve, quickens the judgment, strengthens the 
 will, makes the whole man keen, alert, and sure. 
 The non-religious man is a dwarf in his subjective 
 nature. He is to be pitied, not condemned. 
 
 Unused faculties cripple us. What can we do 
 best? Are we doing it? Can we find in our 
 work full scope and play for our talents? Are we 
 consciously progressing every day toward a fixed 
 goal? These questions are of life-long and earth- 
 wide importance. Every human being is a con- 
 
 [17] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 glomeration of plus and minus qualities, which 
 must be classified, arranged, unified, before the 
 personal equation is solved. There should be in 
 every college a department of Character Study, 
 devoted to the recognition, measurement and 
 equalization of the strong and weak faculties of 
 the youth who attend. The only drawback would 
 be that the man able to run this department 
 couldn't be held in a college — the corporations 
 would get him at $50,000 or so a year! The 
 warrior is weak in Ideality, the poet weak in Con- 
 tinuity, the pedagogue weak in Combativeness, 
 the hermit weak in Sociability, the cynic weak in 
 Hope. Yet each is strong in his own peculiar 
 field. The problem of life is so to choose our 
 field that our strength may be apparent. 
 
 Unused ideals cripple us. An ideal is a pre- 
 monition of power. The idealist often squanders 
 or fails to use his power — then the onlooker 
 blames the ideal. There is nothing so dangerous 
 to the spiritual life as to conceive an ideal, under- 
 take a pilgrimage for it, then turn back. It is 
 like entering a path over a chasm so narrow and 
 steep that one false step means destruction, and 
 you have not time to pause, or room to retreat. 
 These are the marching orders given the idealist: 
 " On and up — or die ! " Remain blind, if you 
 will, to your own possibilities on earth, and the 
 
 [18] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 
 
 glories of the heavens beyond. But having 
 sought your vision, and beheld one thing clearly, 
 follow that to the end. Nothing worse than 
 death awaits. And to fall amid the peaks, with 
 the sun full upon you, is a death that angels 
 might envy. 
 
 " How then may we find and free ourselves? " 
 
 Perhaps you are asking this — every honest 
 thinker must ask it sooner or later. 
 
 There is no easy way, no quick way, no cheap 
 way. The effective way is hard, and long, and 
 painful. But all the great souls who ever lived 
 have trod this way. And the greater the soul, 
 the greater the willingness. 
 
 Not long since, Thomas A. Edison was asked 
 to explain his wonderful success. The kernel of 
 his answer lay in one sentence : " The hardest 
 way is almost invariably the best way." He went 
 on to explain that whenever he achieved a result 
 quickly and easily, he at once suspected its gen- 
 uineness and proceeded to try a different method. 
 Perhaps the first rule for the discovery of talent 
 may be this: Always choose the hardest thing. 
 
 Associate with people who have developed 
 themselves, who have done things, not merely have 
 things. The social climber is right in method, if 
 not in motive; the way to get ahead is to follow 
 those who have arrived. Do you enjoy being 
 
 [19] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 with those who you know are superior to your- 
 self? Then your powers are in line for develop- 
 ment. 
 
 But call no man your superior, call the man 
 ahead merely your predecessor; call yourself as 
 great as the greatest, then live up to the acclama- 
 tion. 
 
 Be much alone. Solitude is the birthplace of / 
 strong ideas, fine plans and healthy purposes. 
 
 Ask some kind friend to tell you exactly what 
 he thinks of you. Double his praise and his cen- 
 sure. Then you will get a fair idea both of what 
 you may become, and of what you now are. No 
 friend ever saw our best — or dared paint our 
 worst. 
 
 Keep in touch with the current literature of your 
 business or profession. If you are a merchant or 
 a metaphysician, a doctor or a manufacturer, a 
 housewife or a teacher, there are books and maga- 
 zines being published that would greatly expedite 
 your work by suggesting ways to economize your 
 expenditure of time, thought and money. What- 
 ever vocation you pursue, keep in touch with the 
 best minds and let your brain be constantly sharp- 
 ened with new ideas from any source available. 
 
 Learn to save motions in your work. This will 
 give you time for something more valuable than 
 work. 
 
 [20] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 
 
 Acquire mastery of one thing at a time. It is 
 a joy to master words, a joy to master thoughts, 
 a joy to master acts, a joy to master feelings, a 
 joy to master events, a joy to master people. 
 But each of these forms of mastery is a study in 
 itself; whoever is a graduate in one branch of 
 mastery should forthwith enter another. 
 
 Make a thorough, systematic, persistent study 
 of the opportunities around you. Discontented 
 people are merely blind. There are gates open- 
 ing all the time, which the majority do not see 
 because they are looking at the stars or in the mud. 
 A willingness to face life clears away most of the 
 shadows that obscure life's meaning. 
 
 Have faith in your dream. It is the seed of 
 your destiny, let no gust of Fate sweep it away, 
 no man despoil you of it, no battle crush it. Out 
 of dreams grow empires. 
 
 Most of all, discover where your genius lies — 
 then follow this path till you reach greatness. 
 Make this your first business, outside of earning 
 your living. Efficiency is primarily a study of 
 human desires, an exploration of human powers, a 
 training of human faculties and a massing of hu- 
 man efforts. Genius is the guiding force back 
 of all this. 
 
 We know how to weigh our sugar and salt, 
 how to measure our hats and bedposts, how to 
 
 [21] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 drive our teams and trolleys — but the elements 
 of genius that are born in every one of us we 
 sadly ignore, appraising them in neither value, 
 extent nor control. When a man builds a great 
 fortune, or writes a great book, or achieves a 
 great character, we then behold the results of his 
 work and surfeit him with praise. But what he 
 needed was to be understood, loved and helped 
 while he was painfully toiling in the dark. To 
 measure a man's capacities and instruct or inspire 
 him in the training of them — this is the highest 
 form of brotherly kindness. 
 
 I suppose that in every group of twenty average 
 people, from three to seven would attain a pre- 
 eminent success, if they knew where and how to 
 direct their talents. And the others, possessing 
 the same knowledge, would enjoy a success for 
 greater than their present realization. But our 
 systems of education, society, politics, economics, 
 and religion are devised to perpetuate mediocrity 
 — they have no place for genius. So, when the 
 spirit of genius animates a youth, he becomes a 
 rebel. And as a rebel he is feared, hunted, slain. 
 
 The first question that I would by law force all 
 prospective teachers, doctors, ministers and par- 
 ents to answer fully would be this : " How will 
 you recognize, locate and develop the signs and 
 promises of genius in the children under your 
 
 [22] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY f 
 
 care?" For it is the child's stupid caretakers 
 who make the stupid child. One of the interest- 
 ing, pathetic and absurd phenomena in the life of 
 a genius occurs when he visits the place of his 
 birth, and notes with amusement the sleepy-eyed 
 whispers, long-eared head-shakings, and deaf-mute 
 wigwaggings of the same old gawks that live in 
 his home town. They " can't see yet what is in 
 the feller ! Hain't he riz in the world — must 
 hev been some fool luck! " 
 
 It is never safe to think we know a child. For 
 that which we condemn and punish in the child 
 may be his source of power. 
 
 Backwardness is often genius. Minds are, of 
 two kinds — porous and retentive. The porous 
 mind absorbs — and exudes — rapidly; it is the 
 mind of the so-called " brilliant " scholar. The 
 retentive mind absorbs slowly — and holds for 
 later use. Thus George Eliot, James J. Hill, and 
 many other types of genius were never heard of 
 till after they were thirty-five, at which age the 
 work of one's life is supposed to be established 
 and productive. By similar token the " prize 
 pupil" often ends in a clerkship — he used his 
 mind for a sieve while in college, and the world 
 doesn't want that variety. 
 
 Failure is often genius. The soul of genius is 
 too broad, too versatile, for close confinement in 
 
 [23] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 a mere " job." So, until the man of genius dis- 
 covers himself, he may flounder hopelessly while 
 his dray-horse brethren apparently get ahead. 
 Ulysses S. Grant was a " failure " in the class- 
 room — and a genius on the field of battle. 
 Nearly always, the depth of a failure foreshadows 
 the height of some victory — to the man who 
 never despairs but keeps on climbing. Most peo- 
 ple are satisfied with ready-made jobs; but the 
 patrician mind waits a little longer and has a bet- 
 ter job made to order. 
 
 Crime is often genius. We had a boy in our 
 college who was forever " into all kinds of devil- 
 ment," according to the statement of a pious pro- 
 fessor. This youth was at the bottom of all the 
 mischief in the neighborhood. He was a great 
 explorer of forbidden things. The reformers 
 strove in vain to tie his hands with mental and 
 moral prohibitions. When he left college, with a 
 reputation tarnished but a wit resplendent, he 
 gravitated to a Government Experiment Station. 
 Shortly he became known as a genius in examin- 
 ing, analyzing and classifying all kinds of soils, 
 for the benefit of the farmers. And in the work 
 he loved, his character was redeemed. 
 
 Poverty is often genius. The exceptional man 
 is not allowed to make money in ordinary ways, 
 lest he bury his talent in a grave of gold. There- 
 in] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 
 
 fore he who starves may only be preparing to do 
 a greater thing than the rich man ever dreamed. 
 The most fertile brains, like the most prolific gold- 
 fields, may be the last to be discovered. 
 
 Idleness is often genius. All great achieve- 
 ments are drawn first in dreams, by the pen of 
 imagination, in the colors of desire. To scoff at 
 the dreamer is to prove oneself a dolt in the psy- 
 chology of efficiency. While Newton was for- 
 mulating the discovery of the law of gravitation, 
 the neighbors deplored his folly in thus wasting 
 his time. To be wholly understood is to be 
 proved common. And to be unwilling ever to, 
 dream and drift and let the world go by, is to 
 be robbed of the forces and flashlight of genius. 
 
 Invalidism is often genius. The robust are sel- 
 dom great — unless they developed their robust- 
 ness. Fine talents go with a sensitive, nervous 
 temperament, and a physical machinery overdeli- 
 cate. The swine seldom needs a doctor — the 
 canary often does. Moreover, physical infirmi- 
 ties add to spiritual powers. Robert Louis Stev- 
 enson became a great writer because he was soft- 
 ened and sweetened and calmed and attuned by 
 prolonged suffering and the willingness to bear it 
 bravely. Most of the world-winners have had a 
 physical or mental handicap to goad them on. 
 
 Stupidity is often genius. A dynamo and a 
 
 [25] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 dust-pan do not work in the same way. A man 
 with a dust-pan mind can be stuffed with ancient, 
 irrelevant, compulsory facts — and be graded 
 99 per cent in scholarship. But the man with a 
 dynamo mind will not stand for any such insult. 
 I had a college friend who was the object of much 
 pity and not a little ridicule. He simply could 
 not " get his lessons." He was a leader in fra- 
 ternal, musical and athletic circles — but his 
 teachers passed him for graduation only because 
 he was " such a well-meaning boy, though hor- 
 ribly stupid." Ha ! And then again ha ! ha ! 
 That boy today is vice-president and general 
 manager of the largest concern of its kind in the 
 world, with a salary said to be from $60,000 a 
 year upwards. He is a genius — he was called 
 a fool. 
 
 Incorrigibility is often genius. You can dam 
 up a freshet in Spring — but you may expect the 
 stream to burst its banks and flood the surround- 
 ing meadows. The child with overflowing spirits 
 who is barricaded by injunctions and threats may 
 become " incorrigible " — as the freshet does. 
 But who blames the freshet? In a town near 
 New York there was recently a wayward lad — 
 the " bad boy " of the village — who for years 
 had been the despair of teachers, doctors, minis- 
 ters and parents, alike. His pranks were fiend- 
 
 [26] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY f 
 
 ishly cruel — but so fiendishly clever that he 
 could not be caught and punished. He was the 
 Jesse James of the neighborhood. Finally a 
 teacher came who could read the signs of genius. 
 With infinite love and tact, and the whole town 
 against her, she trusted and guided the youth, 
 showing him how to develop his creative powers. 
 He has now modeled wonderful works of art, and 
 bids fair to become a great sculptor or painter. 
 Many a genius is condemned to the prison or asy- 
 lum for want of a little sympathy from one who 
 understands. 
 
 There are in us all certain elements of genius. 
 And we cannot be fair to ourselves and our neigh- 
 bors, without knowing something of the nature, 
 laws, methods and manifestations of genius. This 
 knowledge enables us rightly to judge and stimu- 
 late the masses, judge and emulate the leaders, 
 judge and liberate ourselves. The possessor of 
 unrecognized genius has to fear jealousy, bigotry 
 and lethargy, all due to ignorance. The posses- 
 sor of recognized genius has to face either enmity 
 or idolatry, both due to ignorance plus imaginary 
 knowledge. Among the foes of genius, idolatry 
 is the worst — the ideals of Emerson and Whit- 
 man are most violated by the esoteric primness 
 of the adoring Emersonese and the imitative 
 license of the torrid Whitmaniacs. It is a noble 
 
 [27] . 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 and difficult task always to emulate the greatness 
 of the great but never to imitate their weakness. 
 
 Who among your friends is a genius undevel- 
 oped? How are you going to help him find him- 
 self, reach his place, and carve his name on his- 
 tory ? Do you judge men by what they have done, 
 or by what they may do? The small are fasci- 
 nated by the possessions or the personalities of 
 their friends - — the great are fascinated by the 
 possibilities alone. To see limitless expansion 
 ahead of our neighbor, and to want it for him, 
 is to add cubits to our own mental stature. 
 
 What now is genius? Merely individuality ex- 
 alted, intensified, consecrated, educated and em- 
 ployed. The majority of the citizens of this 
 world are copies — not originals. Whereas 
 genius is but the signature of God on a man de- 
 signed by Himself. If we knew enough, we 
 should say to our boys, " Be as great as the great- 
 est man! " — instead of saying, " Be as good as 
 the best man." For greatness appeals where good- 
 ness fails — it is the stream, not the channel, that 
 carries the force. 
 
 A recent warfare of words between metaphy- 
 sicians and psychologists was based on the query, 
 "Can genius be cultivated?" The metaphy- 
 sicians claimed that every man was a genius in 
 embryo, the psychologists declared that few men 
 
 [28] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 
 
 could ever attain the heights of poetry, music, in- 
 vention or finance. The dispute was never set- 
 tled because neither side had enough genius to 
 prove its case — which might be construed a vic- 
 tory for the negative. The truth is probably this; 
 that a few men and women are born with gigantic 
 brains which enable them to express their highest 
 gifts and immortalize themselves; that all men 
 and women possess talents far in excess of what 
 they use; and that many of those now called irri- 
 table, eccentric, perverse, irresponsible, reckless or 
 criminal would become great world-figures if their 
 minds were understood and their powers trained. 
 Genius is not abnormal, it is a flowering of the 
 normal, and whoever does not manifest some form 
 of it is either ungrown or a victim of the blight. 
 As frost on a flower-garden, so is worldly cus- 
 tom on the bloom of genius. Only the very 
 hardy souls can survive the blight — genius might 
 also be called a survival of self against the 
 world. 
 
 What is the practical lesson? Just this : Who- 
 ever you are, and however circumstanced, you can 
 do and be infinitely more. No matter how friend- 
 less, or poor, or sickly, or aged, or unfortunate 
 you may be, some one before you has conquered a 
 worse difficulty or emerged from a greater priva- 
 tion. The path of genius has ever been of thorns 
 
 [29] . 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 — not roses ; for roses lure to the valley, while 
 thorns point to the stars. 
 
 Study your talents; organize your forces; build 
 an ideal as wide as the world and as endless as 
 God; keep your_own counsel; make a systematic 
 study of opportunities leading to your goal; dare 
 to attempt the largest thing in your dream; nur- 
 ture and guard your vision as most men do their 
 " job " ; be your natural self — and laugh at those 
 who laugh at you ; form the habit of writing down 
 and preserving all the new ideas or plans that 
 come to you ; find the man in history who achieved 
 most nearly what you hope to achieve — then sur- 
 round yourself with as many books and reminders 
 of him as you can afford to buy ; cultivate solitude, 
 the source of inspiration — cultivate friction, the 
 source of development; learn to conserve both 
 time and energy, so that in your leisure hours you 
 can have your genius work; analyze the duties, 
 pleasures and habits that form your daily routine, 
 decide which are non-essential, remove them and 
 substitute real aids to your ambition; believe in 
 your ultimate desire as firmly as you believe in 
 Omnipotence, whence it came ; pay the price gladly, 
 in suffering, toiling, starving, waiting, being mis- 
 understood; and measure final success not by the 
 honors of the world nor the clink of gold in your 
 purse, but by your own Herculean effort that builds 
 
 [30] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY $ 
 
 the stature of immortality, and by the lightened 
 hearts and illumined souls whose nobler lives praise 
 you with honors everlasting. 
 
 For in the end, genius is but the impulse to 
 realize the divine, here and now. Divine beauty, 
 divine strength, divine sweetness, divine skill, di- 
 vine bravery, divine wholeness, divine love — ■ 
 something divine fills and impels every one who 
 achieves beyond the extent of his neighbors. To 
 grasp this divine leading and be under this divine 
 sway is to attain the impossible, enforce the mirac- 
 ulous, and lift this world onto a level with God. 
 
 PERSONAL EFFICIENCY TEST 
 
 Copyright, 1915, by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 DIRECTIONS. In answering questions write 100 
 for " Yes," o for " No." If the answer is a partial af- 
 firmative write the number between o and 100 that ex- 
 preses the degree of assurance. Then add the column of 
 percentages, divide the total by 30, and the answer will 
 be your approximate grade in efficiency. The value of the 
 test lies in the honesty of the answers. 
 
 Answers 
 (in per cent) 
 
 1. Do you like your work? 
 
 2. Have you learned the best, quickest and easi- 
 
 est way of doing it ? 
 
 3. Are you thoroughly informed on " scientific 
 
 management " ? 
 
 [31] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 4. Do you know where your greatest power lies ? 
 
 5. Have you a fixed goal, in line with your su- 
 
 preme talent ? 
 
 6. Do you believe absolutely in your own fu- 
 
 ture ? 
 
 7. Are you in perfect physical health ? 
 
 8. Have you learned how to get well and keep 
 
 well? 
 
 9. Can you be optimistic, under all circum- 
 
 stances ? 
 
 10. Do you realize which of your habits, thoughts 
 
 or emotions make you inefficient? 
 
 11. Have you made an inventory of your mental 
 
 and moral traits ? 
 
 12. Are you correcting your known weaknesses; 
 
 mental, financial, social or spiritual ? 
 
 13. Have you discovered which foods, baths and 
 
 exercises increase your energy and heighten 
 your mentality? 
 
 14. Do you breathe deeply and hold an erect pos- 
 
 ture ? 
 
 15. Is your sleep long and dreamless and refresh- 
 
 ing, with your sleeping-room perfectly ven- 
 tilated ? 
 
 16. Do you drink three pints of pure water daily? 
 
 17. Do you eat slowly, moderately, regularly? . . 
 
 18. Is all your clothing made loose, to allow 
 
 blood and nerves free play ? 
 
 19. Are you independent, fearless, positive? .... 
 
 20. Are you tactful, cautious, courteous ? 
 
 21. Have you secured the best possible advisers 
 
 and associates ? 
 
 [32] 
 
WHAT IS EFFICIENCY 4 ? 
 
 22. Are all your co-workers eager to help make 
 
 your plans a success ? 
 
 23. Do you wish your rivals well, and never 
 
 speak ill of them ? 
 
 24. Do you work harder than anybody else in the 
 
 business ? 
 
 25. Have you learned the science of planning 
 
 your day ahead ? 
 
 26. Can you relax entirely in your leisure hours? 
 
 27. Are you saving money systematically? 
 
 28. Do you enjoy art, music, literature, and the 
 
 presence of little children ? 
 
 29. Does your highest ambition include some real 
 
 service to Humanity ? 
 
 30. Have you a great love in your life, to steady, 
 
 cheer and empower you ? 
 
 Divide the total 
 by 30. 
 The quotient shows 
 your percentage of 
 efficiency. 
 
 NOTE. A complete Efficiency Test would include 
 other vital questions, but answers to these will furnish 
 a self-analysis of approximate reliability. 
 
 [88] 
 
CHAPTER II 
 STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 WHOEVER holds a book in his hand 
 holds the map of his own future. 
 Greatness never grows out of books. 
 But greatness seldom reaches maturity without 
 being guided, nourished and refreshed by the char- 
 acters, thoughts and ideals found in books. 
 
 Watch a man eat, and ypu can fairly predict 
 what his body will be, twenty years hence. Watch 
 him read, and you can foretell what his mind will 
 be. Watch him study, plan, meditate, dream, 
 judge himself, test himself, renew himself through 
 silence — and you can prophesy, if you are dis- 
 cerning, what his character will be, his power, 
 his value, to the race. For destinies are always 
 engraved on the mind before they are flashed on 
 the world. 
 
 Two boys, apparently of similar talents, tastes 
 and ambitions, go to school together. They study 
 
 [34] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 the same books, play the same games, have the 
 same companions, meet the same discipline, attend 
 the same church. Forty years later, one is at the 
 top of the ladder, the other is at the bottom. 
 They have nothing in common between them, they 
 are as far apart as though reared in foreign lands. 
 Why? Because each, knowingly or unknowingly, 
 has built his mind from a different sort of food; 
 each has read, thought, purposed, willed and acted 
 in a fixed groove - — the one leading up, the other 
 leading down. If every man who fails could have 
 had the right mental food, there would be no such 
 thing as failure in the world. 
 
 That is but a popular way of stating a scientific 
 principle. Before psychologists knew the inherent 
 powers of the soul, heredity was thought to be 
 the controlling factor in life. But environment 
 and association are now recognized for the real 
 builders of character; and what are these but 
 modes of mental influence? The mediocre man 
 is the sum of his surroundings ; the colossal man is 
 the difference between his surroundings and him- 
 self. For greatness feeds primarily on its own 
 faiths, convictions and resolves ; and you may know 
 that the genius in a man is awaking when he first 
 beholds how small his environment has become. 
 The tragedy of youth is the hunger for an under- 
 standing of its aspirations. The child who runs 
 
 [35] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 away from home is in search of the kind of mental 
 food to satisfy him. He should be nourished — 
 not punished. When teachers, ministers and 
 parents learn how to feed the minds of children 
 properly, there will be no more dullards, no more 
 worldlings, no more " black sheep of the family." 
 A family " black sheep " is largely the product of 
 the mental soot and moral tar which the others 
 have exuded in approaching whiteness. Few 
 black sheep are of a blackness all their own; their 
 blackness is created and perpetuated by the minds 
 of others. 
 
 When a man falls a prey to disease, he is thor- 
 oughly examined. The blood and other secre- 
 tions of the body are tested, and by their constitu- 
 tion the diet is determined. Equally should the 
 victim of poverty, failure, pessimism, worry, nega- 
 tion, irreligion or crime be analyzed in his emo- 
 tions, and his mental disorders be corrected by a 
 systematic change of thought. We label our 
 noxious drugs " Poison." This for safety. But 
 where one eats poison, a hundred think poison. 
 How shall they be saved? 
 
 Feeding the mind is more important than feed- 
 ing the body. During possibly two hours in the 
 twenty-four we are engaged in feeding the body. 
 But there is never a moment, day or night, when 
 we cease to feed the mind; even in sleep the mind 
 
 [36] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 is recounting the experiences of the day and fore- 
 casting the events of the morrow, by a subtle proc- 
 ess which we hardly as yet understand, but which, 
 we are led to believe, does exist. The brain rests 
 — the mind never rests. For the mind never 
 tires, and never needs to rest. 
 
 Then again, physical nourishment affects this 
 life only, while mental nourishment becomes a part 
 of the future life as well as of the present. There 
 are millions of believers in re-incarnation. They 
 hold that we are constantly building and rebuild- 
 ing a psychic body, which forms the spiritual nu- 
 cleus of the external organism, becoming manifest 
 partially in this life, completely in the next life, 
 when the outer body will correspond with the 
 inner, thereby revealing us to the world as we have 
 been to ourselves. In short, we are the book in 
 which the Recording Angel writes the history and 
 judgment of our lives. Every thought, hope, 
 wish, feeling, mood, prayer and desire will thus 
 appear, in due time. 
 
 This automatic record is even now being kept, 
 and may easily be discerned. Compare the face 
 of the poet with that of the financier, of the 
 teacher with that of the pugilist, of the actress 
 with that of the nun. You will find the mental 
 food that each has preferred visibly incorporated. 
 And this change goes on, to the very moment of 
 
 [37] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 death. For there is no age to the soul, and he 
 who wills may ever create himself anew in the 
 image of his ideal. 
 
 Just how does thought feed the mind ? In two 
 ways: by expanding the cells, and by deepening 
 the convolutions of the brain. The cells are like 
 muscles; every idea stimulates a particular group, 
 and if we take enough of any one kind of mental 
 morsels, we shall have a corresponding increase 
 of brain area and function. Thus, the regular 
 members of the great army of the unemployed are 
 constantly rolling hard-luck stories under their 
 tongue, so that presently their whole system is in- 
 oculated with the poisons of self-pity, inertia, 
 envy, irresponsibility, indecision and complaint. 
 They do not want a job, they want a jobless uni- 
 verse, and they won't be happy till they get it. 
 But the captains of industry have succeeded 
 through making their work their whole life. One 
 of the world's greatest empire-builders who re- 
 cently passed on had this said of him by a close 
 friend: " He died because he always took his 
 work home with him ; he couldn't stop thinking and 
 planning in bed; his brain was most active while 
 others slept." And the vagrant beggar, who had 
 never owned an original thought, doubtless grum- 
 bled at the " luck " of the millionaire. The 
 greatest luck lies in learning that there isn't any. 
 
 [38] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The convolutions of the brain represent fixed 
 habits of thought and subjective tendencies result- 
 ing therefrom. Viewing a sublime panorama 
 from an Alpine summit, each traveler will behold 
 the scene from a different angle, formed by the 
 trend of his mind. The artist will picture the 
 glowing colors, the poet will sing a rhapsody to 
 Nature, the priest will think what a wondrous 
 way to God, the lover will plan how to be alone 
 with his Dearest on the farthest peak. And the 
 iceman will conjure up gloom on the awful waste 
 of snow! Each has a mind filled with certain 
 thoughts not to be dislodged even by the world's 
 incomparable spectacle of majesty and light. Of 
 what use a world, when the mind is all in all to 
 itself? 
 
 The analogy is very close between food for the 
 body and food for the mind. Note the resem- 
 blances, and their applications to study and effi- 
 ciency. 
 
 i. The body is formed not by what we eat but 
 by what we assimilate. There are very fat men 
 who eat almost nothing, and there are very thin 
 men who can never get enough. Fat folk digest 
 what they eat, thin folk do not. There are 
 perennial talkers, and omnivorous readers, whose 
 minds are pale and attenuated. Conversely, there 
 are silent people whose minds are comely and ro- 
 
 [39] . 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 bust. It is not the facts in our brain that make us 
 great, but the feelings in our heart with which we 
 use the facts. That is why the old-fashioned 
 dried-up college professor is an intellectual 
 mummy — he has embalmed his facts instead of 
 embodying them. Knowledge is death until vital- 
 ized by love. 
 
 2. Physical diseases are mostly the product of 
 wrong diet or foolish habits of eating. This is 
 true especially of rheumatism, colds and indiges- 
 tion. And it is true of mental states of health — 
 the mind of the orthodox thinker inclines to rheu- 
 matism, the mind of the radical thinker is sub- 
 ject to colds-and-fever, the mind of the bookworm 
 suffers from indigestion, the mind of the novel- 
 reader is afflicted with consumption, and the mind 
 of the gossip shows a virulent case of measles. 
 Nearly all human minds are somehow sick; be- 
 cause ill-fed, under-fed or over-fed. 
 
 3. The healthiest diet is a mixed diet, with many 
 kinds of food alternating. Some people boast 
 that they can live on peanuts and bananas for an 
 indefinite period. Doubtless they can. But how? 
 Because their intellects are of a peanut size and 
 their instincts of a banana mushiness. The man 
 who can stay healthy and happy on one kind of 
 food is not far from the amoeba. The normal 
 human appetite craves many things in order, but 
 
 [40] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 few things at a time. So with the sane mind — 
 it chooses one kind of thought until that satisfies, 
 then another, and another. Spare-time reading 
 should be as varied as books are varied, including 
 science, romance, poetry, theology, psychology, 
 art, invention, finance, love and home-making. 
 The highest function of a library is to make us 
 feel at home in any part of it. 
 
 4. The manner of eating is as vital as the ma- 
 terial and amount of food. Eating without hun- 
 ger, zest and enjoyment is often worse than not 
 eating at all. So, the child who studies listlessly 
 will be anaemic in his mental life, a victim of psy- 
 chic auto-intoxication. The secret of a healthy, 
 growing mind is to have or to simulate a hearty 
 interest in the thing one is doing. Mental par- 
 alysis is chronic with Government employees ; hav- 
 ing nothing to work toward, and nothing to plan 
 for but holding their jobs, they allow their minds 
 to petrify. Work that does not animate the will 
 is poison. 
 
 5. Food that is earned is the sweetest. The 
 hereditary millionaire is a violation of natural law. 
 And his ennui proves it. Nature gives us noth- 
 ing but the talent and the opportunity to make or 
 take what we want for ourselves. The real price 
 of a thing is not money, but effort. So the day- 
 laborer buys with his toil his hunger; while the 
 
 [41] , 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 I 
 
 monied prince would gladly give his over-loaded 
 board for the appetite to munch a crust. Neither 
 can mental assimilation be purchased with money 
 — the chap who values information has had to 
 hustle for it. Earning is the essence of learning. 
 That is why the boy who works his way through 
 college gets all that college has to give a boy. 
 Teach a youth to memorize facts from a book? 
 Perhaps; but certainly teach him how to think, 
 to observe, to read, to ponder, to plan, resolve and 
 achieve — then he will educate himself in a higher 
 knowledge than any mere college graduate could 
 ever boast. 
 
 Here is an experiment, illustrating the nature 
 and force of mental nourishment. 
 
 Like most people, the writer has plenty of things 
 to make him unhappy if he would allow them to. 
 So, the other evening, he resolved to feed his mind 
 on whatever thoughts happened to enter, and to 
 watch results. The thoughts which came first 
 were those of doubt, discouragement, loneliness, 
 anxiety, pessimism, self-pity and revolt (due prob- 
 ably to a condition of physical exhaustion). He 
 dwelt on these images, incorporating the ideas in 
 his mind as food is made part of the body. The 
 result? Before the night was over, he was suf- 
 fering with a pronounced headache, a slight sore 
 
 [42] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 throat, a feverish temperature, a disturbed diges- 
 tion, a depressed lung-action, and dull pains in the 
 heart. Yet chronic grumblers, grievers, peevers 
 and scandal-mongers can not understand why their 
 doctor doesn't keep them well ! 
 
 Recently the story of " Raffles, the Gentleman 
 Burglar," was published in a New York paper 
 and played on a New York stage. Immediately 
 there followed an epidemic of burglaries in vari- 
 ous parts of the city. It is notorious in police cir- 
 cles, that one fire by incendiarism leads to others; 
 and that certain crimes, when aired by court trial 
 and newspaper comment, reproduce themselves. 
 We shall never have a healthy community until we 
 find a way of disinfecting the poisoned minds that 
 we permit to roam at large. 
 
 In most of our public schools, which we laud as 
 the great American institution, there exists a moral 
 pestilence and contagion far more deadly than the 
 surface epidemic which we quarantine with frantic 
 haste. I refer to the premature knowledge and 
 ruinous exploitation of sex. This, wherever chil- 
 dren gather, is the great menace to future homes. 
 The minds of the young are nearly always hungry 
 on this point; and until parents have the courage, 
 the purity and the wisdom to feed their minds with 
 facts, rather than stimulating them with doctor- 
 myths and stork-fables of the origin of life, we 
 
 [4.3] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 may expect nothing better than that little girls of 
 eight and nine years should learn of the sacred 
 mysteries from lips that reek with immorality. 
 Is this putting it too strongly? Ask any experi- 
 enced physician — and make him tell you. 
 
 Can we control our thoughts ? This is the vital 
 question. Yes, we can ; — immediately to a cer- 
 tain extent, finally to an almost unlimited extent. 
 How? By making psychology an everyday study, 
 as the sensible among us have come to make diet. 
 
 First, we must realize that the mind never grows 
 old, it is fresh and young and powerful so long as 
 we nourish it properly. Hence, no matter what 
 our record of failure may be — whether weakness, 
 disease, poverty, misfortune, ignorance or sin — 
 we can start now to build a new personality. And 
 the building process will continue, slowly, perhaps 
 unconsciously, but with absolute certainty, while 
 we keep the brain supplied with wholesome, pure, 
 strength-giving thoughts. 
 
 Next, we must analyze our thought-habits, 
 choosing the ideas that we entertain, as we select 
 our food on the bill of fare. If some one should 
 offer to place a grown man in a high-chair and 
 feed him with a spoon, he would be deeply in- 
 sulted, or amused, and would question the sanity of 
 the speaker. Yet the average grown man swal- 
 lows other people's ideas with no more resistance 
 
 [44] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 or independence than a baby manifests over a sau- 
 cer of gruel. Only our thoughts nourish and 
 build our minds. Most of our thoughts we should 
 originate ; and others we should accept only as we 
 feel they belong to us. 
 
 Again, we must wisely apportion our mental 
 meal-hours. I think that for every hour one 
 speaks, he should read two hours, and meditate 
 three hours. This ratio is generally about re- 
 versed. Meditation is to the mind what sleep is 
 to the body — the agent of balance and assimila- 
 tion. The man who talks, or reads, or listens, in 
 most of his spare-time, is a mental glutton, he 
 makes of eating a perpetual action. The mind is 
 renewed not by the mere absorption of ideas, but 
 by the exercise of them, and by a gracious pause 
 between. 
 
 Further, we must keep our mental menu bal- 
 anced. If a person eats all meat, or all fruit, he 
 will be sick. The same rule holds mentally, and 
 to violate it means psychic disturbance. Convic- 
 tions are the bread of the soul; desires are the 
 meat of the soul; emotions are the fruit of the 
 soul; inspirations are the drink of the soul; and 
 Human Will is the host that sets the feast. How 
 could your mental menu be improved? 
 
 Finally, we must detect our chief spiritual hun- 
 ger, and satisfy that first. The Mental Scien- 
 
 [45] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 tist bids us " hold the thought " of love, truth, 
 beauty, kindness, purity, power, or any other trait 
 to which we aspire. That is good. But there is 
 something better — the habit of dwelling on our 
 personal idea of accomplishment. What are we 
 here for ? Have we found our place in the world, 
 and are we filling it? Have we assumed con- 
 scious control of our destiny? Can we not be in- 
 finitely greater than we ever dared to be ? 
 
 All failure is a form of stupidity. The cure for 
 stupidity is study. Therefore study would pre- 
 vent all failure. 
 
 Unpreparedness and misfitness are the two great 
 handicaps in the business world to-day. These 
 would both be removed by study. 
 
 Millions of human beings are sad and de- 
 pressed, for one cause or another. But sadness 
 generally is blindness, tears come only to eyes half- 
 closed. 
 
 Fate has no power to work ill upon us. Fate 
 is but the cloak of folly. And folly hides some- 
 where in every lack or loss of the things we should 
 enjoy — health, energy, opportunity, money, popu- 
 larity, freedom, contentment. 
 
 Study is the map, work is the road, to efficiency. 
 The map comes first. 
 
 By study I do not mean, however, the mental 
 process of a bookish man, by an oracular method, 
 
 146] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 in a sequestered place. To study a book without 
 knowing the why and how and whence and 
 whither of the matter is like sitting down, blind- 
 folded, to a dinner in a strange restaurant, then 
 dipping your spoon into any and all dishes with 
 no regard save to keep on dipping. You are 
 likely to mix olives and ice-cream on your mental 
 menu. Very studious persons often look as if they 
 had just eaten olives and ice-cream together. 
 
 Brain-worship is the fetish and curse of most 
 of our educational institutions. The aspirations, 
 emotions and instincts are neglected, while the 
 mere corrugations of a cerebrum are idolized. A 
 savage, on visiting an American University, would 
 exclaim with disgust, " These men heap big fool ! 
 They make totem-pole out of own head! " (It is 
 no great job, forsooth, inasmuch as totem-poles 
 are regularly made out of wood.) 
 
 I know a shrewd business man who never sets 
 foot on a college campus — he will walk a mile, 
 to go around it. He says that the aimlessness of 
 college students irritates him beyond words; 
 among them he would waste so much energy in 
 flaying the school system that his work would suf- 
 fer the next day. 
 
 The gentleman is not entirely wrong. I spent 
 eight years within college walls — first as student, 
 afterward as teacher. The lessons gained were in- 
 
 [47] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 valuable. Yet, having studied books for eight 
 years, then having studied life for sixteen years, I 
 am convinced that the majoriy of college students 
 never learn how to study, and that fully half the 
 time is wasted. No one is to blame, we simply 
 have not learned what study is for. 
 
 A suggestion may here be in order. One of the 
 first official acts of a college president should be 
 to get a huge blank-book, elegantly and durably 
 made. The word " Why? " should be engraved 
 in bold letters on the cover. Each candidate for 
 college would have to sign this book, on the page 
 reserved for him, also to place therein his best 
 photograph. He would answer this question in 
 particular: " Why am I going to college, what 
 will I get from it, what can I give to it? " Then 
 upon graduation he would record his measure of 
 realization and satisfaction, present a new photo- 
 graph showing his mental, physical and spiritual 
 development, and offer suggestions for improving 
 college methods, teachers and students. 
 
 Such a book, properly used, would in time be 
 worth more to the college than the college library. 
 You can no more wind up a man without regulat- 
 ing his motive than you can wind up a clock with- 
 out regulating its mainspring. There should be 
 fewer speeches containing good advice, and more 
 statistics showing good achievement, on graduation 
 
 [48] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 day. The way to make a school efficient is to 
 do less checking and more checking up. 
 
 In a New Jersey town a man was arrested lately 
 for begging on the street. He had no money, no 
 home, no friends who would help him. He could 
 speak ten languages — and he could not earn the 
 wages of a messenger boy. He was much grieved 
 because the erudition he contained was no protec- 
 tion from starving; and the fact of his arrest was 
 the crowning sorrow of his bleak, forlorn exist- 
 ence. Was it right to arrest this man? No. 
 The college president who robbed him of time 
 and money and youth should have been arrested, 
 for the crime of selling at great cost to a young 
 man, ten languages not worth ten cents. An hour 
 devoted to the measurement of this course of study 
 by efficiency standards would have prevented this 
 man's pitiful, tragic failure. 
 
 But I am not a materialist, I do not put com- 
 mercial values first. Therefore I would have each 
 man or woman taking up the study of efficiency, 
 analyze the motives, determine the aims, and fix 
 the principles governing the study. The mental, 
 social, moral and spiritual advantages outweigh 
 the financial reward. Efficiency is not a money- 
 making device. It prevents waste, but only by 
 teaching a man how to think. It improves in- 
 come, but only by increasing quantity and quality 
 
 [49] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 of output. A clear view of the benefits to be de- 
 rived must precede a rational course of study. I 
 have spent fifteen years in study, research and ex- 
 periment along efficiency lines. The chief reasons 
 for this prolonged endeavor have been as follows : 
 
 Efficiency helps us do and have and be every- 
 thing worth while. Being and having both follow 
 doing. The largest factor in doing our best is 
 doing our most. Hundreds of progressive teach- 
 ers and ministers are asking how to use the prin- 
 ciples and methods of scientific management in 
 schools, churches, and other philanthropic institu- 
 tions. No further proof is needed of the moral 
 value of efficiency study. 
 
 Efficiency shows us what we can do best. The 
 majority of people never learn this lesson. It cost 
 me thousands of dollars, and ten years of most 
 arduous, bitter experience after I left college. 
 Such a waste is a crime, and the only prevention 
 lies in systematic study of one's nature, talents and 
 opportunities. 
 
 Efficiency adds to our productivity, hence to our 
 income ; it helps to cure whatever ails us — 
 whether it be poverty, pessimism, vice, disease, 
 worry, failure, grief; it ensures self-command and 
 therefore self-respect; it promotes human service 
 by inculcating a spirit of understanding and co- 
 operation; it prepares the way for life's realities 
 
 [50] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 — fellowship, culture, idealism, faith, growth, 
 truth. I want efficiency, to give me freedom for 
 greater, better things than efficiency. 
 
 There is a general misconstruction of the word 
 " study." A real student is not a pale, sad per- 
 son with a heart of stone, head of wood, and 
 glassy eyes glued on the pages of a book. Nor 
 is study the memorizing and repeating of dis- 
 jointed facts in an automatic, paralytic way! 
 Study is the focus of heart, mind and body on a 
 practical method of attaining a specified ambition. 
 Of all the different factors in scientific study, book- 
 learning is of least importance. I mention this 
 fact here, in order to prevent the almost universal 
 mistake of trying to depend on books of wisdom. 
 A student's first move should be not to hunt a book 
 but to hunt a backbone. Study means more than 
 the average student ever dreamed of! 
 
 Study means the faith to believe, that the man 
 who teaches you is competent, the method practi- 
 cal, the result beneficial, the principle ideal. Study 
 means the will to do all that any man ever did, 
 for the accomplishment of a similar purpose. 
 Study means the power to observe the successes 
 and failures around you, in your line of endeavor, 
 and to apply the lessons to yourself. Study means 
 the calmness to reason as to whether teacher and 
 text may be right or wrong — and the courage to 
 
 [51] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 think for yourself, in spite of prestige or prece- 
 dent. Study means the energy to attempt what- 
 ever you are prompted to undertake, and to follow 
 a regular or an irregular method, whichever seems 
 best. Study means the caution to safeguard your 
 own errors, by asking your teacher and friends 
 what your weak points are, and by stopping to 
 think before you act. Study means the honesty 
 and bravery to learn by your mistakes, and to hold 
 yourself accountable for such temporary failure 
 and misfortune as we all have to meet if we get 
 anywhere. Study means the persistency to over- 
 come ten thousand obstacles — and the faith to 
 smile at the ten-thousand-and-first. Study means 
 the wisdom to emulate the leaders in your chosen 
 field, and the modesty to remain a student, no mat- 
 ter what your eminence may be. Study means the 
 aspiration to attain heights of culture and charac- 
 ter not measured by money, and not reached till 
 your money-making period is safely past. 
 
 In efficency study, we have two primary divi- 
 sions, correlated but distinct; — the personal 
 phase, which is general and fundamental, and the 
 technical or vocational, which applies to our spe- 
 cific trade or profession. These are related as the 
 trunk of a tree to the branches ; human nature be- 
 ing the trunk, and our various occupations being 
 the branches. To study the mechanical side of a 
 
 152] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 business before mastering the physical, mental, so- 
 cial and spiritual sides would be as foolish as try- 
 ing to climb a cherry tree by jumping at a branch 
 of it. The coordination of a man's brain, body, 
 heart and soul, and their concentration on his 
 work, normally precedes the choice and use of any 
 tool, method or equipment required for the work. 
 
 Let us take, for example, the case of a man saw- 
 ing wood, and observe the elements that make him 
 efficient or otherwise. 
 
 First, we study the tool, then we study the man's 
 way of employing the tool. There are at least 
 ten constituents to be found in a reliable saw. 
 ( i ) The size, weight, and function must be appro- 
 priate; (2) the edge must be keen, the action 
 swift; (3) the steel must be of fine quality, well 
 tempered; (4) the handle smooth, firm and prop- 
 erly shaped; (5) the blade and handle scientifically 
 balanced; (6) the right oil or grease available for 
 keeping the saw bright; (7) a good sharpening in- 
 strument handy; (8) a receptacle near, high and 
 dry, and safely enclosed; (9) a guarantee fur- 
 nished by the maker as to the flawless character 
 of the tool; (10) a set of complete instructions 
 on the use and care of the saw, given to the pur- 
 chaser without fail. Nearly every home contains 
 a kit of tools; every home was built from a long 
 list of materials; every business or profession calls 
 
 [53] . 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 for a certain group of utensils; but how many 
 people ever gave an hour of scientific study to this 
 matter of equipment? And nothing is needed but 
 a little common sense. 
 
 Now let us study the man himself. We find 
 a hundred variants, depending on the personal 
 equation, and all as important as the nature of the 
 saw. If he is weak in the sense of calculation, he 
 will saw crooked — and lose his job as a carpenter. 
 If he is of a nervous temperament, he will saw by 
 jerks; and if he is poetic besides, he will saw his 
 thumb instead of the board (doubtless that he may 
 write a sonnet on how he suffers). If he has not 
 eaten for several days, he lacks the energy to 
 saw wood manfully; but if he has just eaten a 
 table d'hote dinner, his strength has gone to his 
 stomach and all he can do is breathe. (This is a 
 purely hypothetical case — any man with so little 
 sense as to eat a full table d'hote dinner cannot be 
 safely trusted with a saw.) 
 
 If he wears a tight collar, he may precipitate 
 the vertigo; and if also scratchy flannel under- 
 clothes, his volubility will sound like vertigo and 
 black fever mixed. If he takes alcohol or other 
 stimulants or drugs, and attempts to be a sawyer, 
 he violates the " Safety First " principle, now be- 
 coming cardinal throughout the trade world. If 
 last night he was " out with the boys," he lacks the 
 
 [54] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 clear eye, steady nerve, and store of vitality needed 
 in the efficient sawer of wood. If he has just 
 passed through a great sorrow, he is numb — in 
 brain, heart and hand. If he hates the work, or 
 begrudges the " boss," or belittles the pay, he will 
 skimp on time or speed or attention. If his health 
 is below normal, his work will slump, in both char- 
 acter and amount. Briefly any condition of the 
 man which affects unfavorably the mental, physical, 
 emotional or spiritual energies of the man reacts 
 on his work, the measure of such reaction be- 
 ing incalculable throughout every large industry. 
 Would it not seem that such matters are as worthy 
 of study as the bounding of rivers in Africa, the 
 memorizing of dates from antiquity, or the carry- 
 ing of logarithms to a hundred decimal points? 
 
 Another basic item is that of expense. For il- 
 lustration, take the matter of a cooking-stove; the 
 original price, the cost of fuel, and the charges for 
 upkeep. Not less than eight different kinds of 
 heat have been used in America for cooking pur- 
 poses : — coal, wood, coke, oil, gas, electricity, 
 denatured alcohol (liquid), denatured alcohol 
 (solid) . How many wives and sweethearts, plan- 
 ning their first home, consider the choice of fuel 
 as of great importance, learn which kinds are avail- 
 able, desirable, and economical — then base their 
 cook-stove squarely on the result? Is not the 
 
 [55] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 usual custom for a housewife to inherit a coal- 
 stove from her ancestors, or accept a gas-stove 
 from her architect, being guiltless of thought in 
 either case ? Yet, in a large household, the varia- 
 tion in cost of heat may run as high as $50 a year, 
 and the time expended in managing the heat may 
 be 100 hours a year more than it should. There 
 are women who have learned, in 100 hours, to be- 
 come self-supporting, and to earn $500 and up- 
 ward a year, instead of losing $50 and 100 
 hours. The heat factor is but one of many, all 
 demanding equal application of science and sys- 
 tem. 
 
 Other essentials are time-study and action-study. 
 Here is an example. I know a gentleman, of pre- 
 cise habit and punctilious mind, who would open 
 his morning mail somewhat in this fashion. He 
 would first arrange the letters in a beautiful 
 geometrical pile, all facing to the front. Then 
 he would take a pair of shears and slowly detach 
 an algebraic portion of the envelope. Then he 
 would read the letter, prepare the answer in his 
 mind, put the letter back in the envelope, and the 
 envelope in a deskbasket with an artistic label. 
 Then, having treated each communication thusly, 
 he would arrange and proceed with other work. 
 At 4 p. M. he would rescue the column, ruminate 
 on the letters, and call his stenographer. By this 
 
 [56] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 time she was thoroughly tired and had lost her 
 dictation-speed, while he was irritable and had for- 
 gotten what he wanted to say. t To get the mail 
 out, she had to stay overtime every night, and de- 
 layed answers to correspondents were of chronic 
 regularity. 
 
 Efficiency revolutionized this man's method. 
 He bought a letter-opening machine ; told his sec- 
 retary to operate it — which she did in five min- 
 utes every morning; had her pin each envelope to 
 the back of each letter, and sort the letters by sub- 
 jects. He worked out a series of form-replies, put 
 a numeral on each, and dictated a large percentage 
 of his correspondence by mentioning a series of 
 numbers. He changed the dictation-hour to the 
 morning, when he and the stenographer were both 
 fresh and bright. And he now saves from 30 to 
 40 minutes a day by such a reform. His time is 
 worth probably $10 an hour. On this one item, 
 efficiency study has been worth at least $30 a week 
 to this one man. The principle avails for every 
 man — whether his work be writing sermons or 
 digging ditches. We never happen on the best, 
 quickest and easiest way of doing anything; we 
 have to study it out. 
 
 Hundreds of people, from housemaids and 
 farm boys to government officials and college presi- 
 dents, have asked the writer for concrete sug- 
 
 [57] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 gestions on self-training and self-advancement. 
 There are at least ten lines of thought and action 
 leading to personal efficiency. Follow as many 
 as you can. 
 
 i. Study books; on health, diet, baths, exercise, 
 economy, finance, vocation, scientific management, 
 household engineering and every other subject re- 
 lating to efficiency. Your city library should con- 
 tain these books. Look there first. 
 
 2. Study organizations and institutions, that are 
 recognized leaders in efficiency work. You can do 
 this, no matter if you live on a rural delivery 
 route, twenty miles from the nearest village. A 
 number of societies, clubs and leagues aiming at 
 efficiency will provide you with literature by mail, 
 delivering the benefits of membership at your 
 door. 
 
 3. Study magazines, on the general topic of self- 
 discovery and self-improvement, also on the tech- 
 nical phases of your work. Every ambitious man 
 or woman should take regularly at least one such 
 magazine on the personal side, and one on the 
 professional. 
 
 4. Study biographies of the individuals who 
 have won a high place in your field of work. The 
 stories of their lives you can find in books; in cur- 
 rent magazines; in the journals devoted to busi- 
 ness, education, art, music, religion, or almost any 
 
 [58] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 other occupation. The stories of great men and 
 women now living are far more inspiring than 
 those of the past. History is only biography em- 
 balmed. There are, moreover, certain names that 
 have no predecessors or prototypes in history. 
 Helen Keller, Jane Addams, Helen Gould, 
 Thomas A. Edison, Luther Burbank, Alexis Car- 
 rel, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, John D. 
 Rockefeller, Ben B. Lindsey; these are the first of 
 their kind. Who are the men or women at the 
 head of your profession? Learn how they 
 reached the eminence — and resolve to go as far. 
 
 5. Study courses, residence or mail, that offer 
 real instruction and cooperation for the achieve- 
 ment of your purpose. But apply, first, every pos- 
 sible test for discovering the genuineness, author- 
 ity and practicality of any course given by mail — 
 some are useless. 
 
 6. Study men, around you, above and below 
 you, to observe how they surpass you in the way 
 of getting things done. Your least paid clerk has 
 something to teach you, in manner, method, na- 
 ture or character. And if you are an official in a 
 corporation or institution, the president is worth 
 a library to you as a focus of observation. 
 
 7. Study materials, tools and facilities, begin- 
 ning with those required in your own work and 
 proceeding till your analysis covers the whole es- 
 
 [59] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 tablishment. Often a poorly-paid worker has 
 risen to power and affluence by detecting the leaks 
 in expenditure caused by inadequate, unreliable or 
 overcostly methods of equipment. 
 
 8. Study the aims, principles, and policies of the 
 concern with which you are identified. Look 
 ahead five or ten years, and see what the pros- 
 pects are for your advancement. At least in 
 spirit, the directors want you for a partner, or 
 they don't. If they do, get ready for a partner- 
 ship ; if they don't, get out. 
 
