MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 91-80193 MICROFILMED 1991 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. . . Columbia University Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: QUIGLEY, DOROTHY TITLE: SUCCESS IS FOR YOU PLACE: NEW YORK DA TE : 1899 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # ^1- 2)01^3^1 • m i * -{ I I * .1 i% BIBUOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 174 rQl6 PBHi Qtiigley, Dorothy. Success is for yop, by Dorothy Qnigley •.. New York, E. P. Dntton ft co., 189T; 1899» vi 11^ 1 L, 166 IK 18*". K ' 1. Success. ^^. . Library of Congress \) BJ1611.Q6 3'i0'ii/^ I ®1897: 30545 Restrictions on Use: FILM SIZE: __.35'r)r\rr\ REDUCTION RATIO: 1}k IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA H^ IB HB DATE FILMED: ^^^} INITIALS fc,.2 FILMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. CT % W^ V c AMociation for information and image Managemant 1 1 00 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1 1 00 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 llllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllnlllllllllllllllllllllMI m¥w WW ^ 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 mm iiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiil Inches 1 M I M M I I I 1.0 Li 1.25 12.5 ^= ,. |3.2 2.2 ^ y^ 2.0 U> u ■Iteu 1.8 1.4 1.6 I II I II T 5 n MflNUFfiCTURED TO flllM STfiNDFIRDS BY fiPPLIED IMflGEt INC. ^ % '^tn-xr' \ \ w^^BSfs' .,%#:jv.-.- -'■-j ■ so f Cobnnltta (Bnt^ii^tp THE LIBRARIES Success is for You BY DOROTHY QUIGLEY Author of " Everybody's Fairy-Godmother " a^ NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 81 West Twenty-third Street 1899 1 > 9 f i > J J .-I > » 3 1 ' J J 5 > > > ' 3 ,0 » •' « > 9 • > I a a 9 '^ t » i» • • • » * 3 ,1 J 1 } J ) i I 3 > J 3 1 t « 3 5 . » 3 9 a " CI a «a * s f a 9 '> . O 9 9 » ■J » t » J t J J 5 J 5 Copyright E. P. BUTTON & CO. 1897 Dedicated to YOU With Most Cordial Wishes FOR Your Success Vbe Itntehctbockec pttm, 1U# Becl c ■ • « • I I • •• • • • t • • • • • • f ' t , , « • • t • • • • *••* l.t ■ • 1* •. • \ • » • t I It • • » • • " • . • ,• • • t t • . • t • • • • * . t • • .•:*••• • V • *« • • • t t • V . • • ■ • • • ■ • • • CONTENTS. CHAmx I.— II.- III.- IV.- V.— VI.- VII.- VIII.- IX.- X.- XI.- What Experiments Re- veal . . . . •The Upbuilding Process •An Inspiriting Symbol . To Make Yourself a Value .... The Boy who Went to Bombay .... -Two WHO Conquered -Success in Cheerfulness AND Concentration •The Gain from Studying Your Fellow-men . To Attract Success Trust Thyself The Mien of a Poor Man PACK I 22 28 45 55 61 66 79 84 vi CONTENTS. : « CRAPTKS XII.- PACK p. #;■, j f j -Project Your Work Aright . . . .99 XIII. — Noble Self- Assertion . no XIV. — The Wisest Sympathy . 118 XV. — Whom and What to Avoid i 26 XVI. — The Wisdom of the Opti- mist 130 XVII. — How to Train for Suc- cess 138 XVIII. — Others Have Mastered, You Can. . . . 147 XIX. — She Made Drudgery an Art 151 XX. — The Moths in the Furs 158 XXI. — The World Needs You . 163 " For though gamesters say that the cards beat all the players, though they were never so sldlful, yet in the contest we are now considering the players are also the game and share the power of the cards." *• Thought is all light and publishes itself in the universe. It will flow from your actions, your manners, and your face. It will bring you friend- ship or enemies." " Yes, here in this miserable, hampered, despic- able actual wherein thou even now standest. Here or nowhere is thy ideal. Work it out therefrom, and working believe, live, be free. Fool ! the ideal is in thyself ; the impediment, too, is in thyself ; thy condition is but the stuff thou art to shape that same ideal out of. What matter whether such stuff be of this sort or that so the form thou give it be heroic, be poetic ? Oh, thou that pinest in the im- prisonment of the actual and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule, know this truth: the thing thou seekest is already with thee, here or nowhere, couldst thou only sec" ' 1 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU CHAPTER I. WHAT EXPERIMENTS REVEAL. YOU are either a magnet that attracts all things bright, de- sirable, helpful, healthy, and joy- ous ; or, one that draws all things disagreeable, gloomy, undesirable, unhealthy, and destructive. You either respond to and vi- brate with the immense tide of happiness and success in the world ; or, you allow yourself to be en- gulfed in the great currents of woe and misery; or, purposeless and 11 I 2 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU unaware of the power within your- self, you drift aimlessly, sometimes riding high on the crest of a sweep- ing wave of prosperity, and some- times sinking so low as to be drawn down and almost lost in an under- tow of despair. In brief, you are either a success or a failure ; or you are neither one nor the other, which is almost as bad as being a failure. If you are not a success, it is imperatively urgent that you should discover why you are not, for Success is for You. Perhaps you have never thought of the way the law of attraction, the law of vibration, and the law of echo act through you, within you. WHAT EXPERIMENTS REVEAL 3 and upon you. It is true you can- not see the workings of these in- visible laws, but you can perceive the results of their action. Have you ever dissolved silver and put it into clear water in which it can- not be seen, and then made an attractor to gather up the invisible particles of the metal ? A sympa- thetic bit of silver on the negative pole of a battery attracts every atom of silver in the water, be it j_as small as a mote in a sunbeam. I There is a force within you which properly directed, will draw condi- tions and opportunities of success that are as invisible as the liquid silver lost in water] The