 9. Study yourself, applying all the known tests 
 of vocational guidance, experimental psychology 
 and character analysis. You can afford to drudge 
 for years if you are on the road to destiny; but 
 under any other circumstances, drudgery is a crime. 
 
 10. Study psychology and systems of special- 
 ized mind-culture, which tend to build up the men- 
 tal and moral qualities in efficiency; such as will- 
 power, concentration, memory, optimism, enthusi- 
 asm, energy, economy, originality, faith, fore- 
 sight, persistence. Each trade and profession de- 
 mands the prompt, clear and continual use of cer- 
 tain groups of brain-cells, and the men who are pre- 
 eminently successful have merely developed a sys- 
 tem of " intensive farming " for that particular 
 brain tract where they sow their work-efforts and 
 industrial ideas. The brain, like the soil, can be 
 
 [60] 
 
STUDY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 made to double its output by regular use of the 
 right methods. 
 
 Have you exhausted these ten means of effi- 
 ciency study? If not, you will find their investi- 
 gation a source of immediate interest and of ulti- 
 mate reward — mental, social, financial, and spir- 
 itual. Nothing in the world can dislodge a mind 
 firmly set in the place of its power. To find and 
 occupy this place should be the first aim of study. 
 
 EFFICIENCY STUDY LIST 
 
 (For self-improvement and self-advancement) 
 
 DIRECTIONS. If you are well informed, by per- 
 sonal inquiry or descriptive literature, on a given subject 
 for study, write 5 in the blank space at the right. If you 
 have specialized on any subject and feel that you are bet- 
 ter informed than the average, give yourself a higher 
 grade, with 10 as a theoretical maximum, which, of course, 
 you have not attained. If you have ignored any field of 
 study mark yourself zero in that field. 
 
 1. Study of books, on hygiene, food science, 
 
 baths, clothing and exercise, finance, econ- 
 omy, vocation, scientific management, 
 household engineering, etc. 
 
 2. Study of organizations and institutions en- 
 
 gaged in efficiency promotion or extension, 
 
 and offering data or hints on the subject .... 
 
 3. Study of magazines, (a) on self-improve- 
 
 ment in general, (b) on the technical or 
 
 vocational side of your work . ., 
 
 [61] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 5. Study of courses in your business or profes- 
 
 sion, or in vital aids to personal efficiency, 
 whose value has been definitely proven . . 
 
 6. Study of men, whether employers, employees, 
 
 clients, customers or business associates, to 
 locate and emulate the superior excellence 
 of each 
 
 7. Study of materials, tools and facilities, 
 
 whether yours or your company's, with a 
 view to increase the quality and speed, and 
 decrease of labor and cost 
 
 8. Study of aims, principles and policies form- 
 
 ing the establishment where you work, es- 
 pecially in regard to your own future, its 
 professional, industrial, and financial out- 
 look 
 
 9. Study of yourself, your greatest ambition or 
 
 aspiration, your capacities and drawbacks, 
 your past and present advancement, your 
 technical skill and personal character .... 
 10. Study of psychological principles that help 
 you to develop the special powers of mind 
 required in your work 
 
 Total equals your grade 
 in efficiency study 
 
 NOTE. This is merely a general preparatory outline 
 — not a final scheme of study. The author will be glad 
 to suggest books, institutions, and other aids to efficiency 
 study on application to The Independent Efficiency Serv- 
 ice. 
 
 Copyright, 191 5, by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 [62] 
 
CHAPTER III 
 FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 FOOD is the backbone of fate. 
 No other factor in life means so much 
 to the support of the entire man. 
 
 Our eating is the first thing we should regu- 
 late — it is often the last thing we consider. 
 Buying a house, we order the materials in ad- 
 vance — a fresh, clean, appropriate supply of 
 wood or brick or stone wherewith to build our 
 dwelling; buying a meal, we consult nothing but 
 a fickle sense of taste, leaving the composition 
 and preparation of the food-elements to the igno- 
 rance and indiscretion of the cook. Then we ex- 
 pect strong, shapely bodies, and rather feel in- 
 sulted when the doctor on his next visit asks, 
 " What have you been eating? " 
 
 A large proportion of the prevailing unhappi- 
 ness, inharmony and inefficiency starts in the stom- 
 ach. More lives have been slain in the digestive 
 tract than upon all the world's battlefields. 
 
 [63] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Nearly every man who has died a so-called natural 
 death before the age of a hundred and twenty, has 
 been the victim of gastronomic suicide. 
 
 Napoleon was conquered by a fit of indigestion 
 — and thousands of smaller men are being con- 
 quered every day by a weak stomach, a jaundiced 
 liver, a food-poisoned brain, or an unruly appe- 
 tite. 
 
 Buddha, on the other hand, reached his summit 
 of power and influence largely through control 
 of the pleasures of taste. Indeed the first thing 
 a seer usually does, after receiving his vision, is 
 to abolish the meal-habits of his ancestors and 
 create his own: eating by instinct as the animals 
 do, and by reason as men should do. 
 
 The champion runner, pugilist or ball-player 
 knows what food does to his body. Therefore 
 he goes into training before a contest, following 
 a strict dietetic regimen, which would seem a woful 
 hardship were he not bent on winning. Is it not 
 strange that the athlete, caring but to excel in 
 physical prowess, should be the only man with 
 sense enough and grit enough to put his meals in 
 line with his ambition? Mental and spiritual 
 feats of strength are even more concerned in the 
 food supply, no man being a giant in his soul until 
 he has learned how to eat less and eat better. A 
 " divine healer," who is ignorant of the chemical 
 
 [64] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 values of foods, their natural choice and spiritual 
 meaning, is an absurdity on the face of him. This 
 is not in disparagement of Psychology, but a re- 
 minder that Psychology must not usurp the prior 
 claim of Physiology. There is only one thing to 
 rebuild a physique, and that is food. 
 
 Physically and mentally — and I am not sure 
 but morally and spiritually — we are the exact 
 sum of what we have eaten. This has come to 
 be so widely recognized that the slogan of a great 
 manufacturer of pure foods is " Tell me what you 
 eat and I will tell you what you are." 
 
 Much of the backwardness and listlessness of 
 many women, as regards independent activity, 
 might be traced to their choice of edibles. Alter- 
 nating between charlotte russe and pickles, they 
 are now mushy and collapsible, now irritable and 
 hysterical. On the other hand, large numbers of 
 men, with their beefsteak dinners and pie-eating 
 contests, are as heavy, coarse, lumpish, crude and 
 dense as the items they put in their stomachs. 
 Most of the apparent differences in sex are but 
 the difference in customs with which the sexes are 
 surrounded. If men had to cook as women do, 
 and women had to work as men do, their eating- 
 habits would be reversed, together with those men- 
 tal and psychic peculiarities which food precipi- 
 tates. 
 
 [65] _ 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 The Eskimo eats oil — and the Eskimo is 
 heavy like the walrus. 
 
 The Briton consumes quantities of red meat — 
 and the Briton stands for belligerency, with solid 
 character back of it. 
 
 The Japanese subsists mainly on rice — and the 
 Japanese represents calm endurance; rice being 
 starch, and starch being pure energy in reserve. 
 
 The Frenchman revels in sauces and condiments 
 — and the Frenchman is distinguished by a vola- 
 tile, perfervid view of life, tempered by a corre- 
 sponding delicacy. 
 
 The Yankee has no stock menu, but eats every- 
 thing in sight — and the Yankee beats the world 
 for catholicity, ingenuity, adaptability. 
 
 So on and on and on. Food makes the man, 
 the man makes the nation, and the nation makes 
 the world, hence food is the world-problem. 
 
 Now there are over a hundred modern schools 
 of diet, all of them differing and most of them 
 warring with each other. A few years ago the 
 need was for knowledge — at present the need is 
 for discrimination. It is unsafe to swallow any- 
 thing blindly — whether it be a food or a theory 
 about food. I have known cases where a well 
 person went to a famous dietetic resort for pur- 
 poses of study, and returned with the very ail- 
 ments that the diet was supposed to cure! Be- 
 
 [66] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 ware of any proselyter, but most of the pepsin- 
 proselyter ; for if he cannot find enough lost stom- 
 achs to save, he will destroy whole villages of per- 
 fectly good ones, in the process of tinkering with 
 what Nature never meant human hands to touch. 
 You can trust only that food-expert whose ulti- 
 mate aim is to free you from his own prescription. 
 If he makes a patent food to sell you forever, 
 his concern is not your stomach, but your purse- 
 pocket. The dietetic ideal is not to search for 
 things that will digest, but so to revive and recon- 
 struct the digestion itself that any wholesome food 
 may be eaten, safely and happily. 
 
 The most reliable conclusions, gathered from 
 many of the later schools and systems of diet, are 
 here presented briefly. May I first relate a prefa- 
 tory incident? 
 
 The other day I found a hard-boiled cynic 
 lodged in my path. Immediately I became sol- 
 emn, respectful and attentive. To smile in the 
 presence of a cynic is to insult him — and I al- 
 ways endeavor to be polite. 
 
 The visitor growled thus: " What are you 
 anyway — just a fancy writer on efficiency? 
 Have you done hard things, do you enjoy the 
 health you talk about, are you a good business 
 man? Show me your deeds, and I will accept 
 your words." 
 
 [67] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Having praised the gentleman for his frank- 
 ness (and thereby mollified him), I proceeded to 
 tell him a few things. 
 
 I always take a challenge like this; and before 
 the cynic left, he delivered an apology and a vote 
 of thanks. I mention him here as a proper intro- 
 duction for this treatise. 
 
 I am not a pathologist, I do not prescribe in 
 acute disease. But for a number of years I have 
 been affiliated with health schools and sanitaria, 
 have studied and watched the application of the 
 leading systems of diet in Europe and America, 
 and have doubled my own working capacity 
 largely through wise regulation of eating habits. 
 
 Moreover, I have cured in myself a variety of 
 chronic ailments, including " heartburn," violent 
 headache, liver trouble, dyspepsia, and a pessi- 
 mism black as ink. This recital may not be digni- 
 fied, but if you want deeds you can't stop for 
 dignity. I shall give you not theories but facts in 
 the food realm, and the intrusion of this personal 
 introduction may be condoned, as a means of en- 
 listing your faith. 
 
 No man can achieve his most and best with- 
 out a practical working knowledge of dietetics. 
 But few men have time to dig this out for them- 
 selves, and there seems to be no other way of 
 getting it. w The subject has been consistently, 
 
 [68] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 unanimously, neglected in our homes, colleges and 
 churches — the first three places where diet 
 should be taught. Such neglect is criminal, but 
 on a par with many of the idiocies of our bun- 
 gling civilization. Only a crazy person would try 
 to shovel coal into the works of an automobile, 
 or put a gas-stove in an aeroplane. Yet the aver- 
 age "business man" treats his stomach, the 
 source of his energy and heat, in a manner as 
 foolish, as dangerous. The efficiency expert 
 grounded on fact is the one who shows you how 
 " scientific management " starts in the stomach. 
 
 A well-dressed, thoughtful-looking gentleman 
 eats in the restaurant where I have my noon 
 lunch. This, in general, constitutes his meal; 
 white bread, ice-water, cheese and spaghetti, cof- 
 fee, a sweet, heavy pudding or pie, a cigarette, 
 a violent discussion of some heated matter like 
 politics or business, and a rush back to the of- 
 fice. Every item of this lunch is wrong, particu- 
 larly as the man I speak of has the coal-black 
 hair, sallow complexion, deep-set eyes and narrow 
 face of the person with a liver born sluggish. 
 When the brother was absent a couple of weeks, 
 I did not need to be told that he was laid up with 
 a " sick headache " and influenza. I knew it was 
 coming. But, as I had not met him socially, eti- 
 quette forbade me telling him what folly he was 
 
 [69] . 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 guilty of. Etiquette is a high polish on a frayed 
 cuff. 
 
 By the proper method of eating your noon 
 lunch, you can get 50 per cent more work out of 
 yourself in the afternoon. This one fact, rightly 
 impressed on the employees of American indus- 
 tries, would increase the value of our trade out- 
 put millions of dollars worth a year. 
 
 For weeks before the event of a national horse- 
 race, the food of the high-strung pacer is weighed, 
 measured and supervised with the utmost care 
 by an expert trainer. The minds and bodies of 
 the American citizens consume, literally and regu- 
 larly, stuff that even a mongrel horse would not 
 eat. We buy poison in cans, we order it at the 
 restaurants, we take it from the butcher and 
 baker, we drink it from the public water mains. 
 And the impurity of our daily food-supply is but 
 one of several nutritional factors inducing bad re- 
 sults. 
 
 It is claimed that nine-tenths of all chronic dis- 
 eases originate in the digestive tract. Among the 
 disorders largely caused, and largely curable, by 
 the food element are these: rheumatism, indiges- 
 tion, kidney complaints, liver troubles, gout, 
 " colds," headache, skin affections, constipation, 
 obesity, sleeplessness, anaemia, certain mental 
 and nervous derangements. When we are as 
 
 [70] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 much concerned about our own health as we are 
 about the health of our cattle, we will establish 
 everywhere scientific food-stores, to supplant or 
 at least supplement our unscientific drug-stores. 
 Nearly every ill has an appropriate food-remedy. 
 
 Here are some of the hygienic, prophylactic 
 and therapeutic properties of common, everyday 
 foods. Apples aid peristalsis; pineapples pro- 
 mote digestion; peaches are a mild tonic; prunes 
 and figs are good laxatives; carrots clear the 
 complexion; spinach helps the kidneys; celery is a 
 nerve restorative; lettuce tends to reduce in- 
 somnia; buttermilk retards old age; wheat, oats 
 and eggs are fine for nervous debility. Would it 
 not be better, safer, more economical, to eat wisely 
 and stay well, rather than lose the time and money 
 that illness costs, and besides run the risk of 
 being poisoned, overstimulated, enervated, by 
 drugs? 
 
 In the realm of food study there are so many 
 conflicting theories that the learner is bewildered. 
 We do not advise the total adoption of any of 
 these theories; but earnestly suggest that the 
 reader become acquainted with the experiments 
 and conclusions of such nutrition specialists as 
 Pawlow, Haig, Schroth, Cornaro, Miles, Metch- 
 nikoff, Tanner, Chittenden, Fletcher, Beard, Lah- 
 mann, Leppel, Just, Kellogg, Ralston, Macfadden, 
 
 [71] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Christian, Carrington. Every doctor, teacher and 
 parent should know every one of these names, 
 and what they stand for in the field of dietetic in- 
 vestigation. 
 
 We may liken the human body to a house, in 
 which the building materials are foods, and foods 
 only. Proteids (nuts, eggs, meats, legumes) are 
 the foundation stones of our human dwelling; 
 starches (cereals) are the beams; sweets and fats 
 are the walls; vegetables are the doors; fruits are 
 the windows; mineral salts are the nails and 
 screws; pure drinking water is the cleaning sys- 
 tem that keeps the house habitable, If any of 
 these elements be omitted, the house grows un- 
 sightly, unsafe. A man whose dinner consists 
 regularly of beefsteak, fried potatoes, hot biscuit 
 and anonymous pie has left the doors and windows 
 out of his human dwelling; the first storm of ill- 
 ness — grippe or typhoid — sweeps through the 
 house, unhindered. If we ate right there would 
 be no epidemics. An epidemic is an epitaph on 
 the grave of commonsense. Food unassimilated, 
 waste uneliminated, here lies the clue to the whole- 
 sale visitation of superfluous disease and prema- 
 ture death upon the human race. A man who dies 
 before the age of 120 dies in disgrace — he broke 
 some law of Nature and is therefore a criminal. 
 
 Let us now state a few principles and methods 
 [72] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 of the science of nutrition, in summation of the 
 foregoing brief outline. 
 
 i. Choice of food. This depends on age, oc- 
 cupation, health, temperament, taste, mental con- 
 dition, spiritual unfoldment. Children should be 
 given abundance of cereals, which provide the 
 building-material for bones and teeth; but in old 
 age people should avoid the use of most grains, 
 which then, by excess of mineral matter, harden 
 the arteries. A soldier on the march may safely, 
 perhaps beneficially, consume a pound of chocolate 
 and cheese a day; but let a college girl try the ex- 
 periment — as many a one is prone to do — and 
 she is likely to fail in both her health and her 
 studies. A ditch-digger may eat Irish potatoes 
 three times a day, and work off the starch man- 
 fully; but if a clergyman is guilty of such folly, 
 his sermons will be as pasty as a mess of tubers. 
 In particular should brain-workers regulate their 
 meals on a rational, chemical basis of required 
 food-values. The process of thinking, planning 
 and feeling uses brain and nerve substance faster 
 than physical work wears away muscle and tissue. 
 Every brain-worker should select foods rich in al- 
 bumin, lecithin, phosphorus and potash, first hav- 
 ing learned what these foods are, from a standard 
 book on diet. 
 
 A balanced dietary is the best. This means a 
 
 [73] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 wide range of selection, with a hunger so alert in 
 the individual that only such provender will be 
 taken as meets the real demands of the system. I 
 know families where the dining-room is conducted 
 on the basis of a cupboard, a refrigerator, and a 
 fireless cooker. A varied, plentiful supply of 
 wholesome food is kept in these three receptacles; 
 and each member of the family, when hungry, 
 helps himself to the things he likes best. Then he 
 washes his own plate and glass and knife and fork 
 and spoon, smiling inwardly at the folly of paying 
 custom's wages to a chef, a butler, a waitress and 
 a kitchen maid. " What an outlandish way of 
 eating " — some habit-slave declares. Well, the 
 man who first applied forks instead of fingers had 
 just as much trouble getting used to that. The 
 great American fault in dining is monotony; few 
 households, practically no boarding-houses, escape 
 it. Many people actually reckon time from 
 " roast-beef day " of this week to " hash day " 
 of next. I often wonder why the long-suffering 
 dyspeptic heads of families don't organize a 
 Peripatetic Pabulum Relief Dispensary, wherein 
 the high-salaried officers are trained cooks who 
 wander from house to house revealing to the 
 feminine contingent periodic new dishes that shall 
 be to the men-folks a reason for coming home. A 
 full list of all the foods available, in grocery, bak- 
 
 [74] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 ery, butcher-shop, delicatessen, fruit-store, confec- 
 tionery and cook-book, should be pasted on the 
 wall in every kitchen, and frequently consulted by 
 the orderer of meals. For example, we all know 
 we are prone to eat too much meat ; yet the stupid 
 majority of us, when forbidden meat, go hysterical 
 with fear of losing strength. Now the actual 
 equivalent of meat is to be found in nuts, or beans, 
 or oats, or cheese, or any of several other inex- 
 pensive, easily prepared articles of food. A com- 
 parative table of such values underlies the rational 
 feeding of a family. In general, our menu is 
 guilty of an excess of meats, starches and sweets, 
 but a deficiency of vegetable fibers, nuts, fresh 
 greens, and fruit salts. Result: headaches, colds, 
 constipation, auto-intoxication, premature fatigue, 
 and all shades of " the blues," indicating merely 
 stagnation of the overworked digestive organs. 
 
 The only absolutely pure edibles are nuts, 
 cereals, fruits and vegetables having an outer cov- 
 ering that must be removed before the object is 
 eaten. Even the products of the garden have 
 been questioned by some, who hold that the impure 
 fertilizer generally used to fructify the soil must 
 impair the outcome, and that mineral fertilizers 
 are the only healthful ones. As for canned stuff, 
 the Pure Food Law is a step in the right direction, 
 but because it applies only to goods transported 
 
 [75] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 across State lines it cannot be a thoroughly safe 
 guide. When buying things in boxes, jars or tins, 
 the wise rule is to find which manufacturer you 
 can trust — then stick to his products. If you 
 patronize a restaurant, ask to see their kitchen. 
 The time is coming when the public eating-place 
 that expects to hold favor must keep the entire 
 establishment open to the inspection of visitors 
 at any hour of day or night. Certain bakeries 
 and packing houses are already doing this. Good 
 business, as well as good ethics. 
 
 2. Combination of food. A dinner-party 
 should consist of foods, as well as people, that 
 harmonize — some comestibles being as out of 
 place together as an Irishman in a Scotch kilt at a 
 German picnic on a Jewish holiday. For example, 
 here is a fiendish menu, warranted to upset and 
 demoralize the happiest: oysters, noodle soup, 
 roast beef rare, French fried potatoes, hot bis- 
 cuits, salmon salad, cucumbers, pickles, rhubarb 
 sauce, milk, doughnuts and ice-cream. There are 
 at least eight separate fights on that bill of fare 
 — yet maidens feel aggrieved when prospective 
 husbands mildly intimate that a knowledge of cook- 
 ing might come in handy! To every husband 
 sued for non-support there are a hundred wives 
 who should be sued for non-scientific management. 
 
 Meat will go properly with vegetables but not 
 [76] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 with nuts; acid fruit with nuts but not with milk; 
 cereals with milk but not with turnips or tomatoes ; 
 fats and oils with turnips but not with stewed 
 peaches; and with stewed peaches, wheat crackers 
 harmonize, but hot, white flour biscuits do not. A 
 scientific dinner menu for a person in good health 
 includes a thick or a clear soup (not a chowder or 
 mixed soup) ; a meat, or meat equivalent (lentils, 
 nuts, eggs, cheese, grain glutens) ; a starchy 
 vegetable (such as potatoes, rice or egg plant) ; a 
 succulent vegetable (such as celery, spinach, 
 onions, asparagus) ; a salad, of lettuce, romaine, 
 cress or the like, made with olive-oil, and lemon 
 juice instead of vinegar; and a simple dessert — 
 custard, gelatine, souffle, or wholesome pudding. 
 
 3. Preparation of food. Where the different 
 methods of cooking a dish are all available, they 
 are most wholesome in this order — baking, broil- 
 ing, stewing, boiling, frying. Thus a baked potato 
 is one of the most digestible things in the world, 
 while a " French fry " would discourage any 
 stomach but a longshoreman's. Little or no sea- 
 soning should be used. In cooking cereals, vege- 
 tables and fruits, care should be taken to preserve 
 all the original essences and juices, the mineral 
 salts, being the most valuable ingredients, not to 
 be thrown away with the parings or the water. 
 Foods such as apples, onions and celery, that may 
 
 [77] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 be eaten either cooked or uncooked, are in general 
 more digestible if cooked, more nutritious if taken 
 raw. 
 
 Nuts, fruits, and all vegetables excepting the 
 leguminous and those growing underground, 
 should be taken as nearly raw as possible; but 
 meats and cereals should be cooked thoroughly 
 and slowly. When vegetables are boiled, the 
 water should be used in soup-stock or elsewhere, 
 the liquid thus derived holding more nourishment 
 than the fiber which is served on the table. Com- 
 posite dishes are undesirable. A mince pie, or a 
 clam chowder containing elements perfectly good 
 and harmless when uncombined, takes the form of 
 an indigestible mass when re-chemicalized by heat. 
 
 4. Schedule of meals. For a brain-worker, 
 dinner should come between 6 and 7 in the evening. 
 Breakfast should be very light' — at most a soft- 
 boiled egg, a bit of toast, a hot drink, and a 
 simple fruit such as baked apple, or stewed sauce. 
 If such a breakfast seems required, the noon 
 luncheon should be even less of a meal — better 
 only a nourishing drink, such as zoolak or malted 
 milk or hot chocolate. If you find that you can 
 well omit breakfast, let the noon luncheon be con- 
 fined to eggs or fish, one fruit or vegetable, pos- 
 sibly a salad, and a custard, ice-cream or other 
 dessert that quickly digests. A luncheon of fried 
 
 [78] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 ham and eggs, crullers, preserves, and coffee takes 
 five hours to digest — meanwhile the blood that 
 should be in your brain, helping you to think for 
 your work and your advancement, is all congested 
 in your alimentary tract. Result : liver and brain 
 both sluggish. " Three square meals " do more 
 to tire a man out in a day than a week's regular 
 work would do — if he ate sensibly. 
 
 The great majority of people eat too often — 
 even more than too much. This not only en- 
 feebles the stomach, but also confuses the mind — 
 that sluggish, drowsy feeling so prevalent in the 
 afternoon is but a symptom of undigested food. 
 To ensure perfect digestion in the adult stomach, 
 at least six hours should elapse between the close 
 of one meal and the beginning of the next. As 
 the last meal of the day should come not less than 
 three hours before bed-time, and as normal hunger 
 seldom stirs before the middle of the morning, it 
 is manifestly impossible to consume three hygienic 
 meals in the course of a day. The omission of 
 breakfast is the simplest way out. The writer 
 has known of hundreds of people, both individuals 
 and entire families, who have largely increased 
 their health, happiness and efficiency by eliminat- 
 ing the early morning meal; and not one to his 
 knowledge has ever gone back to breakfast. The 
 ideal plan for the many is to have an evening din- 
 
 [79] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ner, with a light luncheon (mostly fruit) about 
 mid-day. Fresh fruit or fruit-juice early in the 
 morning is appropriate, and desirable as a sub- 
 stitute for a hot breakfast. The only safe be- 
 tween-meal food is an occasional dish of pure 
 ice-cream. If candy is eaten, it should be at the 
 close of dinner, no other time. In general, acids 
 belong to the morning, sweets to the evening ; thus 
 a large glass of lemonade, refreshing at 9 A. M., is 
 only disturbing at 9 P. M. Whenever depressed, 
 hurried, worried or fatigued, eat lightly if at all, 
 since the meal will turn to poison before it reaches 
 the blood. A complete rest, of even five minutes, 
 between the close of the day's work and the com- 
 mencement of dinner, will greatly enhance both 
 the value and the pleasure of the meal. 
 
 5. Place of eating. A good wife will tell you 
 that a home is the finest place in the world — to 
 get away from. There should be a law forbidding 
 a man to eat his three meals a day, every day in 
 the year, in the same family dining-room. Ex- 
 periments have shown that pleasing, new, sights 
 and sounds promote the excitation of the gastric 
 nerves and juices; and often a " jaded appetite" 
 is but a faded imagination. A bite in the pantry 
 cupboard, a snack from a delicatessen, a meal at 
 a dairy lunch, a picnic in the woods, a starched and 
 frilled table d'hote dinner conjured up by a French 
 
 [80] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 chef — these variations of the eating-habit should 
 be interpolated among the dining-room dismalities 
 of household routine. In general, one's break- 
 fast and noon lunch may best be taken at home 
 or in a small restaurant near the shop or office, 
 with a view to economy of time, energy and money ; 
 while the 7 o'clock dinner should alternate be- 
 tween the family dining-room and a high-class 
 restaurant, with a view to the highest degree of 
 comfort, leisure and enjoyment. Dinner should 
 never be eaten in less than forty-five minutes, nor 
 breakfast or lunch in less than thirty. Violation 
 of this rule means early dyspepsia. 
 
 6. State of mind. If you tell a man, half an 
 hour before dinner, that a small fortune has been 
 left him, he will eat probably twice as much, and 
 everything will taste like nectar and ambrosia. 
 But if you tell him his bank has failed, he will eat 
 next to nothing, and what he does eat will disagree 
 with him. All our thoughts and emotions at meal- 
 time influence digestion. • The Bible merely states 
 a physiological truth, in preferring a " dinner of 
 herbs where love is " to a fatted ox and hatred. 
 Only a man deaf and blind can safely eat in the 
 average boarding-house ; the views and the visages 
 of persons there assembled would wreck the diges- 
 tion of a goat. When you seat yourself at dinner, 
 make yourself forget your business cares and 
 
 [81] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 household worries — next year you will smile at 
 them, why not smile now? 
 
 It is quite possible that gout is caused by grum- 
 bling as much as by gourmandizing. For criticiz- 
 ing, gossiping or telling sad stories, while at din- 
 ner, actually changes food into poison. If the 
 bread is burnt, think how good charcoal is for the 
 stomach; if the coffee is muddy, reflect that you're 
 better off without it anyway; if the meal is late, 
 observe the scientific significance of increased appe- 
 tite. Then when digestion is well over, raise 
 particular fits with the cook! Laugh much, and 
 talk little, during meals. Try the experiment of 
 eating half the usual amount in the usual time — 
 then note improved health, energy and buoyance. 
 Always drink when thirsty ; but you will find that 
 hunger and thirst seldom operate together, and 
 that if you eat plenty of juicy fruits and vegetables, 
 masticating thoroughly, you will not care much 
 for beverages. Never " coax the appetite " ; 
 normal hunger prefers simple foods, and thou- 
 sands of students of health can vouch for the wis- 
 dom of omitting one, two or a dozen meals for 
 the sake of better enjoyment and assimilation. 
 
 7. Enjoyment and companionship. Good di- 
 gestion lies half-way between the ascetic and sybar- 
 ite, where the truth of the former meets the taste 
 of the latter. We should enjoy food thoroughly, 
 
 [82] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 but not as a gratification of the senses. True 
 hunger — the kind that revels in a piece of dry 
 bread — has largely disappeared from modern 
 civilization. The only way to recover it is to stop 
 eating, for a meal or a day or a week. The peri- 
 odic fasts ordained by the Church were hygienic 
 more than dogmatic; but in leaving their dogma, 
 we have lost their hygiene. 
 
 As for dinner guests and companions, authori- 
 ties hold various views. Animals prefer to eat 
 alone ; children are supremely happy when explor- 
 ing a jam-jar with no one in sight; men of genius 
 flout and ignore the dinner-bell; and among dis- 
 incarnate spirits there is probably no such institu- 
 tion as a family dining-room. Yet the average 
 woman is miserable, eating alone. Whether her 
 foolish vanity is wounded because some gentleman 
 is not paying her court, or whether her beautiful 
 mother-instinct grieves because she has not one to 
 lavish food upon, I, being a mere man, would not 
 presume to say. But the fact remains that a regu- 
 lar lady shrinks from solitaire dining as she would 
 from the plague. Why? 
 
 It has been suggested by a keen observer that 
 the reason why the average person requires dinner 
 companions is that they may assist him in keeping 
 his mind off his stomach; and his mind, being a 
 heavy, lumpish, sourish kind of thing, would pro- 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 duce havoc, sitting on his stomach. Recalling how 
 dense and doleful my own mind used to be, I can 
 well understand the reasonableness of this explana- 
 tion. For most people, cheery companionship at 
 table seems better than solitude — but gloomy 
 neighbors are worse than none. A sane middle 
 ground, between the hermit who always eats alone 
 and the society victim who never does, would be 
 this; a sharp division of one's meals into those of 
 efficiency and those of hospitality (the former 
 being breakfast and luncheon on business days, the 
 latter being dinner on business days and other 
 meals also on holidays) ; then a habit of taking 
 the efficiency meals alone, or anyway in silence, 
 but the friendship meals in company with jolly 
 neighbors. 
 
 I have increased my physical and mental capac- 
 ity for good work probably ioo per cent by revo- 
 lutionizing the eating habits that kept my ancestors 
 poor and my associates lazy. The human hotbed 
 of disease, of poverty, of stupidity, and of sloth, 
 is the stomach. Regenerate and re-organize the 
 stomach, and you have taken a giant stride toward 
 the lofty plane of the superman. 
 
 This chapter, before closing, should mention 
 something more vital than food — namely, water. 
 
 If you weigh 150 pounds, more than 100 pounds 
 of you is water; and to preserve health, create 
 
 [84] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 energy, maintain buoyancy, you must drink two 
 pints of water for every pound of solid food you 
 eat. Fresh fruits and juicy vegetables are mostly 
 water, therein lies their chief benefit. We should 
 make a habit of drinking not less than 6 glasses of 
 pure water each day, starting with a glass or two 
 on rising, and consuming the rest, between meals, 
 during the day. This habit, like every other, be- 
 comes automatic, and is no more trouble in the 
 morning than washing our face or buttoning our 
 shoes. 
 
 Recent experiments by noted European chemists 
 and physicians go to prove that a pure, soft, drink- 
 ing water, taken in right quantities, at the right 
 time and temperature, increases health and vigor as 
 follows : It purifies the blood, tones the stomach, 
 aids digestion, promotes assimilation, improves 
 appetite, freshens the skin, balances the action 
 of the heart, assists deep breathing, steadies the 
 nerves, relieves the kidneys, stimulates the liver, 
 lubricates the colon, wards off disease, postpones 
 old age, clarifies the brain, mildly and healthfully 
 stimulates the entire organism. 
 
 Water is the best " tonic " known. And the 
 saloons persist largely because they sell barrels of 
 water in the guise of something else. While the 
 habit of " treating " is absurd, and often harmful, 
 it is based on a generous impulse and fundamental 
 
 [85] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 need — that of supplying water in a palatable, 
 attractive form. Next to air, which is free, water 
 is indispensable, and in modern civilization real 
 water costs real money. Bottled water is bottled 
 health. If you ever have to go to a cafe with 
 "the boys," you can still be a "good fellow" 
 and yet not a fool, by ordering sarsaparilla, celery 
 tonic or ginger ale — which are fairly wholesome 
 varieties of doctored water. 
 
 There are now on the market hundreds of soft 
 drinks, hot drinks, mineral waters, and other com- 
 mercial beverages. Most of these are undesir- 
 able, many of them unsafe. 
 
 The prime essential in both food and drink is 
 absolute purity. Nothing should be allowed to 
 enter your kitchen — whether it comes in a milk- 
 pail, a water-pipe, a tin can or a butcher's basket 
 — unless first the source of the food has been 
 guaranteed pure. Your local Board of Health, 
 or a national dietetic organization, should be con- 
 sulted on each and every item served at your 
 table. 
 
 The subtle factors in the diet problem should 
 also be observed. There comes a time, in the 
 spiritual evolution of a man, when he revolts at 
 the sight of beef. Nor can he have things fried 
 in lard, because his finer sensibilities are awake, 
 superintending the choice of his palate. Nor can 
 
 [86] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 he eat for the sake of hospitality; regarding the 
 body as sacred, he can no more feast in public than 
 he could pray at a minstrel show. Feeding the 
 body is not enough; the mind, heart and soul must 
 be fed at the same time if the body is to be nour- 
 ished. And our moods, no less than our instincts, 
 should tell us what and when and where and how 
 to eat. When we have correlated ourselves, I 
 think we shall find that every chemical in the body 
 has a corresponding trait or potentiality in the 
 soul. Then we shall select our food with the same 
 thoughtfulness, earnestness and reverence that we 
 now bestow on planning a house of worship, or in 
 building a shrine for the purest love in our heart 
 of hearts. 
 
 Food is a basic factor in the cure of intemper- 
 ance, the prevention of crime, the banishment of 
 poverty, the alleviation of insanity, the removal of 
 despondency, the reduction of divorce, the amelior- 
 ation of childbirth, the improvement of education, 
 the rationalizing of religion, the humanizing of 
 trade. 
 
 If I were a millionaire, I would endow a Nutri- 
 tion Experiment Station, or National Dietetic In- 
 stitute, with branches in every college and every 
 large corporation in the United States, and with 
 facilities to place the results of its research and 
 experiment in the hands of every teacher, em- 
 
 [87] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ployer, minister, doctor, and parent within reach 
 of the mails. Such an institution would be the 
 finest kind of monument, better and greater than 
 a college or a hospital. Rightly founded and 
 conducted, it would do more to advance the cause 
 of real education, morality, health, prosperity, re- 
 ligion, than has been accomplished by any existing 
 force in the history of American philanthropy. 
 
 EFFICIENCY FOOD QUIZ 
 
 For Self -Application by Any Man or Woman Desiring 
 the Utmost in Health, Energy, Productivity 
 
 DIRECTIONS. For a Yes to any query, put check 
 mark before numeral following query. For a No, leave 
 numeral unchecked. Add up total of numerals checked, 
 and find your percentage in Food Efficiency. 
 
 1. Do you thoroughly enjoy your meals? 4 
 
 2. Do you like fasting, as well as feasting? 3 
 
 3. Do you know the principal functions of food ? . . 5 
 
 4. Are you interested in new dietetic theories and 
 
 discoveries ? 3 
 
 5. Do you know that your regular dietary contains 
 
 in the right proportions the materials needed 
 by the human body ? 5 
 
 6. Can you describe the process of digestion, from 
 
 food to blood ? 2 
 
 7. Do you thoroughly masticate your food ? 5 
 
 8. Do you take meat but once a day, or less often? 3 
 
 9. Have you given vegetarianism a fair trial ? . . . . 2 
 
 [88] 
 
FOOD AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 10. Have you studied and tried the No-Breakfast 
 
 Plan? 5 
 
 11. Do you postpone eating when tired, worried, or 
 
 physically out of condition ? 4 
 
 12. Is it your habit to provide mirth at meals?. ... 3 
 
 13. Do you rest for at least a half an hour after 
 
 dinner ? 4 
 
 14. Do you like fresh fruits, fruit juices, vegetables 
 
 and salads, and use them freely ? 5 
 
 15. Have you barred ice-water, at meals? 4 
 
 16. Have you banished coffee, tea, and other stimu- 
 
 lants from your table ? 3 
 
 17. Can you eat alone as happily and healthfully as 
 
 in company with friends ? 1 
 
 18. Do you refuse all between-meal nibbles, such as 
 
 fruit or candy ? 5 
 
 19. Is your palate trained to know and reject wrong 
 
 combinations, e.g., pickles and milk? . 2 
 
 20. Are you keeping your stomach well by keeping 
 
 drugs out of it? 4 
 
 21. Do you drink at least 3 pints of pure water 
 
 every day ? 5 
 
 22. Have you obtained some authentic pure food 
 
 guide ? 4 
 
 23. Is your family in sympathy with new ideas on 
 
 health, food, and efficiency? 1 
 
 24. If you have any specific ailment or weakness, do 
 
 you know the food cause and food cure?. ... 4 
 
 25. Is your cook at all familiar with modern food 
 
 science? 4 
 
 26. Is your kitchen kept sanitary by approved mod- 
 
 ern methods? 4 
 
 [89] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 27. Do you see how the right food habits may in- 
 
 crease mentality and promote spirituality ? . . . 
 
 28. Are you teaching the science of nutrition to the 
 
 young people under your charge or influence? 
 
 Add the numerals you have 
 checked, and approximate your 
 grade in Food Efficiency 
 
 Copyright, 1915, by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 [90] 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 WE are in the midst of a strange phe- 
 nomenon. Its like has not occurred 
 before in history. 
 
 For centuries we have inherited the idea that 
 commerce is selfish, trade mean, finance sordid. 
 From the vantage of a church spire, a school ros- 
 trum, a home retreat, we have looked on business 
 as beneath us. If men, we have worshiped war- 
 riors and made politicians our rulers; if women, 
 we have rendered homage to poets and priests. 
 
 We have despised, ignored, at best merely tol- 
 erated, the shopkeepers among us, the makers of 
 merchandise, the vendors of farm products. Any- 
 thing not a profession was a confession. Of it 
 we were ashamed. 
 
 Now behold what has come to pass. 
 
 The economic gospel of scientific management 
 was born in a shop; the saving methods of per- 
 
 [91] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 sonal efficiency have taken rise in factories and 
 stores ; habits of health and thrift, of energy, loy- 
 alty, alertness and skill that our schools, homes and 
 churches failed to inculcate are being taught em- 
 ployees by the captains of industry; and all Eu- 
 rope is looking to the farms and looms of America 
 to save what is left of Europe from the cruelty, 
 blindness and folly of the professional classes of 
 Europe — the professional kings, emperors, talk- 
 ers, fighters, and gun-makers. Verily, business 
 now hath her innings. 
 
 If I were a lawyer, a doctor, a teacher, a clergy- 
 man or a housewife, I should pick out the most suc- 
 cessful business man I know, and go to school to 
 him. That is, provided he would let me, which he 
 might do out of pity. For the American business 
 man is coming to be the teacher and preacher of 
 the world. A silent preacher and teacher? Yes. 
 We learn most by watching great men when they 
 do not know we are watching them. 
 
 Only a small percentage of the citizens of the 
 United States are actively engaged in making or 
 selling merchandise. Yet by this small class of 
 workers practically all the efficiency methods worth 
 while have been evolved. What is the matter 
 with all the rest of us? Why don't we produce 
 an efficiency system for medicine, for the law, for 
 the school, for the church, for the home? Are 
 
 [92] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 we more stupid, or just more lazy, than business 
 men? 
 
 Almost every normal girl wants to marry, and 
 have a home. Yet how many girls are taught, 
 before marriage, how to organize, furnish, 
 arrange, equip and conduct a home? If we threw 
 our boys into the world-battle with no collegiate 
 or industrial training, we should think ourselves 
 monsters of cruelty. We do throw our girls into 
 a struggle no less fierce — the struggle to make and 
 keep a home all it should be — and we tell them 
 nothing of the tasks and trials ahead. Thousands 
 of books have been written showing men how to 
 run a business; less than a score of trustworthy 
 books, to my knowledge, have been written show- 
 ing women how to run a household. Are homes 
 of less value than stores and factories? 
 
 Business science is a century ahead of home 
 science. And the majority of the women of 
 America are not even awake to the fact. Further- 
 more, the mental and spiritual solidarity of the 
 home is fast being destroyed. Who ever hears, 
 nowadays, of a whole family going on the same 
 picnic, or sitting in the same church pew? Parents 
 see their children only at meal time (which, believe 
 me, is the worst time to look at anybody). 
 Fathers have been reduced to animated bank- 
 books. Wives and mothers are relegated to a 
 
 [93] , 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 place of social ornament or civic uplift, while serv- 
 ants look after the household — and a long way 
 after. Instead of enjoying a really sociable even- 
 ing, with home games and apples and gingerbread, 
 we starch up and taxi off to a stomach-wrecking 
 banquet conspired in by strangers, and costing $10 
 a plate for the gilt and plush finish — the food not 
 being worth 10 cents. As we grow in wealth, we 
 are becoming a homeless race. And experts hold 
 that the decreasing marriage rate, the increasing 
 divorce rate, the spread of social unrest and moral 
 contamination is largely due to the disappearance 
 of old-fashioned home life. 
 
 How shall the home be revived and maintained? 
 Through a general adoption of the principles of 
 domestic science, and a personal acquisition of a 
 better understanding by women of the hard prob- 
 lems which their men folks are meeting every day. 
 At least 40% of a man's efficiency lies in the hands 
 of women — his mother, his sweetheart or wife, 
 his housekeeper, his clerk or stenographer, and 
 these same woman factors in the life of his client 
 or customer. On a mere selfish basis, the fathers 
 of America should insist that their daughters be 
 taught (1) how to earn a good living and (2) 
 how to conduct an ideal home. All honor be to 
 a few great institutions like the Washington Irving 
 High School and Mount Holyoke College, where 
 
 [94] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 a girl is taught something of the science of home- 
 making. 
 
 Efficiency depends most on energy. Energy is 
 a product of pure, wholesome, abundant food, 
 properly chosen, combined and prepared; of sound 
 refreshing sleep in a quiet, clean, airy, dark, rest- 
 ful room; of loose, comfortable, hygienic clothing 
 made of the right materials in a manner that be- 
 comes the individual; of daily bath and exercise, 
 with conveniences and appliances therefor; of 
 rest and relaxation in the evening, away from busi- 
 ness and in the company of those you love. These 
 things must be had from the home. 
 
 The most valuable mental trait in efficiency is 
 probably enthusiasm — a blend of courage, op- 
 timism, kindliness and alertness. These qualities 
 are manufactured daily as by-products of a normal 
 household. The solitude of bachelorhood leads to 
 boredom and cynicism. Of the two worst cynics 
 I know, one is divorced and the other was never 
 married. 
 
 Home is the great power-house of human elec- 
 tricity. Our nerves are the wires, our emotions 
 the currents, our actions the manifestations of 
 light, energy and influence carried from home by 
 the radiant stream of ambition and affection. In 
 a power-house we employ the highest-priced elec- 
 trical engineers, to handle the machinery with 
 
 [95] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 faultless care. But in a kitchen we hire cheap 
 maids totally ignorant of the digestive machinery, 
 the science of marketing, the principles of house- 
 hold economy, hygiene, sanitation, organization. 
 Is not scientific management needed in the home 
 ever more than in the shop or office? 
 
 Let me cite the cases of two women, both house- 
 wives, but as unlike as mud and fire The mind 
 of the first is as clear as mud, that of the second 
 as clear as fire. 
 
 The first woman lives in the country. She 
 works fourteen hours a day — and never seems to 
 get a thing finished. She takes five steps where 
 one would do. She has no place for anything — 
 and keeps everything in its place. Observing the 
 thread in her workbasket, you think it is the worst 
 snarl you have ever seen, but you change your 
 mind when you see her temper. She is faded, 
 wilted, nervous, shrill. She has pains and weak- 
 nesses and miseries galore. She enjoys poor 
 health to the utmost — the utmost being a debauch 
 of self-pity. She has grown common to her hus- 
 band, and for years has been to her children merely 
 a servant-in-waiting. She prides herself — poor, 
 deluded creature — on being a " good wife and 
 mother." She is good only if all good things are 
 unpleasant; which, I opine, we may fairly doubt. 
 
 The second woman lives in the city. She spends 
 [96] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 an hour every morning planning meals, discussing 
 problems with her housekeeper, instructing her 
 maid about the work of the day. Then she rides 
 to her office downtown, where she conducts a large 
 law practice, earning thereby the wages of her 
 maid and housekeeper, and a good deal more. 
 Her evenings are free for social duties and pleas- 
 ures, and she has time to spare for human service 
 and uplift work. She is in demand for lectures 
 and magazine articles. She holds the adoration 
 of her husband. She keeps her youth and beauty. 
 Women's clubs eagerly accept her advice; and 
 this, verily, doth mark the height of a woman's 
 efficiency: that other women sweetly follow her 
 counsel, even though she be young and beauti- 
 ful. 
 
 I know that the majority of farmers' wives, and 
 of women in small towns, have not the facilities 
 and resources to manage their homes effectively by 
 an hour's work a day, and to embark on a public 
 career at the same time. I know that the average 
 housewife gets about 300 per cent more out of 
 the time and money available than her husband 
 would. But I also know that from 20 to 40 .per 
 cent of the motibn in the average kitchen is lost 
 motion, and that one dollar out of every five spenl? 
 on the household is wasted. 
 
 A science of home-making, in which every girl 
 
 [97] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 should be trained, would include these points, 
 among others. 
 
 i. Location. The site should be high and dry, 
 with abundance of light and air, in a neighbor- 
 hood with a low mortality-rate. If choosing a 
 city apartment, look for an eastern exposure, and 
 be sure that no buildings are so near as to shut 
 off your sunlight. Easy access from the home to 
 shops, theatres, churches and other public places 
 should be had by surface car, subway or elevated 
 road, on payment of a single fare. If members 
 of the family work downtown, the time of transit 
 should be carefully considered — thousands of 
 New Yorkers waste an hour a day in useless travel, 
 the time and strain and cost of which would have 
 been saved if they had chosen their home with a 
 view to the problem of quick transit. 
 
 One's home should be away from his work — 
 but not too far away, preferably within good walk- 
 ing distance, a half-mile to a mile. This is usually 
 possible, except in the largest cities. One reason 
 why so many college professors are stupid is be- 
 cause they try to work in the house where they eat 
 and sleep. This form of psychological hash is 
 mentally indigestible — and torpid minds natu- 
 rally result. Besides, the most loving wife needs 
 to be delivered from the presence of her husband 
 for at least eight hours every day; and if the home 
 
 [98] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 is too near the office, he may run over any time 
 and interrupt the household regime. An actor is 
 a poor husband because never home — a doctor 
 is a poor husband because always home. 
 
 Silence is a prime factor in your surroundings. 
 Do not plan to live near a street-car line, a rail- 
 road, an automobile highway, or a bridge used 
 by heavy trucks. And before you engage an 
 apartment, visit the same about ten o'clock of an 
 evening and count the aggregations of pianos, 
 phonographs, mouth-organs, gossiping ladies, 
 growling men, wailing infants and polemic felines 
 within range of hearing. Then ponder ere you 
 migrate. 
 
 2. Sanitation. This includes open plumbing; 
 rapid and complete drainage; scientific prevention 
 of sewer-gas; abundance of running water, hot 
 and cold; use of proper soaps, cleansers and disin- 
 fectants, from cellar to attic; modern cleaning 
 methods — such as oiled cloths, sweeper, and 
 vacuum cleaner, in place of old-fashioned broom 
 and feather duster; elimination of carpets, cur- 
 tains and tapestries that gather dust and germs, 
 and substitution of rugs, mission furniture and 
 other commonsense equipment. 
 
 3. Hygiene. A few of the items under this 
 head are a home gymnasium ; a heating apparatus 
 both healthful and reliable, that keeps the tempera- 
 
 [99] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ture from 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in cold 
 weather; bathroom appliances and conveniences, 
 to make the daily bath more enjoyable and expedi- 
 tious ; ventilators for all the windows in the house ; 
 an emergency case of home remedies, such as mus- 
 tard plaster, court plaster, hot water bottle, smell- 
 ing salts, fountain syringe, peroxide of hydrogen, 
 bandage material and sanitary cotton; a chart or 
 booklet always handy on What to Do in Accidents 
 and Emergencies ; an address book with names of 
 best druggists, physicians and surgeons available 
 — these having first been investigated; a lighting 
 system (whether of gas, electricity or acetylene) 
 that includes soft, shaded, overhead lights but 
 full-power, concentrated, desk lamps; a combina- 
 tion of color schemes harmonious and restful; a 
 good supply of drinking water guaranteed pure — 
 either bottled, and certified by chemical analysis, 
 or distilled or boiled in your own kitchen. 
 
 We are only beginning to understand the psy- 
 chology of color — one of the subtle yet powerful 
 aids to cheerfulness and vitality. Recent experi- 
 ments have shown a person confined in a room with 
 wall-paper and hangings of an uproarious red 
 loses temper and grows vicious; while a roomful 
 of ultra-violet rays tends to produce temporary 
 insanity. No one can estimate how many women 
 have gone crazy from looking at the gargoyles 
 
 [100] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 creeping up their wall paper. Science now proves 
 — what Nature has always known — that the 
 green of the grass and the blue of the sky produce 
 the least strain on the optic nerves, and therefore 
 induce a feeling of comfort and peace. 
 
 4. Economy. Certain articles for home use 
 cost less from mail-order houses, others cost less 
 from local dealers. Which are they, in each list? 
 At certain seasons of the year, bargains may be 
 had regularly — in clothing, furnishings, foods, 
 and so forth. Do you buy accordingly? In the 
 kitchen, there is a science of utilizing " scraps " 
 and left-overs. Have you learned it? A pound 
 of beans, of whole-wheat grains, of nuts or of 
 cheese, contains from two to three times as much 
 pure nourishment as a pound of best steak, and 
 costs perhaps half as much. Do you consult mod- 
 ern tables of food values in ordering the daily 
 meals? 
 
 5. Beauty. Both vitality and morality require 
 that a sense of harmony and repose comfort us 
 in the few hours of ease accorded to us. In this 
 violently practical age, when even schools and 
 churches are made for utilitarian purposes, the 
 home is the only place where we can satisfy our 
 souls with grace of line, symmetry of form, har- 
 mony of color, beauty of texture, poetry of sym- 
 bolism. We are soothed, or irritated, by the 
 
 [101] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 pattern in the rug, the picture on the wall, the 
 fresco or painting on the ceiling, the contour of 
 the home against the sky. A cottage costing 
 $3,000, planned by an artist for the needs and the 
 tastes of the members of the family, is a better in- 
 vestment than a $30,000 mansion void of the 
 magic touch of refinement and affection. 
 
 6. Relaxation. Hurry is the chief cause of 
 worry, and a home is the haven of rest where we 
 can smile at our haste, and watch the world go by. 
 One of the first rules of a scientific household is 
 that nobody's ailments or troubles or fears be 
 mentioned in the presence of the family assem- 
 blage. Above all, should gloom be chased from 
 the dining-room; every dyspeptic stomach was 
 first somehow discouraged, and mastication, prop- 
 erly attended, comes between mirth and medita- 
 tion. One of the sure tests of a real home is that 
 the very thought of it relaxes our nerves, minds, 
 and muscles, and gently and firmly restores our 
 peace and quietness, and faith in the goodness of 
 God's great plan. 
 
 7. Education. Much of the criticism now 
 being directed at the public schools and colleges of 
 America really applies to the home, where scien- 
 tific training of the hearts, heads and hands of chil- 
 dren properly begins. Parents are' not qualified 
 for the duties of parenthood until they have 
 
 [102] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 studied together the principles and methods of 
 Plato, Horace Mann, Froebel, William Morris, 
 Kneipp, Fowler, Taylor, Madame Montessori, 
 Isadora Duncan, and other great pioneers of ra- 
 tional education. Are you teaching your children 
 to develop their sympathies and sensibilities, their 
 lungs and muscles, their hopes and desires and am- 
 bitions, along with their brains? Real education 
 starts with inspiration, leads to action, and ends in 
 satisfaction of teacher and taught. The inspira- 
 tion comes from a mother's heart, the action must 
 be guided by a father's strength and skill. And 
 the parents whose children are their pride were 
 teachers even more than parents. 
 
 8. Hospitality. By this I do not mean the per- 
 functory exchange of dinner invitations, or the 
 needless suffering entailed by a box party at the 
 opera. I mean the outflow of heart and overflow 
 of spirit which moves you to give a feast to the 
 poor, to search out and hearten up the victims of a 
 " hallroom " desolation, to pin a flower of hope 
 on the garb of mourning, to throw your doors wide 
 to the waifs in the street and bid them enter freely 
 — slang, dirt, bruises and all. A home is not a 
 home until it shelters the homeless. The reason 
 is a secret, you must find it out for yourself. 
 
 9. Service. One of the first duties of a mother 
 is to make her children proud to wait on her. But, 
 
 [103] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 alas, few mothers learn this until they are too old 
 to begin and too tired to care. Each member of 
 a family has certain duties and responsibilities to 
 every other member. These are usually ignored; 
 and often violated, as in the case of a father who 
 whips his boy, or of a girl who wears her mother's 
 clothes. The founder of the Children's Court, 
 after judging 60,000 cases of wayward boys and 
 girls, declares that lawlessness is born in the home, 
 that parents in general fail to teach the rights of 
 property, the obligations of justice and generosity, 
 the sense of brotherhood, the rewards of service. 
 When " family pride " is changed into community 
 feeling, and community feeling grows to be race 
 fellowship, we shall have made the home what it 
 should be — a starting point for service. 
 
 10. Religion. Parents mostly are guilty of 
 either invasion or evasion of the souls of their 
 children — they force dogmas on the young folk, 
 or they neglect altogether to provide religious 
 training. Either attitude is immoral. No man is 
 a good Baptist until he sees the good in a Metho- 
 dist, and it should be a solemn duty of a good 
 Methodist to explain to his children the peculiar 
 merits of a good Baptist. I do not think God 
 looks at the label on our church, I think He looks 
 at the love in our life. Greatness overlaps good- 
 ness. And as a man's greatest human love is the 
 
 [104] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 love of wife and children, so does that love, truly 
 and wisely and freely expressed, make more for 
 righteousness than any other instrumentality on 
 earth. 
 
 The first great prophecy of life is that of the 
 homing instinct. From the day that a baby girl 
 cries for something to pet, and folds her arms in 
 ecstasy over a cheap rag-doll; from the day that 
 a sturdy lad doubles his fist in anger to smite the 
 fellow who dares annoy his chosen lass ; from then 
 on, home is being made. 
 
 Marriage is only the builder of home — ro- 
 mance is the architect. Long before the wedding 
 day, the image of the household to come has been 
 hewn from the quarry of desire and polished in an 
 alcove of dreams. If not — pity the bridal pair, 
 still ignorant as children but lacking the faith of 
 children which is better than knowledge. What is 
 the precursor of a true and happy home? A 
 fierce, insatiable idealism of the parents, for them- 
 selves, each other, and the children of them both. 
 God's remedy for ignorance is aspiration. Most 
 brides know scarcely anything of managing a 
 household; most husbands know even less of caring 
 for a wife ; yet these defects may be forgiven and 
 quite overruled if each loves the other with a pure, 
 whole-hearted, unselfish devotion. How stop the 
 divorce-evil? Make young people sure it is love 
 
 [105] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 that prompts them to marry. Those who love 
 will not, cannot, be separated. 
 
 The world's attitude toward love should be 
 earnest, honest, rational, delicate, reverential. It 
 is flippant, hypocritical, hysterical, rude, earthy. 
 The sanctity of home can be no greater, no purer, 
 no sweeter and liner and stronger than the sense 
 of worship that real mates feel in the presence of 
 each other. Yet people who think they are civil- 
 ized hurl rice and old shoes after a wedding as 
 though the occasion were a fool's carnival ! If a 
 lad and lassie on the brink of marriage have been 
 properly taught from childhood, they could no 
 more endure a sensational ceremony than they 
 would tolerate a feast to honor the conversion of 
 their souls ! 
 
 All thought of marriage belongs to the shrine, 
 that nothing may illumine but the altar-fire. In- 
 stead, we are called upon daily to meet a bombard- 
 ment of jest, gossip, slander, smirch, innuendo, 
 that will blacken and deface our highest concep- 
 tion of home — unless we are militant soldiers of 
 idealism. The foundation of home lies in the 
 parents' feeling about love. This determines the 
 character of the children and of their training. It 
 fixes relations with the world at large. It makes 
 out of marriage either Heaven or Hell. It is the 
 one supreme force in governing life — and the 
 
 [106] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 one most neglected or abused. A series of books 
 would be needed to give the subject adequate pres- 
 entation; it is mentioned here as a vital factor in 
 home-making, which parents must consider if chil- 
 dren are to wed happily. In every boy and girl 
 old enough to ask questions, there should be awak- 
 ened a sense of responsibility to the little ones that 
 may come in after-years. Next to livelihood, par- 
 enthood should be the vital object of study. 
 
 Home is the crisis of human experience. All 
 the beautiful natural things — and all the ugly arti- 
 ficial things, cluster here. Home should be both 
 natural and subliminal — a history of the animal in 
 us and a prophecy of the angel. It usually is 
 neither, but a queer medley, excessively, painfully, 
 hopelessly human. 
 
 Of all created things, human beings are the 
 most egotistical with the least reason for the sad 
 plight. Stars shine no matter what happens; we 
 are clouded most of the time. Flowers bloom be- 
 cause the fragrance is in them to express; we toil 
 because somebody tells us to or because we fear 
 starvation. Rivers find the sea as God wills they 
 should; we follow our natural bent and meet the 
 accusation of being " odd." In short, we are 
 hampered on all sides by our humanness; life is 
 real only as we outgrow it. 
 
 Home is the aisle from the earth that bore us 
 
 [107] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 to the Heaven that beckons us. Instinct and ideal- 
 ism make a home; all else unmake it. What we 
 feel and what we aspire to, measures the wisdom 
 in our family. 
 
 Johnny Jones feels like playing with Willie 
 Smith; Johnny's mother says "No; Willie's 
 mother is not in our set." Johnny wants to make 
 mud pies; mother says u No; you will soil your 
 girlish pinafore." Johnny on a summer morning 
 hies him to the swimming-hole instead of to the 
 school-house; Father whips Johnny for taking a 
 bath — then on Saturday night whips him again 
 for not taking one. Johnny's sister May would 
 like to go bare-foot amid the dewy sparkle of a 
 rosy June dawn ; Mother and Father wouldn't hear 
 of such a thing — how can their daughter mince 
 about in a number 4 slipper with her feet all spread 
 out from going shoeless? Johnny and May 
 despise flannel underwear with a common vehe- 
 ment hatred; when it rasps their disposition, the 
 neighbors pharisaically sigh, "Original sin!" 
 The kiddies like fresh fruit above all things; but 
 a weazened rheumatic old crone hobbling down 
 the pike, once relieved her system by this crazy 
 warning, " Beware the summer complaint! " and 
 the children are stuffed with the meat and pota- 
 toes that stiffened the joints of the antique dame. 
 
 These things may seem trivial, but I assure you 
 [108] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 they are not. Where children and grown-ups dis- 
 agree the children are usually in the right. Na- 
 ture gives them a power of knowing by instinct 
 such as no amount of second-hand education can 
 produce. Until a child's opinion is respected, his 
 desire analyzed, his feeling understood, all ex- 
 pectation of a harmonious household must be 
 calmly stored away. 
 
 We are proud of our law-makers, whom we 
 signally honor as friends of the race and benefac- 
 tors plenipotentiary. But the law-maker worth 
 while is yet to come; a spiritual giant with a 
 woman's heart and a man's brain and this for his 
 conquering plea, " A square deal for the child." 
 They are mostly waifs, the children; high-born or 
 low-born, clad in silks or rags; waifs because un- 
 welcome strangers in a house unprepared. Lovely 
 dream-messengers from the throne of God, they 
 come to bear us tidings of our own lost youth. In 
 the presence of children, we should all be humil- 
 iated, seeing the faith, love and innocence that 
 once belonged to us pictured again in the lives 
 committed to our keeping. All that a baby asks 
 is room to grow — and a smile of understanding 
 now and then. Yet we presume to wield our 
 " authority " over children. Can a flower bloom 
 underneath a rod of iron? A baby is not the 
 most helpless thing in the world; the most help- 
 [109] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 less thing is the parent to whom the baby looks 
 for sympathy. 
 
 What relation does home bear to efficiency and 
 happiness ? 
 
 One as broad and variable as human experience. 
 
 The vital question pertaining to home is not 
 whether we have a complete set of kinsfolk, but 
 whether, having it or having it not, we are equal 
 to our own possibilities. There are people quite 
 alone in the world whose lives radiate joy; and 
 there are inmates of a household whose presence 
 is the signal for a thunder-cloud to gather. What 
 can be sourer than a person soured on his fam- 
 ily? 
 
 Not the enjoyment of our possessions but the 
 use of our opportunities brings happiness. So, 
 if we dwell in a palace or in a hall bedroom, we 
 create home for ourselves. Anything good used 
 as an end turns bad ; anything bad used as a means 
 turns good. Whether our abode spells happiness 
 or not lies in our knowledge of the language of 
 the heart. 
 
 To sweethearts planning their first nest, a gentle 
 word of entreaty would be this: deserve all you 
 get before it comes. This should be made clear. 
 Few girls on the day of their marriage can order 
 and cook a wholesome meal, darn a stocking com- 
 fortably, manage the help, or engineer household 
 
 [110] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 sanitation. Yet all girls dream of a life-long 
 devotion on the part of a husband. Devotion to 
 what? Curl papers and a box of rouge ? House- 
 keeping is one science, home-making is another, 
 parenthood is a third ; no girl should be allowed to 
 marry until she knows enough of each to be mis- 
 tress of any situation in wedded life. 
 
 Even more preparation is required of the man 
 — but of an opposite kind. There is nothing so 
 delicate in the world as the feeling of a woman 
 whose love nature has just been awakened. A 
 mere thoughtless breath pains her to the quick, a 
 coarse word or selfish act may leave in her memory 
 a scar, that no amount of penance can efface. 
 ,To be infinitely gentle — and infinitely strong ; 
 this is what a lady-love expects of her knight. 
 And the first real lesson of life to a man is this: 
 nothing counts but to answer the ideal of a loving 
 woman. Few men ever acknowledge this — and 
 few men are worth considering. 
 
 We must earn spiritual things by physical 
 means, and physical things by spiritual means. 
 The lassie who dreams must learn to labor, the 
 lad who labors must learn to dream ; then each will 
 know the beauty and strength of the other, each 
 will find the world where it was meant to be, in the 
 eyes of one's mate. 
 
 Let us turn to the practical side, 
 [ill] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Here is where the discord begins — from the 
 sweet Elysian dreams of the wooing to the regular 
 duty of hanging out the wash is a far jump and a 
 perilous conclusion. But this is the way to test 
 the verity of romance — the proof of sentiment 
 comes when you mix it with sand, and neither loses 
 potency. For genuine sweethearts, the golden- 
 wedding day is to the betrothal day as a full-blown 
 rose to a mere bud. The strength of the flower 
 lies in the earth, the warmth of the earth leaps in 
 the flower; they must have each other, or a garden 
 cannot be. 
 
 The first thing to impress on each member of a 
 family is that home is the trade school of character, 
 and the rewards go to the best scholar. Not 
 what we get from our people, or even what we give 
 to them, determines happiness, but what we are 
 in the midst of them and what we help them to 
 be to themselves. Home is not a place in which 
 to eat and sleep and find fault; it is the one place 
 on earth in which we are free to grow. To insure 
 this development, the least thing must be con- 
 sidered, for the least thing counts. 
 
 Food counts. You might almost turn a hus- 
 band into a Frenchman, a Briton, or a German, by 
 the way yon feed him. Spicy, beefy, or beery, the 
 average man is what he eats. Abused wives 
 should learn this before going back to mother. 
 
 [112] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The national sin of woman is dyspepsia; because 
 every dyspeptic man was made so by a poor cook 
 or an ignorant mother. The profession of cook 
 should be equally honored with that of clergyman 
 or physician; the cook makes the subjects for 
 preachers and doctors to work on. And a finished 
 job it is. 
 
 Color counts. The tint of a wall-paper can 
 make or mar a disposition (wall-paper is a relic 
 of barbarism). Line your bedroom with scarlet 
 dragons and see how you sleep ; fresco your dining- 
 room in a sickly washed-out yellow with green 
 polka-dots and you'll need the pepsin handy; put 
 nice wide stripes on the parlor wall and visitors 
 won't have to be told it's a prison. How many 
 brides furnish their different rooms according to 
 the use of each? Yet color names character, for 
 every color has one of its own. 
 
 Space counts. Not how much a room contains, 
 but how little it needs is the test of household re- 
 finement. Yet many wives feel neglectful of their 
 duty unless they have plastered every available inch 
 of space with ornaments unornamental whose only 
 function is to be dusted regularly. The house- 
 wife's primary lesson — which most of them 
 never learn — is to know what is junk from what 
 isn't, and to get rid of what is. Fewer pictures 
 and better, heavy curtains gone, no carpets what- 
 [113] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ever, all furnishings made to harmonize, nothing 
 allowed save as it has a meaning; this line of ex- 
 periment will clear the mind no less than expand 
 the pocketbook. 
 
 Furniture counts. As high priest in the sanc- 
 tuary of home, William Morris stands first. 
 Cheap things cost most. Everything in a house 
 expresses the nature of its occupants. People 
 built on the simple, comfortable, substantial lines 
 of the Morris furniture don't buy shoddy and don't 
 live shoddy. Moreover, the less one buys and 
 the more one makes, the better one enjoys. The 
 atmosphere of Christmas lasts through the year in 
 a home where loving hands mold and fashion the 
 common things of everyday use. 
 
 Clothing counts. A family's besetting sin is 
 laxness. " It's only John and the children " — 
 and mother appears in a wrapper that she wouldn't 
 let the gas man see her in. " Too hot for polite- 
 ness " — and father comes to dinner in his shirt 
 sleeves. " Time to wash up for company " — and 
 the children get the notion that decency belongs 
 nowhere but on dress parade. Company manners 
 are a disgrace, proving total lack of self-respect. 
 A clean collar at home tells more than royal rai- 
 ment in society. 
 
 Talk counts. A tongue unwise or unruly is 
 to blame for most family discord. Parents who 
 
 [114] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 complain that their children fail to show due re- 
 spect should ask themselves if they always treat 
 the children with kindness and courtesy. One 
 hasty word is enough to rob a parent of the adora- 
 tion with which a child naturally views its elders. 
 Young folks should never be criticized in the pres- 
 ence of a third person; they are doing their best 
 and they don't want their mates to think otherwise. 
 Yet a common practice is to stand little people in 
 a row, and lecture them indiscriminately. An- 
 other fatal error is to let them suspect any dis- 
 agreement between their parents. When Mother 
 says one thing and Father says another, each says 
 worse than nothing. Loyalty has but one legiti- 
 mate expression; to keep those who have wed 
 united before the world. Whatever a wife or 
 husband does, the other must defend, or the sense 
 of oneness will be lost. You may reason this away 
 as unethical; but if you have once felt it you will 
 know it is right. 
 
 What is a Real Home ? 
 
 A Real Home is a gymnasium, a lighthouse, a 
 playground, a workshop, a forum, a secret society, 
 a health resort, a cooperative league, a business 
 concern, a haven of refuge, a path of solitude and 
 a temple of worship. How can one thing be so 
 many things ? I'm sure I don't know ; this miracle, 
 as all other miracles, must look to love for ex- 
 [115] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 planation. Life itself is a miracle, and love in- 
 tensifies life. 
 
 A Real Home is a gymnasium. The ideal of a 
 healthy body is the first one to give a child. 
 Particularly if the boy should be studious or the 
 girl introspective, a regular course in gymnastics 
 must precede all efforts to cultivate the mind. It 
 won't do the old folks any harm either — how a 
 fat and lazy person can live with himself is unim- 
 aginable; fat is the unearned increment of age. 
 So far as he goes, the athlete is a model man. 
 Physique underlies religion. 
 
 A Real Home is a lighthouse. Some parents 
 don't know the difference between a lighthouse and 
 a house of correction. A lighthouse reveals the 
 breakers ahead and shows a clear way past them; 
 a house of correction shows nothing but the ire of 
 the man that runs it. Children go wrong because 
 they have not seen the right. Assume that a child 
 wants to be good — and he will if he knows how. 
 
 A Real Home is a playground. Beware of 
 the house where you " dassen't " frolic — there 
 mischief is brewing for sure. Games have a 
 double value — they make good people smart and 
 smart people good. Which is more needed, none 
 can say. 
 
 A Real Home is a workshop. Pity the boy 
 without a kit of tools, or the girl without a sewing 
 
 [116], 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 basket. They haven't learned the fun of doing 
 things — and there is no fun like that. More- 
 over, the joy of " helping Mother " should take 
 its rise in Father — Mother's business is not 
 primarily to fetch Father's slippers. Nature lets 
 men be so helpless about the house because men 
 are most nearly endurable when they act like 
 babies. 
 
 A Real Home is a forum. Honest, open dis- 
 cussion of life's great problems belongs originally 
 in the family circle. Yet how many boys and 
 girls feel delight in sharing all their hopes and 
 fears and impulses with the parents, who alone can 
 wisely direct them? The course in Parenthood 
 which every college should require in the senior 
 year might well devote a chapter to " The Ques- 
 tions the Children Ask." 
 
 A Real Home is a secret society. Loyalty to 
 one's family should mean keeping silent on family 
 matters — just this and nothing more. But the 
 majority of people gossip about their own kin 
 ceaselessly and ruthlessly, then blame the neigh- 
 bors for painting the story a deeper scarlet or 
 uglier black. Family " pride " and " honor " 
 should be wiped off the calendar as remnants of 
 barbarism. But family respect should make us 
 tell nothing save the good of our own relatives. 
 Here, as always, a confidence means a confession. 
 [117] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 A Real Home is a health resort. Mothers are 
 the natural physicians. Graduates of medicine 
 and surgery will be needed while society endures; 
 but for the little ailments of every day, such as 
 simple coughs, colds, fevers, pains and stoppages, 
 the wisdom of the mother should suffice. The ad- 
 vantage of a sanitarium is that it teaches how 
 much a home is not; women might learn this with 
 profit, but men know it too well already. 
 
 A Real Home is a cooperative league. House- 
 holds flourish where the interest of each is made 
 the interest of all. Parents cannot desire one 
 thing and children another, or brothers want this 
 and sisters want that; somebody acts unlawfully 
 in every such case. 
 
 A Real Home is a business concern. Order is 
 a housewife's hobby. But order without system 
 is a harness without the horse. Women are going 
 into commerce, to learn how to run a kitchen. 
 They don't suspect this, or they wouldn't budge 
 a step. Please don't tell them; because what men 
 need most is to have somebody beat them at their 
 own game. One purpose in Woman's Suffrage 
 may be to make men suffer for their shortcomings. 
 
 A Real Home is a haven of refuge. The 
 world does this for us all ; it makes us hunger for 
 a loving sympathy and a calming, soothing touch. 
 The true mother gives this freely, gladly, never 
 
 [118] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 counting the cost. We take the charity for 
 granted, seldom thinking of the other side. Who 
 is there to comfort the mother in her time of need? 
 All women crave a soul fortress, builded and 
 guarded by a lover of superhuman strength. But 
 the spiritual giant is rare among men. And the 
 infinite pathos of earth dwells in the eyes of the 
 woman who longs to creep like a tired child into 
 the arms of her lover — but cannot, for he would 
 not understand. Men are the heroes ? Men do 
 not know heroism when they see it. 
 
 A Real Home is a path of solitude. Human 
 beings are strangers to one another until they are 
 born again. When this rebirth comes, we shall 
 soon discover who of our kinsfolk have been our 
 very own. t Our spiritual relatives will bid us God- 
 speed along the upward climb; the others will 
 leave us to ourselves ; all must grant the Heaven- 
 urged aloofness. What is life but a smile, a 
 tear, and a long good-by ? We may cling to noth- 
 ing human, our permanence lies beyond. And the 
 strange mortal grouping of souls must in the end 
 give way to the awful, glorious change that strips 
 the soul bare, whether by death or by illumination. 
 
 A Real Home is a temple of worship. The 
 sad eternal cry of the woman heart is to be called 
 Madonna. Women expect from men the adora- 
 tion they themselves feel toward God. And if 
 [119] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 every man would strive to be an honest worshiper, 
 nothing but the worship of God would be sublimer 
 than the worship of Woman. Love is that which 
 makes us grow perfect in spite of ourselves. And 
 mates learn of God by knowing each other. He 
 born strong, grows pure through idolizing Her; 
 She born pure, grows strong through emulating 
 Him; each builds the character molded by the 
 other; till the very human thing called marriage 
 attains a loveliness divine. 
 
 HOME EFFICIENCY TABLE 
 
 For the American Housewife and Mother 
 
 DIRECTIONS. If answer is " Yes," write on dotted 
 line the number in parenthesis following each question. 
 If answer is " No," leave space blank. If neither Yes nor 
 No, vary the figures accordingly. Find your percentage 
 by adding column of numbers. The average grade is prob- 
 ably 45. It should be 95. A Table of complete values 
 would include other questions, but this Table gives a fair 
 estimate. 
 
 1. Do you take joy and pride in your housework? 
 
 (3) 
 
 2. Can you finish your daily duties in eight 
 
 hours ? ( 1 ) 
 
 3. Have you ever counted and tried to cut down 
 
 the number of needless steps you take in a 
 
 day's work? (3) 
 
 4. When you are tired out, can you rest and re- 
 
 cuperate easily and quickly ? ( 1 ) 
 
 [120] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 5. Have you time and strength in the evening 
 
 to enjoy home pleasures with the family? 
 
 (2) ' 
 
 6. Is your home in quiet surroundings? (3) 
 
 7. Do your sleeping rooms have direct exposure 
 
 to the morning sun? (2) 
 
 8. Do you keep daily records of expenses, with a 
 
 modern filing system for reference ? ( 3 ) 
 
 9. Is your grocer the best in your neighborhood 
 
 — have you learned why ? ( 3 ) 
 
 10. Do you plan your meals a week ahead, and 
 
 use all the " left-overs " ? ( 1 ) 
 
 11. Do you order and prepare meals on a scien- 
 
 tific basis of nutritive value? (3) 
 
 12. Can you serve palatable, economical substi- 
 
 tutes for meat? (2) 
 
 13. Do you know the signs of fresh meat, fish, 
 
 eggs, fruits and vegetables? (2) 
 
 14. Has your drinking water been guaranteed 
 
 pure by expert analysis? (3) 
 
 15. Do you buy food, clothing, furnishings, etc., 
 
 on a scientific system of economy? (3) 
 
 16. Have you studied at least three modern 
 
 schools of diet (such as the Lahmann, the 
 Lust, the Christian, or the Kellogg sys- 
 tem) ? (3) 
 
 17. Have you read at least three standard books 
 
 on domestic science and household econ- 
 omy? (3) 
 
 18. Do you belong to a woman's club? (3) 
 
 19. Are you a member of the Housewives' 
 
 League? (3) 
 
 [121] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 20. Do you subscribe for one or more magazines 
 
 devoted to home-making? (3) 
 
 21. Do you spend a day away from home at least 
 
 once a month ? ( 1 ) 
 
 22. Do you take a vacation from your family of 
 
 at least two weeks every year? (3) 
 
 23. Have you installed a modern cleaning system, 
 
 from efficient soap to vacuum cleaner? (2) 
 
 24. Is there an emergency chest in your bath- 
 
 room? (1) 
 
 25. Are all your windows equipped with hygienic 
 
 ventilators? (3) 
 
 26. Is your lighting system powerful, while rest- 
 
 ful to the eyes? (2) 
 
 27. Have you studied the hygiene of dress? (2) , 
 
 28. Is your doctor a teacher of health — not just 
 
 a prescriber of drugs? (3) 
 
 29. Do you receive regularly the monthly list of 
 
 publications of the U. S. Department of 
 Agriculture? (2) 
 
 30. Are you thoroughly informed on vocational 
 
 training? (3) 
 
 31. Do you know where and with whom your 
 
 children play? (3) 
 
 32. Can you answer all your children's questions, 
 
 without evasion or embarrassment? (3) 
 
 33. Do you conduct home discussions on great 
 
 questions of the day? (2) 
 
 34. Are you teaching your children how to earn, 
 
 to save and to spend money? (3) 
 
 35. Can all the members of your family use their 
 
 hands and brains equally well? (3) 
 
 [122] 
 
HOME AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 36. Do the pictures and decorations in your home 
 
 express sound aesthetic principles? (2) 
 
 37. Have you developed a saving sense of hu- 
 
 mor? (3) 
 
 38. Are you giving your children systematic re- 
 
 ligious or ethical instruction? (3) 
 
 39. Do you recognize the mistakes of your early 
 
 married life and are you training your chil- 
 dren to prevent or avoid them? (3) 
 
 40. Is your home a haven for the poor and friend- 
 
 less? (3) 
 
 Add up column 
 and approximate 
 your grade in 
 Home Efficiency. 
 
 Copyright, 1914, by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 [123] 
 
CHAPTER V 
 WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 WORK is the common avenue to all the 
 uncommon things. And the uncommon 
 man is he who follows work to this end. 
 
 Of all the paths to greatness, work is the most 
 obscured; of all the paths to goodness, work is 
 the most maligned. Not workers and shirkers, 
 but watchers and stumblers, compose humanity; 
 for the man who has visioned opportunity can 
 never work enough. The whole question of labor 
 is, whether we lead or must be led. In the van 
 we exult, in the rear we despair. 
 
 The curse laid on Adam was not having to 
 work, but feeling that he had to work. And they 
 who most nearly resume the stature of gods have 
 changed their feeling about work from compul- 
 sion to volition. The difference between genius 
 and mediocrity is that genius looks at work 
 through a telescope, mediocrity through a micro- 
 scope; the one sees only possibilities, the other sees 
 
 [124] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 only limitations. Cure for the man who doesn't 
 like his job: Find what it leads to. It is the 
 little man who doesn't like his job; the big man 
 makes himself like it, or gets out. 
 
 Efforts to uplift the " working classes " gen- 
 erally fail — for two reasons ; there should be no 
 " working classes "; and the position they occupy 
 is the highest attainable. We should all work a 
 little, play a little, learn much, and love to infinity. 
 But for ignorance and selfishness, the worst ex- 
 ample is the man with nothing to do. Whoever 
 is not in the working class has never learned his 
 letters in the alphabet of life. We are just as 
 wise as we love to work. And the philosopher, 
 yogi or metaphysician who dwells apart, scorn- 
 ing the activities of the multitude, can teach us 
 nothing except how little he knows. The very 
 rich, and the very learned, must find salvation in 
 a cottage, where the wealth and understanding of 
 the heart may be given full play. It is not work 
 that frets, wearies or disappoints; it is having no 
 one to work for. And the most abject pauper on 
 earth is the millionaire who has lost the spirit of 
 devotion. If we love we must work; but if we 
 love we do not know that we are working. Thus, 
 to possess an ideal, affection, or inspiration that 
 impels us forever on, is to gain the rewards of 
 work without having known the penalties. 
 
 [125] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Work in its normal aspect is the focus of the 
 entire man on a fixed goal. Those who find them- 
 selves lacking promotion, or a position, may dis- 
 cover the cause in their own divided purpose, 
 irresolute will, scattered energies, and unformed 
 ambitions. It is better to aim somewhere and 
 get nowhere than to be put somewhere and stick. 
 
 The drone is not the man who does nothing — 
 he may be a royal mendicant in disguise. The 
 drone is the man who does just enough to " hold 
 his job." Everywhere in the commercial world 
 he is the unmitigated evil. Banish him and you 
 change the market-place from Hell into Heaven. 
 No employee should be taken into a business, until 
 his motive has been analyzed and judged. If his 
 aim is right, he should be given a personal interest 
 in the concern; if not, he should be shown the 
 door. Aimless employees are the universal in- 
 cubus of trade. And the surprising thing is that 
 employers do not see the folly of treating their 
 help as machines. The Golden Rule is the most 
 practical business guide to be found; if it had 
 appeared under non-religious auspices, the world 
 would have adopted it long ago. I sometimes 
 wish that names could be totally abolished; what 
 hampers truth is always the name by which it is 
 called. Prejudice clusters in words, but in feel- 
 ings lie sympathy and understanding. 
 
 [126] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The fundamental principle regarding work may 
 be given thus : The end of occupation is not to 
 earn a living but to mold a life. And the few 
 who apprehend this are, strangely enough, the men 
 who amass great fortunes. Work whose only end 
 is money is the least profitable of all imaginable 
 things. The one form of suicide sanctioned by 
 law is to " work for a living." No man has 
 found himself until he must work when he doesn't 
 have to. The compulsion, financial, social, men- 
 tal, under which the majority labor will be neces- 
 sary until every human being has within him a 
 self-regulating, self-renewing, motive for working 
 up to his limit. Slaves are those who are forced 
 to work, sovereigns are those who force them- 
 selves. The ten-dollar clerk who eyes with envy 
 the apparent freedom of the millionaire employer 
 is pitiably ignorant; for a thousand constraining 
 powers hold the man of wealth — each more inex- 
 orable than the gaze of the clock, which alone 
 governs the employee. It is not work that en- 
 slaves, it is a complaining spirit back of work. 
 
 Labor is delight — or degeneration. And the 
 man who toils grudgingly insults the whole world ; 
 his employer, his fellows, his Creator, and his 
 own soul. If a law could be framed compelling 
 every one to enjoy his occupation, or to live on a 
 pension from the State — I believe the State would 
 
 [127] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 be actually richer. Incidentally, the pauper-sys- 
 tem should be wiped out. Indigent men, women 
 and children should be taught some useful occu- 
 pation, and thus be enabled, at least partially, to 
 support themselves. No man is too aged or in- 
 firm to be self-respecting. And self-maintenance 
 is the keystone of self-respect. 
 
 Work and drudgery should be at the opposite 
 poles. Xo men who achieve, work is play and 
 play is work. So they are playing most of the 
 time. President Taft and ex-President Roosevelt 
 are temperamentally as diverse as the arctic re- 
 gion and the equator. But when they play they 
 are alike — they both work harder than the day- 
 laborer will who gets paid for it. Indeed, the 
 purpose of rest is to exercise faculties and powers 
 usually dormant. Fatigue is unnatural — like 
 everything else that has to be cured. The loss of 
 enthusiasm is the beginning of fatigue. And if 
 our working-day could be normally regulated, we 
 should quit our job the moment we lost enthu- 
 siasm. 
 
 Feel — think — plan — hope — work — wait 
 — enjoy; this is the true order of human expres- 
 sion. Yet how many observe it? The poet feels, 
 the metaphysician thinks, the schemer plans, the 
 cheer-up philosopher hopes, the slave works, the 
 idler waits, the aristocrat enjoys — and not one 
 
 [128] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 of the lot is satisfied. Each blames somebody 
 else for his own incompleteness. 
 
 What this world most needs is to make its 
 philosophers workers, and its workers philoso- 
 phers. The rarest thing is to blend vision and 
 vitality; if ever a seer becomes a captain of finance, 
 he will do more to uplift the world than all 
 prophets have done thus far since the Creation. 
 Work belongs halfway between Poetry and Phi- 
 losophy ; Poetry should greet it but Philosophy say 
 good-by. Work, though, is usually friendless, 
 with the scorn of the poet and the exhortation of 
 the philosopher adding to the misery. What we 
 look down upon is what we could not see over. 
 Till Poetry has done things, it is mere pretense. 
 
 The one relationship of universal importance 
 is that of work to the brain, heart and soul of 
 Man. Work that interests and exercises the 
 whole of us means joy, progress, contentment, suc- 
 cess. Work that leaves a part of us unawakened 
 and unemployed means anxiety, weariness, rest- 
 lessness, failure. Drudgery is working from duty 
 instead of desire, the cure being to instil a fresh 
 motive into one's occupation. The way to make 
 work enjoyable is not to lessen duty but to increase 
 desire. 
 
 Labor holds three prime factors: motive, 
 method, and cooperation. Motive belongs to the 
 
 [129] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 soul, method belongs to the brain and body, co- 
 operation belongs to the heart. And if any one 
 of these be lacking, work fails to satisfy. 
 
 Motive should be altruistic. The scientist 
 delving in search of truth; the artist lost in the 
 creation of something beautiful; the mother ago- 
 nizing and exulting to give life to her children; 
 these know why they toil. 
 
 Method should be selfish. The ideal business 
 man is curt to the point of rudeness; and he has 
 no use for his friends and relatives in the office. 
 Business and friendship positively do not mix. 
 Friendship is a luxury, business a necessity; and 
 you need a great deal of the latter to afford a little 
 of the former. Next to habits, friends are the 
 most expensive things. 
 
 Cooperation should be give-and-take. As a 
 rule, those who endeavor to practise it are too 
 unselfish. You can't give until you have. You 
 don't have until you're an egoist. Therefore the 
 instinct of grasping is pre-angelic as well as pre- 
 historic. Communities and brotherhoods founded 
 on the share-alike principle go to pieces because 
 nobody had anything worth sharing in the first 
 place. Only individual successes cooperate suc- 
 cessfully. Fight for something, and get it — 
 then trade it off or give it away; that is how to 
 keep your interest in life perennial. 
 
 [130] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The purpose in work should be feminine, the 
 system should be masculine, the affiliation should 
 be both. In those who do not love work, the sym- 
 metry is lacking. What lessons in life are worth 
 learning, men must learn from women, and 
 women learn from men. Put the heart of the 
 home in the office, put the head of the office in the 
 home; then if you add to each the body of the 
 jungle and the soul of the air, you will have an 
 existence approaching that designed by the Maker. 
 
 Work should mean opportunity. Business and 
 marriage are alike in that each betokens not the 
 end but the commencement of things. A girl 
 whose ambition is to get married equals in folly 
 none but the youth whose ambition is to get a job. 
 An easy berth is the hardest to hold. And the 
 person who tries to take advantage of his position 
 has a more difficult task than the one who sees and 
 follows the aisle of opportunity extending down 
 the vista of the years. The less you look at a pay- 
 slip, the larger it grows. 
 
 Work should mean education. The honest 
 wage-earner is really being paid for developing his 
 own character. He learns punctuality, obedience, 
 accuracy, insight, thoroughness, good-nature, sys- 
 tem; in short he gains the ready knack of using 
 himself, at the expense of his employer. The 
 heart of education is to know your job. 
 [131] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Work should mean independence. The man 
 who slaves is merely bound by his own limitations. 
 And the oppression of the many is to free them 
 of indolence, weakness, irresponsibility and self- 
 indulgence. When your purpose is your clock 
 you will need no office-hours. 
 
 Work should mean loyalty. There is no higher 
 quality in human nature than allegiance to a prin- 
 ciple. And the principle of honesty demands 
 that every worker be true to his employer — no 
 matter what the employer may be as a man. In- 
 cidentally, a new commandment for this age 
 would be : take no money from him you cannot re- 
 spect. Some wives could apply this to advantage. 
 
 Work should mean sincerity. No man fails 
 who really believes in what he does. And the 
 chance to act out one's belief is worth more than 
 all the Presidential salaries on earth. All neces- 
 sary toil is humanitarian, and the consciousness 
 of being helpful should inspire every toiler. 
 
 Work should mean sentiment. Not sentimen- 
 tally — logically. Power is electric, and the 
 human machine operates best under the force of 
 elation. The worker never wearied, oppressed or 
 dismayed, is the woman absorbed in caring for 
 the one she loves most. Nothing but affection 
 warrants execution, nothing but romance justifies 
 reality. 
 
 [132] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 Work should mean health. The so-called 
 " lower animals " in their natural state are never 
 sick. Each does what Nature intended. From 
 the ant to the elephant, each determines occupa- 
 tion by instinct. The few men who are wise 
 enough for that, give pills the go-by. 
 
 Work should mean fate. And it always does. 
 What we enjoy today we earned yesterday, pos- 
 sessions are not enjoyable otherwise. Nothing 
 affects us but what we effected. Destiny is doing 
 the next thing with a heart of fire and a will of 
 steel. 
 
 Work should mean religion. Sundays furnish 
 the text of goodness, but week-days the illustra- 
 tion. And we, being children, look at the pictures 
 first. The first sight of a man's face Monday 
 morning is how God measures his Sunday prayer. 
 Consecration vitalizes, truth empowers, light fruc- 
 tifies and love garners. Failure is, primarily, 
 spiritual death. 
 
 Work is the highway to happiness. There 
 are other ways — health, wealth, pleasure, fame, 
 friendship. But these are only byways; work is 
 the highway. The one sure way to be happy is 
 to learn to be happy in your work. 
 
 Now, two people may walk the same road, yet 
 one find joy and the other find woe. A restless 
 urchin,, bent on raising trouble, scuffs up the dust 
 [133] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 of a country lane on a June morning; while a 
 grown philosopher treads the shady path along- 
 side, breathing in the fragrance of the meadow 
 blooms, and refreshing his soul with a clean vision 
 of the sun-swept horizon hills. 
 
 On the great thoroughfare of human work 
 there are clouds of dust where there should be 
 the fine play of well-groomed muscle, the earnest 
 gaze of well-directed mind, the deep breath of 
 wholesome inspiration, the fragrant sense of con- 
 genial surroundings, the buoyant step of a moun- 
 tain-high purpose. We have robbed work of the 
 romance with which the Creator endowed the till- 
 ing of the first acre, the building of the first home. 
 And to restore and maintain this energizing spirit 
 of hope, joy and pride in the worker is the first 
 and fundamental task of the efficiency expert. 
 Your machine is second — your man is first. 
 
 A good business psychologist, entering the usual 
 store, office or factory, chokes. He finds the air 
 filled with clouds of moral dust — the dust of 
 complaint, the specks of error, the sand of fric- 
 tion and dissension, the germs of envy, jealousy, 
 greed, indifference. And to clear the mental ma- 
 chinery of employer and employees from this 
 whirling volume of psychic debris is the duty of 
 supreme necessity and supreme difficulty. 
 
 I am not talking theory — I am talking science. 
 
 [134] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 There are no costly, needless labor troubles — 
 such as strikes and anarchistic rebellions — 
 among the employees of the United States Steel 
 Corporation. Why? Because this company, 
 the largest in the world, has fixed in the minds 
 and hearts of the workers the right kind of feeling 
 toward the proprietor, toward the business, toward 
 the future of the worker in relation to the busi- 
 ness. The first essential in efficient work is good 
 feeling and lots of it. 
 
 I don't mean sentimentality, or effusiveness, 
 or lax discipline. I mean just fine team work, 
 based on mutual understanding, sympathy, confi- 
 dence, purpose, cooperation of employer and em- 
 ployee. 
 
 Here is a case in point, showing how feeling 
 underlies efficiency. A business man had a clerk 
 who was jealous, suspicious, fault-finding, rough, 
 and so " temperamental " that he couldn't stay on 
 the same job more than half an hour. The em- 
 ployer went to a business psychologist, who ad- 
 vised thus: " Plan some day to have this clerk 
 remain when the others have gone, without their 
 knowing why he stays. Then take him into your 
 confidence. Tell him some of your aims and a 
 few of your difficulties. Show him how his loy- 
 alty, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, steadfastness, will 
 help you and him and the business. Make him 
 
 [135] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 see you need his support, give him some special 
 duty or responsibility, and let him report occasion- 
 ally to you in person. Demonstrate to him how 
 his work should be done — then assure him of 
 larger work ahead. In short, treat him not as a 
 slave in a treadmill, but as a younger brother." 
 
 The employer took the advice. In a few years 
 this clerk became the most efficient worker in the 
 place, a model of courtesy and cheer, a plow- 
 horse for endurance, and the president's mainstay 
 along various lines. The lazy or unruly em- 
 ployee makes the best worker, when you touch the 
 right spring. 
 
 I emphasize this matter first, because it is most 
 vital. We have now abroad a young army of 
 efficiency engineers; who will set your desk near 
 your base of supplies and arrange your tools to 
 conserve your motions ; who will teach your office 
 boy how to fold circulars in one move instead of 
 three ; who will buy your materials with economy 
 and despatch; who will audit your books and save 
 your postage stamps and do other laudable things. 
 But the real expert is the rare one who will first 
 show you how to handle your men — how to cre- 
 ate in them loyalty, confidence, ambition, tact, in- 
 itiative, will power, endurance, concentration. 
 This is the vital issue. 
 
 Now let us be as cold as steel — as emotionless 
 
 [136] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 in method as we are exalted in purpose. A man 
 who jokes or jollies or dreams or dawdles or 
 grows angry in the office is no man, but a mollusk. 
 If a clerk makes a mistake and the " boss " yells 
 at him, the boss is more inefficient than the clerk. 
 If your competitor calls you a liar, and you get 
 mad and call him a liar, you are also a fool — 
 besides being probably a liar for calling him a liar 
 when he calls you a liar. If your debtor won't 
 pay, and you brand him a thief, you lose both your 
 money and his trade. If your typist (doing her 
 best with your mangled dictation) seems slow, 
 and you tell her she is slow, you aggravate her 
 slowness. In short, to lose control of one's emo- 
 tions during business hours means, in the long run, 
 to lose dollars and cents. 
 
 Be earnest, but be calm, no matter what hap- 
 pens. I have seen a man learn to treble his day's 
 work by systematically shutting out all feeling 
 during office hours. What fatigues and annoys 
 us is not our work, but the mental friction, nerv- 
 ous strain, muscular tension, emotional wear-and- 
 tear, which we allow to accompany our work. A 
 real man is always a machine while on the job — 
 and never a machine at any other time. Recipe 
 for efficiency : be a plodder by day and a poet by 
 night. Do your planning, your dreaming, your 
 resolving, when silence and solitude open the mind 
 [137] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 for great thoughts and purposes; then appear to 
 the world just an ordinary business man, with 
 nothing unique about you to rouse the neighbors' 
 suspicions. 
 
 Now for some practical methods — which 
 would apply to any ambitious man or woman, 
 from the President of the United States to the 
 woman who scrubs a floor. 
 
 Such a plan is wofully needed. When we be- 
 gin to be civilized, in a thousand years or so, we 
 shall look back and say pityingly of the fossil re- 
 mains of the twentieth century: "The remark- 
 able thing about those barbarian tribes was that 
 they never really learned how to work. Conse- 
 quently, their strange communities were infested 
 with paupers, criminals, tramps, billionaires, po- 
 licemen, reformers, and other abnormal creatures 
 developed through industrial ignorance." 
 
 Knowing how to work is knowing how to do 
 and be everything worth while. For a national 
 scheme of productiveness, satisfying labor would 
 include a science of health, a science of education, 
 a science of eugenics, a science of economics, a sci- 
 ence of finance, a science of commerce, a science 
 of service, a science of peace, a science of religion. 
 We are beginning to apprehend the truth about 
 labor. A New York high school teaches girls 
 how to sew and cook and sweep and care for 
 
 [138] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 baby; a branch of the Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociation offers vocational training; a church has 
 opened an employment bureau ; a chain of domes- 
 tic science clubs tells women how to conduct a 
 household; in a few cities colleges are uniting with 
 factories, to give students real shop work while 
 studying theories in books. Praise be, for all 
 this. 
 
 The application? Here it is. 
 
 Our first move toward industrial efficiency is to 
 classify the duties, responsibilities and opportuni- 
 ties in our day's work. Take a large sheet of 
 paper and rule off three columns. In the first 
 column write down each thing you are expected to 
 do, as your business every day. In the second 
 column write down the occasional special duties 
 of your position that are essential but irregular 
 in time. Before approaching the last column it 
 will be necessary to think deeply. For in this 
 column should be listed all the means of improve- 
 ment, advancement — such as reading, thinking, 
 watching, planning, doing for yourself. This kind 
 of threefold efficiency scheme raised Lincoln from 
 his cabin to £he White House. It will help any 
 man to grow. 
 
 Take the office boy, for example. We have 
 most of us been through the office boy stage, 
 therefore can apply his case to our own — the 
 
 [139] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 principles being the same. His chart merely illus- 
 trates our method. 
 
 I am fully aware that an office boy who could 
 indite and utilize the appended Scheme would not 
 be an office boy, but a combination of Solomon, 
 Darwin, Caesar and Christopher Columbus. 
 However, so many readers of our suggestions 
 have asked for something to do for larger effi- 
 ciency, that we can risk the strain on the hypothet- 
 ical office boy. 
 
 It is important that the best, quickest and easi- 
 est methods of work be discovered and applied in 
 the order here given. The best method will 
 please your patron, client or customer; the quick- 
 est method will please your employer; the easiest 
 method will please you. Do not try to please 
 yourself first. The royal carriage to achievement 
 runs on Thoroughness Avenue. I pity the man 
 who has never learned the fun of doing things 
 right. Irksomeness is shirksomeness. 
 
 The average worker wastes half his time and 
 energy on trifles: partly because he has never 
 classified and apportioned his daily duties; partly 
 because he has never been taught his own possi- 
 bilities for great things, never learned to find or 
 make opportunities. The purpose of the Scheme 
 is to make us do small things better — then have 
 strength and leisure for great things. 
 
 [140] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The advantages of the Efficiency Work Scheme 
 will not appear all at once. But if you prepare 
 and follow out the Scheme, you will note the bene- 
 fits arising gradually. May we suggest how to 
 proceed? 
 
 Column One. You know what you must ac- 
 complish every day, to satisfy the demands of 
 your position. But to make sure, go to your em- 
 ployer, foreman or department chief and say to 
 him: " Mr. Purinton tells me I can improve the 
 quality and quantity of my work. May I inves- 
 tigate the subject and have you any advice to 
 give? " If your chief comes to — having fainted 
 with surprise — he will doubtless be glad to help 
 you make out the list of regular daily activities 
 and responsibilities. When Column One is fin- 
 ished, put the items on your morning schedule and 
 all your strength into carrying them out early in 
 the day, so as to leave an hour or two for self- 
 improvement in the afternoon. 
 
 Column Two. In addition to the special odd 
 jobs that fall to most of us, for which time must be 
 allowed, there are little services to perform in 
 easing up the toil of our associates who have not 
 learned efficiency methods. Not only must the 
 man of destiny be so eager for his own work that 
 a team of wild horses couldn't hold him back — 
 he must enjoy helping the business by lifting along 
 [141] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 his weaker brother. So put in your list of irregu- 
 lar duties — and believe me, this is most irregu- 
 lar — the duty and pleasure of looking around the 
 place for extra jobs, to relieve your neighbor and 
 improve the output of daily cheer. So far as 
 possible, get the entire list of Column One and 
 Two in your mind — better on paper, to check 
 off — the very first thing each morning. Such a 
 habit clears and strengthens the mind, quickens 
 the muscles and calms the nerves. We are vexed 
 not with the care of toil, but with its chaos. 
 
 Column Three. The value of a position is not 
 in its possession, but in its preparation. Only as 
 it trains you for larger responsibility is it worth 
 having. How is your work replete with oppor- 
 tunity? This may be made a fascinating study, 
 and the most profitable in the world. When I 
 finished college I could do but one thing to earn a 
 living — and that one thing my health forbade ! 
 I spent a year investigating the science of indus- 
 trial opportunity — and from that year to this, 
 at least nine doors to professional advancement 
 have stood wide open, all at the same time! 
 Learn how your position may guarantee your pro- 
 motion — and list the open doors in Column 
 Three. 
 
 Now for the B, Q and E part of your Scheme. 
 How are you to know the best, quickest and easi- 
 
 [142] 
 
WORK AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 est methods? How secure the tools, implements 
 and devices for economy of labor, time and 
 money? 
 
 First. Go to your local newspaper office and 
 ask to consult a copy of an American Newspaper 
 Annual and Directory. Under the " Index to 
 Class and Trade Publications " you should find 
 your own business or profession. Turn to the 
 list of magazines covering your field; send for a 
 sample copy of those having largest circulation 
 (enclosing say fifteen cents for each) ; take an 
 evening or a Saturday off and go over the adver- 
 tising pages, checking all items that appeal; write 
 to the advertisers — then ponder the results. I 
 know cases where ideas thus gained, entirely apart 
 from sales, have revolutionized a business. You 
 can be morally sure that somebody, somewhere, 
 somehow, is doing your kind of work better than 
 you are. Locate him in the editorial or advertis- 
 ing pages of your trade journal. 
 
 Second. Look up the libraries near you for 
 books along the same line. In addition to the 
 public libraries, there are circulating libraries 
 which loan books on vital themes for a nominal 
 sum. Get in touch. 
 
 Third. Form the habit of doing at least one 
 of the exercises to be given in each chapter of this 
 series — and resolve not to read the chapters till 
 [143] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 you have an hour's leisure to work out the chart 
 or test or table. The Charts to follow, covering 
 food and drink and study and play and thought 
 and cash and home, all bear directly on " Work 
 and Efficiency." Each will suggest something for 
 you to do — not merely a line of thought to look 
 at and forget. Learn to read these chapters with 
 a notebook and pencil at hand, to make your own 
 observations and plans while you read, then to act 
 forthwith on such ideas as appeal to you. If you 
 do this, a year from now you will be a different 
 person. 
 
 The day is coming when the labor of man's 
 body, the light of his mind, and the love of his 
 heart, will be scientifically merged to make of his 
 work a series of masterpieces. When that day 
 comes, man will be efficient. 
 
 EFFICIENCY WORK SCHEME 
 (for an average office-boy in a small concern) 
 
 i. Regular 2. Occasional 3. Professional 
 
 Daily duties for Jobs irregular in Opportunities for 
 employer time self-advance- 
 
 ment 
 
 Open office Run errands Decide on ulti- 
 
 Sweep, dust, ven- Answer telephone mate position 
 
 tilate Help other clerks in firm 
 [144] 
 
WORK AND ] 
 
 EFFICIENCY 
 
 Sharpen pencils 
 
 Announce 
 
 visitors 
 
 Go after it 
 
 Fill ink-wells 
 
 Operate i 
 
 nimeo- 
 
 Study trade-pa- 
 
 Sort mail 
 
 graph 
 
 
 pers and libra- 
 
 Prepare memo- 
 
 Seal and 
 
 stamp 
 
 ry books 
 
 randa 
 
 letters 
 
 
 Watch methods 
 
 Take special or- 
 
 Fold circulars 
 
 of " man high- 
 
 ders from the 
 
 Tie parcels 
 
 er up " 
 
 chief 
 
 Serve as 
 
 general 
 
 Ask questions 
 
 Keep hands and 
 
 handy man 
 
 freely 
 
 clothes clean 
 
 
 
 Work overtime 
 
 Arrange desk for 
 
 
 
 Learn to eat for 
 
 leaving 
 
 
 
 energy 
 
 Close office 
 
 
 
 Go to night- 
 school 
 
 Try to please cus- 
 tomers 
 
 Make all employ- 
 ees like you 
 
 Look as though 
 you enjoyed 
 work 
 
 Learn something 
 new about the 
 business every 
 day 
 
 Number Effi- 
 
 Number 
 
 Effi- 
 
 Number Effi- 
 
 ciency Marks 
 
 ciency Marks 
 
 ciency Marks 
 
 Actual Ideal 
 
 Actual 
 
 Ideal 
 
 Actual Ideal 
 
 B 
 
 
 
 
 
 Kl 
 
 E 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 [145] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS. Let B = best possible method 
 of work, Q = quickest, E = easiest. Make out three- 
 column list of your own, coresponding to office-boy's; put 
 * initial B, Q or E on margin of each task for which you 
 know you are using the best, quickest, easiest methods, 
 then count your B, Q and E totals, and compare actual 
 number with ideal, which would be of course three in- 
 itials for each task. Don't mark down B, Q or E unless 
 some authority has told you the method you employ is 
 best, quickest, easiest. You can't judge your own method 
 — an expert must do it. 
 