piece of magnetized silver that gathers un- ' < M SUCCESS IS FOR YOU )\ \ i to itself all the particles of its kind in the water is a symbol of every thought and action of your life. Your every thought and action are magnetic centres, radiating influ- ence that attracts or repels and determines certain outward con- ditions. Your thoughts are forces that radiate from you as light does from a star. Hold in your hand a box or a piece of paper and ask some one to produce different tones until you feel the paper vibrate in your hand. Place several violin strings in a state of uniform tension over a sounding board and tuned in uni- son with one another, and go to the opposite end of the room and WHAT EXPERIMENTS REVEAL 5 sound a pipe or a string having the same pitch as that of the three strings. If another person listens closely, he will observe that the violin strings oscillate sympathetic- ally from the effects of the pipe sounded in the opposite end of the room. This simple experiment shows the vibratory effects of the ex- ceedingly rare and elastic ether that fills all space. It is a mysterious messenger and conveys information on viewless waves. The reciprocal and reflexive action of thought- force in this all-pervading electro- magnetic ether, is as powerful, nat- ural, and understandable as are the forces that produce the vibrations of sound, light, heat, and color. 6 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU As the invisible currents of air carried the tone that made the paper vibrate in your hand ; or, as the unseeable wind rising and fall- ing upon a stringed instrument produces Eolian melodies, so your invisible thoughts play upon the hearts and minds of your fellow- beings. You awaken responses according to the kind and quality of the thought you project and in accordance with the fineness or coarseness of the hearts and minds of those your thought-forces touch. The chief responsibility, however, lies with you, for by the law of ac- tion and re-action which is as simple in the spiritual world as it is in the physical one, your thoughts react S ^ -^ WHAT EXPERIMENTS REVEAL 7 upon yourself. The reactionary character of emotion in the spiritual and of motion in the physical world is the same. The ever-widening rings made by a pebble tossed upon the smooth surface of a lake give you a fine hint of the way the thought you send forth acts upon the invisible ocean of ether that sur- rounds and interpenetrates every- body and everything. The waves caused by the pebble are no less real than the vibratory effect caused by every word that conveys an idea either thoughtfully or thoughtlessly spoken. If you doubt that thought is a force, follow the work now being done in the laboratory of mind- 8 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU Study at Cambridge. They have means there for investigating and measuring every mental process. The time required for mental action and re-action, for discrimination, at- tention, association of ideas, fatigue, and all that, is mathematically re- corded. Men sleep on balances with apparata that mark the slight- est change of pulse, respiration, circulation, and heat. They test themselves with mild doses of nar- cotics, tonics, and other nervines. They multiply or reduce air-press- ures over the entire dermal surface. They select a square-inch of skin, and with every known test educate it for months ; they fatigue definite muscle-groups; they measure the WHAT EXPERIMENTS REVEAL Q exact time and force of imagina- tion, of memory and will, and they explore hypnotic states. Prof. E. W. Scripture has recently made certain discoveries through these interesting experiments that will prove of practical value to working- men. More thrilling, vitally and almost dramatically interesting, however, than the work at Cambridge are the experiments of Dr. Elmer Gates at the Laboratory of Psychology and Mind-Art at Chevy Chase, Md. Dr. Gates holds that mind activ- ities can create brain structures. He proves his theory first by ex- perimenting on dogs. A certain number of puppies I lO SUCCESS IS FOR YOU M born at the same time were sub- jected to different training, with very interesting results. A num- ber were put in a dark room from the moment of their birth, and were not permitted to see a ray of light. Another group were allowed to live as dogs usually do. A third set were given most extraordinary training in using their seeing faculties. At the age of nine months all the pup- pies were chloroformed. The first group that had never used the see- ing function showed an undevel- oped cortex in the seeing area of the brain. The second group that had led regular dog lives had a number of cells developed. The educated dogs, not only had a larger WHAT EXPERIMENTS REVEAL II number of brain cells than any of the dogs, but the cells themselves were more highly developed and more complex in their internal structure and chemical composition. Indeed, they had a greater number of brain cells than any dogs of the breed ever possessed. Professor Gates says : " My ex- periments demonstrate that every definite mental experience produces a definite anatomical or molecular structure in some particular and definite part of the brain. When we see any color or hear any sound long enough to remember it, the process creates structural changes in the brain, and the refunctioning of those structures constitute memory. m 12 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU f; r The association of memories with each other is accomplished by means of interconnecting fibres and by means of wave-motions in the brain mass, — molar, electrical, and etheric." Prof. Gates holds the memory of the emotion of hate is embodied in different structures than a memory of the fear of a snake, or the memory of one's love for a mother. Every time an evil memory