 Having found which items remain to be checked with 
 efficiency marks, how are you going to secure the efficiency 
 which will warrant you in filling in the vacant spaces? 
 
 Copyright, 1915, by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 
 [146] 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 LIFE to a real man is but a series of hard 
 jobs well done. The strength to begin 
 them and endurance to complete them 
 grow in the relaxation periods between. There- 
 fore, amusement underlies efficiency. 
 
 Mental efficiency means alertness, decisiveness, 
 method, forethought, fair play — all of which de- 
 velop in the right kind of sport. 
 
 Industrial efficiency means loyalty, honor, enthu- 
 siasm, training, perseverance — which are tfaits 
 of team work in a good game. 
 
 Moral efficiency means a high aim, a resolute 
 backbone, a clean, strong body and a buoyant, 
 brave heart — which are attributes of the leaders 
 in the amusement world, from Christy Mathewson 
 to Maude Adams! Our real teachers are not 
 those who make us knit our brows in speculation, 
 but those who make us stretch our thews in emula- 
 tion. 
 
 [1471 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Why, when, where and how do you get your 
 amusement? The answer gives a straight clue to 
 your efficiency. 
 
 The coming science is the science of play. The 
 science of yesterday was that of books, the science 
 of today is that of business, the science of tomor- 
 row will be that of leisure. Great men are the 
 spare-time users, small men are the spare-time 
 losers. 
 
 So vital is the amusement question, that when a 
 detective shadows a man on suspicion, he first pro- 
 ceeds to find where and how the man takes his 
 pleasure. Most cases of neurasthenia, dyspepsia, 
 insomnia, brain fag and mental depression, even 
 of intemperance and insanity, have as a principal 
 factor either excess, or deficiency, or inappropri- 
 ateness of amusement. 
 
 In America we are developing our brains at the 
 expense of our instincts, muscles and emotions. 
 Our eyes, nerves, pores, lungs, and digestive ap- 
 paratus were made for outdoor life. We have 
 substituted the close confinement and monotonous 
 routine of the schoolroom, shop, office or factory. 
 Consequence; a nation proverbially restless, nerv- 
 ous and dissatisfied. 
 
 The only relief for this condition lies in the 
 formulation and application of a science of play. 
 
 How to have a constant source of amusement: 
 [148] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 Watch Americans trying to amuse themselves. 
 They are as funny as a kitten chasing its tail — 
 and they get just as far. Observe Coney Island, 
 New York's common playground, with its thrill- 
 ers, shockers, bumpers, ticklers, shoot-the-chutes 
 and dive-the-deeps, its bewildering hodge-podge of 
 whirling motions, dizzying sights and maddening 
 sounds. Again, observe the amusements of the 
 rich — their speed contests by automobile and 
 aeroplane, their freak entertainments, their open- 
 ing nights at every new play, their mad search for 
 novel meals, costumes, knick-knacks and celebri- 
 ties. The cry is everywhere the same — " Give us 
 a new sensation, thrill our nerves and excite our 
 emotions, prod our jaded senses till we are quite 
 sure we have had a good time and got our money's 
 worth!" Faster and faster must we go — and 
 sooner and sooner go to pieces. 
 
 The crowning absurdity is here. At the two 
 most popular summer resorts near New York, they 
 have recently published the fact, proudly and 
 loudly, that you can go on with your " tango " — 
 interrupted only while you sleep and eat breakfast 
 — if you hurry to their mammoth ballroom by the 
 sad sea waves! A book intended for the home 
 and mother is no place in which to say what I 
 think of the tango. But the man who doesn't per- 
 petrate it is a noble character. The strong man 
 
 [149] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 does not tango because everybody else does — 
 that is why he does not. It is a high moral exer- 
 cise to resist the prevailing tendency of the times, 
 whatever that be. And the crazy dances of the 
 moment are occasions for discipline to those who 
 don't engage in them. 
 
 Compare the gentle amusements of our grand- 
 fathers — family picnics, necktie parties, husking- 
 bees, house-raisings, sled rides, sewing societies 
 and church sociables. Instead of the wild Texas 
 Tommy, they danced the calm Virginia reel; in- 
 stead of the epileptic Looney Rag, they danced 
 the stately minuet. They kept their stomachs, 
 nerves and sense of modesty. A great feat is to 
 be able to look to the future and to learn from 
 the past at the same time. We are keen lookers 
 — dilatory learners. 
 
 The science of play, what is it? Well, here is 
 first a scientific definition of a science : that which 
 teaches us how to do best what we want to do 
 most. It is not scientific to make a born poet take 
 the degree of Bachelor of Science, nor to train a 
 good natural blacksmith to become a poor parson. 
 Many of our scientists do not know this — but 
 many of our scientists are not scientific. Science 
 is organized common sense. Be not affrighted, 
 therefore, when we speak of a " science of pleas- 
 ure." Sanity includes frivolity, and a " scientific 
 
 [150] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 vacation " would be chock-full of real fun. Not 
 however, because fun is a goal in itself, but be- 
 cause fun is a byway to efficiency. 
 
 The popular idea is that a man works because 
 he has to, and plays because he wants to. This 
 should be reversed — we should work because we 
 love to, and play because we need renewed strength 
 for work. Hence, to look rightly on amusement, 
 we must reconstruct our idea of work. Vacation 
 means nothing till vocation means everything. 
 
 Why do we enjoy our favorite game? Because 
 it stimulates and exercises a group of nerves, mus- 
 cles and brain cells which ordinarily remain un- 
 used, and are unhappy because unused. Con- 
 sciously or unconsciously, the leaders among men 
 choose their pleasure on this principle. The most 
 famous ball pitcher in the world plays checkers for 
 pastime — his muscles need rest and his nerves re- 
 laxation; but his brain, being exceptionally keen, 
 must be working in order to be satisfied. The 
 world's richest man chooses golf — after the com- 
 plexities in the guidance of huge corporations, he 
 needs the straight-away course and open air free- 
 dom of the golf links. The President of the 
 United States pitches a homely tent for himself in 
 the back yard of the palatial White House — he 
 would escape the endless trappings and conven- 
 tions that bind the Chief Executive, and would 
 
 [151] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 imagine himself a nomad of the prairie. These 
 men have learned the science of play. 
 
 It is unscientific for a society-loving woman to 
 expect of her husband, whose nerves are on edge 
 from handling clerks and meeting clients all day 
 long, that he should put on a stiff collar and a win- 
 ning smile and gallantly accompany her to a recep- 
 tion, dance or theater party. Also, it is unscien- 
 tific for a home-loving man to expect of his wife, 
 who is tired to desperation of the endless cares 
 and annoyances of the household, that she should 
 feel it a privilege to spend her evenings with him 
 in the self-same room where her work has worn 
 her out. What the scientific meeting ground of 
 these two may be, Heaven only knows ; all I know 
 is that they have not discovered it. 
 
 The great bane of civilization is the psychologi- 
 cal groove. A doctor must always look omniscient, 
 a minister always be desperately good, a banker 
 indulge none but safely stupid thoughts, a col- 
 lege professor display dignity while his hilarity 
 freezes, a housewife make of herself an endless 
 aggregation of apron-strings, and a hod-carrier 
 forever keep his mind on mud. The true function 
 of amusement is to plow through and break down 
 this deadening psychological groove — to curtail 
 our specialism and round out our humanism. 
 
 The first principle therefore in the science of 
 
 [152] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 play is that our vacation should be the exact op- 
 posite of our vocation, on the physical, emotional, 
 intellectual and spiritual planes of life. In order 
 to get the most from our pleasure, we must first 
 analyze our work, temperament, habit and custom 
 and environment, for the purpose of discovering 
 how to get furthest away from them, during our 
 playtime. 
 
 Statesmen are agitating the question of a na- 
 tional labor exchange whereby men needing jobs 
 may be taken to jobs needing men. A national 
 amusement exchange is more imperative, whereby 
 train loads of farmers, and especially their wives, 
 may be carried bodily to Coney Island for a week 
 every summer, while the usual frequenters of 
 Coney Island, being city people, may be carried 
 back on the same train to the quiet and whoiesome- 
 ness of the farm. We would suggest that the 
 farmers and their wives come in separate train 
 loads, but for two facts; if the wives came alone 
 they would get run over, and if the husbands came 
 alone, they would get " run in " ! Seriously, such 
 an interchange of relaxation would be as beneficial 
 to the adults of the nation as a week in the coun- 
 try is to the children of the slums. 
 
 If the science of play were to come into vogue, 
 what would happen during the vacation season? 
 The business man would join a wandering min- 
 [153] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 strel troupe. The actress would hide in a far-off 
 nunnery. The philosopher would buy a pack of 
 tin toys, hunt up a lot of ragged children, and play 
 marbles and leap frog with them — not for their 
 benefit, but for his own. The poet would take a 
 course in pugilism — and the pugilist a course in 
 poetry (in the interest of fair play, we would sug- 
 gest that these tutor each other, the poet would 
 then be as sure of knocking out the pugilist as the 
 pugilist is sure of knocking out the poet). The 
 housewife would flee to a place where husbands 
 and families do not exist, and would drink in free- 
 dom to her soul's refreshment. The clergyman 
 would spend his days in overalls, and his nights 
 rotating among prisons, courts, hospitals, theatres 
 and saloons. And the millionaire — supposing that 
 he had two weeks' vacation — would spend one 
 week in hardening his muscles on the hay field, the 
 other in softening his sensibilities amid the slums. 
 Vacation to us all would then be revolution and 
 re-creation, as it should be. 
 
 This natural recoil from our own personality is 
 observed in a summer hotel. The poor little 
 waitress declares herself a princess, and the ribbon 
 clerk suddenly becomes a millionaire. Such harm- 
 less white fibs are an emotional relief, they lend 
 a vicarious greatness to the hearts and minds of 
 purse-bound slaves. Believe them not — yet re- 
 
 [154] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 buke them not. A summer resort is so called be- 
 cause it is the last resort of a sensible man. But 
 if you have to go to one, leave your friends behind, 
 change your name, seek an unknown inn, and be 
 as much unlike yourself as the place and your 
 pocketbook will permit. 
 
 We are never entirely free with any one who 
 knows us (or thinks he does). When I feel 
 humble and sympathetic, I walk through the lower 
 East Side of New York, watching the brave immi- 
 grants try to make ends meet, and scattering flow- 
 ers and pennies here and there among the chil- 
 dren. When I feel proud and aristocratic, I ride 
 up Fifth Avenue, looking with pity on the fashion 
 plates, and devising a loftier beauty for myself. 
 But I walk, and I ride, alone. My poor friends 
 would not follow me on the Avenue, my rich 
 friends could not follow me in the slums. Our 
 only real freedom is among strangers. 
 
 If you belong to a family, or a family belongs 
 to you, leave them strictly at home on your vaca- 
 tion. If they are children, hire a nurse (if boys, 
 add a policeman) . An amusement jaunt with kids 
 along is purgatory for Mother and paralysis for 
 Father. Coop the kids up. A family is a device 
 of Nature for keeping men and women safely 
 commonplace. On our vacation, let us vault the 
 confines. Regularity is life to the body but death 
 
 [155] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 to the soul. At least once a year, we should break 
 into a thousand pieces the treadmill of home and 
 business routine, and speed away for a fresh out- 
 look, a clear mental vision, a new spiritual start. 
 Destiny is half dream, half discipline. To lose 
 the former in getting the latter is to fail. 
 
 Let us be concrete. The average prosperous 
 American overuses the nerves of sight, of sound 
 and of taste — he sees too much, hears too much, 
 eats too much. He underuses the nerves of smell 
 and of touch — he is behind the savage in discern- 
 ing odors and in developing muscles. Therefore 
 he should get his fun out-of-doors, where his eyes 
 and ears may rest, the fragrances of Nature per- 
 meate and soothe him, and a hundred avenues open 
 for the exercise of his hands, arms, legs, lungs, 
 torso, and olfactories. 
 
 A developed sense of smell is a business ad- 
 vantage. Among the blind, friendship means 
 fragrance, enmity the reverse. The blind have 
 trained their sense of smell — by it they detect 
 friend or foe. I know a man who can tell by the 
 faint odor on a typewritten sheet whether the typ- 
 ist will be harmonious in the man's office. He can, 
 by the same sense, locate unseen impurities in the 
 food served by a restaurant ; and by following his 
 nose in eating — which few men are wise enough 
 to do — he becomes his own pure food investiga- 
 tes] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 tion committee, thereby enhancing health and sav- 
 ing doctors' bills. A science of rejuvenation 
 would recognize every subtle factor like this, and 
 round us out accordingly. The air of the sea and 
 the balsam-laden breeze are actual nourishment to 
 him who can smell as hungrily as he eats. The 
 man alive as to his nose literally cannot stay in a 
 room filled with tobacco smoke, whiskey atmos- 
 phere and the stagnant breath of the habitual 
 poker-player. The scientific method of saving 
 souls is to refine senses. 
 
 The emotions are next to be considered. Three 
 society women take the " rest-cure " to one busi- 
 ness man. Why? Because social leadership, un- 
 like industrial leadership, tears the emotions into 
 shreds. The emotions are the gateways to the 
 nerves. Whoever feels intensely, for a long 
 period of time, will find the only cure in absolute 
 rest. The time is coming when vacations will be 
 given as prescriptions; when doctors will know 
 the mental, psychic, nervous, emotional and spirit- 
 ual structure of man, will discern the subtle causes 
 of our deep-seated maladies, and will lead us gently 
 back to the carefree playtime of childhood. 
 
 Emotional respite from the daily grind is a 
 necessary factor in relaxation. This is why 
 women gravitate to melancholy poets and lordly 
 matinee heroes — these imitation gentlemen pull 
 
 [157] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 at the heart-strings of commonplace lives and ease 
 up the strain of emotional repression. This also 
 is why men flee to their clubs and " stag-parties " 
 — they must have a chance to roar with laughter, 
 to eat indigestible things with no reproving glance 
 mixed in, and to play an exciting game unchecked 
 by the stop-watch of domesticity. 
 
 Every architect's plan for a home should specify 
 a play-room for grown-ups, with iron foundation 
 and sound-proof walls, where all kinds of adorably 
 foolish games are religiously provided, where the 
 men folks may holler and the womenfolks weep, 
 unmolested. Such a relaxation-room is needed for 
 big people quite as much as a nursery for little 
 ones. A library full of the saddest books ever 
 written should be installed for the benefit of sor- 
 row-loving sisters, and a large sign to read as 
 follows : 
 
 Ladies Cry from 2 to 4 in the Afternoon 
 Gentlemen Laugh from 8 to 10 in the Evening 
 
 The ladies would thus be through crying before 
 the gentlemen returned from business — a feature 
 that I think of copyrighting, and selling to hus- 
 bands and fathers at a fabulous price. 
 
 [158] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The more " civilized " we become, the more we 
 allow the solar plexus, which is the emotional 
 brain, to harden into a dead mass of unused nerve- 
 cells; because of this our breathing is shallow, 
 our digestion weak, our circulation poor and our 
 energy low. We have educated the cerebrum to 
 a hair-splitting degree, but have neglected the cere- 
 bellum and ignored the solar plexus. We must 
 therefore gain through amusement what the col- 
 lege curriculum should have given us — oppor- 
 tunity for a healthy, wise, free exercise of our 
 instincts and emotions. A scientific holiday would 
 offer mirth, tragedy, song, sport, sleep, work, 
 travel, silence, meditation, worship — according 
 to the special need of the user of the holi- 
 day. 
 
 Let us now apply to ourselves the efficiency 
 principles forming a science of play. What 
 amusement should we have ; when, where, and how 
 should we take it? 
 
 The efficient man plays in order to work more 
 and work better. This motive must be fixed. 
 
 Our idea of amusement should be to enjoy it 
 while we play, but employ it after we play. And 
 if we would analyze the holidays that give us most 
 pleasure, we should find them carrying out this 
 idea. The " morning after " headache belongs 
 to the man who didn't use his head the night be- 
 [159] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 fore. A pastime is like a meal, we spoil it by 
 thinking while we take it — or by failing to think 
 before we take it. 
 
 Every sensible man or woman should posess 
 an Efficiency Amusement Chart, the construction 
 and use of which we will now describe. It is 
 based on a close analysis of our work, surround- 
 ings, health, temperament, ideals; and of our 
 amusement in relation thereto. 
 
 Let us be concrete. Let us take for illustra- 
 tion a manager of a modern city store, and see 
 how he should plan his recreation. (The same 
 principle and method apply to any worker any- 
 where.) 
 
 .The store manager is on duty from eight A. M. 
 to six p. m. He is surrounded by the hum of 
 voices, the clatter of typewriters, the din of street 
 noises. He rides to and from his work on a rat- 
 tling, rumbling street-car; he cannot sleep normally 
 
 — with crying children, theater parties, news- 
 paper scareheads, pianos next door, late-staying 
 visitors, and early morning milkmen, all pulling at 
 his nerves. But the man's job depends on his 
 being regular, punctilious and reliable as a clock 
 
 — therefore he shouldn't have any nerves. He 
 gets no outdoor exercise. He subsists chiefly on 
 restaurant and delicatessen near-food. He must 
 dress up to the minute. He makes his living by 
 
 [160] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 attending minutely to all the superficialities. He 
 has no time for music, no taste for art, no touch 
 with the world's great literature. Life is to 
 him a bundle of overwrought nerves connecting a 
 feverish brain, a rebellious stomach, and a pocket- 
 book whose sole function is to disgorge. 
 
 What does the man do, in his leisure hours? 
 He joins a poker party with " the boys," where 
 cigars and drinks further knock out his nerves ; or 
 he jabs more sounds into his ears at a crazy musical 
 comedy for the " tired business man " ; or he goes 
 motoring and tries to push the speed limit off 
 the map. Yet he fondly believes he is quite 
 sane. And we are all as foolish in our own 
 way. 
 
 How should this man order a scientific rest 
 period? 
 
 First. Let him write down the influences and 
 ingredients of his daily work and life. They are : 
 noise, hurry, sociability, regularity, responsibility, 
 confinement, fashion, convention, financial worry, 
 sleeplessness, brain fag, muscular weakness, emo- 
 tional atrophy. Certain physical disorders must 
 proceed from the man's unnatural mode of life; 
 suppose they are eye strain and indigestion. 
 
 Second. Let him write down the exact op- 
 posites of these — a list of the lacking elements 
 in his make-up or environment, whose presence 
 
 [161] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 would balance, normalize, refresh and energize 
 him. (See chart appended.) 
 
 Third. Let him now make a list of all his 
 available sources of amusement — from an eve- 
 ning's fun to the yearly vacation of a month or a 
 fortnight. He will probably have twenty or 
 thirty of these — certainly a wider choice than he 
 imagines before taking inventory, the average per- 
 son being narrower in nothing than in his routine 
 of pleasures. 
 
 Fourth. Let him now take each amusement 
 in List B and compare it with each requirement in 
 List A, noting the spaces opposite how far his 
 customary mode of enjoyment supplies the ele- 
 ments to increase efficiency — or decrease it. A 
 thoughtful, conscientious building of this chart 
 should mean the breaking of a great light on the 
 store manager. 
 
 Fifth. Let him then form the habit of con- 
 sulting the chart whenever he plans a day or a 
 week or an hour of recreation, until he chooses by 
 instinct and reason the kind of play that makes 
 a new man of him. (The chart for a doctor, a 
 minister, or a college president, would of course 
 be entirely different in many, or all, of the aspects 
 here given.) 
 
 The amusements should be marked plus ( + ) 
 where they increase efficiency, minus ( — ) where 
 
 [162] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 they decrease it, and zero (o) where they have no 
 special effect either way. List B is not complete, 
 but merely illustrative. 
 
 Adding the plus marks, then canceling each 
 minus with a plus, we have the largest plus re- 
 mainder (12) for the mountain tramp, and the 
 largest minus remainder ( 13 ) for the dinner party. 
 Hence the former is the best, and the latter the 
 worst recreation, of those here given, for this 
 particular manager of a city store. But all those 
 marked + in the column of values are good for 
 him, and all those marked — are likely to be bad. 
 If any item in List A is of special importance, that 
 should count double, in figuring the totals ; two + 
 or two — marks, as the case may be. 
 
 Now I am not so foolish as to suppose that a 
 sane man will, for the rest of his days, consult a 
 dry table of Efficiency Values whenever he wants 
 to play chess or frolic with the baby. I do be- 
 lieve, however, that a shrewd, ambitious man will 
 construct this chart for himself, will study it care- 
 fully, and will form the habit of choosing his 
 games from the plus side of the efficiency led- 
 ger. 
 
 The efficiency principles embodied in the Chart 
 may be stated in a few words. A scientific recrea- 
 tion should include: 
 
 I. Complete break in routine, activities and ob- 
 [163] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ligations, with specific rest for overworked organs, 
 nerves, brain-cells and muscles. 
 
 2. Exercise for unused faculties and functions, 
 to the point of wholesome fatigue of a kind sel- 
 dom known. 
 
 3. An element of surprise, mental, emotional or 
 spiritual, to re-awaken interest in everyday life. 
 
 4. Absolute freedom, inner and outer, during 
 the recreation period. 
 
 5. Temperamental uplift and renewal. 
 
 Change of work is not rest. We delude our- 
 selves with the notion that it is, merely because 
 we do not know how to rest. The American dis- 
 order is nerve-strain, for which the only cure is 
 perfect relaxation. 
 
 Long ago the nation's richest man learned that 
 a siesta following lunch put him in condition for 
 a new day's work in the afternoon. Great fac- 
 tories now hold a recess about three p. M. for a 
 quarter of an hour, to give their employees a rest, 
 with reading, music, games, and so forth. This 
 practise should become universal, not for charity 
 but for efficiency. Concentration follows relaxa- 
 tion ; and the time will come when the great busi- 
 nes men, like the great authors, do their day's 
 work in three hours. 
 
 Thinking with your whole brain means playing 
 with your whole body, loving with your whole 
 
 [164] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 heart, longing with your whole soul. Efficiency is 
 wholeness, specialized by turns. 
 
 Husbands and wives, however, should make it 
 their solemn duty to be silly together. The man 
 who finds his chief pleasure in business or the club, 
 and the woman who finds hers in matinee thrills 
 or the fashion parade, are slumping toward mari- 
 tal inefficiency at an alarming rate. Every house- 
 hold should have a home gymnasium in attic or 
 cellar, with an assortment of games for the dining- 
 room table, including the favorite of each mem- 
 ber of the family. Our pastimes should center 
 in the home, and we should become uneasy when 
 parents and children no longer enjoy the same 
 things. One reason why every family should have 
 at least two children is that the parents may have 
 an excuse apiece for going to the circus. 
 
 It is just as needful to escape and forget the 
 family at least once a year. The Lord never made 
 two people who could live together sanely and 
 sweetly three hundred and sixty-five days at a 
 stretch. Every wife knows this — but nearly 
 every husband has it to learn. From what I have 
 seen of married life, I believe it is the religious 
 duty of every man to disappear once a year. Not 
 only depart — disappear! And twice a year is 
 twice as good as once. Get beyond the reach of 
 mails, telegrams and telephones. Leave no ad- 
 
 [165] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 dress behind, merely keep an accident card of home 
 directions in your pocket. Don't let yourself 
 write home, no matter how much you feel like it. 
 Sleep late every morning. Read nothing. Revel 
 in irresponsibility. Roam where you will. Let 
 your watch run down, and refuse to wind it up. 
 Be so anxious for freedom that you forget dinner- 
 time and miss a few meals (your stomach also 
 needs a vacation). In short, return to primitive 
 existence, with all the obligations of home and 
 business wiped out for two weeks or a month. 
 And if you aren't glad to be a regular family man 
 again, loaded down with responsibilities on all 
 sides, then of a truth I don't know men. 
 
 Having given your wife, your children and 
 your clerks an equal chance twice a year for res- 
 pite from the brutal chains of the habitual, you 
 will have supplied a leading factor in efficiency — 
 a scientific period of play. 
 
 " But," you protest, " I can't stay away that 
 long, my business would be ruined." Very well, 
 you are lucky. A series of week-ends at play 
 does more for the busy man than a whole month 
 of leisure. The only condition is that you be able 
 to erase your work from your mind in an hour, 
 instead of a week or a month. To master the 
 art of relaxation is to gain more from your short 
 Sundays of freedom than most people gain from 
 
 [166] 
 
PLAY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 a month's pleasure jaunt. Recreation is not geo- 
 graphical, it is mental. We do not work too much 
 for our health and happiness — we think too little. 
 During the writer's four years in college he held 
 the tennis championship of the school. He was 
 much elated over this. He should have been 
 much depressed. What he needed was to be 
 champion of quoits, or checkers, or hide-the-hand- 
 kerchief, or some other leisurely, meditative sport. 
 The game of tennis is for the fat, rich, phlegmatic 
 gentlemen; the game of golf is for thin, poor, 
 fidgety ones; but the overfed ones won't play 
 tennis and the underfed ones can't play golf — so 
 why go to all the trouble of this psychologi- 
 cal diagnosis? Response to nerve-stimuli is the 
 key to a man's appropriate game. If he is quick, 
 nervous, excitable, he should avoid polo, tennis, 
 high diving, racing of all kinds. Fun, like food, 
 may be meat to one man — poison to another. 
 if In a deeper way temperament is crucial. Every 
 so often we should leave our work in order to re- 
 new the motive or incentive that makes us work. 
 What is your motive? Is it love, or ambition, al- 
 truism, or self-development, or the creative im- 
 pulse? When you feel yourself losing it (and 
 your labor growing dull and monotonous), can 
 you re-discover it soonest by the sea, or on a hill- 
 top, or amid the crowds, or in silent communion 
 [167] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 with a loved one? A poet and a politician can 
 no more take their recreation together than a 
 lark and a lion could. An accurate measure of a 
 man is the number and variety of his chosen modes 
 of recreation. Their diversity mark his extensity. 
 To be leader of something is less a goal than to be 
 lover of everything. 
 
 The tests for a scientific amusement are few and 
 easy. It should be natural, simple, unconven- 
 tional. It should combine emotional expression 
 with nervous relaxation and muscular exertion. 
 It should result in mental and physical balance. 
 It should restore the child in us. It should make 
 us frank, honest, loyal, democratic, whole-hearted. 
 It should give us perspective, and a saner view of 
 ourselves and the other fellow. It should trans- 
 fer the grip on our game to the grip on our job. 
 It should develop tolerance, patience, keen judg- 
 ment, fair play, sure method, fine team work. It 
 should leave body stronger, heart bigger, mind 
 clearer, soul finer. 
 
 Does your favorite pastime do all these things 
 for you ? Then you can make it a " hobby " and 
 ride to the top of the world ! 
 
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CHAPTER VII 
 HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 THE mother of sin is shortsightedness. 
 If a man could always see himself 
 clearly, in relation to God, Nature, the 
 world and himself, he would be ashamed to err 
 because of his noble origin, and afraid to err be- 
 cause of his ignoble end. 
 
 Therefore a saving process, moral as well as 
 hygienic, is for us to withdraw occasionally from 
 our human shell and view our lives dispassion- 
 ately, noting whence we came, whither we go, and 
 where we are. 
 
 Supposing that we were a visitor, from the 
 jungle or from the sky, what would we first 
 remark, on judging civilization? The presence 
 everywhere of weakly, sickly, undeveloped, un- 
 skilled, human bodies. What next? The equal 
 presence of unsound minds; for who but a man of 
 unsound mind would expect to cure an unsound 
 body with medicines alone, or with thought waves 
 
 [170] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 alone? Our bodies prove us animals; do animals 
 have need of either drugs or auto-suggestion? 
 Do animals turn pauper, go insane, commit suicide, 
 or otherwise show themselves as unwise and in- 
 efficient as men? We in New York City plume 
 ourselves on having organized a Board of Ine- 
 briety, for the scientific treatment of drunkenness. 
 We are still inferior to the dumb brutes; the ac- 
 tions of dumb brutes do not necessitate a Board 
 of Inebriety. 
 
 I would rather be a superb animal than any 
 other one thing on earth. Because, having been 
 that, I can learn to be whatever else I will; but, 
 never having been that, I can become hardly 
 anything worth while. The whole Advanced 
 Thought band need to get down to earth — liter- 
 ally as well as metaphorically. They have sailed 
 the clouds of imagination long enough; they must 
 realize that the mind, though greater than the 
 body, is later than the body; and that a glorious 
 physique, because harder to attain, is more to be 
 esteemed than a transcendental airiness of intel- 
 lect. To despise or neglect the body is a mark of 
 ignorance, weakness or delusion. It is the per- 
 version of the animal nature, not the possession of 
 it, that develops grossness and defeats spirituality. 
 So long as power distinguishes the body, the body 
 should come first; only as pleasure steals the place 
 
 [171] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 of power does the body recede to a lower level 
 than the soul. 
 
 What keeps animals healthy? Chiefly exercise. 
 They stretch their muscles the whole day long, 
 they breathe to the bottom of their lungs, they 
 perspire normally, they digest perfectly, they sleep 
 soundly because really tired, in short they occupy 
 and use themselves to the fullest. Now the spirit 
 is affected by the circulation of the blood. So, if 
 all our functions, mental and physical, were thor- 
 oughly alive we should have a better developed 
 spiritual nature. 
 
 I think that a moderate course in pugilism 
 should be in the curriculum of every theological 
 seminary. The pugilist feels ashamed to be sick, 
 he takes a well deserved pride in his body, he cul- 
 tivates views of life as broad as his shoulders, and 
 he looks with scorn upon effeminacy. All of which 
 should be part of a clergyman's equipment. Ani- 
 mals are the first real teachers of men; and the 
 animal man could offer a valuable set of lessons 
 to the spiritual man, if the spiritual man would 
 renounce prejudice. 
 
 What is the first lesson? That we must not 
 become less vital in becoming more mental. Neg- 
 lect of mind merely postpones development — 
 neglect of muscle causes premature decay. In- 
 deed, practically all of the modern, rational 
 
 [172] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 " cures " appear but fancy substitutes for plain, 
 old-fashioned exercise. The act of sweeping and 
 the act of sawing wood, which served to keep our 
 grandparents healthy, now retreat before elec- 
 tricity, thermotherapy, hydrotherapy, mechano- 
 therapy, vibration and massage ; all of which but 
 rouse the circulation as gymnastic duties in the 
 household once did. Put a gilt name and handle 
 to a broomstick or an ax and you get the same as 
 a fifty-dollar course in modern Physical Culture — 
 provided you do not know it is a broomstick or an 
 ax. 
 
 What is the second lesson? That we must pro- 
 vide in some tabloid form a regular equivalent for 
 the hours of bodily exercise taken by animals every 
 day. This regular equivalent may be a game of 
 ball, a gymnasium practise, a boxing bout, a ses- 
 sion with the dumb bells or Indian clubs, a long 
 run in the open, a series of tensing and stretching 
 movements, a home course in apparatus work, a 
 setting-up drill as required in the army, a vigorous 
 Delsartian dance, or a pillow-fight with the chil- 
 dren. According to age, occupation and tempera- 
 ment, we should choose our best mode of physical 
 energizing, and make it a part of our day as much 
 as eating or sleeping. The best physicians, hy- 
 gienists and psychologists are agreed on the physio- 
 logical and therapeutic wisdom of such a habit. 
 
 [173] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 There is a higher and deeper significance, how- 
 ever, which even the athlete fails to observe, in the 
 results of physical exercise. The mental and 
 moral gain is the real end of the striving. This 
 we rarely consider. We have always known the 
 value of exercise for the body; we have lately em- 
 phasized the effect of thought on the body; but 
 we have not come to appreciate the influence of the 
 body over the mind, and until some great athlete 
 appears, who is also a philosopher and teacher, we 
 shall remain exposed to the one-sidedness of the 
 mental healer and faith-curist. Mind is omnipo- 
 tent — but neglect of body renders mind power- 
 less. 
 
 You can prove the morals of gymnastics for 
 yourself. Determine to follow a particular sys- 
 tem of exercise regularly, each day, for a long 
 period — say a year. You won't do it; and the 
 reason why you won't is that your will is weak, 
 your persistence lacking, your sense of order unde- 
 veloped, your love of ease overdeveloped, your 
 ambition spasmodic, and your personal ideal wav- 
 ering or ill-defined. These are mental and moral 
 disabilities, not physical. And the man who is 
 training for an athletic contest, thereby keeping to 
 a schedule of muscular duties, gains to an even 
 larger extent in mental and moral efficiency. This 
 fact was illustrated recently in the rise and fall of 
 
 [174] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 a noted baseball pitcher. While he was winning, 
 and his pride was up, he walked the straight line 
 of rectitude; but when he lost, and his pride de- 
 serted him, he took to drink, and at last forfeited 
 his place in the league. 
 
 Study the face of any man who has brought 
 himself from illness and weakness to health and 
 strength by physical means. Take Eugen Sandow 
 for example, or Theodore Roosevelt. You find 
 that the intellectual and spiritual character, as 
 stamped on the face, grows and solidifies with 
 the stretching and hardening of the muscles. An- 
 nette Kellerman was a cripple in childhood. She 
 is now a wonderful athlete and champion swim- 
 mer. Do you suppose the salary she now earns 
 — as much in a week as the average person makes 
 in a year — is due altogether to the play of her 
 muscles? It is due, first, to the play of her mind 
 and the toil of her spirit through many long and 
 painful years while she was teaching her body to 
 obey her will. Does any man wish to multiply his 
 salary ten-fold? Let him learn to do ten times 
 as much work, ten times as well — and the law of 
 attraction will do the rest; no human power can 
 rob him of the ten-fold reward in money that be- 
 longs to him. 
 
 Big men do two things that little men don't; 
 they make a pleasure of business, and a business 
 
 [175] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 of pleasure. They work all over — then play all 
 over; they are whole men in whatever they do. 
 And they religiously observe some fad or amuse- 
 ment or muscular sport that compels them to for- 
 get their business cares. For exercise lubricates 
 and cleanses the mind as well as the body, and you 
 can't have moral cobwebs where your muscle 
 swings clear. 
 
 A town up in Vermont has lately been demon- 
 strating the moral effect of muscular action. The 
 officials of this town do not herd their prisoners 
 together in a dark, stuffy, odious jail. They lib- 
 erate the convicts during working hours, put them 
 at honest labor somewhere in the village, and 
 divide the proceeds between the workers and the 
 State. One might think that so much freedom 
 would be dangerous — the prisoners would com- 
 mit some other crime, or at least break away. It 
 is said, however, that the average misuse of privi- 
 lege has been one to a hundred cases — a negli- 
 gible fraction. The worst man that ever lived 
 will be truer for being trusted. And if you can 
 get him to working with a real heart-interest, his 
 mischief-making tendencies will slowly disappear. 
 
 Other criminals, too, have need of the same 
 treatment. I refer to sick people. The chronic 
 invalid is a hardened criminal; he has broken so 
 completely the laws of his own being that he does 
 
 [176] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 not recognize the fragments, he imagines himself 
 an object of pity instead of a sinner deserving 
 punishment. For many kinds of ailments the 
 modern " work cure " is a blessed relief. Let a 
 chronic invalid become so absorbed in a pleasant 
 occupation that he forgets to watch his symptoms 
 — and his symptoms, used to being coddled and 
 pampered, fly away in a huff. Idleness in a sana- 
 torium is good business, but poor ethics ; it allows 
 mental microbes to germinate, which presently 
 break out in a new physical disease. If you want 
 to set an invalid on the right road quickly, make 
 him love somebody or something with a power so 
 fierce and a will so determined that all his being is 
 stirred into action. Every ill is a form of love- 
 lessness. God is Life because He is Love. And 
 every child of God who would be whole must let 
 his love create his life. 
 
 How does physical exercise tone the moral fiber? 
 Through cultivating promptness, decisiveness, 
 sureness, poise, initiative, adaptability, self-reli- 
 ance, good humor, and a cleanness of thought re- 
 flected by a cleanness of body. The chief ingre- 
 dients of immorality have been found to be impure 
 blood in the brain and stagnant blood in the body. 
 The soul, whether in the body or out of it, does 
 not wish to err; it is forced to err by the sheer 
 weight of dead matter pressing it down to the 
 
 [177] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 lower levels. Only as the lungs and muscles pro- 
 vide a counter-impetus through exercise, will the 
 soul be lifted and expanded to its rightful emi- 
 nence, thus being freed to command the life and to 
 use the body as a keen, fine instrument. 
 
 But exercise is only one phase of hygiene and 
 efficiency. Let us consider other phases. 
 
 There are two great modern schools of health. 
 
 The first is a primary — the second a post-grad- 
 uate. 
 
 Hygienically, few people in civilization have 
 learned the alphabet of their own composition. 
 Spiritually, few people in civilization have mas- 
 tered the idiom of their own expression. Hence 
 the need of both these schools of health, which you 
 will find to be supplementary, not contradictory. 
 
 The teaching of the first is : Only Nature cures 
 the body. 
 
 The teaching of the second is : Only God heals 
 the soul. 
 
 The first is called Nature Cure, the second is 
 called Divine Healing. 
 
 If you are more body than soul, study Nature 
 Cure. 
 
 If you are more soul than body, investigate 
 Divine Healing. 
 
 If you are all-round, look into both, and accept 
 neither without proof. 
 
 [178] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 The first school has many branches, among them 
 being Physical Culture, Dietetics, Hydrotherapy, 
 Massage, Mechanotherapy, Osteopathy, Chiro- 
 practic, Electricity, Magnetic Healing, Remedial 
 Gymnastics, Biochemistry, Cures of Air, Light, 
 Earth, Heat and Cold. 
 
 The second school has fewer branches but live- 
 lier, including New Thought, Christian Science, 
 Mental Science, Divine Science, Faith Cure, and 
 Psychic Healing. 
 
 A third intermediate school, hitherto unclassi- 
 fied but evidently touching on both the others, em- 
 braces Fasting, Suggestion, Autosuggestion, Em- 
 manuelism, Rest Cure, Silence Cure, Work Cure. 
 These all contain a measure of appeal to the body, 
 and a measure to the soul. Hence, when properly 
 administered, they are generally saner than ex- 
 treme doctrines of either Nature Cure or Divine 
 Healing. 
 
 Why print this list of outlandish therapeutic 
 names, some unintelligible if not unpronounce- 
 able? 
 
 Because to some extent these are all good cures 
 — and a good cure is a better prevention. The 
 way to keep well is to do the things a wise doctor 
 would tell us — before he has the chance. Our 
 doctor is as valuable as we don't need him. Some 
 day we shall wake up to this fact, and shall pay 
 
 [179] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 him as much as we don't need him. We now pay 
 him for his tardiness ; as well pay a watchman for 
 guarding a rifled safe. A physician is either a 
 teacher or nothing. And the work of the teacher 
 is to anticipate — not to probe or to mend. Jo 
 study symptoms is to have neglected causes. 
 
 Of the current modes of drugless healing, some 
 are freakish, some fanatical, some positively dan- 
 gerous. But they have, together, done this one 
 thing : they have shown the old-school practitioner 
 that a man is a complex being, and that no amount 
 of tinkering with his body will satisfy his heart, 
 calm his mind, or heal and empower his soul. 
 Health is physical, mental, emotional, psychic, 
 moral, executive, and spiritual. Omit any factor 
 and you imperil the whole. 
 
 A tonic bath or a subliminal consciousness may 
 keep you well. But you must first know where you 
 live — on the surface or at the center. Which, 
 with you, are stronger — muscles or ideals? 
 Don't imagine that ideals have any right to ab- 
 sorb you, leaving your muscles to wither away. 
 But the place to focus your hygienic study is where 
 you most enjoy being. You won't begin to know 
 what health means until you chuck overboard for 
 good and all the symptomsillies, wo-begone-willies, 
 germ-jeremiahs, pepsin-paralysis and hygiene of 
 horrificandum. Choose your doctor by how he 
 
 [180] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 cheers you up. And if his remedy isn't pleasant, 
 it doesn't fit. Maybe you need exercise, maybe 
 you need raw food, maybe you need reeducation of 
 the brain cells; but whatever you need you will 
 desire. Bitter medicine is for bogie-men. 
 
 You can put a rational philosophy of health into 
 six words, forming an acrostic: 
 
 Hygiene 
 
 Evolution 
 
 Ambition 
 
 Love 
 
 Trust 
 
 Harmony 
 
 Hygiene is physical, Evolution mental, Ambi- 
 tion executive, Love emotional, Trust spiritual, 
 Harmony psychic and moral. Each of these must 
 form a clause in your health insurance policy. It 
 will pay you, financially, to take an hour, a day or 
 a week off and learn to forestall the doctor and 
 druggist by incorporating these principles in your 
 everyday life. 
 
 i. Hygiene is the reapproximation of natural 
 conditions, the provision of such food, water, 
 earth, air, and sun as will guarantee us good ani- 
 mals. Our humanness is the costliest thing about 
 us. For it we have paid the most. For mere 
 intellectual progress and social gain, it is a terrible 
 
 [181] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 price to lose animal instincts and disparage ani- 
 mal powers. The first mark of a sound life is 
 to exult in purely physical buoyancy. And the 
 first warning of disease is the willingness to evade 
 elemental things, preferring closed cabs, stuffy 
 houses, hermetic flannels, tepid baths, highly sea- 
 soned food, hectic literature, and artificial conver- 
 sation. Pity the day when you cease to revel in a 
 storm, or want to paddle in the rain, or love to 
 breast the east wind. It is healthier to make mud 
 pies than to eat real ones. Nothing sets the blood 
 a-tingle like a morning plunge in a mountain 
 stream. And for genuine sleep, give me a pine 
 pillow, a bed of earth, a good-night glimpse of 
 starlight, and the tender murmur of the trees as 
 they lock their boughs above me. 
 
 If you want to live long and be happy, start 
 right now being a fine savage. You may not like 
 the way this sounds — but wait till you see how it 
 feels. Hold your head at least as high as the 
 king of the jungle does ; breathe long and deep on 
 every possible occasion; exercise daily because you 
 take pride in swelling muscles and joy in a glow- 
 ing skin; get a wholesome thirst and a clean one 
 that nothing will satisfy but lots of pure water; 
 master a live game and beat the other fellow all 
 over the field; learn to laugh at furs and gloves 
 and sickly layers of blanket; eat because you like 
 
 [182] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 to eat and never be ashamed; ridicule the fear of 
 germs and tell the professional wan-face that mag- 
 nifies them to begone with his pathological de- 
 lirium; keep your windows always open and your 
 face to the sun; revel in being alive through and 
 through; love your body for its own sake — then 
 watch your mind improve and your soul expand ! 
 
 2. Evolution is the modification of hygiene to 
 the growth of the individual. If Kneipp orders 
 you to bathe more, or Fletcher to eat less, or 
 Dewey to stop eating, or Sandow to exercise with 
 apparatus, or Swoboda to exercise without, or 
 Mrs. Eddy to meditate, or Weir Mitchell to rest, 
 or anybody else to do this, that, or the other if not 
 the opposite — don't you believe them. Study 
 their system for yourself, adapt it to your own 
 case, or else leave it high and dry for the next man. 
 
 Examples of the folly and futility of standard- 
 izing Health. 
 
 I know one person who fasted forty days with 
 great benefit; I know of another who fasted three 
 days and died. The first was mentally prepared, 
 the second was not. 
 
 There are people who recoil from the use of 
 mud-baths; there are others who delight in them. 
 If your development is in the air-bath stage, 
 you will prefer air-baths and gain more from 
 them. 
 
 [183] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 City folks have been known to pine away in 
 the country. Yet country life is ideal — for 
 everything but temperament. Nature penalizes 
 temperament — as heavily as God rewards it. 
 
 Tolstoi and others have been vegetarians tem- 
 porarily — while their sympathies and tastes were 
 being refined. Then they went back to meat. All 
 dietetic preference is of psychic origin ; food is both 
 cause and result of character. 
 
 Vigorous lung expansion helps the whole or- 
 ganism. Yet the action of the breath almost stops 
 in the higher trance of the mahatma; to him the 
 flight of the soul is more hygienic than the pulse 
 of the body. Indeed, with the growth of the 
 spiritual nature all physical exercise decreases in 
 violence. 
 
 Cases might be multiplied to show how impos- 
 sible one mortal's experience is for the life of an- 
 other. If you are to reach the hundred-year mark 
 and be well every minute, you must form your own 
 habits of thinking, eating, bathing, exercising, 
 dressing, sleeping, working, playing, and achiev- 
 ing. 
 
 3. Ambition serves to prevent the self-indul- 
 gence that usually underlies disease. Ailments 
 are luxuries that only the rich and idle can afford. 
 Women most frequent sanatoriums because women 
 have no large responsibilities to act as a moral 
 
 [184] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 brace. (If you ask why men most frequent pris- 
 ons, the reason is the same. That is the difference 
 between men and women. Idle men sin against 
 their neighbors; idle women sin against them- 
 selves.) Kings, presidents, powerful statesmen, 
 and able financiers see to it that their health is pre- 
 served. If our bearing toward ourselves were 
 sufficiently regal, we could never be ill. All 
 human error traces to undervaluation of human 
 worth. Esteem yourself as highly as Carnegie 
 and Rockefeller do themselves — then you will 
 keep well at any cost. Health has a price which 
 only ambition is willing to pay. 
 
 4. Love is the best physician you can find. But 
 if you seek Love as a physician you will never, 
 never find her. She will seek you when your face 
 is toward the light. And if you always went in 
 that direction, you would never need a physician. 
 Doctors catch none but the stragglers out of dark- 
 ness. 
 
 Love provides the soothing touch of one who 
 understands, without the mercenary factor of the 
 paid healer. God pity the child, or the man, who 
 does not know the saving refuge of a woman's 
 breast. In the loving embrace of a mother, a 
 sister, a sweetheart, a wife, lies the renewal of 
 strength and courage and all that makes for sound- 
 ness. No man is well who does not sometimes 
 
 [185] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 weep. And the only safe place to weep is in the 
 cloister of a woman's heart. 
 
 Love tends to safety through a prescient, clair- 
 voyant, peculiar gift of knowing. In many cases 
 of sudden death or disaster, a premonition of the 
 crisis has been felt by some one closely related to 
 the sufferer. Love sharpens the senses and 
 heightens perceptions otherwise dormant. There 
 are few wives who do not know how their hus- 
 bands violate the laws of health — and there are 
 few husbands who know how much their wives 
 know. If we could see ourselves as we appear 
 to those who love us, we should be infinitely humble 
 — and infinitely strong. Love creates a pure 
 supremacy of the ideal self, a self in which blemish 
 or weakness cannot enter. 
 
 Love develops an unselfish motive for living — 
 and to live for some one else is to empower one's 
 own life. Did you ever try saving the pennies 
 you were tempted to spend on a bit of needless 
 luxury, to make a loved one happy with the 
 money? This is one of the few ways to avoid 
 surfeit and gain satisfaction at the same time. 
 Indeed the real joy of living is to forget living in 
 loving. 
 
 5. Trust improves health. Faith is the cor- 
 ner-stone of all recovery; and it is reasonable to 
 suppose that the house of the body would never 
 
 [186] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 crumble if a deep, firm belief had always been 
 kept the foundation. A strong conviction, fully 
 carried out, prevents the need of cure. Physio- 
 logical examples : 
 
 You have a cold and some one advises you to 
 fast a day or two, or take fruit alone. You fear 
 starvation and eat on. You fall sick. If you 
 had trusted Nature, you would have done as the 
 animals do — rested your stomach, worked your 
 lungs, and burned the impurities out. 
 
 You groan with the fiendish twinges of rheu- 
 matism; your doctor tells you to avoid meat; you 
 fear you may " lose your strength " — and on the 
 sly you brew beef tea. Soon you acquire the gout 
 also — and the ptomaines dance in glee at the 
 funeral of your faith in common sense. 
 
 Your circulation is poor; you read somewhere 
 that fresh air, night and day, summer and winter, 
 makes good blood; but from your benighted an- 
 cestors you inherit the superstition that fresh air 
 is dangerous after dark. So you grow paler, 
 while your window stays shut. 
 
 Whatever is wrong you make more wrong by 
 doubting or hesitating. Better to be firmly un- 
 hygienic than falteringly sanitary. Believe any- 
 thing good and hard — then w T atch how your 
 backbone stiffens, your breath deepens, your stom- 
 ach smiles, your frayed nerves knit, and your solar 
 [187] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 plexus thanks you. The finest health resort is a 
 mountain of faith. You should take a morning 
 walk there every day. 
 
 6. Harmony completes health. Hygiene, evo- 
 lution, ambition, love and trust are all individual 
 attainments; but harmony connects the outer and 
 the inner, making of surroundings a fitting com- 
 plement for the stature of the soul. Everything 
 about you means something true or false to your 
 personality. Your objective life and subjective 
 consciousness must correspond if your psychic and 
 emotional balance is to be maintained. The 
 color of your walls, the texture and fit of your 
 clothing, the number and kind of your house-fur- 
 nishings, the quality of sounds that greet you, the 
 aura and atmosphere of the people who surround 
 you — all these factors help to form your hygienic 
 status. Learn to be at peace with your environ- 
 ment, or to remold it after the image of your per- 
 sonal ideal. There are those who have had to 
 change their name and residence before they found 
 themselves. 
 
 Health is a radiation of inner affluence. To 
 be strong, you must shine as the sun. If your 
 neighbors do not want the light, send your beams 
 elsewhere, for health demands adjustment, under- 
 standing, reciprocity. And to fill your niche 
 with kindness, poise, and devotion is to aid 
 
 [188] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 in establishing a permanent vigor of mind and 
 body. 
 
 A man is a blend of animal and angel. The 
 proportions may vary — a prize-fighter is mostly 
 animal, a missionary mostly angel; but the animal 
 and the angel are both in every man. The prob- 
 lem is, not to avoid either, but to improve the 
 quality of each. 
 
 One of the strange perversenesses of man's 
 brain has been to despise the animal in him. We 
 have so far lost contact with, and knowledge of, 
 Nature and her laws, that when a natural man 
 recently walked down Broadway, clad in the nat- 
 ural garb of Greek robe and sandals, he was ridi- 
 culed by the newspapers, mobbed by the American 
 small boy, and forced to leave the country on pain 
 of arrest! 
 
 The clothing, from shoes to hat, of nearly every 
 man who jeered at this apostle of Return to Na- 
 ture was unhygienic and unscientific. But we, the 
 many foolish, mocked the one wise. 
 
 The trouble with us all is not that we are ani- 
 mals, but that we are poor animals. Every year 
 we waste millions of dollars in the search for 
 health, and also billions of foot-pounds of ac- 
 tion-producing energy, because we have wandered 
 from the paths of Nature and become enmired in 
 the quicksands of a spurious intellectuality. Vi- 
 
 [189] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 tality is the mainstay of both mentality and spir- 
 ituality. 
 
 Health should be taught systematically, thor- 
 oughly and attractively in every home, school 
 and church of the world. And as men at large 
 have lost their health-giving instincts, we should 
 have to study the rules of hygiene from animals in 
 the forest. 
 
 Is there any reason why we should build 
 " model institutions " for the housing of the un- 
 fit, rather than learn how to prevent the occur- 
 rence of the unfit? As the world progresses, 
 should new diseases (or at least new names for 
 diseases) be multiplying with startling rapid- 
 ity? 
 
 We have got this health matter wrong-end-to. 
 We spend $100 in trying to regain health where 
 we should spend $i in learning to maintain health. 
 We wake up only when we break down. Conse- 
 quently we pay about $1,500,000,000 each year 
 for this folly, which amount would be saved if we 
 cared enough to prevent the unnecessary loss from 
 disease and death in this country. 
 
 Probably the worst, certainly the most wide- 
 spread, malady in America is humanitis, or a fever- 
 ish desire to be supercivilized. The honest health 
 in the shaggy, rough, crude elements of life has 
 been replaced by a sickly assortment of hot-house 
 
 [190] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 refinements that avail for nothing but a social 
 pride or indolence. The richer a man becomes, 
 the less he does for himself; and for a man to be 
 ill, some part of him must have been idle. We 
 need to be saved from our servants and freed from 
 our luxuries. 
 
 Consider the unhygienic day of the average 
 " successful " man. 
 
 He has slept in a room overheated and under- 
 ventilated. He rises late — and his whole day is 
 immediately marked " Rush." He takes a per- 
 functory bath, neither hot enough to lubricate the 
 bodily machine, nor cold enough to wake up the 
 mind for the day. 
 
 His breakfast, swallowed hastily and unhun- 
 grily, chiefly consists of a creamed cereal with an 
 acid fruit — a dietetic combination almost sure to 
 start rebellion in the stomach. 
 
 He hurries for his street car, train or limousine, 
 grabs a morning paper on the way, and while his 
 vehicle jolts him downtown, he disturbs his vision, 
 digestion and emotion by filling his mind with trag- 
 edies and trifles from all over the world, that have 
 no bearing whatsoever on his usefulness for the 
 day. Reaching the office with stomach and brain 
 both peevish and protesting, he starts the day's 
 work in no fit condition for enduring the strain 
 on eye, ear, brain and nerves that a modern day's 
 
 [191] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 work requires of a successful man. If he feels 
 " out of sorts " he sends to the drug store for a 
 headache powder — and commits further ruin of 
 his stomach. 
 
 He works in foolish, inefficient clothes — from 
 tight-fitting shoes to stiff, high collar. Never 
 having learned the science of relaxation, he speeds 
 on explosively, clear to the moment of going out 
 for his one o'clock luncheon. He arrives at the 
 restaurant deeply embedded in problems and cares, 
 through which the gastric juices cannot percolate. 
 More often than not, he talks up a " business 
 deal " over coffee and cigars — a custom that, on 
 scientific analysis, appears physiologically and psy- 
 chologically unsound. 
 
 After his day of close confinement he hurries 
 uptown, dresses in even more absurd clothes, eats 
 a heavy dinner, then propels himself to an even- 
 ing function that destroys the best sleeping hours 
 — from ten to twelve — and finally drops into 
 bed with a horrible sense of having to do the same 
 thing over tomorrow, and tomorrow's tomorrow, 
 and all the countless tomorrows of the rest of the 
 days of his life. 
 
 What is wrong with this man? He simply does 
 not know the meaning and purpose of civiliza- 
 tion, he has made an end of the means to an end. 
 The object of civilization is to develop the human 
 
 [192] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 brain, which it does to a nicety by the friction, com- 
 petition, compulsion and routine of American life 
 in the twentieth century. But while civilization 
 strengthens our brain, civilization weakens our 
 body. The endless train of chronic diseases was 
 produced, and is perpetuated, by civilization. 
 Only as a man uncivilizes, or decivilizes, himself 
 during a certain portion of his time can he hope 
 to attain great longevity coupled with great pro- 
 ductivity. 
 
 We are now in the third stage of race unfold- 
 ment. In the babyhood of the race we were ani- 
 mals; in the childhood of the race we were beings 
 of romance, adorers of myths, fables, dogmas, 
 superstitions; in the manhood of the race we are 
 mental or industrial machines; in the super-man- 
 hood of the race we shall be liberated spirits, hav- 
 ing brains, hearts and bodies fully developed, but 
 using and commanding them as conscious owners 
 of them. The third, or mind stage, is the least 
 healthy of them all; since it lacks the enduring 
 strength of the body stage, the vitalizing faith of 
 the heart stage, or the renewing poise of the soul 
 stage. 
 
 Let us now regard the superior wisdom of ani- 
 mals, in habits, customs and instincts pertaining 
 to health. Nature is the true guide to health; 
 and in the multiplicity of modern cures, cults, 
 [193] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 pathies, ologies and isms, our safety lies in re- 
 course to Nature. While medicine, psychology 
 and surgery may be needed in acute cases of spe- 
 cific diseases, a purely natural mode of living is 
 the best health preservative. We can learn this 
 from the animals, in the following respects : 
 
 i. Natural Food. — The animals eat only when 
 hungry, of the simplest articles, for the sole pur- 
 pose of satisfying hunger. Myriads of human 
 beings eat three meals a day — and are never hun- 
 gry. To be hungry, you must feel your mouth 
 water at the very thought of a slice of plain whole 
 wheat bread and butter. If, as we are told, nine- 
 tenths of all our ailments proceed from bad diges- 
 tion, we may well say that disease was born half- 
 way between the cook stove and the menu card. 
 For most of the foods that need to be cooked need 
 more to be corrected, and the deadliness of din- 
 ners lies in their variety. Who of us would make 
 a slab of raw meat the piece de resistance at a 
 banquet? Hosts of common disorders may be 
 ascribed largely to the modern vogue of mixing all 
 kinds of food stuffs, first in the cook stove, then on 
 the menu card. 
 
 An ideal lunch, containing the elements to sup- 
 port life and satisfy hunger, is a piece of gra- 
 ham bread and butter, a poached egg, a glass of 
 pure milk, and a baked apple. How many peo- 
 
 [194] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 pie, entertaining at luncheon, would dare to order 
 a meal like that? Six leading dishes are enough 
 for any meal. Yet some of our noblest states- 
 men, being feted and banqueted, have to go to 
 bed with an old-fashioned stomach ache due to 
 the " hospitality " of their popularity. Real hos- 
 pitality means filling the hearts, minds and souls of 
 our friends — not their stomachs. And I look 
 forward to the time when the only eatable offered 
 to a passing guest will be a delicious, refreshing 
 beverage — hot in winter, cold in summer, and 
 more respectful of his digestion than of our pride. 
 2. Natural Sleep. — The animals sleep while 
 the world is dark, wake when their sleep is out, 
 and perfectly relax during the process. We men 
 and women turn night into day and lose three or 
 four hours at the beginning of our night's rest; 
 consequently we depend on the alarm clock to 
 rouse us when we should be sleeping, and we sleep 
 under a usual nervous tension, brought on by home 
 or business cares, midnight pleasures, or beds and 
 bed clothes and bed-rooms that have no bearing 
 at all on the matter of sleep. For most people 
 in American civilization, the healthful hours of 
 sleep are from ten p. M. to six or seven A. M. 
 Once or twice a week it is permissible, and I think 
 psychologically desirable, to postpone bedtime an 
 hour or so ; and occasionally, to vary the monotony 
 [195] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 of things, one may even stay up all night. But a 
 fixed and wholesome retiring hour is one of the 
 imperative needs of our life. Incomplete and in- 
 sufficient sleep is a large factor in the host of 
 nervous troubles now afflicting Americans. 
 
 The bed is the most important piece of furni- 
 ture in the house. One of the bad habits of 
 American life is the prevalence of the narrow 
 single bed, which violates the principle of the ne- 
 cessity of motion obtaining even in rest. No man 
 can sleep right on a couch three feet wide. Un- 
 consciously, we change our posture during sleep 
 — it is no more natural to hold the same position 
 during eight hours of slumber than during eight 
 hours of waking consciousness. The bed should 
 be wide enough and long enough to allow full 
 stretching, in comfort, on all sides. A thick, sani- 
 tary mattress, warranted to stay smooth; a set of 
 unbreakable springs, affording the utmost buoy- 
 ance; an outfit of coverlets extra long to tuck in 
 well at the bottom; a thin pillow, and a porous 
 night garment everywhere loose, particularly 
 around the neck; — these are a few essentials of 
 natural sleep. The great principle is to keep the 
 feet warm and head cool, as the depth of slum- 
 ber is proportional to the departure of blood from 
 the head. The pillow should be less than six 
 inches through, and as hard as may be comforta- 
 
 [196] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 ble. Soft, thick pillows are made for soft, thick 
 heads. 
 
 3. Natural Exercise. — The animals are forced 
 to exercise, in order to obtain food; but their 
 play consists of exercise, which is to them not irk- 
 some but enjoyable. The opposite holds among 
 men. The higher a man gets, the more he sits. 
 Nothing can ever take the place of outdoor physi- 
 cal exercise, which is the automatic regulator of 
 digestion, respiration, circulation, elimination. 
 Every brainworker, to keep " fit " mentally as well 
 as physically, should have an hour in the open 
 every day, occupying himself with a brisk walk, a 
 horseback ride, an athletic game, or some other 
 physiological tonic in the form of muscular move- 
 ment. 
 
 4. Natural Baths. — The animals are given a 
 constant process of hardening and health — en- 
 sured by having their bodies exposed to the 
 weather. Likewise, the human body was made 
 to be rained upon — see how quickly the small 
 boy hastens out, umbrella-less and unbeknownst, 
 into the midst of a summer shower. A primary 
 sign of health is that you enjoy a bath, whatever 
 the season of the year. But a cold bath should 
 never meet a cold body; and, unless one has a 
 great store of reserve energy, the morning ablu- 
 tion should be tempered sufficiently to avoid shock. 
 
 [197] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 It is said that water may be used in a thousand 
 different ways, for the preservation or recovery 
 of health. Every man, woman and child should 
 know on principle and by experience the kind and 
 number and variation of the baths, weekly or 
 daily, best suited to the temperament, nature and 
 need of the individual. 
 
 5. Natural Air. — The animals continually 
 bathe their lungs in oxygen, they do not fear 
 " drafts," they let the refreshing, invigorating 
 breezes play on their bodies day and night, sum- 
 mer and winter, the whole year through. But in 
 our cities, where human animals are supposed to 
 be most efficient, there are thousands of shops, fac- 
 tories, tenements and flats whose inhabitants never 
 get pure air till hot weather makes them open the 
 windows. Airing a house once a day is not 
 enough — every window should be kept always 
 open, if only an inch at the top. There are pat- 
 ent ventilators which deflect the cold currents of 
 outside air and gradually diffuse the oxygen 
 through the room. A most healthful habit is to 
 take an air-bath just before going to bed, wearing 
 simply bath-robe and sandals and moving briskly 
 about for ten or fifteen minutes, all windows be- 
 ing wide open. We do not fear exposure to the 
 elements, we fear exposure of our fear of the ele- 
 ments. Anybody who has outgrown the fear of 
 
 [198] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 pure air sufficiently to try a sleeping porch for a 
 few months will tell you how impossible it is for 
 a really healthy person to sleep in the four great 
 walls and one little window that we call a bed- 
 room. 
 
 6. Sunshine. — The animals are vitalized, dis- 
 infected and asepticized by sunshine, which is the 
 greatest germicide, cleanser and tonic known to 
 science. If a way could be invented to bottle sun- 
 light, and sell it to sick folks at an exorbitant 
 price, the inventor would be a billionaire in no 
 time at all. We need more windows in our 
 houses, for not one house in fifty has enough. A 
 house should be regarded merely as a frame for 
 sunlight. Every man who builds a home should 
 plan a sun parlor for it; a sun parlor is much more 
 hygienic than a society parlor. I would not, in 
 fact, recommend that much light be admitted to 
 an ordinary parlor; this, being a stuckup kind of 
 room, would melt if the sun fell on it. In every 
 disease there is a broad streak of artificiality. 
 
 Let us flood our homes and hearts with light; 
 let us tear away the heavy curtains from our win- 
 dows and our minds; let us realize that health is 
 only truth made over into life. And to have truth 
 direct we must seek God and Nature. God is 
 healer of the soul, Nature is healer of the body; 
 when we have learned and applied this fact, we 
 
 [199] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 shall mightily increase the length and the strength 
 of our lives. For the way to be well is not to swal- 
 low something, but to learn something - — then 
 live it! 
 
 HEALTH EFFICIENCY GAUGE 
 
 For General Determination of the Health Probabilities 
 of a Normal Individual 
 
 DIRECTIONS. Where the following items have 
 been made a part of your health equipment, place the 
 numeral 5 in blank space opposite. Add numerals for 
 your health efficiency grade. 
 
 1. Freedom from pain, weakness, and all fear 
 
 of disease 
 
 2. Vigorous belief that it is vastly better to 
 
 prevent disease than to wait to cure it. . 
 
 3. Choice, amount and time of meals based 
 
 on hunger alone 
 
 4. Average bedtime ten o'clock, and fifty-six 
 
 hours of sleep a week. . . ., 
 
 5. Daily exercise in open air, and enjoyment 
 
 of same 
 
 6. Thorough perspiration at least once a week 
 
 7. Morning bath, with brisk rub following. . 
 
 8. Summer vacation where swimming, boat- 
 
 ing, tramping, etc., available 
 
 9. Cultivation of a garden, if only in a back- 
 
 yard 
 
 10. All clothing made loose and comfortable, 
 
 hygienic before stylish 
 
 [200] 
 
HYGIENE AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 11. Windows in home and office never en- 
 
 tirely closed 
 
 12. Habit of deep, slow, diaphragmatic 
 
 breathing 
 
 13. Correct posture while sitting, standing, 
 
 walking 
 
 14. Frequent air and sun baths 
 
 15. Sanitary methods and appliances where 
 
 you live and where you work 
 
 16. Knowledge of mental and spiritual factors 
 
 in health 
 
 17. Examination by physician, dentist, oculist, 
 
 once a year at least, for signs of warning 
 
 18. Independence of all health fads or cults. . 
 
 19. Refusal to worry over anything 
 
 20. Absorbing interest in your work 
 
 Total equals general percentage of 
 your health status. It should be 
 80, though the average is probably 
 not over 35. 
 
 NOTE. This Gauge does not include the mention 
 of particular symptoms, because their discovery and treat- 
 ment belong in the realm of the physician. 
 
 Copyright, 191 5, by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 [201] 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 MONEY is the measure of service ren- 
 dered the community. Every young 
 man, at the outset of his career, should 
 be given this conception and ideal of wealth. 
 
 The world's greatest fortunes were based on the 
 development of a public utility — whether oil, 
 coal, steel, sugar, land, lumber, street cars or news- 
 papers. Wealth is the willingness to serve, plus 
 the wisdom to do it properly. 
 
 A man who does a useful thing better than any 
 one else is in direct line for prosperity. Thus the 
 incomes of the greatest surgeons, composers, ac- 
 tors, inventors, are in the hundreds of thousands, 
 equaling the profits of business men and financiers 
 of like achievement. The union of the highest 
 possible degree of skill and service always pro- 
 duces ample money rewards — we need not, should 
 not, pursue wealth for its own sake. 
 
 [202] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 There are two false views of money. One 
 regards money as all-essential, the other holds it 
 non-essential. Money is the one thing everybody 
 needs through life — and it is the one thing no- 
 body learns, scientifically and satisfactorily, how 
 to regard, obtain, conserve and use. Health, 
 beauty, popularity, genius, opportunity, even home 
 and happiness — none of these are necessary; we 
 can do our work, mold our fate, without them. 
 But try to live one day without either cash or 
 credit, and you find your efficiency gone ; for you 
 cannot employ help, or serve clients, or buy a 
 newspaper, or live in a house, or burn fuel, or eat 
 and drink. Why then be unwilling to face the 
 money problem squarely, recognize the universal 
 need for a science of finance, and dignify earning 
 capacity with true spiritual meaning? 
 
 Doubtless we have all been tempted to wish that 
 money had never been invented. I know I have 
 — particularly when I didn't have as much as I 
 thought I could use beneficially. But money is 
 only mind in its most concentrated form, and as 
 such it belongs in the evolution of a man or a 
 nation. The life-cycle of every individual includes 
 four stages or epochs — namely, those of Body, 
 Heart, Brain, Soul. In the first, our organs and 
 muscles develop, in the second our affections and 
 emotions, in the third our talents and ambitions, 
 [203] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 in the fourth our inspirations and aspirations. 
 The world is now in its brain-epoch, so the world 
 decrees that a man, to live in the world, must have 
 money. But a weak or defective brain is a brain 
 that the soul has not yet fully occupied ; hence, the 
 brain of a pauper is somehow lacking in spiritual 
 energy. Self-support is fundamental to self-re- 
 spect. 
 
 There is no mental or spiritual freedom without 
 financial responsibility. This is why the science 
 of finance should be preached in our churches. 
 
 There is no healthy citizenship without the 
 steady capacity of earning a good living. This is 
 why the science of finance should be taught in our 
 schools, factories and shops. 
 
 There is no sweet and quiet and comfortable 
 home life without the assurance of a regular, 
 ample, honorable income. This is why the science 
 of finance should be made the corner-stone of every 
 hearth. 
 
 Money is the hinge of present human relation- 
 ships. Losing balance on this point, we fall into 
 social chaos, represented by the strife between 
 capital and labor, the dispute between scholasti- 
 cism and vocationalism, the war between German 
 militarism and English territorialism. All great 
 battles are battles over money. Take the value 
 out of money and the bottom would fall out of 
 
 [204] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 vice. The penury of idealists and the profligacy 
 of materialists together delay the millennium; and 
 I believe that penury is as great a weakness as 
 profligacy is a crime. 
 
 The burden of hundreds of letters received in 
 our office has been, " How can I earn more money, 
 gain financial independence, and thus have time 
 and strength for some real service to humanity? " 
 A great institution might well be founded, for the 
 sole purpose of teaching men, women and chil- 
 dren a practical, modern science of finance. Vo- 
 cational schools, efficiency courses, domestic science 
 clubs, city employment bureaus and committees, 
 church labor conferences — these all are steps 
 toward financial freedom, but they do not move 
 swiftly enough, broadly enough, deeply enough. 
 The quickest way to learn life is to earn a living; 
 and we are here for the purpose of learning life. 
 
 College students who never earn a dollar till 
 after graduation are moral parasites. They are 
 as useful to society as barnacles to a ship. I 
 look forward to the time when schools will be 
 themselves graded as they now grade their pupils. 
 A college student who falls below sixty per cent 
 in a given study thereupon is debarred and dis- 
 graced. Why not, with equal justice, pass a law 
 that a college which fails to prepare sixty per 
 cent of its graduates for guaranteed self-support 
 
 [205] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 the first year after graduation shall be publicly cen- 
 sured and deprived of funds from the state or in- 
 dividual donors, until the required grade in mone- 
 tary efficiency shall be attained by the curriculum? 
 
 If I, being a parent of a youth of twenty or 
 thereabouts, and having expended thousands of 
 dollars on his college course, should find that he 
 was not earning a good living six months after 
 graduation — I would sue the college for the re- 
 turn of my money! Some day some father will 
 do this. And when he does we shall be given 
 some new light on the function and process of edu- 
 cation, in its bearing on money matters. 
 
 Few of our clerks, grumbling over their meager 
 $10 a week, know the price that millionaires pay 
 to become millionaires. Wealth is the world's 
 hardest taskmaster. 
 
 A friend of mine earns more in a day than he 
 used to receive in a month. I asked him how he 
 had found the secret of prosperity. He smiled — 
 but there was sorrow in his eyes — and he an- 
 swered, " Your magic secret is in self-denial. I 
 make fifty dollars where I used to make one. I do 
 it by foregoing pleasures that most men require; 
 by overcoming an artistic temperament and keep- 
 ing my life as regular as a clock ; by working before 
 my helpers reach the office in the morning and 
 after they leave at night; by looking for the 
 
 [206] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 hardest thing and doing that first. Money-mak- 
 ing is easy to a selfish man. I am making money 
 to prove that an artist and altruist need not neces- 
 sarily be a fool. When I get that done, I shall 
 say something to the world." My friend's reply 
 interested me, it may interest you. Every captain 
 of finance was first a captain of romance ; this fact 
 should be taught every laborer — light on labor 
 means love for labor. 
 
 But in managing their household finances, our 
 great business men are simpletons and wastrels. 
 The butler gets his little graft; the cook feeds her 
 friends on the sly; the son of the house " hits the 
 Governor for a hundred bucks " ; the daughter 
 of the house coaxes Daddy Dear to buy her a de- 
 butante frock worth twenty times what her 
 mother's gingham dress used to cost. The mod- 
 ern curse of extravagance should be laid at the 
 doors of American husbands and fathers, who 
 have never learned scientific management of the 
 household purse. If they ran their business at 
 such loose ends their business would go to the 
 dogs. 
 
 If I believed in agitation, I would start an agita- 
 tion on behalf of the downtrodden American rich 
 child, who never gets a chance to earn money and 
 acquire self-respect. My ancestors were compara- 
 tively poor, and one of the earliest ambitions I 
 
 [207] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 recall was to earn some real money of my own. 
 So I formed a business partnership with another 
 lad who was also very much a man, having just 
 ascended into short trousers along with me. Our 
 folks had a meadow on the hillside, through which 
 ran a beautiful stream. Here lay a fine bed of 
 watercress, which is an ideal tonic and garnishment 
 for meat or salad. My partner, being a good 
 salesman, canvassed the neighboring kitchens for 
 advance orders, while I, being a good prospector, 
 went klondiking for cress. 
 
 By the close of the second day in business, my 
 net profit was sixteen cents. I was then too rich 
 to go back to the huckster trade, so fitted up a 
 candy store on the sidewalk, with an umbrella for 
 a booth. But shortly it appeared that candy 
 would not sell in hot weather, and an efficient mer- 
 chant must handle a staple product. So, having a 
 natural gift for drawing, I invested my capital 
 in pens and inks and art books ; and ere long was 
 earning fifty cents an hour, lettering diplomas for 
 the schools of the college town that was my native 
 heath. For a boy, this was good pay. I was very 
 proud, and did the work so well that the measly 
 chap in the art school who wanted my job didn't 
 get it till I outgrew it. 
 
 This delightful jump, from eight cents a day 
 to fifty cents an hour, so fascinated me with the 
 
 [208] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 joy of watching money grow by initiative and 
 good work that I have never lost the stimulus of 
 that boyish enterprise. Would that every child 
 were inspired or compelled, by parents and teach- 
 ers, to gain by a similar experience. Moralists 
 tell us that " money is the root of all evil " ; but 
 they fail to tell us that the only way to uproot an 
 evil is to " dig" for it! The act of turning an 
 honest dollar is in itself a means of grace. 
 
 May we here suggest a few of the rudiments 
 in a science of finance, that coming generations will 
 learn as a matter of course, but that we have not 
 yet formulated? 
 
 Every child should be taught scientifically how 
 to earn money, to spend money, to save money, 
 and to give money away. I do not know, or 
 know of, any child who is being so taught. 
 
 A youth or maiden sent through college with- 
 out having earned at least one year's tuition has 
 been given a false start in life, and must overcome 
 a serious handicap — social, industrial, financial, 
 mental and moral. Every town, village, farm 
 and home in this country (save in the case of ex- 
 treme poverty) offers excellent opportunities for 
 boys and girls to make money. Parents should 
 locate, study and classify these opportunities, and 
 should inspire and instruct the children for their 
 use. Care should be taken to avoid fictitious 
 
 [209] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 values; a child should not be paid more than a 
 stranger would receive for doing little jobs around 
 the house, nor paid for any service without in- 
 trinsic value. Example : to pay a child for deny- 
 ing himself cream on strawberries is bad business 
 and worse ethics, but to pay him for helping to 
 milk the cow or scald the milk pan is good econ- 
 omy, good health and good religion. 
 
 The purchasing power of a dollar is one of the 
 next lessons for parents to teach. A dollar buys 
 a fair meal in a stylish restaurant. The same dol- 
 lar spent in a grocery for beans, potatoes, bread, 
 salad, cheese, apples, onions, prunes, cereals and 
 malt coffee buys not one meal, but four or five 
 meals — and the food is likely to be purer than 
 the restaurant fare. Do we eat style or eat nutri- 
 tion? 
 
 A good way to teach children the advantages of 
 economy would be to offer a prize for the child 
 who could buy the most and best food for a dollar 
 — quantity, quality, purity, palatability, and nutri- 
 tional value of the foods all being considered. (I 
 imagine, however, that somebody would first have 
 to offer a prize for parents who had sense enough 
 to make the award.) 
 
 Another illustration of scientific buying: the 
 professional men of my home town pay $25 and 
 upward for a hand-tailored suit of clothes. When 
 
 [210] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 I first came to New York, fifteen years ago, I 
 took a day or two off and personally investigated 
 dozens of tailoring shops. I found one where 
 special sales were held at certain times and a 
 made-to-order suit could be had for $16, equal in 
 fabric, style and wear to the $25 suit back home, 
 the difference in price being a result of the volume 
 of output of the city shop. Here is a case where 
 living in New York is cheaper, yet how many 
 buyers of men's clothes in New York have found 
 this out? One of the principles of success for a 
 young man is that he should not be ashamed to 
 wear a $16 suit of clothes — provided the suit 
 looked, fitted and wore well. 
 
 The principle of modern philanthropists who 
 donate money to colleges might well be followed 
 by parents in the home. Thus, give the child a 
 certain allowance for dress, books, charity, pleas- 
 ure and so forth, but stipulate that a percentage 
 be earned by the child. To a reasonable limit, 
 for every quarter of a dollar actually earned by 
 the child, seventy-five cents would be added by the 
 parent. This method is most valuable in starting 
 a savings bank account for children. It should 
 certainly be adopted in the matter of " pin- 
 money.' J The trouble with pin-money is that it al- 
 ways means a sticking point for somebody. 
 
 Every housekeeping cost should be standard- 
 [211] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ized, and regular allowance made for this, as for 
 the rent or the taxes. These cost appropriations 
 should include rent, food, clothing, heat, light, 
 books and papers, charity and hospitality, church, 
 travel, amusements, wages, help, laundry, carfare, 
 incidentals, and so forth. The housekeeper in the 
 wife should know and maintain the scientific 
 standard of costs, which the provider in the hus- 
 band should pay, promptly and sweetly. But woe 
 to you, Mr. Husband, if you presume to standard- 
 ize your lady's gowns, or charge her matinee 
 tickets on the same account with the coal bill! 
 This would be a glaring example of emotional in- 
 efficiency. 
 
 Two great elements in the science of finance are 
 a stock of immediate cash and a growing reserve 
 fund. The trademark of a steady character is 
 ready coin. To be low in cash is to be low in cau- 
 tion, or skill, or both. There are different ways 
 for a natural spendthrift to learn to hold on to his 
 money. He may ask a miserly friend to keep a 
 certain amount in trust — and not give the owner 
 a dollar save in dire extremity. He may secure 
 a hundred-dollar bill, or a ten-dollar or five-dollar 
 goldpiece, and resolve not to break it unless the 
 need is a matter of starvation. He may buy a 
 post office money order payable to himself at a 
 place most inaccessible, which would prevent his 
 
 [212] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 cashing the order without a deal of trouble. He 
 may purchase a bond or a guaranteed stock for 
 $100; he may start a postal savings account; he 
 may invest in a piece of property, having taken 
 all the necessary precautions to avoid loss by de- 
 preciation ; he may take out a life insurance policy 
 on the endowment plan; he may borrow money 
 from a building and loan company, and gradually 
 pay for a home of his own. Are you saving at 
 least twenty per cent of your income? If not, 
 how are you going to begin? To emerge from 
 the ranks of the economic failures is to have better 
 health and better character — to say nothing of 
 better temper. The ultimate check on worry is 
 a check on the bank. 
 
 Here is an interesting experiment for one who 
 has not yet reduced his expenses to a satisfactory 
 basis. Prepare an estimate of the percentage of 
 your income that should be devoted to the specific 
 necessaries of life, such as rent, food, clothing, 
 books, amusements, charity, hospitality, and so 
 forth. Take rent, for example. This should not 
 exceed twenty per cent of your gross income. If 
 you earn $200 a month, you should really not pay 
 more than $30 monthly rent (fifteen per cent of 
 the gross). There are thousands of people in 
 New York who pay a full week's salary, or over, 
 each month, for rent alone, merely to " keep up 
 [213] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 appearances " in a fancy-looking apartment house. 
 When a brownstone front is a false front, a thatch 
 front is better. 
 
 After you have judged what each of your ex- 
 pense items should be on a percentage plan, call 
 your folks together and get their opinion. Hav- 
 ing made the estimates unanimous, keep strict 
 account of all your expenditures for a month, and 
 let each member of the family do the same. You 
 will be surprised at the way in which certain items 
 overrun their normal appropriation, and will be in 
 a position to reorganize your finances on a more 
 scientific basis. 
 
 Signs are here of a great revolution. Public 
 sentiment is waking to the financial and economic 
 truths underlying real education. A Brooklyn 
 public school recently established a savings bank 
 system, and we understand that during the first 
 two years of its operation $10,000, mostly in 
 dimes, nickels and pennies, were deposited by the 
 children. A New York high school has taught 
 the girl graduates to make their own graduation 
 gowns, and has fixed a limit of expense — $1.50, 
 as I recall — for the materials in each dress. An 
 Indiana community school has furnished the chil- 
 dren of miners and mill workers with a little piece 
 of ground, a package of seeds — flowers for the 
 
 [214] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 girls and vegetables for the boys — and is teach- 
 ing the little folks how to become producers and 
 craftsmen. A Massachusetts board of health, co- 
 operating with a hygienist-chemist, has revolution- 
 ized the eating habits of the town by showing 
 high school pupils how to analyze, compare, select, 
 buy and cook the foods that enter the home. 
 Other schools and corporations have adopted 
 similar methods of training in efficiency and econ- 
 omy the young people under their charge. 
 
 A society has recently been formed to promote 
 American thrift by families, corporations and indi- 
 viduals. A Consumers' League instructs women 
 how to buy the necessaries of life economically 
 and well. The Association for Improving the 
 Condition of the Poor in New York issues through 
 its Dietician House Expense Account, blanks and 
 records which make it easy for housekeepers to 
 handle their accounts in systematic and convenient 
 shape. These blanks, in connection with the 
 budgets which families are helped in drawing up, 
 establish the finances of the average charity family 
 on a better basis than that reached by the average 
 middle class family. 
 
 A clarifying word may be needed, in closing. 
 A man may be so rich in heart, mind and soul that 
 physical riches look like baubles to him. Thou- 
 
 [215] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 sands of men are not able to amass large sums of 
 money. Tens of thousands are not willing to — 
 the sacrifice of time and strength involved would 
 not seem worth while, compared with all the finer 
 objects of endeavor. 
 
 The real motive in working toward financial in- 
 dependence is to fulfil our just obligations, care 
 wisely for our loved ones, live free of penury and 
 worry, command the leisure and opportunity for 
 self-culture and broad human service. Only on 
 such a basis of altruism and idealism does wealth 
 become desirable, its pursuit enjoyable and profit- 
 able. The reason for having money is that we 
 may not have to think about getting it. 
 
 EFFICIENCY MONEY CHART 
 For Any Self-Supporting Man or Woman 
 
 DIRECTIONS. When the answer to a given query 
 is " Yes," write 5 in the space at the left. When the 
 answer is " No," or indeterminate, leave space blank. 
 Find your percentage in money efficiency by adding 
 numerals in column thus prepared. This test, while in- 
 complete, is fair and approximately true. 
 
 I. Have you set for yourself a definite earn- 
 ing capacity toward which you are 
 working? ...... 
 
 [216] 
 
MONEY AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 2. Do you possess, or are you in direct line 
 
 for, an income of at least $5000 a year? 
 
 3. Dt> you know how much money is being 
 
 made by the most successful man in 
 your line ? 
 
 4. Have you found and are you removing the 
 
 causes for your failure to earn that 
 much? , 
 
 5. Have you studied the life, aims and meth- 
 
 ods of any great financier, merchant, or 
 philanthropist ? 
 
 6. Is your present income greater than your 
 
 father's was at your age ? 
 
 7. Are you living within your means ? 
 
 8. Are you keeping out of debt ? 
 
 9. Do you pay your bills promptly? 
 
 10. Have you located the best and cheapest 
 
 available groceries, restaurants, tailor- 
 shops, stores, etc. ? 
 
 11. Are you free from the mistake of confus- 
 
 ing " expensive " with " good "? 
 
 12. Can you refrain from buying bargains 
 
 when they do not meet a real need ? . . . 
 
 13. Can you cheerfully go without luxuries, 
 
 to save money for a purpose ? 
 
 14. Are you saving at least twenty per cent 
 
 of your weekly or monthly salary ? . . . . 
 
 15. Do you put your savings regularly into a 
 
 safe, permanent investment ? 
 
 16. Have you one or more investments yield- 
 
 ing at least four per cent return ? 
 
 17. Have you a good balance in a sound bank? 
 
 18. Can you borrow money on your credit?. . 
 
 [217] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 19. Are all your expenses standardized — do 
 
 you know what each personal, house- 
 hold, and business item should cost ? . . . 
 
 20. Have you resolved to amass a competency 
 
 — then do something in life more valu- 
 able than making money ? 
 
 Total equals your percentage 
 in money efficiency 
 
 Copyright, 1915, by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 [218] 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 THE average brain is purely ornamental. 
 We call it ornamental because it isn't 
 useful and it must be something. 
 Though how a detriment can be an ornament, 
 none but a blind man can see. 
 
 The human brain is a detriment, a nuisance and 
 a hindrance until it becomes self-regulating. For 
 it makes us worse than the animal we have been, 
 less than the angel we might be, poorer and sicker 
 and weaker than the ordinary human we now are. 
 A blessing unused changes to a curse. Brains un- 
 used impede their owner; brains misused lead him 
 astray. 
 
 Who or what runs your brain? 
 Does heredity, or environment, or public opin- 
 ion, or family custom, or bigotry, or laziness, or 
 anxiety, or folly, or the pay envelope? Then you 
 are more or less of a mental paralytic. For every 
 [219] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 influence on your brain, outside of you, cripples 
 that brain. 
 
 Run your own brain and you are bound to be 
 great. Genius is only a mind in command of it- 
 self. 
 
 The average man's brain is warped, clogged, 
 and begrimed; warped with selfishness, clogged 
 with other people's ideas, begrimed with coarse 
 and ugly thoughts. The average woman's brain 
 is feeble, rusty and spasmodic; feeble with diffi- 
 dence, rusty with disuse, spasmodic with emotional 
 stress. Between the two, there is more hope for 
 the woman's brain; you can polish up an unused 
 machine sooner than you can make over one that 
 is battered out of shape. 
 
 How many people that you know are capable 
 of thorough, clear, unprejudiced, systematic, orig- 
 inal, constructive, energetic thought? The few 
 who are have succeeded — the many who are not 
 have failed. All success germinates in the mind, 
 all failure proceeds therefrom. 
 
 A few ages hence, when the world has tired of 
 its mad absorption in the external things, our 
 descendants will look back on this our alleged civ- 
 ilization, and smile in pity and disdain, remark- 
 ing, " What a barbarous race — they could not 
 even think for themselves ! " 
 
 What are the modern uses of the mind? 
 [220] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 Those which enable the user to handle him- 
 self, in all the crises of human experience. 
 
 Go to our largest, most progressive, institutions 
 of learning and what do you find? Laboratories 
 of applied psychology, where thoughts, emotions, 
 and desires are weighed, measured and compared: 
 social service methods by which the everyday prob- 
 lems of ordinary people are met fairly and solved 
 rationally; departments of manual training that 
 give the ambitious youth a working knowledge of 
 actual wage-earning power; mental, psychic, or 
 semi-religious clinics devoted to the regaining and 
 maintaining of health by establishing a cheerful, 
 hopeful, state of mind. Many leading educators 
 are now literally absorbed in activities of this kind. 
 There is no field of study so fascinating, so pro- 
 ductive, so rich in manifold possibilities. Learn 
 how to think and the world is yours. 
 
 Some of the conclusions of modern psychol- 
 ogists are briefly stated below. They may be en- 
 tirely correct; and they may not. They will be 
 valuable to you in proportion as you challenge 
 their correctness and proceed to discover the truth 
 for yourself. 
 
 Disease-germs are only the garbage-men of the 
 body. Are you afraid of the garbage-man? 
 
 The person who " catches " disease caught the 
 reasons before; dirt in his body and fear in his 
 
 [221] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 mind. No ills are caught, all ills are self-consti- 
 tuted. 
 
 Every atom of the human organism has intelli- 
 gence of its own. You can insult and benumb 
 this intelligence by declaring yourself sick and 
 your body unable to do its work; or you can sum- 
 mon and quicken this intelligence by declaring 
 yourself great and sure and strong, and bound to 
 be well. Trust Mr. Stomach and tell him you be- 
 lieve in him. Argue gently with Mr. Liver — 
 and punch him in the side — to the end that he act 
 with more vim and despatch. Give Mrs. Nerves 
 some real work to do, to keep her out of mis- 
 chief. And whisper to Mademoiselle Heart that 
 she is the nicest thing that ever happened. 
 (N. B. If you'd rather be long-faced while talk- 
 ing of your anatomy, you can go to a doctor-book 
 and there find surcease from all trace of humor.) 
 
 Acute disease is but Nature's mode of house- 
 cleaning. Look at " symptoms " as you would at 
 brooms and dust pans. Diphtheria and small-pox 
 are nothing more than that, when handled prop- 
 erly. 
 
 Knowledge is both cure and prevention. Every 
 family should employ a teacher of health, and 
 should trust only the physician who can be that. 
 
 Physical habits make or unmake health. But 
 physical habits grow from heredity, environment, 
 
 [222] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 association, example — all mental conditions. So 
 health starts in the mind. 
 
 The revival of instinct cures the body, the stim- 
 ulation of inspiration heals the soul. Neither of 
 these is physical force. Hence the final refuge 
 for the invalid lies in the sub-conscious realm — 
 not in the world of pills and potions. 
 
 There are two wise postures of the mind to- 
 ward pain. You can suffer gladly, as a repentant 
 sinner; or endure calmly, as a proud stoic. 
 Either attitude is hygienic, take your choice. 
 
 Only faith will cure — faith in a pill, or a 
 prayer-mat, or your own divine power. Employ 
 the kind of treatment you believe in. 
 
 The subject in a hypnotic trance is unconscious 
 of the existence of pain. You should learn to 
 hypnotize yourself into forgetting your ailments. 
 And when you stop nursing them they are likely 
 to go. 
 
 Relaxation makes a long life, concentration 
 makes a strong one. Keep the balance and you 
 gain both longevity and prosperity. 
 
 A clear conscience is the greatest health-pre- 
 servative ; most sick people have a muddy one. A 
 clear conscience makes you sleep soundly, breathe 
 deeply, stand straight, eat with relish, smile often, 
 maintain composure, love your neighbor, grip 
 yourself, and forge ahead. 
 
 [223] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ^vocational training is the coming form of edu- 
 cation. Every child was born to be something 
 special. To find what that something is, and give 
 it full expression, is the real work of a teacher. 
 
 Genius will study only what it likes. Be care- 
 ful in judging a backward or wayward boy; he may 
 be a fool or an imp — and he may be a genius. 
 
 The science of play is quite as important as the 
 science of study. Recreation is the one form of 
 activity which to a child means both physiology 
 and psychology. Play with your child if you 
 would possess his heart. 
 
 Real education alternates mental exercise with 
 manual work. It is better to give a child some- 
 thing to do and nothing to study than something 
 to study and nothing to do. For action produces 
 thought — while thought does not necessarily pro- 
 duce action. 
 
 Memory is mostly at war with originality. 
 Stuff a child's brain with facts and you leave no 
 room in his mind for ideas. The questions chil- 
 dren ask — not the books they quote — are the 
 true educators. Answer your pupil's query before 
 you make him recite. 
 
 A sensible examination for a student would be 
 graded, not on what he can recall, but on what he 
 can use. Most examinations are stomach-pumps, 
 instead of exercisers. Examine your student's 
 
 [224] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 
 
 daily life — not his monthly or quarterly cram- 
 ming-process — if you would gage his develop- 
 ment wisely. 
 
 The personal life of a parent or teacher is what 
 the child really studies — the words being mere 
 indexes to the life. Some day, parents and teach- 
 ers will be trained in the crucial science of setting 
 a good example. Then, and only then, will our 
 schools mold character. 
 
 Emotions are many times as powerful as 
 thoughts. Why do not our schools and colleges 
 train the young to express emotions, understand 
 instincts, voice desires, attain ambitions, and be 
 equipped for life? 
 
 The danger in all education is pedantry. No 
 boy or girl should be allowed to go through col- 
 lege without doing something to earn money, mix- 
 ing with common people, and seeing the world as 
 it is outside of books. 
 
 The height of education is emulation. Give 
 your boy a hero to study, give your girl a queenly 
 woman to admire, give yourself a personified ideal 
 to embody. Thus will you gain the unfoldment 
 which is the purpose and end of teaching. 
 
 The science of parenthood is greater than all 
 other sciences combined. Nothing is taught of 
 this, in our schools and homes. Why? 
 
 Unless you feel at one with the flowers and the 
 
 [225] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 stars; unless you are able to help the weak, lift 
 the fallen, and cheer the broken-hearted; unless 
 you love the whole world and see good in every- 
 thing; unless you dare be yourself at any cost — 
 your " education has been neglected." 
 
 Science and religion do not conflict, any more 
 than food and perfume. But if a chef tried to run 
 a flower-garden or a gardener to serve a table- 
 d'hote, there would probably be trouble. When 
 scientists know the heart and soul and religionists 
 know the mind and body, every laboratory will be 
 a chancel, every shrine a workshop. 
 
 Healthy amusement is a phase of religion. So 
 is every other human activity properly conducted. 
 Nothing can be too human — if animated by a 
 divine consciousness. 
 
 Every church should be open every day in the 
 week; for meditation, music, teaching, healing, 
 and comforting. As time goes on, we may expect 
 less preaching in the sanctuary — but more loving 
 and more serving. 
 
 Goodness void of greatness is not goodness. 
 Life must be either growth or decay. And he 
 who fails to develop greatness, though he observe 
 the forms of goodness, shrivels in his soul. 
 
 The man who condemns lacks character. 
 Character means suffering, suffering means erring; 
 erring means trying and not knowing how. 
 
 [226] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 There is no saint but the saint who loves sinners ; 
 loves them because he knows their struggle and has 
 felt the bruise of the wanderer seeking light. 
 
 Sin is largely excess of power, misunderstood or 
 ill-directed. Not through forced punishment, but 
 through wise and glad self-expression, is the crim- 
 inal to be reclaimed. 
 
 Creeds conflict because creeds are mental; and 
 minds differ. Put religion in the heart, where it 
 belongs, and the hopeless infidel turns believer. 
 
 Those who fear the destruction of the Bible 
 never understood the Bible. Truth cannot be de- 
 stroyed; and what can be destroyed is not truth. 
 
 Glossaries and commentaries on the scriptures 
 are superfluous. You find therein your own les- 
 son — or you find none. 
 
 Miracles may be explained on the basis of natu- 
 ral law. But the man who explains them never 
 yet performed them! A supernatural law does 
 exist, of which the world's law-exponents are yet in 
 ignorance. 
 
 Nothing in all " advanced thought " equals the 
 power in the summons of the old church bell. 
 Perish the bigotry, fear, gloom, of the old intol- 
 erant creed; but revive the sweetness, beauty, 
 reverence, of the old childlike faith. 
 
 They try to call prayer a form of autosugges- 
 tion; but no species of mechanical autosuggestion 
 
 [227] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ever taught a man how to use prayer. The whirl- 
 wind is air; but no chemist by analyzing air may 
 conjure up the whirlwind. How God must smile 
 in pity at our feeble metaphysical theories raised 
 in blind presumption to account for the vast, un- 
 known, overpowering sublimities of the Universe. 
 
 First lesson for parents: your child is not 
 your property; but an independent soul needing 
 guidance as the plant needs a trellis. Would you 
 scold or whip a rose bush if the bloom was not 
 perfect? 
 
 There is something in every child that responds 
 to the highest appeal of which you are capable. 
 Reach that something and your problem of " dis- 
 cipline " is solved forever. 
 
 Never correct a child in the presence of an- 
 other ; lest resentment supplant regeneration. 
 
 " Breaking a child's will " is breaking a parent's 
 influence; making a child's will is proving a pa- 
 rent's power. A headstrong baby makes a life- 
 size man; add to headstrongness heartsweetness 
 and your man is finished. 
 
 People in a family need vacations from each 
 other. It was never intended that four walls and 
 a roof, a lineal map, and a social code should 
 bound and restrict human activity. Take the dog 
 and go camping once a year. Hobnob, occasion- 
 ally, with Jake Jones from Nowhere Alley, whose 
 
 [228] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 ancestors your ancestors wouldn't speak to in 
 Heaven (which is impossible anyway, for pride- 
 ful non-speakers don't go to Heaven). Blacken 
 your face, run off to the next town, and be a star 
 in a Minstrel Show. Sneak away to a vacant lot 
 with the kid across the street, and play Wild In- 
 jun. Do anything halfway respectable or there- 
 abouts, to break up the humdrum, sleepy-hollow, 
 heavier-than-lead, , plumb-dumb domesticity that 
 halters and hampers and holds you down. N. B. 
 Take your wife along — she needs a change worse 
 than you do. 
 
 " Company manners " are family underminers; 
 " good enough for the home folks " being the last 
 funeral wail of the gravedigger of self-re- 
 spect. 
 
 A good rule for the dining room : anybody that 
 complains of the food, or gossips, or criticizes, 
 shall deposit one cent in the Behavior Box; said 
 receptacle to be opened monthly and the contents 
 expended according to the wish of the person hav- 
 ing the fewest fines. 
 
 Where children are impolite, the relation be- 
 tween them and the parents is artificial. Confi- 
 dence begets courtesy; and every lad would be- 
 come a Lord Chesterfield at his best if his parents 
 knew and trusted him from the heart out. 
 
 Homes make goodness but not greatness. The 
 
 [229] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 chronic family vice is smallness. Form the habit 
 of discussing at home the great events, great indi- 
 viduals, great discoveries, and great possibilities 
 that lift human life above the horizon and extend 
 the vision to the realm of the Superman. 
 
 The rights of the unborn child are these : to be 
 equally desired by both parents, with ardor, un- 
 selfishness, idealism; and to be prepared for with 
 all the scientific knowledge to be had. If we 
 could analyze the hidden causes of things, we 
 should find that children respect and obey their 
 parents just to the degree that these prenatal 
 rights have been observed. 
 
 Pity the day when the mother eclipses the wife, 
 or the father outruns the adorer*. What is parent- 
 hood for but to strengthen and lengthen the light 
 of loverhood? 
 
 Things every child should be taught: to obey 
 instantly and accurately; to work easily, rapidly, 
 joyously; to do unpleasant tasks with a smile; to 
 earn money, save money, and spend money; to be 
 kind to dumb animals; to learn from those called 
 inferior; to regard no difference in birth as im- 
 portant; to acquire strength of body but to re- 
 spect only the force of right; to find the best in 
 everybody; to share all pleasures and sympathize 
 with all sorrows; to plan a great life-work and 
 persevere to accomplishment; to combine modesty 
 
 [230] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 and self-reliance, tact and independence, gentle- 
 ness and will power, tenderness and courage. 
 
 The end of both thinking and feeling is 
 knowing. And the joy of knowing is a joy su- 
 preme. 
 
 Knowledge and pleasure are identical. We 
 cannot learn what we fail to enjoy, we cannot en- 
 joy that which fails to impart a lesson. A brief 
 course in trigonometry may totally ruin the mind 
 of a poet; while a forced parley with the Eliza- 
 bethan wordsters may divert a natural-born as- 
 tronomer from his mission in life. This is the 
 paradox of education; that the supreme wisdom 
 lies in the choice of what we learn, but we do not 
 know it until we have chosen wrong. 
 
 The sauce piquante of pleasure is curiosity. 
 And what is curiosity but eagerness to know? If 
 we look back to the joys of early childhood, we 
 realize how their source of charm was in the dew 
 of mystery that lay upon them. The virgin thrill 
 of expectation that ushers enjoyment into our 
 lives is perhaps the sweetest thrill of all. We are 
 then on the' point of knowing, radiant with the 
 glamour that shines across the enchanted threshold 
 of a wider experience. Either innocence, or un- 
 derstanding, lifts pleasure from the realm of the 
 earthly into the domain of the spiritual. Inno- 
 cence would know, understanding does know; and 
 
 [231], 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 where knowing is the beginning of feeling, the end 
 is pure delight. 
 
 Anticipation is held more ecstatic than posses- 
 sion. Why? Because the former is a continua- 
 tion, but the latter a cessation, of our human de- 
 sire to know. This should not be. Pleasure of 
 itself never palls, but only the impurity that we 
 ignorantly mix with pleasure. In the dregs of the 
 cup of joy lies the proof of its righteousness. 
 And to be sated with anything is to have been un- 
 sanctified. 
 
 Pity the man who mourns the lost delights of 
 his youth; he has merely stopped growing. If 
 happiness were effervescence, children would be 
 happy; but happiness is not. Happiness is a clean 
 and brave progression into larger fields of knowl- 
 edge. And by virtue of our immortality, we 
 should be happiest on our death-day. If knowl- 
 edge of life does not mean consciousness of 
 Heaven, our learning has been faulty, or incom- 
 plete. 
 
 The joy of knowing is evidenced in a homely 
 illustration that every good old-fashioned child 
 will recognize. Didn't you use to tell your 
 mother what you liked best for dinner; and then 
 — lots and lots of times — beg her not to let you 
 know what you were going to have until you came 
 to the feast? Surprises are lovely because they 
 
 [232] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 contain many sorts of knowledge given all at once. 
 
 Doctors claim that stiffened blood-vessels are 
 the first mark of advancing age. Don't you be- 
 lieve it; old age first appears not in sluggish ar- 
 teries but in sluggish anticipations. It is a vain 
 exertion to get up in the morning unless a feeling 
 of buoyancy pulls you out of bed and into work. 
 The elixir of life is expectancy. Those who have 
 gained approach to this font require no other stim- 
 ulant. Never scold the child who gets into " mis- 
 chief." He is an original investigator, tempora- 
 rily side-tracked. The goodness that is all grace 
 and no gumption belongs on a tombstone under 
 the weeping- willow trees. And the boy that never 
 makes trouble never makes anything else. 
 
 There is a tragedy, however, in our unappeas- 
 able thirst for knowledge ; — the ghastly price of 
 it. What would a man not give for the generous 
 impulse, fond hope, tender fancy and bright illu- 
 sion that he has paid, little by little, for his 
 worldly-wisdom? Life grows worse than empty 
 with the passing of the dream from our eyes. So 
 much of our painfully acquired wisdom is false; 
 and I would that every teacher, every minister, 
 every physician, every parent, might learn first of 
 all to distinguish the real. Babies dying by the 
 tens of thousands for lack of proper care and 
 wholesome nourishment; children the world over 
 
 [233] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 diligently gathering knowledge of their source 
 from the gutter instead of from the shrine ; youths 
 being trained by rote with the hideous object of 
 making a living because they fear to die ; lads and 
 lassies marrying, wholly unprepared — entering 
 the great dim sanctuary of life with a jest on their 
 lips and the dust of the highway on their gar- 
 ments; women bravely suffering and men grimly 
 slaving that their offspring may have the mere 
 chance to grow; nations devoting vast fortunes to 
 the equipage of armies while the poor cry for 
 bread and the lonely plead for kindness; society 
 worshiping titles and riches, leaving the man of 
 genius to work unaided and perish of want; whole 
 communities buried in gossip — and countless 
 worlds holding out their mysteries for man to ex- 
 plore; schools teaching everything but how to 
 live; prisons made to punish instead of reclaim; 
 churches closed and barred six days in the week — 
 though sin never even slumbers ; who can dwell on 
 these pitiful things and not burn with eagerness to 
 make the truth known? The poor, the sinful, the 
 miserable, the ill and weak and hopeless, are 
 merely untaught. Instruct and you reform; in- 
 spire and you save. ; 
 
 There are four stages of wisdom. In the first 
 you know; in the second you know you know; in 
 the third you know you do not know ; in the fourth 
 
 [234] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 and last you know you need not know. Body 
 knows, brain knows it knows, heart knows it does 
 not know, soul knows it need not know. Each 
 kind of knowing is important, none is all-sufficient. 
 
 The majority of so-called educated people con- 
 fine their awareness to their body — they require 
 tangible proof or they will not believe. The 
 physical sensation of handling, seeing, tasting, 
 smelling, or hearing, is fundamental to perception 
 in the rank and file of humanity. Try to elucidate 
 an abstract principle to the average mortal and see 
 what response you get. He can judge a good 
 cigar, she can appraise a new bonnet, but can either 
 give a logical opinion of clairvoyance, radio-activ- 
 ity, reincarnation, or the symbology of the Bible? 
 
 At the opposite extreme — the knowing of the 
 intellect — we find the professional psychologist, 
 metaphysician or mahatma. He can juggle the- 
 ories nimbly and he takes no other exercise. He 
 can tell you what your aura looks like, but he can- 
 not tell you how to get the mud off it or the specks 
 out of it. He is authority on the supraliminal 
 ego — and ignoramus on the jungle beast that 
 clothes the ego with human form. Now instinct 
 must precede inspiration as walking precedes fly- 
 ing. And a knowledge of how to breathe, bathe, 
 eat, sleep, and exercise according to Nature, is fun- 
 damental to a normal application of psychology. 
 
 [235] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Most children, many women, and a few sensi- 
 tive men, are anchored on the heart-plane. They 
 know how they feel, and that is their gage of life. 
 They subsist on thrills. They idolize affection. 
 They seek adoration. Their Bible is the mood 
 of their friend. When their friends disappoint 
 — as friends always do — they plunge at a breath 
 from their mount of elation to a chaos of gloom 
 thrice blacker than night. Now, every disappoint- 
 ment is an interrupted lesson. And the clinging 
 nature must learn that it cannot depend on aught 
 save its own ideal. The heart illumines, but the 
 heart cannot empower. And what we miss in our 
 friendships is what we have never given to them. 
 
 The highest plane of wisdom is the religion of 
 the mystic. He knows that he has no need of 
 knowledge. Poised, calm, aloof, he dwells on 
 the sunlit peak of absolute faith. He has learned 
 the secret of God; which is to smile and let go. 
 Caring for nothing but freedom of soul, he has 
 passed the human limitations that forever haunt 
 men, and is clearly established where the shadows 
 do not fall. This heavenly knowing is rare be- 
 cause few will pay the price. Years of mental 
 anguish, physical deprivation, moral heroism, must 
 first be undergone. Yet this is the way of peace. 
 And the soul that has the vision of its own destiny 
 follows, exulting, to the end. 
 
 [236] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 Knowledge pays most and best of all that we 
 struggle to obtain. Yet how many of us know 
 real knowledge when we see it ? 
 
 " I know I can do and be what I will! " — this 
 is the underpinning of true education; what col- 
 lege, in all the world, is founded thereon? 
 Rather, in proportion as a man is highly educated, 
 does the soul too often become unknown and un- 
 knowable. 
 
 The mysteries of creation from which our vital 
 forces directly proceed — who knows aught of 
 them? Birth; death; sleep; genius; affinity; 
 imagination; immortality; such themes constitute 
 the genesis of life. Yet how many books in the 
 average " well-ordered " library provide real in- 
 struction on these fundamental points? 
 
 There is no death. But from our cradle we 
 are taught to stand in constant fear of mortal dis- 
 solution as of an ogre defying God our Maker 
 and snatching us to ruin by an outcome inevitable. 
 
 The pronouncement of " incurable disease " is 
 a wretched slander on both Nature and God. 
 Yet I suppose thousands of invalids perish every 
 year because some over-sure and under-knowing 
 doctor tells them they can't get well. Whoever 
 says can't is at best a falsifier, at worst a mur- 
 derer. 
 
 The supreme folly of a common education is in 
 [237] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 cramming the brain with dead facts that have no 
 relation to the needs of ordinary life. Ancient 
 history, prehistoric research, foreign geography, 
 nebular hypotheses, cerebral contortions of differ- 
 ential calculus, merely cloud the intellect and ren- 
 der the forces of initiative dull, slow and feeble. 
 Knowledge that fails to become instant action must 
 always remain hearsay, myth, or speculation. If 
 trade-schools were to require a practical study 
 of mystic philosophy, they would be worth more as 
 educators than the common schools and the uni- 
 versities put together. 
 
 The brain is to the soul what the telegraph in- 
 strument is to the operator. The brain receives 
 and transmits impressions — that is all. Whence 
 these impressions shall come, what they shall be, 
 how they shall be carried out, lies with the soul to 
 determine. 
 
 There are four kinds of human wisdom: that 
 of body, that of brain, that of heart, that of soul. 
 Each is indispensable to character. No man is 
 educated until he has been taught equally of in- 
 stinct, intellect, intuition, inspiration. Yet in the 
 school curriculum, we have made intellect abso- 
 lute monarch, instead of a humble fourth in a bal- 
 anced oligarchy. Education is all-roundness or 
 nothing. [The scholar, the monk, the poet and the 
 
 [238] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 pugilist are equally uneducated. Each has idol- 
 ized one teacher, while spurning three. Each is 
 one-fourth of a man. Each deserves pity. 
 
 Instinct is the voice of Nature in the forest, in- 
 tellect the voice of Man in the school or shop, in- 
 tuition the voice of Woman in the home, inspira-' 
 tion the voice of God in the temple, the sea, the 
 sky, or the dream of a loved one. Can we fully 
 chime in the chorus of joy — or have we neglected 
 some primal note in life's harmony? 
 
 FIRST EXAMPLE: KNOWLEDGE OF BODY 
 
 A fellow-worker had been absent from the of- 
 fice for a number of days. The writer, sent to 
 investigate, found the young man in the depths 
 of gloom. Sore throat, chills and fever, splitting 
 headache, unruly stomach, nervous collapse, these 
 were a few of the symptoms. The invalid was 
 huddled over the fire, doing his best to catch up 
 with his work but failing miserably. Suggestions 
 were given him as follows: 
 
 " Quit work absolutely; every ounce of energy 
 should be left for Nature to use in the process of 
 recovery. Eat nothing to-day but one light meal, 
 consisting of two fresh apples and a little zweiback 
 thoroughly masticated. Turn off the heat (the 
 weather was mild), put your overcoat in the 
 
 [239] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 moth-bag, and start exercising as though your life 
 depended on it. Open the window, and breathe 
 for a half-hour to the bottom of your lungs. 
 Then go at a punching-bag with all your might. 
 When you're perspiring healthily, take a vigorous 
 crash-rub over the whole body, followed by a cool 
 shower bath. Rest in bed for a couple of hours, 
 with the room darkened and a cold-water com- 
 press around your throat. Every half-hour all 
 day, sip a glass of pure, soft water, not iced. 
 Whenever you aren't otherwise engaged, be laugh- 
 ing at your symptoms and telling them to run 
 away. Just before retiring, drink a pint of hot 
 lemonade, take a hot foot-bath, with a cathartic 
 and enema to finish the cleansing process. Then 
 sleep the sleep of the just, and expect to wake as 
 fine as a fiddle. " 
 
 The sick man, accustomed to headache powders, 
 self-pity, and the idea of " eating to keep up your 
 strength,'' thought such advice rather strange 
 and unprecedented. But he followed it. Next 
 morning he was ready for work; and more, he 
 was positively radiant with the joy of knowing! 
 Well-educated as the term goes, he had been all 
 his life in abject ignorance of the simple rudi- 
 ments of hygiene. " How to keep well " should 
 be the primary lesson in every institution of learn- 
 ing- 
 
 [240] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 SECOND EXAMPLE: KNOWLEDGE OF MIND 
 
 This friend was acutely troubled with neuritis. 
 Healers, physicians, nerve-specialists, had failed 
 even to diagnose the case. The man's nerves 
 were on fire; he couldn't sleep, eat, exercise, or 
 comply with any of the normal conditions of life. 
 Delusions, hallucinations, obsessions, began to ap- 
 pear; the sufferer grappled with the unspeakable 
 horror of going mad. The answer to his cry for 
 help was: 
 
 " You should have been an artist, a writer, or 
 a musician. You are sensitive, highly-strung, 
 impressionable, idealistic. Your work is that of 
 a tan-bark mule. You and your work must part 
 company. The explanation of your ailment is 
 this: your brain receives great thoughts, fine im- 
 pulses, noble aspirations ; your body fails to carry 
 them out; result, congestion at the nerve-centers 
 to the degree that you keep your emotion bottled 
 up. Your salvation is to express what you feel. 
 Write a book, compose an oratorio, found a hos- 
 pital, or lead a lost cause. That will take the 
 pressure off your brain and give you a chance for 
 life." 
 
 He wrote the book. And in less than a month 
 the serious complications were gone. Embryonic 
 geniuses, only God can tell how many, are today 
 [241] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 confined to hospitals for the insane because we 
 have not learned to recognize the touch of mad- 
 ness that lights the divine fire. 
 
 THIRD EXAMPLE: KNOWLEDGE OF HEART 
 
 A young girl of a rarely beautiful nature was 
 grieving to the point of despair. The youth 
 whom she idealized would not, or could not, ap- 
 preciate her love. The fault lay in her blindness 
 — unrequited love is an absolute impossibility. 
 One of two never loves alone, they both do or 
 neither does. This, however, would not do to 
 tell her — a woman believes her own heart 
 against all the experience of the world. We only 
 asked her to try this : 
 
 " Open a thousand chambers in your heart, and 
 keep them all filled. Instead of taking from the 
 man his whole affection, give yours to all the 
 world. Become indispensable to your friends. 
 Make them want to bring to you their joys and 
 cares and sorrows. And, if the right man comes, 
 nothing in the Universe can separate you." 
 
 It is enough comment on the success of the ex- 
 periment to remark that that girl today is a nun. 
 She was in love with love; and she is thankful 
 now that the man she did not love never loved 
 her. 
 
 [242] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 FOURTH EXAMPLE: KNOWLEDGE OF SOUL 
 
 A very humble woman, janitress of a New- 
 York apartment house, with no education to speak 
 of and no culture at all, has four of the bright- 
 est, sweetest children you ever saw. In response 
 to the admiration I expressed, she merely ob- 
 served: " So many people make a fuss over chil- 
 dren and spoil them with too much attention; I 
 just let them be, and watch them grow." 
 
 Where that woman got her spiritual knowledge 
 I don't know; but she has it. Just to " let them 
 be " ; was a finer mode of training ever devised 
 for children? There is something morally de- 
 ficient in the child who never loved to " play in 
 the dirt." Modern civilization tends to make 
 babies nothing but little old men. A certain de- 
 gree of mental and physical non-interference in 
 early youth is essential to spiritual unfoldment. 
 This does not mean parental irresponsibility, it 
 means a sharp eye and a loving heart, acting to- 
 gether. The parent who can match a child with- 
 out warning it has learned the first principle of 
 home administration, which is to be conscientious 
 but not combative. 
 
 At the extremes of life are the lessons. 
 
 Women feel this, instinctively. And nothing 
 delights a mischievous lady more than to upset a 
 
 [243] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 man, wherever he is, then let him flounder for 
 something new to cling to. A form of education 
 most salutary if not most agreeable. 
 
 It is reported that the wife of the world's one- 
 time greatest prize-fighter calls him " My Baby 
 Jim." You need not laugh at Baby Jim. One 
 such pet-name, bestowed by the woman of his 
 heart, teaches a man like that more than he learns 
 from a hundred bloody battles waged in the fistic 
 arena. If a man cannot be a hero to his wife — 
 let him be a child. The wisdom of Heaven will 
 permeate the world when the world has given 
 every woman some one to idolize or something to 
 pet. 
 
 Should you ask me how to grow very learned, 
 I would answer only this : 
 
 Be somebody else for a while. Give your 
 body, brain, heart and soul a rest from the habit- 
 ual and a pleasure-jaunt into the extraordinary. 
 Whatever the opposite is, do it. Change your 
 studies, activities, amusements, and inclinations. 
 Make friends with the people you never knew and 
 did not care to know. Read the books too silly 
 for any use — or too abstract for you to waste 
 your time on. If you are a miser, observe how 
 gracefully money sails away; if you are a socialist, 
 get rich. If you enjoy smashing things, culti- 
 vate silence and meditation; if you exalt the con- 
 
 [244J 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 ventions, do something breathlessly free and out- 
 landish. If you, being a man, take pride in your 
 foolish brain, ask God to make some woman care 
 enough for you to demolish your absurd intellec- 
 tualisms; if you, being a woman, despise that 
 brain, wait till Providence removes the source of 
 your bread-and-butter, then reflect how indispen- 
 sable a superfluous thing may be. 
 
 Briefly, the whole matter comes to this: he is 
 educated who can see both sides of a question yet 
 not be on the fence. To live one's own faith 
 with the utmost enthusiasm — but to welcome and 
 respect every man's opinion; this is the heart of 
 wisdom; not how much we know but how much 
 we are willing to be taught, proves our line of 
 access to Omniscience. Not the trivial things we 
 do but the great things we attempt hold us heirs 
 of Omnipotence. Life is an attitude; and a 
 thinker a god, for he makes his own. 
 
 Mind is the fate-maker. Every man who has 
 reached a great height, first thought himself there. 
 How to change the map of the world : engrave an 
 ambition on your own brain ! 
 
 Civilization is the embodiment of what man 
 declared could never be. Telephone, telegraph, 
 steam-engine, photograph, air-ship, forty-story 
 building, are the projections of the human mind 
 into the realm of the impossible. Nothing desir- 
 es] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 able is impossible. A miracle is the scientific 
 handling of the mind. 
 
 The average brain is a limp, loose, lopped and 
 lumbered annex to us — instead of being the 
 finest instrument God ever made, managing our 
 body and managed by our soul. Not one college 
 professor in a hundred knows the science of cor- 
 rect thinking, not one clergyman in a thousand 
 knows the morality produced by it, not one toiler 
 in ten thousand knows the efficiency gained 
 through it. Our minds are the unexplored re- 
 gions of earth; and the Edison or Peary of the 
 future will be the psychologist who discovers us 
 to ourselves. 
 
 The faces of the world's great men are infalli- 
 ble, indelible photogravures of thought. Na- 
 poleon thought of conquest, Newton thought of 
 space, Mozart thought of melody, Emerson 
 thought of peace, Lincoln thought of justice. 
 These men thought so hard, each of the thing he 
 loved most, that they plowed their way into the 
 consciousness of the race. What we think for 
 ourselves makes us invincible, what we think for 
 others makes us immortal. 
 
 I shall now be " practical." A teacher was 
 reading one of these chapters to her class in the 
 High School. Presently she noticed one of the 
 boys wriggling, squirming, evidently in great pain. 
 
 [246] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 She asked him the trouble, and he burst out — 
 " Oh, Teacher, I can't stand that, it makes me 
 think too much!" Lest such a casualty befall 
 any reader we will now, as I said, be practical. 
 
 Here is a concrete case of thought and effi- 
 ciency. For years I bought imported pencils, 
 costing five to ten cents each, under the formerly 
 common delusion that imported things were best. 
 These pencils often blurred and broke and misbe- 
 haved generally — still I kept on buying them. 
 One day the inefficiency of the performance struck 
 me, and I spent an hour and a dollar in buying 
 samples of American pencils at an American sta- 
 tionery-store. 
 
 I found a quite satisfactory American make — 
 price one cent; and a more elegant style for five 
 cents. I now use the American nickel pencil at 
 the office, and the American penny pencil for home 
 work. I am saving 200 per cent on this item — 
 and encouraging home industry. While this econ- 
 omy is small, but a few dollars a year, the prin- 
 ciple of it is great, applying to all our methods, 
 tools and facilities — desk, filing system, station- 
 ery, typewriter, carbon paper, fountain pen, book- 
 rack, swivel chair, lighting-fixture, blotting-pad, 
 ventilator and floor-oil ! There is a best in every- 
 thing, and the reason we don't have it is because 
 we don't think to get it. 
 
 [247] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Here is another case. I used to wake up regu- 
 larly with a healthy grouch in waiting — really it 
 was the healthiest thing about me. I swallowed 
 a rush breakfast of ill-assorted food, and felt 
 worse. Grumbled to myself all the way to the 
 office, and entered with a frown. The frown was 
 contagious — all frowns are — and by the middle 
 of the morning we had things in a beautiful snarl. 
 Lunch time — and I was a nervous wreck. More 
 crazy food, more speed mania, more vicious jabs 
 at everybody and everything in sight. When the 
 shades of eve at last were falling, my only func- 
 tion at home was to be a means of grace. 
 
 And now? Efficiency, from the first waking- 
 moment of the day. Breathing, tensing and 
 stretching exercises before the open window — 
 grouch gone, brain clear. Cold bath and brisk 
 rubdown — blood racing, nerves tingling, mind 
 eager for work. Breakfast a hot drink or fruit 
 juice and water (not recommended universally, 
 but the efficient breakfast for me). Slow, calm 
 walk to the subway with my eyes on the hills — I 
 live on high ground, chiefly to gain this early 
 morning horizon. Spend 40 minutes in the sub- 
 way; a wretched manner of locomotion, but part 
 of the price we pay in New York for getting 
 things done. No newspaper-reading on the train. 
 Eyes closed, or at least mind closed, to all outer 
 
 [248] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 impressions. Nerves and emotions at rest. 
 Day's work all planned, and accomplished in my 
 mind, before I reach the office. And as much 
 done, happily and hopefully, in one hour, as for- 
 merly was done, sadly and grudgingly, in three 
 hours. The secret of the change from wrong to 
 right? I have thought things out. 
 
 Another case of thought and efficiency. A 
 friend of mine has trained his intuitions to the 
 point of being well-nigh infallible. One day the 
 thought was borne in upon him, that he would be 
 stricken with appendicitis. Medical examination 
 revealed no sign of the trouble — the doctor, and 
 a good one, rather poked fun at him. My friend 
 said nothing, but proceeded with his thinking. 
 He located the finest surgeon available for such 
 an operation as he knew must come, did not men- 
 tion the matter to the surgeon or to his family, 
 but memorized the surgeon's address, put it on 
 file in home and office, and went on with his work. 
 
 A year passed. Then the attack came. The 
 surgeon was called, he took my friend in a taxicab 
 to the hospital — that the sick man had also 
 chosen in advance, a successful operation was per- 
 formed, and the friend is today in better health 
 than he ever was. Now observe: it was found 
 that twenty-four hours' delay would have meant 
 rupture of the appendix, probably death! My 
 
 [249] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 friend's intuition, and preparation based upon it, 
 saved him. 
 
 Do you want health? You must think first. 
 Nothing from a bottle will cure you, something 
 from your brain must do it. The ever-increasing 
 multitude of drug-fiends, dyspeptics, neurasthenics, 
 hospital wrecks and suicides, is composed of men 
 and women who failed to reason, then act, for 
 themselves. 
 
 Do you want a happy home ? You must think 
 first. Homes are unhappy because the hearts of 
 men and the brains of women are absent. If you 
 are a man, you must think for your home as you 
 think for your business; if you are a woman, you 
 must think for your home as you think for your 
 dream. 
 
 Do you want prosperity? You must think first. 
 There is a science of finance, which all financiers 
 have mastered. Wealth is not a matter of luck 
 — it is a matter of yearning, and learning, and 
 earning. 
 
 Do you want fame? You must think first. 
 And, having thought through and beneath and 
 around and above and beyond yourself and the 
 Universe a few million times, you may come to 
 learn that fame is but the shadow of service, and 
 when it appears you will not see it if still you are 
 marching on. So many baubles we grasp, for, 
 
 [250] 
 
THOUGHT, AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 that we would not wish to own if we looked them 
 through and through. 
 
 May we cite one more illustration of the power 
 of thought? The woman suffrage movement in 
 America has gained more in the past five years 
 than in the preceding five hundred. This is chiefly 
 through a change in mental attitude. The first 
 slogan of the suffragette was " Down with men! " 
 The modern appeal of the woman voter is " Down 
 with wrong — up with men, women and chil- 
 dren ! " Reforms advance as they leave hate be- 
 hind them. The mule is an example of how a 
 kicking animal becomes a balking animal. The 
 mule needs vocational training; he has not yet 
 found his real life-work, namely that of being an 
 object-lesson to reformers. 
 
 How shall we think for efficiency? We must 
 first realize what thought does to our brains and 
 bodies. 
 
 All the bodily functions — nutrition, respira- 
 tion, circulation, concentration and relaxation — 
 are controlled by the nerves; and the nerves are 
 controlled, or may be controlled, by the brain. 
 Many physicians believe that chronic diseases of 
 the lungs, heart, brain, digestive organs, are in- 
 duced or aggravated by such chronic mental states 
 as fear, grief, hate, anger, jealousy. 
 
 A young Brooklyn woman recently died, with 
 [251] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 all the symptoms of hydrophobia. She had been 
 told the animal that wounded her was mad. Later 
 the dog was examined — and no trace of madness 
 found. Fear had killed the girl. This was at- 
 tested by physicians in good standing. Fear in 
 lesser degree is present with us all; whenever we 
 yield to it, something in us dies. Depressed, we 
 almost cease breathing; elated, we breathe like a 
 young north wind. 
 
 Memoirs of the Napoleonic wars affirm that 
 soldiers in the height of battle did not feel the 
 deadly wounds of shot and shell and saber; only 
 as they fell back, and were conscious of defeat, 
 did the pangs of bloodshed pierce their minds. 
 We can be so bent on victory that scars do not 
 matter, wounds are not felt, life itself may pass 
 yet our soul be triumphant! 
 
 Many a man, doomed by his doctors, has out- 
 lived them all. Many a youth, told by his friends 
 that he would fail in some huge, perilous under- 
 taking, has enlisted the powers of the gods and 
 emerged unscathed after superhuman test, con- 
 quering as only he knew he could. We are born 
 of a common bit of protoplasm, but reborn of an 
 uncommon, giant purpose. Genius is but the 
 measureless force of a tenacious idea. No man 
 is a genius — every man has a genius. What is 
 
 yours ? 
 
 [252] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 Now brain-cells are like muscles; they can be 
 classified and trained. We were taught how to 
 feed and dress ourselves, how to walk and talk 
 and read and write; but we must teach ourselves 
 how to think. Some time a really great educator 
 will appear on a college campus, and will revolu- 
 tionize college methods. He will aim not to 
 cram book-learning down a boy's throat, but to 
 locate, correlate and exercise the boy's mental 
 and moral muscles in such a way that whatever 
 latent power is in the boy may come out, and bene- 
 fit the world. For any real teacher, here is a 
 world-opening to fame, wealth and service. 
 
 There are forty-odd sections or grooves or mus- 
 cles of the mind. The most important of these, 
 with a few subdivisions, I have named in the ac- 
 companying diagram, which I have called " Effi- 
 ciency Mind Builder." You can no more build 
 a house without a sufficient number of sound, well- 
 shaped bricks or stones than you can build a suc- 
 cess without an adequate supply of good mind- 
 materials. 
 
 The foundation of our brain-structure is per- 
 sonal, the ground floor is fraternal, the upper 
 story is social, and the tower is subliminal. Our 
 first duty is to think for ourselves; our next is to 
 think for our family; our next is to think for our 
 workers, friends, neighbors, and the race at large ; 
 
 [253] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 our final, supreme duty is to think for principle, 
 truth, unfoldment, God. Every man who fails, 
 in health or toil or purse or hope or service or 
 reputation, has forgotten to put certain mental 
 bricks in his building, or he has used broken, 
 cracked or unformed bricks. Indeed, the brains 
 of most people are fuller of cracks than of any- 
 thing else. 
 
 A restaurant lately opened in our neighbor- 
 hood — and failed and closed in six months. 
 The food was good, the service prompt, clean, 
 deft and courteous. Why did the owner fail? 
 Because his scale of prices called for large patron- 
 age and small profit on each meal; the neighbor- 
 hood was one of homes — not of peripatetic 
 eaters; the man could not meet his " overhead," 
 so he went to the wall. He lacked the mental 
 ^trait of causality, which if present would have 
 made him figure ahead. 
 
 A $9,000,000 brewing company in Ohio re- 
 cently made an assignment for its creditors. The 
 explanation of the ruin of the company was that 
 the temperance agitation and passage of prohibi- 
 tion laws curtailed the volume of liquor sales 
 to such an extent that the liquor makers had to 
 dissolve their business. At about the same time, 
 the concoctor of a soft drink served at soda foun- 
 tains bought a huge office building here in New 
 
 [254] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 York, a theatre, and a few other small items — 
 with the profits made from his drink! Why did 
 the brewer fail, and the soft-drink man succeed? 
 The brewer was weak in the mental trait of human 
 nature — he did not read the signs of the times 
 before the cataclysm came. The vendor of the 
 harmless beverage saw that alcohol was doomed 
 — and he rose with the rising tide of prohibition 
 sentiment. 
 
 The steamship Titanic went down with sixteen 
 hundred souls, because the look-out man, failing to 
 wield a spy-glass, was deficient in the mental and 
 moral sense of responsibility. The $2,000,000 
 structure lately burned in New York went up in 
 smoke because a youth void of caution dropped a 
 lighted match in a dark corner. Every disaster 
 has in it somewhere a mental defect. Not the 
 cruelty of fate puts us down and out, but the 
 cruelty of our own blindness, slothfulness, conceit. 
 
 Which brain-story in your life-house needs 
 building up ? Are you all soul ? Strengthen your 
 base. Do you worship intellect? Finish your 
 tower. Have you sought overmuch the pleasures 
 of life ? Spend yourself in creating the social part 
 of your edifice. 
 
 The great secret of the efficient man is this: 
 he has learned to think sanely, swiftly, clearly, 
 intensely, on every crucial point in his daily expe- 
 [255] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 rience. When he works, his thought is all in his 
 brain ; when he plays, his thought is all in his body ; 
 when he loves, his thought is all in his heart; when 
 he prays, his thought is all in his soul. 
 
 We can think our way through all obstacles, to 
 our utmost desire. And to be a tower of help 
 through the ages, we have but to build our minds 
 into beauty, symmetry and strength. Every man's 
 brain is the map of his own future. Somewhere, 
 today, the leaders of tomorrow in scholarship, 
 science, business, finance, beneficence, religion, 
 are slowly, painfully, silently and bravely forcing 
 themselves to occupy, use and command the pow- 
 ers of mind undeveloped by their forefathers, 
 neighbors and friends. Since the creation of the 
 world, scarce a hundred men have done the world's 
 real thinking. To aspire, and prepare, to be 
 counted with these, is to enroll oneself immortal, 
 and teach and bless the race. 
 
 [256] 
 
THOUGHT AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 EFFICIENCY MIND BUILDER 
 
 LIST OF HUMAN QUALITIES, FACULTIES AND POWERS 
 
 1 
 
 Health (Vitativeness) 
 
 22 
 
 Love of Mate (Conju- 
 
 2 
 
 Nutrition (Alimentive- 
 
 
 gality) 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 23. 
 
 Love of Children (Phil- 
 
 3 
 
 Will power (Firmness) 
 
 
 oprogenitiveness) 
 
 4. 
 
 Sense of Property (Ac- 
 
 24. 
 
 Humor (Mirthfulness) 
 
 
 quisitiveness, econ- 
 
 25. 
 
 Tact (Adaptability) 
 
 
 omy) 
 
 26 
 
 Loyalty (Faith) 
 
 5. 
 
 Initiative (Aggressive- 
 
 27. 
 
 Sincerity (Frankness) 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 28. 
 
 Generosity (Altruism) 
 
 6 
 
 Manual Skill (Con- 
 
 29 
 
 Respect (Veneration) 
 
 
 structiveness) 
 
 ZO. 
 
 Sympathy (Sensitive- 
 
 7 
 
 Persistence (Continu- 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 
 ity) 
 
 31. 
 
 Observation (Human 
 
 8. 
 
 Courage (Self-esteem) 
 
 
 nature) 
 
 9. 
 
 Caution (Secretiveness) 
 
 32. 
 
 Cordiality (Agreeable- 
 
 10. 
 
 Independence (Origi- 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 
 nality) 
 
 33. 
 
 Co-operation (Organi- 
 
 11 
 
 Order (System regular- 
 
 
 zation) 
 
 
 ity) 
 
 34. 
 
 Detail (Thoroughness) 
 
 12. 
 
 Memory (Responsibil- 
 
 35. 
 
 Speed (Execution) 
 
 
 ity) 
 
 36 
 
 Punctuality (Thought- 
 
 13. 
 
 Curiosity (Inventive- 
 
 
 fulness) 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 37. 
 
 Practicality (Objective- 
 
 14. 
 
 Mathematics (Causal- 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 
 ity) 
 
 38. 
 
 Leadership (Enthusi- 
 
 15. 
 
 Language (Persuasive- 
 
 
 asm) 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 39. 
 
 Incentive (Justice, re- 
 
 16. 
 
 Music (Time, tune, 
 
 
 ward) 
 
 
 rhythm) 
 
 40. 
 
 Honor (Conscientious- 
 
 17. 
 
 Art (Form, size, weight, 
 
 
 ness) 
 
 
 color) 
 
 41. 
 
 Patience (Endurance) 
 
 18. 
 
 Instinct (Love and 
 
 42. 
 
 Calmness (Poise) 
 
 
 knowledge of Na- 
 
 43. 
 
 Devotion (Aspiration) 
 
 
 ture) 
 
 44. 
 
 Ideality (Imagination) 
 
 19. 
 
 Intuition (Feeling, psy- 
 
 45. 
 
 Spirituality (Inspira- 
 
 
 chic power) 
 
 
 tion, energy) 
 
 20. 
 
 Love of Home (Inhabi- 
 
 46. 
 
 Mysticism (Cosmic con- 
 
 
 tiveness) 
 
 
 sciousness) 
 
 21. 
 
 Love of Family (Filial- 
 
 47. 
 
 Reverence (Prayer) 
 
 
 ty, fraternity) 
 
 48. 
 
 Hope (Optimism) 
 
 
 DIRECTIONS: Get 
 
 an unabridged. 
 
 dictionary and look up meaning of all 
 doubtful words. Have smooth, hard sur- 
 face directly under Chart. 
 
 With soft pencil, fill in the mental 
 blocks that you believe you have already 
 made large and strong enough to guar- 
 antee efficiency. Start with the tower and 
 work down, so as not to blur the page. 
 
 Leave slight blank margin around label of 
 each block. _ Thus, if your mental trait of 
 punctuality is but half what i t should be, th e 
 block would be filled in thus : ■RMB"—" "l 
 
 If necessary, ask your ^^^W | 
 
 parent, employer, teacher, K^QI I or best friend to help you 
 
 judge yourself. Being hon- * ■ J est, you will find some men- 
 
 tal building-blocks almost entirely blank. The average person would 
 probably have a total or equivalent of perhaps 25 out of 48, so do not 
 be discouraged if you have only that many. 
 
 Make a list of these total or partial blanks then ask an efficiency 
 expert or a practical psychologist how to supply your mental materials 
 for success. 
 
 Copyright 191 5 by Edward Earle Purinton 
 
 [257] 
 
CHAPTER X 
 GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 Explanatory Note. — The following solutions and suggestions 
 for personal problems are given here by special arrangement 
 with Mr. Purinton. They have been selected from his answers 
 to personal correspondence extending over several years, and 
 are published in the hope that they will interest and benefit the 
 readers of this book. — The Publishers. 
 
 YOU say somewhere that friendship and 
 business must not mix. I believe this, 
 but what can one do when his heart out- 
 strips his power to enforce the law? Supposing 
 sympathy becomes a factor too strong to be easily 
 overcome, or if overcome, done so with an intense 
 struggle bordering on true suffering? Enforce- 
 ment of the law of business causes suffering to the 
 one it strikes, and sympathy allows business to suf- 
 fer instead, when the business already suffers from 
 lack of working power or ability of the party in 
 question. What is my duty as a business man? 
 How can I awaken myself to the needs of business 
 
 [258] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 and retain my tender feelings, sympathy or love 
 for those with whom I am related? " 
 
 Your duty is to your business. This, however, 
 does not mean a loss of sympathy or neglect of 
 the finer things — it means only a truer vision. 
 The successful man is two men, he is a fighter and 
 a lover. During office hours he wears a mental 
 armor that protects him against the weakening 
 shafts of unwise sympathy; when he goes home he 
 takes the armor off and is himself again. You 
 need an armor; which, in your case, must be 
 molded from a conviction. 
 
 Look at it this way. Suppose you discharge 
 your employee — incompetent, as you say else- 
 where in your letter, but an ideal man and a per- 
 sonal friend. He suffers in consequence — but 
 why? Because he could not earn the salary he 
 was drawing. Which is better, a lifetime of dis- 
 honesty or a slight hurt of readjustment? No man 
 should enter a business for which he is not fitted, 
 one that he does not know or cannot learn. And 
 the motive is unworthy that allows him to keep a 
 place which he is not filling. If your business suf- 
 fers from lack of ability in a member of the con- 
 cern, you must do one of two things — make him 
 competent, or let him go. By retaining him, un- 
 worthily, you are doing an unkindness to yourself, 
 to your own family, to the other men in the firm, 
 
 [259] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 and to all outsiders whose business dealings are 
 affected indirectly. 
 
 I take it this man is a relative of yours. Then 
 so much the more need for strict justice. The 
 friendship that grows out of business is all right, 
 the business that grows out of friendship is all 
 wrong. Birth is an accident — business a des- 
 tiny; no two things could be further apart. 
 
 One of the greatest drawbacks to happiness is 
 fear of the right thing when doing it will make a 
 friend suffer. Is the surgeon cruel when he removes 
 a dead portion of the body? All suffering marks 
 a death and a resurrection. At the birth of im- 
 mortality there is always more or less of the brutal. 
 Every man is to his soul what the mother is to her 
 child — a knower of anguish, in the beginning. 
 When you deny the privilege of suffering to your 
 friend, you may be thwarting the birth of his 
 soul. 
 
 Please do not follow any suggestion here of- 
 fered without considering every argument on the 
 other side. Even with exact knowledge of condi- 
 tions no man can really advise another. We can 
 give general principles, but the choice of action 
 must lie between you and Omniscience. There is 
 always one right thing to do, and only one. Ask 
 yourself. You know — if you stop and listen. 
 
 [260] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 " Can true harmony and efficiency exist in a na- 
 tion where large numbers of foodless workers are 
 out of employment (in enforced idleness) through 
 lack of opportunity, because no one will hire 
 them?" 
 
 This question to be answered properly would 
 require a lengthy treatise on our system of govern- 
 ment. Two things however are certain. First, 
 that the cause of enforced idleness is not lack of 
 employment on the part of the rich, but lack of 
 equipment on the part of the poor — it is the con- 
 sensus of opinion among the leaders of commerce 
 that the really difficult problem of business is to 
 find high-grade men for high-grade positions. 
 Most of us need friction, privation, disappoint- 
 ment, to compel us to learn self-mastery. Almost 
 invariably, the man out of work has lost his posi- 
 tion through laziness, carelessness, impatience, or 
 incompetence. And these faults will not be rem- 
 edied by casting the blame on the mass of employ- 
 ers. Second, perfect harmony in a nation will 
 always be impossible. The greater the nation, 
 the more types of human beings compose it. This 
 means that in proportion as a country expands it 
 will hold as criteria of happiness a multiplicity of 
 ideals increasingly diverse. 
 
 That is, harmony depends more and more on 
 [261] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 the individual, as the institution grows. We be- 
 lieve in reaching the State through the individual. 
 Therefore we have neither any quarrel with social 
 propaganda nor any part in them. 
 
 " Should children ever be controlled by force? " 
 Only ignorance of a child's nature impels force, 
 and even that does not excuse it. If the parents 
 and teachers who resort to corporal punishment 
 would analyze themselves more closely they would 
 discover that their own weakness, mental, psychic 
 or emotional, is always back of the rod. In short, 
 the use of brute strength in the management of 
 children proves the last degree of incompetence 
 on the part of those who inflict the punishment. 
 There is no more effective way to lose a child's 
 respect than to lay hands on it. Moreover, re- 
 cent experiments in psychopathology have shown 
 that even the child of criminal tendencies may be 
 wholly reclaimed by establishing a physiological 
 harmony in brain and body and by suggesting only 
 the good to the child's mind. A child is like a 
 sensitive plate; even before birth, the impressions 
 of surroundings, including the feeling, thought, 
 and action of the parents, are being recorded day 
 by day. Children are literally made by what they 
 see and hear. The only true parental authority is 
 that of example — the parents who bluster and 
 threaten accomplish nothing but confession. 
 
 [262] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 " Is it a mistake to try to develop your psychic 
 powers; if so, why so? Is it not about the same 
 as trying to find out anything else which seems be- 
 yond the normal, such as flying, electricity, and so 
 forth?" 
 
 No, it is not about the same. If a helpless in- 
 fant who had not learned to walk were to be lifted 
 bodily, placed in a flying-machine, and set adrift on 
 the ocean of space, we should all recognize the 
 absurdity and criminality of the thing. Yet this is 
 what occurs time after time in the metaphysical 
 ranks. Psychic investigation is distinctly valuable 
 as a proof of race unfoldment; until recently, the 
 minds of men have been closed to the phenomena 
 of the unseen world, and any recognition of the 
 intangible things avails to quicken the perceptions. 
 But the natural and the human must precede the 
 celestial. Those who yield their personality to 
 the control of psychic forces generally run the risk 
 of losing their physical, intellectual, and moral 
 health. An indication of the unnaturalness of 
 psychic absorption may be witnessed in the seance. 
 The mediums declare that their " control " is 
 usually the spirit of a child, an Indian, or some 
 other low-grade intelligence. If the Divine Wis- 
 dom intended communication with the departed 
 spirits by this means, would not the great, gen- 
 erous, noble, and illumined spirits be the first to 
 [263] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 get in touch with the medium ? We must use the 
 powers that we have, or lose them. Did you ever 
 know an extreme occultist who was perfectly 
 healthy, normal, sane, and a source of joy in 
 everyday companionship? In the case of elec- 
 tricity, we make use of our bodies and our minds 
 together with our desire for knowledge. But in 
 the case of hypnotism, clairvoyance, psychometry, 
 and other phases of the supernormal, we must 
 relinquish our human attributes in order to ad- 
 vance. This does not appear sane. 
 
 " Do you offer this movement in lieu of a re- 
 ligion ?■" 
 
 Emphatically no. Efficiency stands in lieu of 
 nothing, but in fulfilment of everything. If a man 
 has lost his faith in God, himself, and the world, 
 we hope to help him find it again; or if he has the 
 old-fashioned religious belief we want to show 
 him how to live it through and through. But 
 there never can be a movement wise enough, 
 strong enough, good enough, to take the place of 
 religion in any human life. 
 
 Our purpose is fulfilment. Too often religion 
 has been uplifting but impractical, science has been 
 accurate but cold, education has been informative 
 but inactive, work has been profitable but joyless. 
 Our desire is to blend the finer aspects of religion, 
 science, education, and work, so that every life 
 
 [264] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 may become all-round, sympathetic, and powerful 
 in each expression of itself. 
 
 " I believe that one should not die ; if so why 
 is there such a feeling about it? " 
 
 Many believe as you do. Within the past ten 
 years a new school of thinkers has developed, their 
 slogan being Physical Immortality, and their aim 
 " How to live forever." These friends, some of 
 them personally known to the writer, maintain that 
 death could be, should be, will be conquered — 
 and more than one has lost his life in the effort. 
 The sanest of them are quite scientific, there is no 
 physiological necessity for dying. I think, how- 
 ever, there is a moral necessity — and will be so 
 long as present civilization endures. 
 
 The purpose of death is to cleanse the soul. To 
 realize this, look deep into the eyes of a little child 
 — then into the eyes of an old man ; observe the 
 clouds and masks and unrealities that have settled 
 with human experience, layer on layer, over the 
 beautiful child-sweetness that the man once pos- 
 sessed. We die for the sake of being natural 
 again. If we could retain the spiritual fervor and 
 divine impress that marks our beginning of life, 
 there would be no call for death to renew us. 
 
 The fear of death, as all fear, is based on ig- 
 norance and infidelity. Only they fear death who 
 
 [265] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 abuse or evade life. Men die averaging less than 
 forty years of age — they should all reach not less 
 than a hundred and twenty. By wrong living, 
 wrong thinking, wrong working, talking, feeling, 
 and loving, the human race destroys two-thirds of 
 its own life. This unconscious suicide virtually 
 tinges our whole view of death. Any good thing 
 turns bad when kept out of proportion. We, the 
 human family, experience death just three times as 
 often as we should. Hence it looks abnormal, 
 which it is. 
 
 Normal death is painless — a mere falling to 
 sleep. Yet because illness hurts, often terribly, 
 we imagine death hurts more. Our doctors and 
 ministers should both have told us differently. 
 
 Normal death is opportune, it comes when our 
 work is finished and we are so tired we care for 
 nothing but rest. If the friends of the dead 
 mourn, it is because the dead were incomplete. 
 Why blame death for that? 
 
 Normal death is radiant with promise, there is 
 nothing so illumined on earth as the vision that 
 belongs to the dying. We, never having died, 
 cannot understand this. We bury ourselves in 
 gloom, wear crepe veils and mourning bands, look 
 on joy as a desecration, bar the future good with 
 tearful reminiscence. If, instead of accepting the 
 world's false opinion of death, we would learn for 
 
 [266] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 ourselves the real nature of it, we should recognize 
 both spiritual and physical gain from the normal 
 dissolution of the body. 
 
 Human blindness, custom, weakness, supersti- 
 tion, transgression — this accounts for the dread 
 of the final change. Nature is guiltless. Nature 
 always helps, where man allows her to. 
 
 " Is it possible to fight Caesar with God, or must 
 we fight Caesar with Caesar and God with God? " 
 
 Let us suppose a case. Suppose you are a 
 woman of intense loyalty and a great impulsive 
 love-nature; you put your absolute faith in some 
 one for whom you care deeply — only to find him 
 subtle, shrewd, deceptive, mercenary, willing to 
 drain your heart's blood, turn all your sacrifices 
 into gain for himself, and not so much as thank 
 you for your life-surrender. Shall you become 
 deceptive and mercenary? No, but you shall be- 
 come subtle and shrewd! Every pronounced 
 mother-type, whether man or woman; every one 
 bent on giving; every sympathetic, warm-hearted, 
 unselfish nature, must adopt the first law of earth- 
 life, namely, self-preservation. Men, as a rule, 
 have learned this lesson only too well ; women are 
 just beginning to recognize the need of it. The 
 brain of man despises the heart of woman, because 
 the heart of woman cannot or will not exercise 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 brutality. And the brain, overwhelmingly brutal, 
 stops for nothing but its master in its own field. 
 
 There are two invincible weapons for a loving 
 woman to use against a ruthless man; coldness and 
 shrewdness. Take your choice. Be utterly in- 
 different — or be ever alert. Warfare is not 
 ideal. It is rudimentary. But the masculine way 
 of regarding women is primitive in the extreme. 
 And you may have to lapse momentarily into the 
 Stone Age, if you are to meet a man squarely on 
 his own ground. 
 
 Remember this : all permanent vantage is based 
 on merit. Your ugliest adversary owns a strength 
 of character that you do not possess — therefore 
 God brings him as a worthy example to you. 
 Rival his might, outmatch him in skill, make him 
 respect your sheer force of arms — then you will 
 not only save yourself, you will redeem him. 
 
 " I find it hard to reconcile efficiency methods 
 with Bible teachings. The gentle Master taught 
 meekness and no thought of oneself. To become 
 efficient, must we not become strenuous, and rather 
 egotistical? " 
 
 The gentle Nazarene taught meekness — but 
 He lived battle. He had to, for the world could 
 not understand meekness; the world considered 
 meekness a sign of hopeless defeat. When the 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 right everywhere prevails, the message of the Man 
 of Galilee may serve as a code of law. But until 
 that time, we shall be forced to gain our spiritual 
 advance by the most ardent struggles. 
 
 There are two kinds of genuine meekness: the 
 meekness of childhood, which is submission to au- 
 thority; and the meekness of old age, which is the 
 calm of meditation. Two thousand years ago the 
 civilized world was a babe, and the folk of Pales- 
 tine could well practise the simple, natural, child- 
 like form of meekness. Also in India meekness, 
 today, is a national trait — for India has grown 
 very old, and the zest of maturity is vanished. 
 But we of America are just reaching our strong 
 prime ; and to live and dp our work we must know 
 how to battle. Infinitely humble toward the vast 
 realm of truth whose outer portals we have but 
 opened a little way; modest toward our achieve- 
 ments, which are nothing beside what we might 
 have done; tender with the helpless, patient with 
 the erring, glad to yield our very lives in blessing 
 and serving those we love — all this we can be and 
 more, if then we stand as firm as Gibraltar, keep- 
 ing our granite wall of defense armed for the 
 passing hosts of insincerity. 
 
 " Cannot your philosophy greatly benefit my 
 wife and myself who have suffered by death the 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 loss of our only child, a bright boy, who would 
 have graduated from the High School this year? 
 He seemed our whole comfort and our source of 
 ambition and joy." 
 
 When the butterfly has grown from the worm, 
 and is released because now it has wings, do we 
 mourn? Why then mourn for the passing of the 
 human soul from its earth-limitations? The 
 change is the same. And if our experience were 
 larger, our perceptions finer, we should know this 
 and rejoice. 
 
 There is loss in death only because we do not 
 see the gain. Experience, like energy, cannot be 
 lost. We may not sense the transformation of 
 light into heat, or of heat into motion ; but the lack 
 of discernment cannot affect the laws of chemistry. 
 So with human experience, which is the energy of 
 the soul in the form of action; death transforms 
 experience into light — so that each earth-lesson 
 is radiant with meaning though it may have been 
 obscured while the soul was confined to an earth- 
 body. 
 
 Thus, if your boy was taken while very young, 
 he will simply be learning, growing, developing, 
 attaining, in a higher sphere. It is the belief of 
 many that all human life has a celestial counter- 
 part; that the work unfinished here will be sooner 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 perfected there; that specific training here will be 
 used there — every soul continuing the true ex- 
 pression of itself as teacher, artist, physician, mu- 
 sician, captain of industry or humble toiler; that 
 no real separation of soul-kin is possible and the 
 momentary parting looks to everlasting good. I 
 think the great difference between earth and 
 Heaven is that in Heaven we shall work with finer 
 tools. If your boy was spiritually matured be- 
 fore his age and could wield better instruments 
 than earth affords, can you not be glad for his 
 sake? 
 
 Have you ever thought of adopting a child? 
 Or of doing for other children what you would 
 have done for your child? Don't let your paren- 
 tal affections wither — let them unfold, and it is 
 quite possible that the boy in his new home may be 
 helped by your tenderness and watch-care exer- 
 cised for another. Selfishness will raise a wall be- 
 tween you and the dead — open-heartedness will 
 form a direct path of communication. Be kind to 
 some one else's boy, if you would keep close to 
 your boy. 
 
 After all, what of the living? Perhaps you 
 
 and your wife needed a great sorrow to melt your 
 
 hearts together. If your love for each other is 
 
 perfect, even the sharing of a woe is divine — the 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 sharing itself is enough. Lavish on each other 
 the faith, hope, idealism, self-sacrifice, devotion, 
 that you would have felt toward your boy; then 
 you may see why he was taken. 
 
 " Do you attach any scientific value to so-called 
 ' Absent Treatment ' ? What are the possibilities, 
 and the limitations, of pure thought-force? " 
 
 " Absent Treatment," being imaginary, is good 
 for imaginary ills. Even old-school physicians 
 must recognize this, on the principle that " like 
 cures like." By imaginary we do not mean ficti- 
 tious — the imagination is the builder of human 
 destiny. If you imagine any form of treatment is 
 curing you, it does cure you by letting your im- 
 agination play on yourself. Disease is Nature be- 
 ing hindered; cure is Nature being helped. 
 
 " Absent Treatment," as generally understood 
 and given, is merely the projection of positive, in- 
 spiring, cheering, health-producing thought from a 
 healer, psychologist, or so-called divine scientist to 
 the patient or student in need of uplift. A defi- 
 nite time and place is usually agreed upon in ad- 
 vance, with certain conditions of solitude, silence 
 and receptivity carefully observed by the patient. 
 Believers in this form of mental therapeutics claim 
 that distance cannot lessen the potency of the 
 quickening vibrations thus set in motion. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 Such a theory should not be ridiculed — but 
 such a practise should be safeguarded. 
 
 Benefits accruing from this method are perhaps 
 four-fold. In the first place, autosuggestion does 
 most of the healing in the case of absent treat- 
 ments — the mind of the patient animates himself 
 while he thinks the mind of the doctor rescues him. 
 Salutary, if not altogether honest. Then, the 
 period of enforced rest and quiet allows Nature 
 to work freely and restore equilibrium. More- 
 over, the feeling that a trusted friend is now send- 
 ing wireless thought-messages of love and hope 
 and strength, comforts and soothes. And finally, 
 there may be some power attached to the vibration 
 itself — though the absent healers whom the 
 writer has had the pleasure of knowing could not 
 by any stretch of generosity be accused of owning 
 minds that resembled storage-batteries. A mind 
 thoroughly sharpened isn't satisfied to hang on a 
 long-distance telephone ; it is a keen tool, and as a 
 tool must be used on things near-at-hand. 
 
 Beware, however, of the metaphysician who as- 
 sumes to " treat " you from a distance, without 
 possessing true, scientific knowledge of anatomy, 
 physiology and pathology, and without requiring a 
 personal diagnosis of your condition. Such a 
 healer is guilty of malpractice, and deserves no 
 pity when he goes to jail. 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 " How shall disobedience in a child be corrected 
 or prevented? " 
 
 By modifying the command, so that it accords 
 with the child's sense of justice, attitude of faith, 
 and peculiarities of temperament. The child who 
 disobeys proves one of two things; either that the 
 command itself was wrong, or that the method of 
 giving it was thoughtless, premature, inverted or 
 some other way out of plumb. Either of these 
 conditions is a reproof not to the child but to the 
 teacher, parent or guardian who exacts obedience. 
 
 Was the command reasonable? How many 
 parents stop to think why they tell their children 
 to do, or not to do, certain things? " Don't get 
 your feet wet — don't play in the dirt — don't run 
 with Johnny Smith (his folks ain't nice) — don't 
 neglect your studies — don't refuse your medicine 
 — don't ask where you came from — don't cry 
 when you're punished — don't deny a kiss to your 
 homely Aunt Hepsibah " — with this daily gamut 
 of rule-by-injunction to face manfully, how is a 
 child going to have enough strength left to do as 
 he is told? Every one of these senseless, fatal 
 Don'ts is based on a fallacy, which the child is 
 quick to recognize. Much " parental authority " 
 is barefaced rule of might, which nothing condones 
 save ignorance of the nature of a child. A man 
 should not beat his child any more than he should 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 beat his wife; in either case he is mentally weak 
 and morally decrepit. 
 
 Was the command desirable? There are no 
 commands in Nature but those of the inner voices. 
 And if a child rebels at a certain mandate, we may 
 safely doubt its character. It is right for every 
 child to go to school; it is not right for every child 
 to study every subject, or be under every teacher. 
 Put a born soldier in a theological seminary and 
 if he doesn't raise the dickens, you'd better consult 
 the doctor. Make a born poet study Trigonome- 
 try and if he isn't forced to carry all his figures on 
 his cuffs, it is because he has more principles than 
 most poets are cumbered with. This world is a 
 world of misfits ; chiefly because parents try to run 
 all children through a common mold. Of all cre- 
 ated things, human babies need the most under- 
 standing and are given the least. 
 
 Was the command intelligible ? Did you make 
 it plain? Children cannot think in terms of the 
 abstract — rules for them to be enforced, must be 
 illustrated. I have known cases where mere ba- 
 bies were punished cruelly for transgressing an 
 order innocently, ignorantly, not having realized 
 the true import of the words in which it was 
 couched. Children forget easily; absorbed in 
 work or play, they feel only the life of the mo- 
 ment. Then, too, they are weak, physically, men- 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 tally, morally — how many grown people can fol- 
 low their own resolution to the letter, with a mind 
 infallible and a will indomitable? Much less can 
 a toddling infant execute orders with a flawless 
 precision. There is often in cases of " perverse- 
 ness " a spirit of justifiable independence; most 
 parental discipline is quotation from a copybook, 
 and government by-rule-of -thumb does not appeal 
 to a child. 
 
 The command both wise and loving is seldom 
 disobeyed through malice. Therefore the first 
 remedial step is to examine and reconstruct the pa- 
 rental mind. 
 
 " What shall be done to check the iconoclastic 
 tendency of modern times? " 
 
 Nothing. Iconoclasm is the herald of individ- 
 ualism. Revolt comes that reality may follow. 
 Every great life was built on the ruins of all that 
 was not itself. The destroyer of custom is reck- 
 lessness — the destroyer of character is supine- 
 ness. You may recline upon the standards of so- 
 ciety; but when you start to advance you will feel 
 them topple — they are too flimsy to carry the 
 added weight of the idea which forces you to 
 move. 
 
 This is the age of iconoclasm. And the more 
 the better. For the preceding ages of darkness, 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 fear, superstition, were countless and interminable. 
 People today investigate things for themselves. 
 They take the word of no man, not even that of a 
 doctor, a scientist, or a minister of the gospel. 
 They are lacking in veneration — but in the past 
 they blindly worshiped a fetish, a dogma, a fiat, or 
 a totem-pole. Let the bold smashing of artificial 
 standards go merrily on ; for in the end, truth will 
 be the gainer. 
 
 Once upon a time an iconoclast declared " The 
 world is not flat ! " People said he was crazy. 
 So he left them creeping harmlessly about in their 
 mental crib, while he came and discovered Amer- 
 ica. 
 
 Another iconoclast, the greatest President that 
 America has known, decided " Slavery must not 
 be ! " The nation went to war about it — the na- 
 tion was afraid of iconoclasm. But the one man 
 triumphed, and his name is revered above that of 
 all other statesmen who ever lived. 
 
 The iconoclasts have always been the intellec- 
 tual and moral pioneers. Browning, Goethe, Shel- 
 ley, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Hugo, Ibsen, Emerson, 
 iconoclasts royal every one, changed the trend of 
 human minds toward broader, higher planes. And 
 they were fiendishly misunderstood while they were 
 doing it. It is safe to ridicule no man, excepting 
 the man who fears ridicule. 
 [277] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 We should thank most him who disagrees with 
 us. For, if we let him, he will show us our weak- 
 ness, whatever it may be. The custom, the na- 
 tion, the person, the creed, that stirs antagonism, 
 contains a false element that must be removed. 
 Rise above error and forget it, if you can; but if 
 not — kill it ! 
 
 " Should divorce be abolished? " 
 
 Nothing should be abolished. Abolition means 
 force; whereas gentleness, not force, is the ulti- 
 mate power in human life. 
 
 Divorce should be limited. It should be granted 
 to none but those who prove that they have done 
 their best — their physical, mental, and spiritual 
 best — to remedy the faults, each in himself or 
 herself, that occasion disagreement. Not equity, 
 but ideality, is the true ground for divorce. So 
 long as each blames the other and essays to worst 
 the other, they should be allowed to suffer torment 
 until they come to their senses. 
 
 Divorce conceded for alleged wrongs only per- 
 petuates them. In marriage or out of marriage, 
 no one can wrong us but ourselves. To remove 
 the effects of our own weakness, folly, ignorance or 
 insufficiency while still the cause remains is to in- 
 terrupt the process of Nature and thwart the plan 
 of God. So long as a husband or wife accuses the 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 other self-blindness persists. And for that, di- 
 vorce is not a cure. Trial separation is much bet- 
 ter — and it often prevents the final sundering of 
 marriage bonds grown irksome. A little time and 
 opportunity for meditation usually clarifies any dif- 
 ficulty arising from human relationship. 
 
 If marriage is performed by a minister, divorce 
 should also be sanctioned by him. Else there is 
 no logic in the situation. When clergymen realize 
 that sometimes divorce is necessary and right; 
 when judges perceive that generally divorce is 
 needless and wrong, and when people want the 
 truth about themselves — then we shall begin to 
 have a sane and wholesome method of applying 
 divorce. 
 
 A premonition of this glad day has been felt in 
 the Lower East Side of New York, where a wise 
 magistrate with a heart and soul in him lately es- 
 tablished a real divorce tribunal, whose object is 
 to re-unite the foolish married infants that get pro- 
 voked at each other, and only as a last resort to 
 give them a writ of freedom. People have nick- 
 named this tribunal " Cupid's Court," for here 
 the little pink god so often finds again the hearts 
 he had lost through the friction and strain of the 
 years in a common household. Every judge in a 
 divorce case should have qualified to be king of 
 " Cupid's Court." 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 " Are parents responsible for the noble or evil 
 careers of their children? " 
 
 So far as children are concerned, two things are 
 required of parents: That they love each other 
 with all the fervor, devotion and unselfishness of 
 which they are capable, and that they employ all 
 the known methods of science and religion for the 
 bearing, rearing and training of children. Par- 
 ents are responsible for their children only insofar 
 as they themselves have obeyed, or refused, the 
 guidance of love in their own life. Parenthood 
 is the static period of divine impress; wherever 
 children fail to reach their highest, some lowered 
 parental ideal was at least a contributing cause. 
 
 Our highest is better than our most. Hence the 
 father and mother of pure thought and lofty pur- 
 pose bequeath to us a finer heritage than those of 
 mere manual skill or psychic training. But a sym- 
 metry of parenthood is possible only to those who 
 have made thorough study of sex-conservation, pre- 
 natal influence, physical, mental and spiritual aids 
 to motherhood, privileges and responsibilities of 
 fatherhood, psychology and hygiene of babyhood, 
 principles and methods of Froebel, Horace Mann, 
 and other true educators ; — in short, all that per- 
 tains to the growth of a child, from the hour of 
 conception to the hour of leaving home as a fully 
 developed man or woman. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 If all those who marry could be weighted with 
 a sense of their responsibility to the unborn; and 
 if all those whose children are grown could be 
 relieved of the sense of ownership and interference 
 which is generally nothing more than a belated 
 sense of responsibility; — then homes would be 
 happier because home makers would be more free 
 and more fit, both. Lack of freedom is always 
 lack of fitness. And the ideal home is that in 
 which every member holds himself responsible for 
 himself — but for no other. Blame arises from a 
 shortage of backbone. Every man's career is self- 
 carved; and the nearer we hew to our own line of 
 vision, the readier we are to shoulder all the re- 
 sponsibility in sight. 
 
 Are you a parent? Take responsibility for 
 your children. Are you a child? Take responsi- 
 bility for yourself. For, strange to say, the one 
 who takes the most feels it least! 
 
 " A young friend of mine who has a great de- 
 sire for traveling has already traveled over four 
 continents during the past eight years; although 
 having a good position, he yet feels unhappy, rest- 
 less and discontented. What is the cause, and the 
 means of relief? " 
 
 Travel is a diversion — not a life work. The 
 very habit of being constantly on the go tends to 
 [281] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 produce a feeling of restlessness. Moreover, the 
 lack of a permanent home and place of business, 
 which the professional traveler is forced to un- 
 dergo, does not fit in with our present stage of 
 development. When we were nomads, we were 
 rudiments. 
 
 What your friend needs is to travel not over the 
 world but into himself. It is a matter of common 
 observation that those who have a mania for travel 
 do not know the meaning of self-resource. The 
 real mission of travel is to develop those percep- 
 tions and faculties which otherwise would remain 
 dormant. Self-analysis and self-improvement, 
 wisely conducted, will take the place of travel. 
 
 It is utterly impossible to tell the cause of any- 
 thing without knowing all the conditions. The 
 unhappiness of your friend might be traced to one 
 of a hundred causes in the physical, mental, emo- 
 tional or spiritual realms — entirely apart from 
 the element of travel. We would suggest a per- 
 sonal consultation with an experienced, broad, sym- 
 pathetic psychologist. 
 
 " Is the nervous system the channel of operation 
 between the mortal and the immortal? " 
 
 Many students of Occultism hold that the spinal 
 cord is the connecting link between soul and body. 
 Therefore the nervous system would trace the 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 ramifying of the indestructible ego throughout the 
 body of flesh and blood. Materialistic scientists 
 are unable to controvert this opinion, since they 
 themselves are ignorant of the composition of 
 nerve substance, and in doubt as to the origin of 
 nerve action. 
 
 Disorders of the emotional, affectional or 
 psychic natures bear directly on the nerves. As 
 the emotions, the affections and the intuitions per- 
 tain to the spiritual life, this would indicate a very 
 close connection between the soul and the nervous 
 organism. It is also noteworthy that in the case 
 of invalids who are constantly doing something 
 they know they should not, the nerves become more 
 and more unstrung as the violation of conscience 
 increases. 
 
 Nearly every case of weak or tense or shaky 
 nerves may be resolved to a chronic state of ne- 
 gation, where the sufferer is failing to voice, regu- 
 larly and positively, the highest mandates of the 
 soul. 
 
 11 Do ideal womanhood and manhood exist in 
 real life?" 
 
 Every human being is the realization, or the ap- 
 proximation, of an ideal. If we could subpoena 
 History as a witness, we should find that the most 
 crude, uninteresting, woe-begone specimen of hu- 
 [283] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 manity is really far in advance of what he was a 
 few centuries ago. If we could perceive clearly, 
 we should apprehend that all the world is in the 
 state of becoming ideal. This would revoke our 
 pessimism, and nullify our habit of hasty judg- 
 ment. 
 
 The endless diversity of human ideals must be 
 recognized before we can judge another life fairly. 
 There are no more leaves in a forest than there are 
 tints and forms and varieties of human aspirations. 
 It would be as foolish, undesirable and impossible, 
 for any other individual to express our ideal as it 
 would be for an oak leaf to imitate the pine, or a 
 lily to envy the rose. 
 
 If you are looking for an ideal man or woman, 
 you will probably be disappointed. The ideal in 
 your own mind must be expressed in your own 
 heart and life, in order to satisfy you. But if you 
 can look on every man and woman as embodying, 
 more or less perfectly, his or her particular ideal, 
 you will find a joy in human companionship that 
 perhaps you have not felt before. 
 
 " Please advise me if one can possibly be too 
 optimistic. It is to my mind apparent that much 
 of the so-called ' New Thought ' is fake — and 
 extremely illogical." 
 
 Much of any kind of new thought is overenthusi- 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 asm. Helen Wilmans, the organizer of Mental 
 Science in this country, actually believed that she 
 could by the force of her brain grow new limbs 
 on people, execute surgical operations, and restore 
 gray hair to its youthful color. Such a claim is 
 illogical, but not so wild as it looks. I understand 
 that Elmer Gates, in his laboratory at Chevy 
 Chase, Washington, has really created body-cells 
 by artificial stimulation of nerves, brain and blood. 
 We have no right to call anything " fake " — most 
 of the world's greatest problems have been finally 
 solved by an impractical dreamer generally con- 
 sidered a fanatic, a charlatan, or a tool of sor- 
 cerers. 
 
 There is, however, such a thing as being an un- 
 mitigated optimist — blind, rash, flippant, weak 
 and selfish, unable to cope with the stern grind of 
 things and feebly taking refuge in a good-luck 
 formula. Optimism without common sense is a 
 balloon without ballast — only its descent is 
 quicker than its ascent. Optimism without fore- 
 thought is an engine off the track and still run- 
 ning; optimism without sympathy is a boat with 
 one oar; optimism without any needful human trait 
 is a dangerous instrument of progress. We for- 
 get how slowly Nature works — it may be years 
 before today's thought assumes visible shape. 
 But if we picture happiness clearly enough, and 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 frame it with strong, coherent action, our lives 
 will gradually change of themselves till the colors 
 all blend with our dream and desire. Optimism is 
 not talking, or even smiling — but knowing, doing, 
 waiting. 
 
 " Is there not a limit to self-sacrifice? What 
 of a sacrifice by an unmarried woman for less for- 
 tunate relatives who do not appear to appreciate 
 it, and who have homes and children of their 
 own? " 
 
 This kind of foolish immolation is pathetic, be- 
 cause so frequent and so hopeless. Thousands of 
 daughters who wish to be dutiful, or of maiden 
 aunts so-called who idolize unselfishness, are liter- 
 ally committing slow suicide in following the whims 
 of autocratic old parents or in playing nurse to 
 barbarous young nephews and spoiled young 
 nieces. Self-sacrifice is justified only when a high 
 degree of spiritual kinship is felt between those 
 concerned, so that a community of idealism acts 
 as safeguard in preventing thoughtless acceptance 
 or needless gift of sacrifice. Few people in the 
 same family are spiritually related; hence few 
 cases of filial or fraternal sacrifice are anything 
 but specious. 
 
 A fair gauge of self-surrender may be found in 
 this question. Is the altar of devotion greater 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 than the devotee ? If so, let him yield himself up ; 
 if not, let him beware. Martyrs who have died 
 for a splendid cause or glorious principle have 
 gained more than they lost. But martyrs who 
 have died for the sake of domestic minutiae have 
 throttled their own spiritual growth. 
 
 Does your sacrifice of self bind you, repress 
 you, hurt you, madden you ? Then stop it — what 
 you need is self-respect. Does your sacrifice ex- 
 pand you, refine you, comfort you, exalt you? 
 Then give your last drop of blood to make it per- 
 fect. 
 
 " How can a widow be happy who has no one 
 to care whether she is dead or alive; and whose 
 only relative, a brother, drinks to excess, remains 
 out all night, and when sober is utterly indifferent? 
 I get blue and despondent, I have become sour- 
 tempered and at times almost insane : is there any 
 hope for me? My heart leads at all times." 
 
 You are unhappy not because you are lonely 
 and not because your brother drinks, but because 
 your heart leads at all times. Get some work and 
 let your brain lead part of the time ; get some light 
 and let your soul lead part of the time ; get some 
 exercise and let your body lead part of the time; 
 take yourself out of your emotions and your trou- 
 bles will seem infinitesimal, which they are. 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 The world is full of people who care whether 
 you are dead or alive — you haven't found them, 
 that is all. There are plenty of people who would 
 love to know you. 
 
 You haven't enough to do to keep your mind 
 out of mischief. Look around you for people 
 whose lives you can brighten; you will soon re- 
 alize that others carry woes even greater than 
 yours, and that you have been neglecting many 
 sources of happiness. Cease trying to be happy 
 — try just to be useful. And if happiness doesn't 
 catch you unawares, it will be the first time that 
 anybody trod the path of loving service without 
 meeting her. 
 
 " Is contentment always advisable?" 
 Contentment always — satisfaction never. The 
 discontented man rebels at his surroundings, con- 
 ditions, limitations, or other external features of 
 life. That is foolish, if not wrong. The unsat- 
 isfied man rebels at his own imperfections, and 
 strives with himself to relieve outer hardship by 
 developing inner strength. That is divine, and 
 nothing else avails in the end to guarantee im- 
 provement. 
 
 Much of what passes for contentment is a 
 veneered form of lethargy, blindness, or cow- 
 ardice. As between the slow, heavy, unruffled 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 man who seems contented because obtuse, and the 
 nervous, impatient, fiery man who is always get- 
 ting into trouble, choose the one who feels, acts, 
 errs and suffers. Ashes are contented — light- 
 ning bolts are not. 
 
 Yet underneath physical activity, mental ambi- 
 tion, perhaps emotional disturbance, we can and 
 should retain a sense of utter calm, arising from 
 our faith in the ultimate goodness of things, and 
 assuring to us equilibrium in the midst of a world 
 of panic. Not even the depths of the sea can be 
 as quiet, as changeless, as cool and clear, as the 
 soul abiding in its own full consciousness. 
 
 " How is a woman going to be happy when her 
 husband drinks? If there's any way to happiness 
 for her, please let me know." 
 
 The faults of others cannot make us unhappy 
 except as they reveal deficiency in ourselves. You 
 are miserable not because your husband drinks, 
 but because you haven't learned the way to love 
 him out of it. Any form of weakness marks the 
 absence of love. And the man who goes wrong 
 needs, most, the unyielding faith of some one who 
 loves him enough to behold him perfect. 
 
 Alcoholism is a disease of the will, the nerves, 
 the stomach, and the emotions. The victim of 
 intemperance must be treated as an invalid — not 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 as a criminal, demon, or outcast. Work with him 
 
 — not for him, against him, or in spite of him. 
 Make his battle your battle; let him feel your sym- 
 pathy, confidence and strength in every moment of 
 struggle; give him the joy of knowing that some 
 one understands — and you are on the way to hap- 
 piness for you both. 
 
 The first element in temperance reform is die- 
 tetic. If home cooking were as palatable, hy- 
 gienic and attractive as it should be, no man could 
 bear the taste of liquor. Foods that are soggy, 
 greasy, pasty, rich, ill-prepared, with excess of 
 meat, condiments, and white-flour products, liter- 
 ally drive a man to the saloon by force of artificial 
 irritation. A well-balanced menu of simple things 
 
 — fruits, nuts, vegetables, cereals, salads, and 
 light desserts — has been known of itself to cure 
 the liquor-appetite. 
 
 The second factor is rejuvenation of the nerves. 
 This requires distinct mental, moral and spiritual 
 help. Ordinarily, specific treatment is required, 
 such as may be had at any of the several institutes 
 for the relief of alcoholism. 
 
 The next move is to reform the home. Men 
 seek the saloon because it meets a vital want. 
 There they can relax, forget their worries, find 
 sympathy, generosity, goodfellowship, and permis- 
 sion to be themselves. Let the home fill every 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 need of a man's nature, and the " night with the 
 boys " will be forgotten. Share your husband's 
 pleasures and he will share your woes. 
 
 Lastly; praise him for what he is, appeal to the 
 manhood in him, stir his pride to show himself a 
 hero in her eyes. Let him once taste the joy of 
 battling for an ideal — your ideal — and this 
 should be elixir enough. Men emerge gods be- 
 neath the transfiguring touch of a wise and loving 
 woman. And the faults of a man, great as they 
 are, become sources of power when the woman of 
 his heart lays her hand on the weakness, bidding it 
 reverse. 
 
 " How can I gain concentration of thought? " 
 " How can I apply it so as to drive out fear? " 
 You will gain concentration of thought by estab- 
 lishing fixity of purpose. The remedy for a scat- 
 tering mind is a vow, so earnest, so real, so all- 
 compelling, that nothing can break it or weaken 
 its hold. The writer was once a victim of " con- 
 fused ideas " to a degree bordering on hysteria. 
 He cured himself by discerning just what he most 
 wanted to do, then at the beginning of each day 
 saying " I Will " enough times to make sure he 
 would. If necessary, clench your fists and pound 
 the table with each declaration of purpose. Shout 
 it if you have to. Be so positive that the unused 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 remnants of ideas lodged in your brain will be 
 swept clean out like drift before a deluge. Look 
 in the faces of the world's big men and you will see 
 that the masters of concentration have all been 
 masters of purpose. Get one idea of your own, 
 then act it out, repeat as often as needed, and you 
 will find the incoherence is gone. 
 
 There are more tangible ways of accomplish- 
 ment. Certain games will aid concentration; 
 notably chess, diabolo, tennis, polo, and cycling. 
 Learn to play one of these until you can surely win. 
 The feeling of mastery, of itself, renders a man 
 alert. And the divided mind is always sluggish. 
 
 Another method is linguistic. A knowledge of 
 Latin, Greek, or some other synthetic language, 
 requires attention to the slightest change in form 
 of word or position. Intense watchfulness results, 
 before which all jumbled ideas vanish. Another 
 good practise : shut yourself in a room with a pa- 
 per and pencil, take an unsettled theme, such as 
 Telepathy, Free Will, Immortality, and write 
 all the possible arguments on both sides of the 
 question before leaving the room. Join a de- 
 bating society for like benefit. Perhaps the best 
 way is to infuse a different motive into the 
 regular work of the hour. Whatever you are 
 doing — from washing dishes to managing a 
 corporation — begin practising this: " How 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 quickly and how well can I do it? " Speed alone, 
 or thoroughness alone, might fail to produce con- 
 centration; together, they can't fail. To work 
 rapidly demands a focus of the subjective mind; 
 between these foci the entire mind is absorbed. 
 
 No man living can tell you how to " drive out 
 fear." 
 
 Fear cannot be driven out, fear must be loved 
 out. Fear is darkness, and the remedy is light. 
 The majority of human souls are born spiritually 
 blind. And our struggle through the ages has 
 been to free ourselves from the dread of the shad- 
 ows lurking in our own heavy eyes. 
 
 Fear is one of three things: ignorance, auto- 
 intoxication, or inertia. And the cure is three- 
 fold: knowledge, purity, activity. 
 
 The two main objects of apprehension are peo- 
 ple and future events. But to know people is to 
 love them, and to know ourselves is to command 
 fate. " Editha's Burglar," which I trust every 
 child among you has read and enjoyed, contains a 
 very pretty sentiment — and a very great truth. 
 No man can " burgle " while a little child watches 
 him in perfect faith. If you fear burglary, com- 
 mence to love the burglar (and put a good stout 
 lock on your door). Lion-tamers declare that 
 what keeps the animal in subjection is the man's 
 consciousness of power. The beast has more 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 strength — but the man knows his. Know the 
 heart and you trust your neighbor; know the mind 
 and you trust yourself; know the soul and you trust 
 your Creator; know, and you trust. Faith is not 
 blind, Faith is all-seeing. 
 
 The second element in anxiety is physiological, 
 what the doctors call " auto-intoxication." Most 
 people are food-poisoned, and consequently stupid. 
 I think it may be held a ground-principle that the 
 man with a chronic fear is a victim of self-indul- 
 gence at the table. Even the purest food when 
 taken an ounce in excess of the actual needs of the 
 body, turns to poison within twenty-four hours. 
 This toxic matter passes through the abdominal 
 walls into the blood, thence to the brain, thence 
 into all forms of perverted thought. Most of our 
 anxiety is the ghost of what we ate for dinner yes- 
 terday. Wholesome food, individually chosen, 
 naturally prepared, and rationally consumed, is 
 the beginning of clear thought as well as of clean 
 life. This would take a volume to elaborate ; the 
 suggestion is given merely by way of hint. 
 
 The other constituent of fear is apathy. Very 
 bad people are usually very bold. Not because 
 they are bad, but because they are up and doing. 
 There are two sorts of conscience, the positive and 
 the negative. One says " Do," the other says 
 " Don't." For a long while, very good people 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 have cultivated the negative one to death, leaving 
 the positive one for the reckless use of people with 
 vitality to squander. The cry of to-day is for men 
 and women who combine the martyr's motive and 
 the conqueror's method. We are wont to fear, 
 not in the presence of real danger — for then God 
 appears in the breach; but in the expectation of 
 mere unpleasantness, where the human of us may 
 have to suffer as it should. Life is nothing, 
 growth is everything; and if the worst thing should 
 fall upon us, namely, death, we grow more, at a 
 leap, when we die than we could even vision while 
 we lived. 
 
 "How is it possible to be efficient or happy 
 when, on account of a very wretched past, every 
 man's hand is against me? " 
 
 The past lies between you and God. No man 
 has any right to judge it, and the fact that men 
 do proves them either ignorant or guilty. Con- 
 demnation is always one of these two things — ig- 
 norance or guilt. To have the power whose un- 
 wise expression we call sin, and to command it 
 fully, is to be infinitely gentle with the sinner. Be 
 very sure that the man who judges harshly is of a 
 scant, mean and suspicious nature, or else his con- 
 science goads him into chastising himself over your 
 head. Hence, criticism from the unworthy is 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 itself unworthy. Ignore it, forget it if you 
 can. 
 
 I do not really think you are being hurt in this 
 way. Probably what hurts is a lesson half 
 learned. The greater a mistake, the greater the 
 lesson. But the memory of the mistake will be an 
 open wound, until the spirit of entire consecration 
 has healed it. Are you making the best of the 
 wrong that has been? Have you raised over the 
 ashes of youth the altar of an everlasting ideal? 
 Do you put your whole soul into the problem, joy 
 or duty of this one moment — which alone creates 
 Eternity ? 
 
 You cannot " live down " a past; you must live 
 it out, then rise above it. Whatever the penalty 
 is — from the blind world's damnation to the re- 
 morse, keener and deeper, of your own awakened 
 soul — whatever the penalty is, stand up to it like 
 a soldier; never mind being happy, there's time 
 enough for that in the ages to come; start being 
 true, every inch and atom; only thus can you re- 
 build the temple of innocence whose preservation 
 is the hardest thing for a man or woman to achieve 
 — and the most worth while. Be comforted a 
 little ; those who have erred must be God's favor- 
 ite children, for He makes them, if they will, both 
 stronger and purer than those who were never 
 tempted. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 " I have been looking for happiness all my life, 
 and have met disappointment until I have felt that 
 it did not pay to look for anything good or pleasant 
 in this life on earth; but in spite of the failure of 
 many plans and ambitions, I am still hoping to 
 learn the way to happiness." 
 
 What you need is a pair of spectacles — I 
 shouldn't be surprised if Happiness had met you 
 often in the street and was greatly pained at being 
 snubbed by you with your gaze in the sky. You 
 need a telescope, with which to take the long view 
 of things — and a microscope with which to study 
 yourself at close range. How do you know your 
 plans " failed"? Are you omniscient? That is 
 impossible, because if you were you would know 
 that no such thing as failure exists anywhere in 
 the Universe. You may have to try a couple of 
 times more, after practising long enough to do 
 things right. Or, you may be led along some way 
 not of your own rash choosing. But you're bound 
 to arrive; a million solar systems could not hold 
 you back. 
 
 Why don't you brace up and hit the game for 
 what fun there is in it? That's the real reward 
 anyhow — your good and pleasant things sound 
 like milk-and-water, which can't sustain a fellow 
 with a genuine backbone. I suspect you're 
 womanish — womanish in a wrong way. You've 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 been entertaining Disappointment, feeding him on 
 the fat of the land, and remonstrating when he 
 had to go and visit his other numerous hosts and 
 hostesses. Wrong treatment altogether. Disap- 
 pointment is like a tramp — set the dog on him 
 and he won't come back. Get a padlock for your 
 heart, so the vagrants can't climb in. 
 
 The answer to your problem may be this : your 
 ambitions have not squared with your destiny. 
 When your ambitions and your aspirations coin- 
 cide, you will get what you want. The line of 
 progress marked out for the human soul is on- 
 ward and upward, together. For instance, if you 
 want money and don't have it, your spiritual na- 
 ture is defective; or if you have it and don't enjoy 
 losing it, you are a spiritual pauper; in short, pos- 
 sessions must accompany developed possibilities — 
 but we must not look to possessions for the joy that 
 lies in development alone. Every ambition gone 
 to smash means a better set of trained faculties; 
 and the reason for ambition is to give you that. 
 Plug along some more. 
 
 " I suppose you will agree that happiness comes 
 as a result or consequence of certain creeds trans- 
 lated into harmonious conduct, rather than as an 
 object to be sought directly? " 
 
 This idea of happiness more nearly expresses 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 the ultimate than any suggested hitherto. How 
 many people have a creed which is vital enough to 
 impel the living of it? The genius has — and he 
 pays with starvation ; the martyr has — and he 
 pays with death; the real mother has — and she 
 pays with suffering often worse than death; all 
 these disciples of their own belief attain such a 
 pinnacle of happiness, through doing what they 
 feel is right, that their anguish is forgotten and 
 their life transfigured. The amount of spiritual 
 death everywhere manifest can be traced largely 
 to this; that people live according to their opin- 
 ions and not according to their beliefs. Convic- 
 tion should be the mainspring of action; no matter 
 what the conviction, if it is honest the action will 
 be right. It is better to be true to a false God 
 than false to a true. The mere vitalizing of a 
 creed spiritualizes the possessor. There are thou- 
 sands of business men who have no verbal religion, 
 yet who because they live the best they know are 
 nearer the Kingdom of Heaven than the exhorter 
 who merely repeats what he has heard about God. 
 Life is religion, there can be no other. 
 
 If we could all from this moment start acting 
 our beliefs in every particular, we should find this 
 world as glorious as the Heaven we have learned 
 to imagine in the skies because there was no place 
 for it here. 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 " How can we learn to rise above routine — to 
 feel freedom in spite of the routine of our work- 
 a-day life and its necessary duties?" 
 
 The end of routine is freedom — the only prob- 
 lem is to see just how. Few of those who are 
 apparently free know what to do with themselves ; 
 and freedom is but opportunity for self-expression. 
 The man born to wealth fritters it away, the 
 woman who is given leisure has no sense of the 
 value of time, the child who pays nothing for its 
 education learns little worth knowing. There is 
 no genuine freedom save that produced by friction. 
 
 Close to every work-a-day life, three avenues 
 pass to liberation; the avenue of loving service, the 
 avenue of ambition, the avenue of spare-time un- 
 foldment. 
 
 Whether your work is in the home or the office, 
 you can make the conscious purpose of it to en- 
 sure the welfare, comfort and happiness of your 
 loved ones. Such a motive buoys the soul. Ab- 
 solute devotion to those we love is the crest-light 
 of freedom, only by its radiance do we achieve the 
 summit. 
 
 Again, all intelligent work leads to promotion. 
 Are you keenly alive to the opportunities for ad- 
 vancement in your business or profession? Is 
 there a weakness or lack in yourself which keeps 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 you subject to the monotonous grind of things? 
 If you make the utmost to to-day's work, you cre- 
 ate opportunity for to-morrow. Be always look- 
 ing for something better — looking and knowing 
 it will come. 
 
 Again, what are you doing with your leisure- 
 hours? Epictetus was a slave; but he found time 
 to elaborate an immortal philosophy of life. Bun- 
 yan was a prisoner; but he made of his prison a 
 scene of masterful creatorship; because there was 
 a prison there is a " Pilgrim's Progress." Abra- 
 ham Lincoln made Emancipation his watchword; 
 but not until he had doubled his routine, adding 
 to that of enforced toil that of enforced study. 
 What is your heart's supreme desire? Learn to 
 lose yourself in the consummation of it, or the 
 preparation for it, whenever the duties of the day 
 permit. Not the crowding by routine, but the 
 crushing of idealism, is the perpetual menace to 
 freedom. 
 
 Finally, cultivate your subjective powers. Mys- 
 ticism, poetry, music, some phase of religion or 
 love, will transport you beyond the urgent call of 
 everyday existence, into a realm of calm and joy- 
 ous prescience; where you can feel the soul un- 
 trammeled, clear, pure, immortal. And the soul 
 is always free. 
 
 [801] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 " Will you not emphasize the importance to the 
 wife and mother of a household, of change of 
 scene and occupation? So few of them realize 
 it is a necessity and enables them to perform du- 
 ties with more happiness and efficiency." 
 
 If a business man stuck to his office as a house- 
 wife sticks to her home, there would shortly be no 
 man and no office. The man would be worn to a 
 shadow, and the office would be vanished in the 
 smoke and combustion of a man's lurid wrath over 
 petty irritations. The man who succeeds locks his 
 job in his office and doesn't allow it to follow him 
 home. There is nothing so docile as a job that 
 you can drive — and nothing so domineering as a 
 job that drives you. 
 
 It is not the nature of woman to fret; it is the 
 nature of woman to endure in silence beyond the 
 power of man to conceive. But she must work 
 for the one she loves, and she must have under- 
 standing from the one she loves. Given this 
 motive with this reward and there is no task too 
 hard, no day too long, no pain too bitter. I sus- 
 pect that the majority of ailing, irritable, over- 
 worked housewives suffer not from too much toil 
 but from too little appreciation. 
 
 Even the tenderest, wisest husband seldom re- 
 alizes the physical, mental and nervous strain that 
 the profession of wife and mother involves. In- 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 deed, the best husbands are the ones who expect 
 their wives always to be at home. Quite apart 
 from the countless duties and endless responsibil- 
 ities of home-making, there is in every normal 
 woman a hidden something of the gipsy, the 
 sprite, the fairy, or the savage. Poets understand 
 this — but poets aren't much good as husbands 
 until they recover; the man to satisfy a woman is 
 a man who is all business in the office and all ro- 
 mance at home. 
 
 If you want to give your wife a delicious sur- 
 prise, give her a day's outing at least once a 
 month. Go with her, or allow her to go alone, 
 whichever she prefers. But don't tell her in ad- 
 vance when or how the day of pleasure will be 
 spent. (Of course if she doesn't like surprises, 
 she is either unbendingly old or hopelessly 
 civilized, then this suggestion will be out of 
 place.) 
 
 The important thing is to provide a complete 
 change from darning, washing dishes, planning 
 meals, going marketing, running errands, listening 
 for the doorbell and telephone, tidying up the 
 house, settling childish quarrels and healing child- 
 ish bruises. 
 
 There is a law of soul-rebound which may be 
 stated thus; the utmost of happiness, and of effi- 
 ciency, arises where extremes meet. Get as deep 
 [303] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 into your work as possible, then as far away from 
 it as possible, then back again. 
 
 Love your home enough to leave it before you 
 tire of it. And if you do tire of it or any of its 
 belongings, don't blame the home — blame the rut 
 in your mind, that surrounds the home. 
 
 " How can one sympathize with one's friends' 
 ills without danger of weakening them by pity? " 
 
 The first, and real, meaning of the word sym- 
 pathize is " to feel, or experience with " another. 
 Because so few allow themselves to feel deeply 
 except under great sorrow, the word has taken a 
 mournful aspect. Sympathy with humor, with 
 courage, with brotherhood, with hope — this kind 
 of sympathy is worth more to the ounce than your 
 grief-charged oceans of tears will assay to the ton. 
 The time to sympathize with your friend is in ad- 
 vance of his sorrows — then he will turn to you 
 instinctively and you need but be natural. It is 
 commiseration that weakens; and commiseration 
 is artificial, being what we think we ought to say 
 under the circumstances. 
 
 Your friend in trouble needs two things — a 
 moment of silent understanding; then a lifetime 
 of insistent empowering. Don't prolong the mo- 
 ment beyond its due. If a sudden death or disas- 
 ter has buried your friend in gloom leave him 
 
 [304] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 prone for a while, until the numbness and the 
 weeping have spent themselves. He needed this 
 enforced period of reflection, or it would not have 
 come. But the instant when he is ready to take 
 up his life again, help him plunge into activity so 
 new, fresh, attractive and stimulating that the old 
 sad associations are gradually forgotten. The 
 man with a grief has got to be made to do things. 
 
 If your friend is a typical chronic invalid, punch 
 him — literally or figuratively. He needs wak- 
 ing up. The cure for the man who " enjoys poor 
 health " is brusquerie — not balm. 
 
 In dealing with those who think themselves un- 
 fortunate, keep always in your own mind this life- 
 saving thought: " How can I help my friend be 
 strong to meet his crisis, win his battle, learn his 
 lesson, turn his loss into gain, discover himself in 
 the process, and pass on to greater heights of 
 achievement?" Woes are hidden wellsprings of 
 blessing. Dig, and be refreshed. 
 
 " I want you to write to the optimists who 
 are creating pessimists among their families and 
 friends, the idealists who insist on building towers 
 before their foundations are properly secured, who 
 make idealism obnoxious to every one connected 
 with them. I am an optimist both by natural in- 
 clination and by stern education, but of late I am 
 [305] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 tottering toward realism and ' things as they are/ 
 I know you have had similar lessons in living and 
 will give my idea clear expression." 
 
 This reminds one of the classic definition of a 
 pessimist: u a man who has to live with an op- 
 timist." 
 
 Incorrigible, unreasoning, optimists are pes- 
 tiferous beyond compare. As June-bugs in your 
 path, as lightning-bugs in your sleeping chamber, 
 as just plain " bugs " in your psychopathic audit- 
 ing-department, they flit and buzz and bother while 
 other creatures gray and grim do the work of the 
 world. There is little hope for the man who does 
 not sometimes lose all hope. Such a man is an 
 insect. 
 
 Human life too often is a tragedy from the 
 cradle to the grave ; a tragedy of ignorance, weak- 
 ness, selfishness, compromise, cruelty, misunder- 
 standing, heartache, dumb stupidity, and black in- 
 justice. To look at such a world and only smile 
 is to be void of human sensibility. 
 
 Moreover, the genuine idealists do not talk. 
 They dream, plan, work, wait, fight, suffer, almost 
 despair, but never give up, in silence. Whoever 
 makes ''idealism obnoxious" is moon-struck; he 
 reflects a borrowed philosophy of life, he does not 
 radiate his own. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 The ultimate of everything is good. But the 
 ultimate is a long way off. And if you aren't 
 called upon to meet gruelling hardships and pass 
 through fearful conditions, you may know your 
 mental and spiritual muscles are so weak that God 
 only pities you, deeming you unworthy of a real 
 test. Children babble pretty nothings ; but if chil- 
 dren did that all their lives they would become 
 idiots. There are such things as metaphysical 
 idiots, who have lost their intelligence in the repe- 
 tition of a pet phrase or empty " affirmation." 
 Confirm your affirmation, or else don't make it. 
 
 Be happy, all you can. But don't, in the name 
 of a long-suffering public, make " Be happy " your 
 only morning salutation to your friends. If you 
 do, they will hope you may always oversleep. 
 
 " Is thought stored in the brain, or is it a vibra- 
 tion of universal force ? " 
 
 " Does not the experience of many warrant the 
 belief that thought can be transmitted from mind 
 to mind, or to the subconsciousness of the recip- 
 ient, without using means by which ideas are usu- 
 ally conveyed? Does not the exercise of thought 
 create wave motions, or pulsations which are per- 
 ceived very clearly by other minds when at- 
 tuned?" 
 
 [307] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Where do ideas come from? This question has 
 puzzled the world's greatest thinkers, from pre- 
 historic times to this very moment. 
 
 Some biologists and materialistic philosophers 
 claim that inner thought follows outer sensations, 
 that only as we perceive objects do we conceive 
 ideas. The fallacy of this appears, however, 
 from the lives of precocious children; if Mozart 
 was a skilled musician at four years of age, what 
 explains the phenomenon except that a gift was 
 born in him? 
 
 Others hold that we evolve ideas from our own 
 sub-conscious depths, having stored them in the 
 soul through previous incarnations and brought 
 them with us at birth. Others believe that mental 
 concepts follow the law of sex, there being always 
 a positive and a negative or electric and magnetic 
 polarity in the brain of the thinker. Still others 
 declare that our best thoughts are inspired by 
 angels, or supermundane guides, who exercise over 
 us in the psychic world the same loving watch-care 
 that earthly parents feel toward their children. 
 
 There is no question of the actuality of telep- 
 athy. Times without number the writer has 
 focused on plans and ideas in the quiet of his own 
 room, only to find that a friend or business asso- 
 ciate came to him the next day with almost the 
 identical thoughts and conclusions. May not 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 poets be unconscious pirates — absorbing the ideas 
 and fancies of dreamers in the spirit-world who 
 left this planet before their message was deliv- 
 ered? A few months ago, the newspapers were 
 full of the story of a man who was impelled by a 
 celestial force to paint landscapes — though he 
 had not the faintest knowledge of art. He said 
 he was possessed by the spirit of a great landscape- 
 painter who had recently died. Such a statement 
 is no longer held absurd — we have at least 
 learned enough about psychic possibilities to know 
 that we dare not scoff at any manifestation of the 
 unseen world. 
 
 Can't you feel the atmosphere of a home as soon 
 as you enter? If you can't, Heaven pity the folks 
 in your home — because you will disturb their 
 psychic equilibrium and be totally unconscious of 
 the fact. Every mind is grounded in a certain 
 kind of thought. The vein may be gold or sil- 
 ver, pig-metal or mud. It is fitting to secure a 
 good residential site for the mind of us, which is 
 the reality. 
 
 " Does the body serve us most perfectly, and in 
 the most vigorous condition, when we are thinking 
 most or least about it? " 
 
 The purely animal functions work best when 
 left alone — the purely human functions work best 
 [309] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 when completely governed by the human brain. 
 Animal functions include the vital processes that 
 we share in common with our neighbors of the 
 forest — eating, sleeping, bathing, exercising, and 
 the like. Human functions include the operations 
 of mental or manual skill exacted by our industries 
 and pleasures. Think when you work — don't 
 think when you eat. 
 
 But this should be remembered; we have al- 
 lowed the natural instincts to be thwarted and per- 
 verted by ignorant human minds — hence we must 
 recover these instincts by the help of trained hu- 
 man minds. That means to think enough about 
 the body so that we shan't need to think about it. 
 We aren't healthy until we are unconscious that 
 our body exists as a body. When the soul fully 
 permeates the body, all distinction ceases. 
 
 " Can we accomplish anything by continually 
 trying though continually failing? " 
 
 A little child just learning to walk might ask 
 this question — but the father could not answer it. 
 You see the baby would only feel its bruises and 
 sob, while the father would only watch its muscles 
 and smile. You cannot reason with a sobbing 
 child — you must either comfort him, or make him 
 think of something else. 
 
 Sometimes we think we fail. But God knows 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 better. God lets us keep on trying, because we 
 would not listen if He spoke. You have not 
 failed while the impulse of endeavor still throbs in 
 your heart. Failing is ceasing to try. 
 
 What is the practical answer to your question? 
 Simply this: You are either doing the wrong 
 thing, or doing the right thing in a wrong way. 
 If the causes of failure can be removed, change 
 your method; if they cannot, change your avenue. 
 
 " Will you not tell us how to avoid the evils of 
 civilization? " 
 
 It can't be done. It would take a library. But 
 as libraries are a part of civilization, we should 
 have to be consistent and inscribe our treatise on 
 a few miles of papyrus with a scratchy goose-quill. 
 We haven't time. 
 
 Seriously, the greatest curse of the world to-day 
 is civilization. It is also the greatest blessing. 
 Great boons, to steady them, always carry great 
 banes. 
 
 Civilization is disease, civilization is poverty, 
 civilization is immorality, civilization is hypocrisy, 
 civilization is worry, despair, injustice, crime. 
 
 Civilization is also invention, ambition, im- 
 provement, refinement, hope, altruism, intelligent 
 companionship. And, as always, the good out- 
 runs the evil. We cannot be gods before we are 
 
 [311] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 men. We cannot be men until we have endured 
 civilization for a time. 
 
 " I should like to ask whether attainable happi- 
 ness here has necessarily a material side? And 
 to what extent? " 
 
 Yes. Material beings cannot reside wholly in 
 an immaterial world. Most of us need things, 
 nearly all of us need people, to make us happy. 
 But things and people have a spiritual significance, 
 which — properly understood — lifts them out of 
 the sordid and verifies them in the real. 
 
 I suppose a normal woman could not be happy 
 without pretty clothes; I am quite sure a normal 
 man could not be happy without " filling " food; 
 — and perhaps God meant her to be vain and him 
 to be greedy, that each might grow to be some- 
 thing better. Vanity is self-respect turned inside 
 out, greed is strength in embryo. When the world 
 has grown a little, the strength of man will lie in 
 his brain and the self-respect of woman in her 
 soul. Then will beef-steak dinners and millinery 
 pageants vanish with the rest of the toys, props 
 and makeshifts of human evolution. 
 
 Whatever we earn, or make, for ourselves be- 
 longs in our scheme of happiness. There should 
 be a law forbidding the inheritance of great 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 wealth. Patrimony is usually theft of the man 
 who gets it — it steals his ambition, which is 
 worth more than money. In this respect Andrew 
 Carnegie is ideal; he is equally happy making 
 money or giving it away. 
 
 There are so-called " spiritual " teachers who 
 affect to despise the world of finance. Trust them 
 not — they are generally the first to grab every- 
 thing in sight when nobody's looking. 
 
 We can be happy without money — we cannot 
 be happy without the power to earn money. The 
 ecstasy of the poet is one phase of happiness, the 
 vigor of the plodder is another. Put the form of 
 your vision in the grasp of your vise, then you 
 shape and hew and build securely. And then you 
 find money a spiritual quantity. 
 
 " Is it not true that the spiritual feeds the mind; 
 and the mind being well fed, the body needs less 
 material food? " 
 
 This is absolutely true — only those who have 
 experienced it know how true. If a poor man, 
 or a stingy man, wished to economize, he could 
 do no better than make a thorough study of the 
 truths of life that we endeavor to convey. For 
 the more a man knows, the less he needs. 
 
 Some years ago, the writer used to eat " three 
 
 [313] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 square meals " a day, and also nibble when he had 
 a chance. Then he was surly, gloomy, irritable, 
 physically weak and mentally inefficient. 
 
 Now he enjoys one or two meals a day — never 
 more — with nothing between meals. And he 
 does about five times the work he used to, with 
 more ease than he felt doing nothing but sitting 
 around waiting for the dinner-bell. Also, he is 
 better natured, as I hope you can testify. 
 
 Natural tastes call for inexpensive things; a 
 hungry child loves a bowl of bread-and-milk, while 
 a rich and pampered child must have costly chef- 
 made dishes or refuse to eat. Financially, it pays 
 to grow spiritually. 
 
 Moreover, the enjoyment is greater. Senses 
 are not like muscles. Muscles grow strong as 
 they grow large — senses grow strong as they 
 grow delicate. Spiritualize your senses and a 
 crust of bread will be sweeter to you than a feast 
 of luxuries addressed only to the palate. 
 
 It is said that disembodied spirits live on per- 
 fume, color and music. Possibly a scientific way 
 to prepare for Heaven would be to study, adopt 
 and assimilate the finer means of nourishment of- 
 fered us on earth. Too many bodies thrive while 
 souls starve. Appease the sensibilities, if you 
 would develop the soul to its highest stature. For 
 senses are only buds of sensibilities; and the hun- 
 
 [314] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 ger of the soul is for love, the thirst of the soul is 
 for light. 
 
 " If all the laws governing the body were known 
 and kept, would there be any necessity for heal- 
 ing?" 
 
 No more than for punishing — jails, reforma- 
 tories, and hospitals belong in the same category 
 of penal institutions. Every ache is the echo of 
 a broken law. The sick man is therefore a crim- 
 inal to himself. And the disgrace of illness should 
 hurt more than the pain. Most disease is a com- 
 bination of ignorance, laziness, fear, and dirt. We 
 are ashamed of clothes stained with mud and of 
 houses festooned with cobwebs. Yet sick bodies 
 need only purifying, sick minds need only clear- 
 ing; if bodies and minds were as visible as clothes 
 and houses, our pride would keep us well. 
 
 It is both undesirable and impossible for one 
 man to heal another. Nature does the healing — 
 we have only to give her a chance. Cure is but 
 the introduction of a doctor to his patient, the 
 real work of a real physician is instruction. Small 
 doctors chase symptoms, great doctors mold 
 habits. There is a positive science of prevention, 
 there is no positive science of cure. And the first 
 medical college to embody this truth in its curricu- 
 lum will sweep the country. The power of medi- 
 [315] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 cine is more than half mind. Hence the popu- 
 larity of certain metaphysical schools of healing 
 which, despite their fallacies, do avail (in a man- 
 ner unconsciously scientific) to electrify and vivify 
 drooping imaginations. 
 
 Health should not only be maintained, health 
 should be increased. And it may be — to your 
 dying day, when you know your own mind, your 
 own body, your own powers of self-expression, 
 self-recuperation, self-development. 
 
 " Some teachers of mental science tell us that 
 such emotions as anger are extremely injurious, 
 acting as a poison to the system. Others assert 
 that occasional outbursts of temper (as indigna- 
 tion) act upon the mind and body as a tonic. 
 What seems to you to be the truth? " 
 
 The truth, as usual, may be found half-way be- 
 tween. 
 
 Anger is a poison. But so are emetics and 
 purgatives — which we sometimes need, to coun- 
 teract the effect of other poisons already in the 
 system. Anger is a powerful antidote for such 
 deadly things as injustice, insincerity, incompe- 
 tency. To be thoroughly indignant because of a 
 wrong is purifying, stimulating, hygienic. But to 
 be " mad " at people is confusing, depressing, sui- 
 cidal. 
 
 [316] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 The capacity for " righteous indignation " 
 grows with our spiritual unfoldment. The man 
 who is not a vehement non-conformist is either 
 blind or paralyzed. Fighting for a conviction is 
 the quickest way to peace. As for hygiene, the 
 most invigorating thing you ever did will be this : 
 form the habit of challenging compromise ! 
 
 " How can I help those who are dear to me 
 whose philosophy is negative, who resist helpful 
 suggestion? Is it possible to help them? If it 
 is possible, how can I reorganize my forces to do 
 it, and yet not impose myself upon them? " 
 
 There isn't anybody you can't help. But your 
 knowledge of human nature must be adequate and 
 your method of approach scientific; otherwise you 
 will fail — though your motive be the purest and 
 kindest in the world. And remember that the 
 hardest to help are those nearest to us; they see 
 all our imperfections, and make out of them punc- 
 tuation-marks to end our most eloquent sermon. 
 Never preach to a man who knows you; practise 
 before him — or keep still. 
 
 Analyze your own question. You say your 
 friends " resist helpful suggestions " — I don't be- 
 lieve it. They resist suggestions which appear 
 helpful to you, but none that would be helpful to 
 them. The mind, no less than the stomach, ap- 
 [317] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 propriates just the food it can use; any thought 
 which your friend rejects is to him unwholesome. 
 He may be mentally disordered — but you may be 
 sure he likes just what he needs. 
 
 It is a physiological impossibility for the aver- 
 age brain to accept a new idea without protest. 
 Did you ever try to pour a bucket of fresh water 
 onto a greased surface? What happens to the 
 water? The same thing happens to a stream of 
 thought directed toward the brain of your friend 
 — the flow divides into a thousand minute parti- 
 cles, separated by the grease-coat of tradition, cus- 
 tom, prejudice and misinformation that envelops 
 the brain. No channel has been made for the ac- 
 commodation of original thought. And most peo- 
 ple resist the encroachment of new ideas because 
 they can't afford the time for a mental house-clean- 
 ing in preparation. Don't blame them — try 
 some other method. 
 
 The emotional brain, which is the solar plexus, 
 you will find comparatively free and receptive. In 
 short, make your friends love you more — then 
 you can give them light. Flowers turn to the sun 
 because the sun is life to them ; men and women too 
 want life — not philosophy. Make it a rule 
 never to offer advice unless you are asked; then 
 give it modestly, quietly, preferably in the form of 
 a question so that the idea will seem to come from 
 
 [318] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 the questioner more than from you. You are 
 probably very honest — but not very tactful. Add 
 finesse to your spiritual equipment. The best 
 way, the most scientific way, to help your friends 
 is to empower, unfold and perfect yourself. Be a 
 living illustration of your creed and text — then 
 watch them ask for the sermon! I have seen 
 numbers of cases where an individual began think- 
 ing for himself and was immediately voted crazy 
 by the rest of his tribe. But that didn't make him 
 crazy, and before many years his whole family 
 connection were asking his advice on the very 
 points they once ridiculed ! Be yourself, and wait. 
 Only truth endures. 
 
 " I would like to know how to be happy when 
 one's husband has had his emotional and idealistic 
 nature almost entirely atrophied by disappoint- 
 ments and ill health. My daily life is a problem 
 if ever there was one, I have to hide all my spir- 
 itual cravings and idealism, because my husband 
 is an extreme rationalist, not caring enough about 
 advanced literature to read it, and rather pitying 
 me for holding such ideas. He is physically and 
 mentally ill, but cannot realize that his negative 
 thought is a manifestation of disease." 
 
 The loving way to convince a man is to pet him 
 into doing anything you want; the logical way is 
 
 [319] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 to make him see that you are quite independent of 
 him. Have you tried either way? Or have you 
 mixed them ? Most wives mix them — and most 
 wives are never quite sure of their husbands. The 
 woman who can take a definite stand and keep it 
 hasn't much occasion to dread her husband's intel- 
 lectual contortions ; no matter what he thinks, he 
 will respect her enough to be silent. I should 
 judge that your happiness depends on your firm- 
 ness. 
 
 Don't hide your spiritual cravings — the salva- 
 tion of you both depends on your having enough 
 idealism for him as well as yourself, until he has 
 found the emptiness of the brain and experienced 
 the riches of heart and soul. But mold your spir- 
 ituality into so vital a form that he won't rec- 
 ognize it. And never assume to teach him — 
 no man short of an angel will acknowledge that 
 a woman can possibly know more than he 
 does. 
 
 Concede the wisdom of rationalism, follow him 
 to the end of his philosophy, then ask where he 
 gets? Does it make him happy, or healthy, or 
 popular, or successful? Then is it practical? 
 Tell him you are a Pragmatist (if you don't know 
 what that is, read Professor James' book on Prag- 
 matism) — and as such you demand results — not 
 theories. Your husband, with all his rationalism, 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 is a fantastic dreamer if his life doesn't prove the 
 wisdom of this talk. 
 
 Moreover, he is behind the times. When 
 scores of great scientists, such as Lodge, Flam- 
 marion, and Lombroso, publicly announce their 
 belief in the psychic world of undeveloped facul- 
 ties, surely a mere layman can well afford to re- 
 serve judgment, pending investigation. I know a 
 doctor, who is an atheist, but who works scientific- 
 ally on the religious instinct of his patients in order 
 to promote the health of their mental and nervous 
 organism. This man has a reputation through- 
 out the world, and has probably made more money 
 than your husband ever saw. Nothing but ig- 
 norance, nowadays, justifies denial of the unseen 
 world and its power to shape destiny. 
 
 Do you know where the real pathos of your 
 question seems to lie? Not so much in your hus- 
 band's ailing body or confused mind as in your 
 own unawakened heart. Are you sure you ever 
 loved him, with the idolizing, unreserved intensity 
 that every normal woman feels toward her mate? 
 If so, you would not need to ask advice. Love 
 knows more in one instant than all the sages of the 
 world could tell in a thousand years. You and the 
 man of your choice, thinking, planning, hoping, 
 wanting, living, suffering and sacrificing together, 
 can face with joy and certainty the problems of the 
 [321] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 Universe. But it must be together. Make your- 
 self one with him, and you will smile to find how 
 easy it all is, how nothing really hurts but the sep- 
 aration. 
 
 " Do you believe the ideas advocated by Mr. 
 Fletcher to be sound? I have been studying the 
 matter for years, but am very much puzzled. El- 
 bert Hubbard says it is good to Fletcherize, Upton 
 Sinclair says it is bad. What is your opinion on 
 this subject? Ought one to reject the coarse mat- 
 ter in food, or swallow it ? Just a few words will 
 help me wonderfully." 
 
 Horace Fletcher has probably done more for 
 the American stomach than any other man living. 
 We are the " quick-lunch " nation of the world, 
 which means the quick-dyspepsia nation. By com- 
 pelling us to stop and mix thought with our food, 
 Mr. Fletcher has rendered us an incalculable serv- 
 ice. His doctrine, briefly stated, is as follows: 
 " Eat little; enjoy much; masticate thoroughly; 
 have small variety but unlimited choice of edibles ; 
 let hunger be your guide; leave drugs unmolested; 
 heal yourself; and above all, cheer up ! A mighty 
 sensible philosophy and plan of life — but one that 
 may be carried to unwise extremes. A man can't 
 cheer up with his gaze glued on his insides — they 
 aren't pretty. 
 
 [322] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 The chronic Fletcherite thinks too much about 
 his stomach — he is as over-anxious as the cus- 
 tomary eater is under-informed. Trepidation at 
 meal-time is a veritable psychic vinegar. And the 
 modern hygienist uses vinegar sparingly. More- 
 over, the tendency of Fletcherism is to coddle the 
 stomach; — a robust appetite gets more good out 
 of corned beef and cabbage than a weak one does 
 out of eggs and milk. The stomach is a muscle, 
 and the way to keep a muscle strong is to exercise 
 it. During the hours when your body or brain 
 is working, cut down your food-supply to the last 
 possible notch; but when the need for concentra- 
 tion is over and you have time for rest, eat a good 
 dinner and be thoroughly satisfied before you 
 leave the table. If necessary, take a short fast 
 and restore normal hunger; but don't try to eat 
 with the idea of starving in the back of your 
 head. 
 
 The " coarse matter " in natural food was put 
 there to be used. If you swallow nothing but 
 what has been reduced to liquid, the peristaltic 
 and intestinal activities of digestion won't have 
 the proper stimulus, and won't do the proper work. 
 Yet all starches, sweets and fats must be liquefied 
 through mastication — and here Fletcherism is 
 right. Make this discrimination: Whatever is 
 soluble, chew till it swallows itself; whatever is in- 
 [323] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 soluble, chew fine and swallow according to your 
 instinct. If you like the peel of oranges or apples, 
 a little of it is probably just what you need. And 
 certainly the fiber of corn, oats and wheat is bene- 
 ficial to the average digestion. 
 
 Special ailments preclude all rough elements 
 from the alimentary tract. So that if you are 
 troubled with gastritis, intestinal catarrh, or any 
 other local difficulty producing extreme sensitive- 
 ness, it would be well to omit coarse foods tempo- 
 rarily. 
 
 Fletcherism is good, as a means of re-discover- 
 ing your natural tastes and desires. But every ism 
 must be ruled by the I. Let us thank Mr. 
 Fletcher with all our heart — then pass on to in- 
 dividual supremacy. 
 
 " How can we strengthen a weak will? " 
 This question to be answered fully would ne- 
 cessitate a personal diagnosis of the mental, phys- 
 ical, emotional, psychic and spiritual organism. 
 Such an examination is the beginning of real edu- 
 cation — yet no school on earth gives it, or even 
 suggests the importance of it. Most wrongdoing, 
 in the child or the adult, may be traced to either a 
 stubborn or a weak will. Hence the will is the 
 backbone of character. 
 
 What makes the will weak? Find the cause 
 
 [324] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 and you have entered the path of power. Is it 
 self-indulgence, poor health, lack of continuity, ex- 
 cessive modesty and self-distrust, a habit of con- 
 forming to the wishes of others, unsystematic 
 work, feeble incentive, or a negative attitude and 
 proneness to discouragement? Many factors 
 compose the human will. Resolve them into their 
 simplest form, and treat each by itself. 
 
 The most stupendous will in history was that of 
 Napoleon. What made it? Qualities and facul-y 
 ties that any man may develop : — independence, 
 imagination, resolution, concentration, persistence, 
 nerve, tact, colossal faith in himself and belief in 
 his destiny. He saw just what he wanted, then he 
 proceeded to get it, and nothing in the Universe 
 mattered till he did get it. A weak will is funda- 
 mentally a will buried and lost in non-essentials. 
 The weakness comes not from inability but from 
 restriction. 
 
 One thing may be stated very definitely and con- 
 clusively. The weakest will can be transformed 
 into a resistless force, through the vitalizing power 
 of an all-conquering love. Until you feel such a 
 love, your will is not worth energizing ; and when 
 you do feel it, neither man, angel or demon could 
 thwart your purpose. Get on fire with an adora- 
 tion or ambition that leaves you no choice but to 
 consume the world in satisfying it. When you 
 [325] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 have reached that height of fervor — obstacles 
 will melt. 
 
 "lam looking for a true, cheerful woman who 
 can appreciate the society of an optimist like my- 
 self. My work so takes my time that I don't 
 have an opportunity to meet desirable people. I 
 suppose you will say that you are not running a 
 matrimonial bureau ; well, I am adhering to your 
 offer and am telling you my problem." 
 
 I hope that none of our readers will be tempted 
 to laugh at this man's honest request. Human 
 life divides itself into three epochs — birth, death 
 and marriage. We cannot as yet individually con- 
 trol birth and death (I believe we shall, some 
 day) ; hence our entire responsibility focuses in 
 marriage. It is the most serious thing in the 
 world. Not solemn, or painful, or sad, as igno- 
 rant jokesmiths would have us imagine; but so 
 fraught with meaning that nothing else begins to 
 compare with it. 
 
 Your view of marriage is selfish. The first 
 duty of a wife is not to " appreciate your society.'* 
 This antiquated idea, proudly held for ages by the 
 bogus lords of creation, is fast being exploded — 
 thanks to the education and ambition of the mod- 
 ern woman. You cannot marry for pleasure, you 
 cannot marry for business, you must not marry for 
 
 [326] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 anything but love. And love means worship be- 
 fore it means want. Marriage as a business fails; 
 marriage as a pleasure turns to grief; marriage as 
 a religion becomes a business that succeeds, and a 
 pleasure that deepens with the years. What is 
 your motive ? 
 
 You cannot select a wife as you would pick a 
 dainty shell, or pluck a sweet flower, from the 
 shores and dells of experience where you wander. 
 Mates are born — not sought and chosen arbi- 
 trarily. If you could make a hundred new women 
 friends every day, that wouldn't solve your prob- 
 lem. For the One Woman might be on the other 
 side of the globe. She will come, when you are 
 /ready. Your anxiety should be not possession, 
 r but preparation. Do you know how to treat a 
 wife ? Have you mastered the laws of physiology 
 and psychology that underlie a happy marriage? 
 What sort of father will you be? Are you rever- 
 ent, fine, immaculate in thought as well as deed? 
 Could you fulfil the utmost ideal of the kind of 
 woman you are looking for? Study your own 
 life ; the map will take care of itself. 
 
 Marriage is a query — not a quest. The query 
 is "Am I ready? " Answer this right; and the 
 woman God made for you will be drawn to you, 
 irresistibly drawn by the forces of mental, magnetic 
 and spiritual attraction, which perhaps you may 
 [327] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 not see but which operate as subtly and surely as 
 the hidden currents of the earth directing the point 
 of the mariner's compass. Remember that space 
 is nothing to the soul. Perceive, clarify, energize 
 your own soul; and somewhere, beyond the veil of 
 human vision, the woman to complete your life will 
 respond. 
 
 " Can one, and how, prevent loss of memory 
 with advancing years? " 
 
 Loss of memory is loss of superficiality. It 
 would be a mercy if we could not remember a hun- 
 dredth part of the things we do. That which 
 leaves an impress on the soul can never be forgot- 
 ten. We recall with the brain, we remember with 
 the soul. You can teach your brain to recall 
 things — if you can spare the time. But your 
 soul remembers only that which helps your devel- 
 opment. And the number of things you forget 
 shows how many things were useless. 
 
 Names may fade away — but names are only 
 words. Dates and figures may grow confused — 
 but dates and figures halt the Eternal, circumscribe 
 the Limitless. Even the faces of dear friends may 
 stir no sign of recognition — but what of their 
 life's message graven on the heart? When recall- 
 ing ceases, realizing begins. The passing of the 
 form of things may denote the coming of the spirit. 
 
 [328] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 When love is universal, memory will be immortal. 
 For when love is universal, we shall value only the 
 thing we feel. And that we always remember. 
 
 Why do you look backward, and strain for a 
 dim sight of the past? Are you filling the present 
 with eager, strong, purposeful activity? Are you 
 building steadily for the future — yours, or that 
 of your dear ones? Do you faithfully cherish a 
 many-sided interest in life, adding your utmost to 
 the weal of your community? Let the past go. 
 It is gone. Make your marching orders " Right 
 about face ! " Then swing into step with the 
 youthful battalions of those who chant not their 
 years but their hopes. 
 
 " Is not much unhappiness caused by regret, 
 much time and energy wasted ? Sorrow and regret 
 can positively not exist if we regard and accept 
 everything as experience. If we retain in our 
 memory only the lesson instead of the bitterness 
 — the meaning instead of the form in which it 
 came, we will find development but never unhappi- 
 ness. And the more development, the firmer 
 foundation for happiness." 
 
 This is absolutely true. We may go further, 
 and say that regret is a memory of our own weak- 
 ness, a mark of our own ignorance, or a conscious- 
 ness of our own wrong-doing. And what perpetu- 
 
 [329] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 ates sorrow is a willingness to go on erring — if 
 we knew in our hearts that we should never again 
 repeat the mistake or its like, we would only be 
 thankful for the lesson. We never exert strength 
 while we indulge sorrow. Philosophy, medita- 
 tion, a clear vision and ready acknowledgment of 
 past faults may brighten the backward look and 
 keep us from unwholesome brooding. But for 
 regret there is only one positive cure — resolution. 
 To face your sorrow bravely, study it calmly, find 
 why it was needed for your growth, plan how to 
 use the lesson fully, then stiffen your moral back- 
 bone and go at the new spiritual exercise with a 
 royal vim and conqueror's determination — this is 
 to make of sorrow a smile's beginning. 
 
 " Are there not some situations in which people 
 cannot be happy? And therefore cannot do their 
 most and best? Suppose a son or daughter has 
 gone wrong; can the parent be happy? When a 
 child has become thoroughly bad, growing ever 
 more shameful and hardened, how can the mother 
 who is a fine Christian woman discover joy in this 
 experience ? 
 
 " I delight in your teaching. It is inspiring 
 and exceedingly helpful. But is it for those who 
 need it most? I write in all sincerity, seeking 
 light." 
 
 [330] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 There are some situations in which people can- 
 not be happy. But every such condition was cre- 
 ated by the person whom it pains and distresses. 
 And if we have made mistakes, the willingness to 
 suffer and live out the penalty brings a kind 
 of exultation more noble than simple enjoy- 
 ment. 
 
 Many a " fine Christian woman " is a failure as 
 a mother. The first business of women through 
 the ages has been the rearing of children. Yet 
 the average bride of today knows as little of the 
 science of parenthood as her prehistoric grand- 
 mother did. In respect to the household, men, 
 whose business is financing children, are centuries 
 ahead of women, whose business is unfolding chil- 
 dren. No son or daughter could go wrong if the 
 parents had the right motives and the right meth- 
 ods. And the special work of the mother is to im- 
 plant such firm ideals that no amount of tempta- 
 tion in after life can uproot them. 
 
 I wonder if the son or daughter in this case may 
 not be growing more hardened because of the 
 mother's unwise attitude ? Working with the sin- 
 ner has often proved successful when working 
 against the sin accomplished nothing. If the 
 mother can remember that she herself was to 
 blame for the defective training of the child, she 
 at least will avoid being Pharisaic, and will co- 
 [331] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 operate rather than condemn. The worst crim- 
 inal cannot hold out against the one who loves him 
 hard enough and long enough. 
 
 The great joy in a great tragedy or disappoint- 
 ment is never found all at once. But when we are 
 able to look at things as God sees them, we realize 
 how short one life is, how many ages we have in 
 which to build character, and how the deepest 
 wrongs may be changed into the finest lessons. 
 The natures most severely tempted are the ones 
 with magnificent powers, but no understanding of 
 the best way to use them. The greatest sinner is 
 the greatest potential saint. Enough wisdom, 
 enough kindness, enough patience, hope and for- 
 giveness — this is all you need to reclaim the err- 
 ing. 
 
 Again : do you realize that crime is a disease, to 
 be diagnosed and treated as any other ailment, 
 with a physical, mental and moral regime of sci- 
 entific nature? There is a positive joy in learning 
 that our friends do wrong not through malice but 
 through ignorance, weakness or disorder. Ask a 
 physician or minister trained in psychotherapy for 
 a thorough explanation — then at least your con- 
 fidence will be restored in the child who has erred. 
 And that is the friendly beginning of all redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 [$32] 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 " Why is it that the friends one needs so much 
 at times are always at a distance, and the ones at 
 hand seem so inadequate to help? Would it be 
 reversed if we were with the ones we think could 
 aid us? Is it always those afar off that are the 
 nearest and dearest? Can we never be properly 
 appreciated by those with whom we are in personal 
 contact, nor can we on the other hand fully com- 
 prehend the natures of those at close range? Is 
 it ever thus — we are never great except to those 
 who do not know us personally ? " 
 
 Distant friends are greatest because we view 
 them through a halo of idealism. If we could al- 
 ways live up to our own standard of unselfishness 
 and efficiency, we should find our neighbors most 
 lovable. And the greatness of common people is 
 clearly shown whenever a sudden crisis — like a 
 burning home or a national disaster — appeals to 
 the motives which are seldom stirred. Nearly 
 every man is great, when the need is great enough. 
 
 The friends at a distance often seem closer be- 
 cause we ourselves attracted them in correspond- 
 ence to our own growth ; whereas the acquaintance 
 of youth went with our surroundings and family 
 inheritance, these being superficial and ephemeral. 
 Instead of bemoaning a lack of sympathy in the 
 people next door, why not enjoy and utilize the 
 [333] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 helpful understanding of those you have seen by 
 faith alone? 
 
 Isn't it more wonderful to be loved on the 
 strength of mere words and thoughts traversing 
 half the globe, than because of a personal touch or 
 direct exchange of benefits? If you have one 
 friend who believes in you utterly, he might live 
 in Africa or China yet be a constant source of in- 
 spiration. Be guided more by what you feel than 
 by what you see. Affection has no limits, of time 
 or space or circumstance. Realize that, and be 
 glad. 
 
 " Optimism is beautiful in theory but hopeless 
 in real distress. Good for past and future trou- 
 bles, but the present trouble could not be effaced 
 by its smile." 
 
 What is the present trouble but the result of 
 past mistakes? Put an end, swift and final, to the 
 habit of erring and the cause of troubles vanishes 
 forever. 
 
 I am glad this point was raised. If all criti- 
 cisms were as honest, they would be more helpful 
 than the majority of questions. 
 
 There are times when real distress is the only 
 
 way to happiness. Sensibility is the gauge of 
 
 growth. And the capacity to feel anything deeply 
 
 must bring suffering in a world as crude as this. 
 
 133^1 
 
GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 But unless we can smile through our tears, the 
 habit of smiling avails nothing. Our teaching is 
 that of absolute faith under all conditions. This 
 far-seeing attitude, resolutely kept, will reveal joy 
 even in despair. 
 
 If you were half-starved, and emaciated from 
 years of unsatisfied hunger, you would not expect 
 the plumpness and robustness of health to return 
 with the first morsel of real food. Digestion, as- 
 similation, exercise, and rest must precede. Ac- 
 cording to the same law does mental and spiritual 
 food give nourishment. We must do the right 
 thing and let Nature have her time. Character is 
 no miracle, but a slow and painful growth bravely 
 accomplished in the face of difficulty. Character 
 and happiness are one, to separate them is to lose 
 both. 
 
 " How shall we get along smoothly with people 
 who oppose us? " 
 
 People never oppose us — they oppose what is 
 in us, or in them, that should not be. Conse- 
 quently, the way to annul opposition is to find the 
 undesirable trait, and remove it. This is not al- 
 ways possible. While tigers are tigers and doves 
 are doves, there will be people who cannot live 
 together; the tiger-people because they will not 
 cultivate gentleness are shamed by the presence of 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 the doves ; the dove-people because they cannot de- 
 velop strength are shamed by the presence of the 
 tigers; and each complacent animal votes the other 
 a depraved and worthless citizen ! 
 
 As a rule, however, friction takes place in a re- 
 gion of unsuspected falseness, where the habits 
 and conventions of life have obscured the real is- 
 sues. When we begin to grow mentally or spirit- 
 ually we find that our old acquaintances gradually 
 fall away just as the friends of our childhood give 
 place to those of maturity. If conditions are such 
 that we are held in close proximity with those who 
 no longer understand us, then we begin to experi- 
 ence the everlasting opposition between social 
 custom and individual aspiration. Before con- 
 cluding, however, that the others are to blame we 
 must be very sure that the difference of opinion 
 results from growth on our part. Even if it does 
 there is no excuse for conflict. Wherever inhar- 
 mony arises, either we are not voicing our own 
 melody or we are sounding it so feebly that far- 
 away discords intrude where they should not. 
 
 Opposition always indicates weakness in the op- 
 posed, and the end thereof is to compel strength. 
 Independence thrives on difficulty. And when 
 the world is against us we should rejoice the more 
 because of the chance for swifter growth. Truth 
 and one are a majority. Where one and the 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 crowd disagree, the crowd is as much more wrong 
 as there are people in it; because in proportion to 
 its size the crowd interferes, and interference is 
 always wrong. 
 
 On the other hand, the eccentricities of the in- 
 dividual should be modified according to the feel- 
 ing of the world at large. We cannot be wholly 
 right and offend our neighbor in the slightest de- 
 gree. If people remonstrate with us, they only 
 acquaint us with ourselves. Could there be a 
 service more friendly? 
 
 " To a person leading a busy materialistic life, 
 how can greatest benefit be derived for a spiritual 
 uplift to be carried into everyday life to meet the 
 demands of every hour? " 
 
 A busy life is not necessarily materialistic. To 
 the opposite, a spiritual life must be active, radi- 
 ant, intensely, powerfully vital. Truth in the 
 clouds means nothing — Truth in the world as it 
 is means everything. What keeps the majority 
 from being spiritual is their unspiritual idea of 
 spirituality. The first thing for a busy person to 
 realize is the presence of Deity in the task of the 
 hour. Religion, needing exercise, departs from 
 the chancel and goes to the washtub or the ditch. 
 Moral sinews grow strongest in the market-place, 
 where the hurry, grime and din of life's hard bat- 
 [337] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 tie put our hold on God to the test. Be glad for 
 the balance that nothing ensures but the steady 
 pressure of materialistic forces. 
 
 The idea of " spiritual uplift " is not wholly 
 clear to the majority of conscientious people. A 
 spiritual uplift is valuable only to the point of 
 gaining our own vision — after that, what we need 
 is the purpose and determination to face ordinary 
 conditions without the emotional impetus that ac- 
 companies religious feeling. A spiritual uplift 
 for every hour is not spiritual but hysterical. A 
 spiritual backbone is essential for every hour and 
 moment. 
 
 Those who find the materialism of the world in 
 conflict with their own higher nature have but 
 failed to sense the heart of things, which is always 
 buoyant. The surface things of life cloy, irritate 
 or deaden, not because they exist but because we 
 do not animate them with a vital purpose. The 
 first suggestion would be this : do nothing without 
 a definite motive. Instead of allowing routine to 
 gain the upper hand, overmaster it with an ideal 
 powerful enough to sweep away the consciousness 
 of routine. In short, love the object of your work 
 so tremendously that the mode of accomplishment 
 may be transfigured in the light of expectation. 
 This applies equally to an ambition or an affec- 
 tion; the great souls of the world are able to for- 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 get the petty vexations and trials of human experi- 
 ence in the larger vision of what these things lead 
 to. When the goal of endeavor is unselfish, the 
 path contains no thorns. 
 
 One simple exercise, if made a habit, will pro- 
 vide a spiritual uplift for each day as it comes. 
 The first thing in the morning, go alone and in im- 
 agination lift yourself above whatever unimpor- 
 tant things may happen during the course of the 
 day. The best method for you may be a long 
 walk at sunrise, or a short period of meditation, 
 or a little communion with some poet, philosopher 
 or mystic, or a season of prayer, or a happy song, 
 or an exercise in deliberate cultivation of will- 
 power to force you through the demands, expected 
 or unexpected, that your labor involves. If neces- 
 sary, rise a half-hour earlier; or plan some other 
 way to make aloofness your spiritual compass. 
 The habit of listening to one's self in every crisis 
 will, when confirmed as second nature, answer each 
 longing in the most confused life. 
 
 " Is the highest form of happiness to be attained 
 by studying to make ourselves happy, or in service 
 for others ? " 
 
 We should never study to make ourselves 
 happy. We should only realize and express the 
 whole of us. Being unhappy is merely falling 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 short of our possibilities. We may be the war- 
 rior, born to conquer at any cost; or we may be 
 the angel of mercy, born to heal the bruises that 
 mark the wake of the warrior. Being one's self 
 is everything, and happiness thrown in. 
 
 The rose blooms and the lark sings, each in its 
 own sweet way. The sun shines and the earth 
 waits for the melting of the dew; the huge clouds 
 deliver themselves and the tiny green things wave 
 in thanksgiving; solar systems plow through space 
 careless of aught save their own impulsion and 
 never a mite in their path is lost from out God's 
 plan ; age follows age by swift, exact progression ; 
 world mates with world and mate finds mate ; you 
 and I are here because the same Power moves 
 within us, urging us to know ourselves as one ; what 
 comes to either goes to aid the other; throughout 
 the Universe whatever is, in being that, cheers and 
 lights and blesses all things else. 
 
 " What is the science of eugenics, and how far 
 may its teachings be safely followed by parents 
 who wish to provide the best for their children, 
 while avoiding the extremes and vagaries of pres- 
 ent-day fads? " 
 
 Eugenics is the science of being " well born." 
 It has two leading doctrines: (i) prohibition of 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 the unfit, (2) education of the fit. Disciples of 
 eugenics would prevent the marriage of those per- 
 manently disordered, such as the insane or feeble- 
 minded, the epileptic, cancerous or consumptive, 
 and the morally degenerate. They would also re- 
 quire an educational standard for wedlock, com- 
 pelling future parents to know how to bring chil- 
 dren into the world under best conditions, and how 
 to save the babies from disease and death by the 
 proper use of air, light, water, sleep, clothing, and 
 pure, nourishing food. 
 
 History is full of warnings against the breeding 
 of the unfit. The most horrible is that of Ada 
 Juke, called by anthropologists the " mother of 
 criminals." It is said that of the 1,200 persons 
 directly descended from her, 1,000 were paupers, 
 inebriates, idiots, thieves or degenerates. To cor- 
 rect the diseases, punish the immoralities and sup- 
 port the inefficiencies of these thousand persons 
 cost the State of New York $1,200,000. Surely 
 the topic of eugenics may well be discussed in our 
 legislative bodies, along with matters of digging 
 sewers, appointing henchmen, and dividing party 
 spoils. 
 
 Yet, according to press reports, a " royal " 
 marriage was recently planned between the heir 
 to a European throne, who has scores of crazy an- 
 [341] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 cestors back of him, and a young princess of " no- 
 ble " blood, who is the sister of eighteen imbe- 
 ciles. One of the first lessons needed by kings and 
 queens is that to keep a crown in a family of 
 no character is a dangerous and deplorable, not 
 a laudable, performance. Let peasants marry 
 queens, let dairymaids wed emperors, and the evils 
 in royal blood may be somewhat mitigated. 
 
 The most fervent apostles of eugenics tend to- 
 ward machine-made babies, which are not a 
 healthy kind. They forbid the use of a cradle, 
 they don't allow a mother to cuddle her baby when 
 it cries, they sterilize the life out of all infants' 
 food, they even order an antiseptic screen to be 
 placed before the mouths of sweethearts and par- 
 ents ere they kiss. If such measures are sanitary, 
 it is because the germs move away from self- 
 respect, not wishing to remain in the company of 
 lunatics. 
 
 Study eugenics — then rely on your own com- 
 mon sense. If you have growing children see that 
 they understand fully the laws of heredity, physi- 
 ology, procreation and parenthood; — then let 
 their own feelings guide them in choosing a mate. 
 The real aim of science is to corroborate, liberate, 
 and superextend instinct. Don't let theories be- 
 fuddle your heart — but don't let ignorance of 
 facts cloud your brain and so cripple your body. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 " Many social reformers make it a woman's 
 chief duty to earn economic independence. Why 
 should wives and daughters in easy circumstances 
 be forced to become bread-winners? " 
 
 Among the host of reasons which indicate the 
 need for the economic independence of woman the 
 following appear the chief: 
 
 1. Because the rule of might is passing from 
 the world, and the rule of right, by nature woman's 
 right, is entering. When the principal labor of 
 the world was hunting, warring, and breaking 
 stone for cave-houses, men had to be the workers. 
 But with the refinements of civilization, the op- 
 portunities are changing, and with opportunities 
 come responsibilities. Many women's clubs are 
 apprehending this fact, and are doing for schools, 
 villages and altruistic institutions things that men 
 never dreamed of. It is said that a woman mayor 
 of a western town has defied the board of coun- 
 cilmen, holding her own for the sake of a princi- 
 ple; also that when a public official of a certain 
 large western city proved false to his trust, and 
 the men politicians could not handle him, the 
 women got together and ousted him bodily. It is 
 likely that when women take sufficient interest in 
 public affairs to improve politics, the ballot will 
 come to them automatically. 
 
 2. Because the brain of a woman needs devel- 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 oping even more than does the brain of a man, 
 and the way to develop it is to work hard and long. 
 The objection to a " finishing school " for girls is 
 that there is nothing there to finish. We are here 
 not for accomplishments but for achievements. 
 And if we must choose between the crudities of 
 business and the niceties of society, we will more 
 safely choose the former. 
 
 3. Because idleness is soul-destroying, and the 
 girl from eighteen to twenty-five or the matron 
 from forty-five to seventy who has no distinctive 
 work is dehumanized by the sloth of parasitism. 
 There is no more reason why a woman should 
 choose between " marriage and a career " than 
 why a man should stop to consider, before enter- 
 ing a profession, whether he is to be a father or 
 not. For twenty years before marriage, and for 
 thirty years after the child-bearing period has 
 ceased, a woman is still a human being. Why 
 should she not be usefully, healthfully and joy- 
 ously occupied? 
 
 4. Because the unemployed woman becomes 
 oversexed and therefore a menace to decency. 
 The conspicuous gown, the flirtatious eye, the lan- 
 guorous walk or the loud manner do not belong 
 to the woman who has enough work on her hands. 
 It is the feminine dolls who make the mischief in 
 the masculine ranks. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 5. Because a woman cannot know the value of 
 money until she earns it, therefore she cannot be a 
 scientific housekeeper or an economic helpmeet. 
 Sociologists claim that the failure of many young 
 men to marry is due to the extravagance of the 
 modern woman. This, in turn, is due to her idle- 
 ness and financial irresponsibility. 
 
 6. Because a man's respect must be forced by 
 superior strength or cunning, endearments will not 
 do it; and the lack or loss of respect is one of the 
 first causes of marital woe. There are thousands 
 of wives who remain wives through cowardice 
 alone. If they were able to support themselves 
 and their children, they would not stay with their 
 husbands another day. And there are innumera- 
 ble small compromises which even the best wives 
 make unconsciously through a sense of their own 
 weakness. If all matings were ideal the psychol- 
 ogy of this principle would not obtain, for the true 
 man is ennobled and inspired by the feeling that 
 his wife depends on him altogether. But few mat- 
 ings are ideal. 
 
 7. Because a woman's intuition should be the 
 guide of every man in the crisis of his business or 
 profession; but there is rarely a man who will ask 
 his wife's opinion unless her logical faculties have 
 been trained in the daily mill of toil. Intuition is 
 far superior to reason. But the clumsy man- 
 
 [345] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 intellect, acquainted with nothing but reasoning, 
 will listen to nothing but reasoning until the higher 
 sense of discernment is added to the reasoning 
 without his knowing it. Hence, in order to be of 
 the greatest help to her husband, a woman must 
 have experienced somewhat of the battle-field of 
 life. 
 
 8. Because ignorance of the world unfits a 
 woman to be a mother. Children must be safe- 
 guarded not by the secrecy of ignorance but by the 
 purity of complete knowledge. The average 
 mother knows nothing of what her boy, especially, 
 will have to meet. Therefore she cannot advise 
 him. As a matter of fact there is probably need 
 for race-suicide till mothers know their busi- 
 ness. 
 
 If mothers had known their business, they 
 woulpl never have permitted the arrogance, inter- 
 ference and indelicacy in the attitude of a man- 
 preacher of quantitative parenthood. It would 
 be just as reasonable, and far more courteous, for 
 a girl whose only accomplishment was embroidery 
 to direct a captain of industry how to manage a 
 great business campaign as for a man doctor or re- 
 former to tell women how many children they 
 should bear. When this world is civilized, it will 
 be the woman, not the man, who determines the 
 number of children. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 9. Because in the event of her husband's dis- 
 ability, death or delinquency, a woman's children 
 must be supported; and only as she herself sup- 
 ports them can she control their destiny. One of 
 the open disgraces of the modern world is the con- 
 stant appeal for alimony in divorce suits brought 
 by women. The wife who is no longer a partner 
 with her husband in maintaining the home has no 
 right to a dollar of his money; and only a mistaken 
 sense of gallantry permits such a plea in the 
 courts. 
 
 10. Because the world needs the woman genius 
 more than any other one individual — and genius 
 is primarily work. Since the birth of civilization, 
 love has made woman weak but man strong. 
 That is because woman has always felt the need of 
 some one outside herself to complete her individ- 
 uality; and being unable to command, she has 
 taken to weeping, pleading and pining. On the 
 other hand, most of the greatest poems, operas 
 and other works of genius have come through men 
 as the result of their suffering and striving for the 
 object of their affection. When, through battle, 
 toil and blood, the woman who loves greatly has 
 learned to immortalise her love through dauntless 
 effort, we shall have as works of genius not simply 
 art, music or literature, but also the nobler truth 
 underlying these forms of creation. 
 
 [347] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 " I want to ask you to express yourself a bit on 
 the meat question. If a non-flesh diet is health- 
 ful and desirable, why do so many of the promi- 
 nent vegetarians back-slide in later years, causing 
 us to wonder if their teaching was wrong, or only 
 their practice ? " 
 
 The way to get the truth on a subject is to hear 
 both sides without interruption, then quietly de- 
 part, close your eyes and ears, ask yourself what 
 you think, and having obtained the answer do ex- 
 actly as you feel like doing. First, let us hear 
 both sides of the meat question. 
 
 The vegetarian claims ( i ) that meat is a poi- 
 son, containing animal deposits which are trans- 
 ferred to the arteries and organs of the consumer, 
 thus endangering his health; (2) that meat is a 
 stimulant, producing a false strength and a harm- 
 ful reaction; (3) that meat is a mental incubus, 
 rendering a man dull of comprehension, slow of 
 wit and cloudy of discretion; (4) that meat is a 
 moral deterrent, causing irritability, sensuality, 
 fatigue and hence depression; (5) that meat is a 
 drain on the family purse, since better foods may 
 be served at half the price; (6) that the jaws of 
 man are frugivorous like those of the ape, not car- 
 nivorous like those of the tiger; (7) that we our- 
 selves would not kill the fowls or cattle, but depu- 
 tize the unholy job to a butcher, which is cowardly 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 and unfair; (8) that the cattle-pen and slaughter 
 house entail horrible suffering on dumb animals, 
 and we shall somehow pay for all the suffering we 
 inflict; (9) that inasmuch as we cannot give or re- 
 store life we have no ethical right to take it; (10) 
 that the Bible says " Thou shalt not kill," which 
 command applies to helpless animals as well as 
 highly-policed, law-protected men. All of which 
 is true. 
 
 The anti-vegetarian claims ( 1 ) that any food 
 improperly digested turns to poison, that if a man 
 exercises enough he can eliminate all unwholesome 
 by-products, that cannibals are healthier than civ- 
 ilized peoples, and that vegetarians as a class look 
 pale, peaked and unutterably sick; (2) that in the 
 modern warfare of life, mild stimulants may be 
 necessary; (3) that some of the most brilliant in- 
 tellects belong to chronic meat-eaters; (4) that 
 any food taken to excess is a " moral deterrent," 
 and that too much candy or even too much bread 
 is non-spiritual in effect; (5) that the substitutes 
 for meat consume a prodigious amount of time 
 and energy to digest, and that we are not cows 
 with nothing to do but chew a cud; (6) that we 
 are greater than our jaws, and if we wanted to be 
 more like our simian ancestors, we wouldn't build 
 houses or wear clothes; (7) that our sensibilities 
 are always in advance of our stomachs but that 
 [349] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 the typical, professional butcher has no sensibili- 
 ties to speak of, hence is willing to do the job that 
 our appetite indicates while our heart deprecates; 
 
 (8) that the painless killing of cattle is possible, 
 being prevented only by the greed of the vendor; 
 
 (9) that so long as we kill thousands of invalids 
 by poisonous drugs, hundreds of thousands of ba- 
 bies by ignorance and inattention, millions of pau- 
 pers, outcasts and criminals by injustice and mis- 
 understanding, we need not pause to be oversen- 
 timental about the rights of animals whose death 
 preserves other human lives; (10) that the Bible 
 is full of burnt sacrifices and blood offerings, ap- 
 parently made by command of Jehovah, and by 
 the law of evolution one shall die that another 
 may live. All of which is true. 
 
 Who then is right? We would humbly sug- 
 gest that the position of each is noble in some re- 
 spects, and crazy in some others. The vegetarian 
 is too solemn, too theoretical; the anti-vegetarian 
 is too flippant, too materialistic; somewhere be- 
 tween them lies the truth, much battered and 
 scarce recognizable, yet still worth having. 
 
 The ideal is never to touch meat. And the 
 strict vegetarian who can be true to his preaching, 
 yet be healthy, happy and efficient, is a teacher 
 and exemplar for us all. Such a person may ex- 
 ist. I have never seen him. 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 On the other hand, we are hundreds of cen- 
 turies away from the ideal — any ideal. If the 
 perfect man existed, he could not live on earth. 
 Crucifixion, physical or mental, would be his por- 
 tion. Crucifixion is not a thing to be evaded, we 
 all must come to it some day. Yet to court aliena- 
 tion, isolation, and perpetual discomfiture on a mat- 
 ter of choice of food seems rather foolish and 
 banal. The extreme vegetarian can't eat in or- 
 dinary places, with ordinary people. His mind 
 is obsessed by his stomach; his stomach is a poor, 
 weak thing; and mental dissolution forthwith pro- 
 ceeds. The jump is impossible. 
 
 Eat as little meat as you can. Let it be fish 
 or fowl, principally. Write to the United States 
 Department of Agriculture at Washington, for 
 a list of their Farmers' Bulletins of Food Values 
 (which are sent free), and have your cook experi- 
 ment with the various equivalents of meat. If 
 you live in your own home, you can, after a while, 
 practically omit flesh food from your dietary. If 
 you eat in an ordinary restaurant, you can't do it 
 and be sane. But if you have real convictions in 
 the matter, live up to them. And die earlier, if 
 necessary. 
 
 " How can we learn to see only good every- 
 where? " 
 
 [351] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 First, we must learn to see through our own 
 eyes. Most of what we consider evil is merely 
 what somebody has called evil. We are taught 
 by a false theology to look for sin, by a false medi- 
 cine to look for disease, by a false social system 
 to look for oppression, and by a false legal code 
 to look for crime. A famous advertisement of a 
 successful soap reads " Pure as the thoughts of 
 childhood." What a reflection on men and 
 women — would that the soap might clarify their 
 minds as it cleanses their bodies! A child sees 
 only good until its mind is poisoned by some one 
 who has learned more but is not half so wise. 
 
 A dear friend of ours, a clergyman with snow 
 on his head but summer in his heart, says that 
 he has made it a rule when taking a new parish 
 not to listen to the neighbors' opinion of his new 
 parishioners, but to form his own judgments on 
 the merits of the individual. In thus evading gos- 
 sip, good and bad, he has found that unprejudiced 
 acquaintance reversed many of the current beliefs 
 regarding people — some of the very bad really 
 tried to be good, and some of the very good were 
 by no means angels. The growing life is a con- 
 stant revision of opinions. 
 
 Then, we must look to the beginning, where 
 the motive is always good, and to the end, where 
 the finished product of the saddest, hardest, worst 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 experience is fine, strong and beautiful. Many a 
 gnarled apple tree, with branches twisted and 
 roots out of line, has brought forth the most 
 luscious fruit of the orchard. Why look at the 
 tree, when the fruit is that for which the tree 
 exists ? 
 
 Again, we must put a stop to false relationships, 
 which make us compromise with our own real 
 selves, and thus entertain evil that otherwise would 
 be absent. Two ill-trained youths, on a platform 
 of the elevated road the other day, were attempt- 
 ing to flirt with girls in the windows they passed, 
 all the way uptown. Suddenly, one youth left the 
 train — and immediately the other, putting off his 
 sheep's eyes, commenced to behave. A large pro- 
 portion of evil, especially among men, is mere 
 bravado — they imagine badness a proof of 
 smartness, being no more grown-up than the small 
 boy who, smoking a cigarette with the gusto of a 
 man, thinks himself a man in all respects. Few 
 of the bad things in character are spontaneous, 
 most are contagious. And as the true physician 
 regards disease in the light of a temporary cleans- 
 ing of the system, so should the moralist and phi- 
 losopher think of evil as a brief manifestation of 
 activities really foreign to the soul. 
 
 Finally, we must emphasise and exalt the good in 
 our own life, and thus attract and enlarge the good 
 [353] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 in others. As germs do not breed in a healthy 
 body, so wrongs do not breed in a healthy mind. 
 By feeding our minds with the finest literature, 
 music and art, instead of with the scandals, mur- 
 ders and other forms of cheap sensationalism that 
 appear in the daily press, we can build a mental 
 vigor and establish a moral tone which will render 
 us immune to evils that are contagious. It is as 
 easy for oil and water to mix as for evil to gain 
 a foothold in a consciousness kept pure. 
 
 " I have a problem in my life that I have not 
 been able to solve alone, and ask for your kind 
 assistance. When I am with my husband I am 
 another person. I seem to be all wrong; all the 
 bad qualities of my nature come out — all the 
 sweeter, nobler qualities seem to be silenced — in 
 other words I am not myself. 
 
 " This is causing my life to be a failure as far 
 as my home is concerned. As soon as he leaves 
 I feel like being good — doing things — living a 
 great life. I have a great many splendid friends 
 and opportunities, but on account of this I feel that 
 my life is all wrong. What is the cause of this, 
 and what can I do to overcome it and rise high 
 enough for these influences not to affect me? " 
 
 Friction between two members of the same fam- 
 ily is very common; but a discord so extreme be- 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 tween husband and wife is very rare, and very 
 hard to analyze without knowing the conditions 
 more fully. 
 
 First, can you not probe for the cause of the 
 mental inharmony? 
 
 Perhaps you never really loved the man you 
 married — I cannot imagine any one caring for 
 another supremely and yet being irritated by his 
 presence. If such is the case, you are paying for 
 your blunder, and your lesson may be to suffer in 
 silence, until expiation is accomplished. But you 
 can overrule the inharmony, you can change your 
 viewpoint, you can dwell upon all the good there 
 is in your husband and close your eyes to his 
 faults. 
 
 The cause may lie in some deception, on your 
 part, or his, or on the part of both. Many hus- 
 bands and wives do little things that they wish to 
 conceal from each other, and so cover themselves 
 with a falseness that is bound to create trouble. 
 To real mates, such a condition is not only impos- 
 sible, but inconceivable; there are, however, few 
 real mates. 
 
 You, or he, may be growing, one so much fas- 
 ter than the other, that the breach of disparity 
 must continue to widen. Then you must plan to 
 separate, or agree to disagree, or advance to- 
 gether in the realms of truth. If your husband 
 
 [355] 
 
EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 has a dominant personality, and a materialistic 
 nature, and if you are just beginning to find your 
 wings, you will be oppressed until you have won 
 freedom. But remember that all friction is mu- 
 tual, and that so long as you have bad qualities to 
 come out, he suffers in experiencing what you suf- 
 fer only in expressing. 
 
 The following brief suggestions may be help- 
 ful: 
 
 i. Be sure that you and he are both in perfect 
 physical health. Diseases of body create dis- 
 eases of mind. The origin may therefore be 
 physical. 
 
 2. Leave your home for a time, either visiting 
 friends, or studying and training for an individual 
 life. Separation brings vision, and revives af- 
 fection. 
 
 3. Earn economic independence. The reasons 
 are too lengthy to be explained, but the fact is 
 that from the day a woman proves her ability to 
 make money, her position in the home is entirely 
 changed. 
 
 4. Find the points of harmony between you 
 and cultivate them. When two musical instru- 
 ments are out of tune, the musician strikes a com- 
 mon note and from this unison proceeds upward. 
 So with the consonance and dissonance in life — 
 when we strike the soft, harmonious chords, 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 clearly enough and often enough, the harsh sounds 
 vanish because there is no one to dwell upon them. 
 
 11 I am convinced by various symptoms that I 
 have about my system considerable uric acid. 
 Will you kindly tell me just what foods produce 
 uric acid, that I may hereafter avoid them? " 
 
 Uric acid is one of the many toxic by-products 
 caused by an ill-balanced diet, which puts more 
 work on certain organs than they can perform 
 successfully. Too much proteid, too little of the 
 fibre of vegetables and the liquid of fruits; that 
 gives the answer in brief. 
 
 Uric acid is primarily fatigue. All flesh foods 
 and animal products contain it in large or small 
 degree. Sufferers with rheumatism, gout or kid- 
 ney trouble should eat sparingly, if at all, of meat, 
 eggs, milk, cheese, beans, peas and lentils. (The 
 legumes do not occasion, but merely emphasize, 
 the presence of uric acid.) Sluggish animals — 
 cattle and swine — because of their unnatural, 
 sedentary habits, allow the deposit to accumulate; 
 while those of rapid movement — hare, deer and 
 pheasant — eliminate the poison through exercise. 
 Red meats are bad for rheumatism; game, fish 
 and white meats, though perhaps undesirable, are 
 not wholly forbidden. 
 
 This answers your question. But there is more 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 to say. The expectation of trying to "avoid" 
 things will produce a condition worse than rheu- 
 matism ever dared be. Cure your trouble — then 
 eat what you like. A diet of prohibition is a diet 
 of paralysis. The fear-germ kills more people 
 than the most sanguine undertaker could imagine. 
 If meat is good at all — which every one must 
 learn for himself — then the body which can't as- 
 similate should be doctored so it will. A re- 
 stricted menu, by way of temporary relief, is good 
 for most ailments; nothing however is more en- 
 slaving than a regular bondage to health foods. 
 A gill of joy at mealtime is worth a pint of pepsin. 
 Any wholesome food can be loved into digesting 
 perfectly. This coddling business is all wrong. 
 Anything that has to be avoided shows chronic 
 weakness in the avoider. Eat what you like ; then 
 if it won't agree, put your liking apparatus in self- 
 respecting order. 
 
 Among the systems of treatment that will di- 
 minish, expel and prevent the return of deposit in 
 the blood are these natural methods of stimula- 
 tion: hydrotherapy, massage for liver and kidneys, 
 abdominal breathing exercises vigorous enough to 
 re-awaken the digestive functions, work or play 
 that makes you perspire, short periods of fasting, 
 and severe applications of heat (as in the Turkish 
 bath). There are now institutions with facilities 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 for baking poison out of the human body; it is 
 said that the richest man in the world has em- 
 ployed the intense dry heat thus available for 
 rheumatism, to his great satisfaction. A good 
 substitute is a bath cabinet, costing $5 and up- 
 wards, to be had from any large drug store. This, 
 by the way, is a modern essential of a well- 
 equipped, sanitary bathroom. Once a month or 
 so, from October till May, perspiration should be 
 forced in this manner, to offset the usual inactivity 
 of the pores during the winter season. Pure 
 blood is an economic asset, producing the clear 
 brain and strong body that lead in the race of 
 life. 
 
 " What constitutes a superior man or woman? 
 Please give in the order of their importance the 
 mental, moral, spiritual, physical and material in- 
 stincts, attributes or faculties that are essential in 
 the making of a perfect or ideal man or woman." 
 
 1. A strong, healthy body and full enjoyment 
 thereof. So far as he goes, the athlete is a model 
 type. He takes care of himself, he can use him- 
 self, he is proud of himself. Foolishly proud, of 
 course — a bunch of muscle is as far from making 
 a man as a driving-rod is far from making a steam 
 engine. Yet there is a wholesomeness, mental 
 and moral, in a well-groomed physique ; the man 
 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 who is frankly, purely, gloriously, pagan is more 
 religious than the man who is good because he is 
 sick. The worst part of sickness is that it looks 
 like goodness to the great, blind, majority. The 
 spiritual man is, first, all-sensitive; but, finally, 
 all-strong. And the fellow who doesn't enjoy, 
 for its own sake, a healthy outdoor game with a 
 bit of honest roughness to it, has not reached his 
 spiritual prime. Don't believe the chap who 
 boasts that he " never exercises " — he does ex- 
 ercise; he exercises the patience of his family with 
 his crotchets, and the politeness of his friends with 
 his fool ideas. Thanks to the coming age of rea- 
 son, the maiden with a bird-like appetite is no 
 longer fashionable; chefs are now commanding 
 the salaries of college presidents ; and children are 
 not now expected to leave their " manners " on 
 their plate in the guise of food much desired, but 
 deserted by order of Mock Delicacy. We are 
 beginning to realize that we are animals, and 
 something more. Whereas, formerly, we endeav- 
 ored to be ultimates, not having been primates. 
 The only shame in being physical is in feeling 
 shame. 
 
 2. A spiritual understanding of the purpose of 
 life, and a moral determination to achieve it. 
 This may be had through meditation; through 
 study of the world's best philosophies and re- 
 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 ligions; through association with great souls, liv- 
 ing or dead; through extreme self-sacrifice; 
 through sudden responsibility; through ideal 
 parenthood; through fasting and prayer. Until 
 one feels himself consciously a part of destiny, 
 a supreme essential to the Divine Plan, he will 
 not be inspired or enabled to attain a fraction of 
 his most and best. The universal sin is that of 
 drifting. We fail to nerve ourselves for sus- 
 tained, noble action, because we fail to value our- 
 selves at anything like our true worth. Every 
 human being is surcharged with godlike possibili- 
 ties; by cultivating insight, and daring to believe 
 in his own overtowering ambition, the humblest 
 youth may grow to be a giant. 
 
 3. A systematic training of thei leading mental 
 faculties. These include imagination, concentra- 
 tion, perseverance, order, construcxiveness, hope- 
 fulness, courage, tact. Rational education should 
 begin with analysis of a child's capabilities, and 
 end with equipment thereof. Instead, the child 
 is forced to study books that have no bearing what- 
 soever on his own talents or the life before him — 
 then to be examined and " passed " on nothing 
 at all save his gift of memorizing disjointed facts 
 that he must forget as soon as possible to leave 
 room in his mind for a post-graduate, hit-hard- 
 and-often, bread-and-butter education. The 
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EFFICIENT LIVING 
 
 power in the " self-made man " lies in the fact that 
 he was self-educated; he found what mental traits 
 he needed for success, then he went to work and 
 developed them. Some years ago the writer had a 
 beautiful menagerie of pet weaknesses, which he 
 languidly but regularly fed on the sugar-plums of 
 pride, caprice and self-indulgence. They nearly 
 ate him out of house and home. He wasn't worth 
 shucks, in a practical sense, until he dumped his 
 whole circus of sleek, dangerous pets off the top 
 of his mountain of folly and watched them land in 
 the sea. What is your pet weakness? Catch it, 
 fasten it, drown it, and forget it. 
 
 4. A sense of emotional poise, which renders 
 self-command easy under all circumstances. Emo- 
 tions are the leaders of men — thoughts are but 
 the servants of the leaders. Anger, jealousy, 
 worry, passion, fear, greed, suspicion; these rob- 
 bers of the heart despoil us most of our mental 
 and physical reserves. The greatest economic as- 
 set in the life of any man is the power to say " I 
 will not be moved by any but the pleasant things." 
 Even generosity becomes a vice when bereft of 
 the mild restraint of justice. Balance is the 
 crowning gift of the gods; he who has it is very 
 near perfection. 
 
 The ideal individual is not the one whose nature 
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GUIDE TO EFFICIENCY PROBLEMS 
 
 : ^ 
 
 is perfect, but the one whose knowledge and use of 
 his nature is perfect. Thus, while differing end- 
 lessly, we can all be more or less ideal, and alto- 
 gether perfect in our standard of perfection. 
 
 THE END 
 
 VAIL-BALLOU CO., BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK 
 
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 " SSS' 
 
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