refunctions it becomes stronger ; every time such memories are associated with other memories of the same sort a criminal domi- nancy is being built in the brain. «! CHAPTER 11. *THE UPBUILDING PROCESS. DOES this not hint to you that you can train yourself men- tally in such a way that you not only change the cells in your brain but the conditions of your life ? The upbuilding process of mental training may seem intricate, yet it is exceedingly simple. The follow- ing on the way to give up smoking afifords an insight into the philoso- phy of Professor Gates. He says : " I may not wish to give up the vice, for instance, of smoking. My will, therefore, wills me to smoke, and I smoke. But if I commence 13 'I t < ! H SUCCESS IS FOR YOU to build in my brain, a new series of sense-memories, images, con- cepts, ideas, emotions, impulses, likes and dislikes, conduct-memo- ries and so on which are not favor- able to smoking and keep these mentations active daily until the new structures become dominant, then I will no longer wish to smoke, and I will quit. I speak from ex- perience." Thus the commonplace saying, ''Change your mind" is proved to be really possible in more ways than one. To develop new sense-memories and strengthen them, it is plainly shown you must repeat certain declarations for improvement, just as you went over and over the mul- THE UPBUILDING PROCESS 1 5 tiplication table until you knew it subconsciously. Can you remem- ber when you learned two times two are four ? Does it not seem that you always knew it ? Do you not say it without seeming to think at all ? The results of this method of mental training suggest how the apparently idiotic declarations so in- sistently iterated and re-iterated by Christian Scientists may be effect- ive in creating healthy states of mind and conditions of body. By asserting over and over what they conceive to be the truth, certain changes may take place in the brain structures and definite m^ral memo- ries may be established and the » 'I 1^^ , ill. l\ I Si ii >i < i6 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU conditions they have been declar- ing often become evident. Accidents frequently prove that if you change in a human brain any group of brain cells you will affect in that person's mind one definite class of memories. If by brain building you put into the brain a new group of functioning cells, you add a new class of memories and give that person really more mind. The idea of developing helpful sense-memories is put to test with cheering results in the kindergar- tens. Courage plays, justice plays, artistic, charity, laughter, friend- ship, sympathy, and joy plays are all designed to call into repeated action some one desirable emotive THE UPBUILDING PROCESS 1 7 or intellectual state, that after a time may become habitual, or the expression of it becomes a subcon- scious process. The boy who has learned certain gallantries in the etiquette play doffs his hat to a lady without thinking he has been taught to do so. His conduct-memo- ries act thus, as quickly, as spon- taneously as his mental-memories do when he recalls '' two times two are four." The most wonderful result of the experiments made by Professor Gates was the discovery that certain states of mind produced chemical precipitates in the body. He says : "In 1879 I published a report of experiments showing that, when M r i i8 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU !j :♦ )'' i. \ ! I I the breath of a patient was passed through a tube cooled with ice so as to condense the volatile qualities of the respiration, the iodide of rhodopsin, mingled with these con- densed products, produced no ob- servable precipitate. But, within five minutes after the patient be- came angry, there appeared a brownish precipitate, which indi- cates the presence of a chemical compound produced by the emo- tion. This compound, extracted and administered to men and ani- mals, caused stimulation and ex- citement. Extreme sorrow, such as mourning for the loss of a child recently deceased, produced a gray precipitate ; remorse, a pink pre- THE UPBUILDING PROCESS 1 9 cipitate, etc. My experiments show that irascible, malevolent, and de- pressing emotions generate in the system injurious compounds, some of which are extremely poisonous ; also, that agreeable, happy emo- tions generate chemical compounds of nutritious value, which stimulate the cells to manufacture energy." The last clause of the foregoing suggests why hopeful, cheerful people, full of loving-kindness keep their youthful appearance so much longer than disagreeable folk do. Energy is life. Experiments have demonstrated that every emotion of a false and disagreeable nature produces a poison in the blood and cell tissues. 4 20 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU THE UPBUILDING PROCESS 21 < } M L These poisons affect the health and the germ-cells. Another interesting discovery made by psychologists is that everyone throws out a psychical and physical magnetism. Every- body exhales an emanation just as a flower or a weed does. The at- mosphere is vital with our emana- tions. The stimulating influences of a metropolis are accounted for by the thought emanations in the air. Analysis has shown that : ** Different people give out differ- ent emanations ; and that the same people give out different emanations at different times ; that decisive people give out dis- tinct emanations which hint that according to the individuality is the force of the emanation ; that even to the utensils which we em- ploy, to our clothes, to our rooms, we give out our emanations, and that every thought we think in any place influences more or less the atmosphere of that place, and, to some extent influences every one who comes into it, according to the degree of sensitiveness of the person." I CHAPTER III. AN INSPIRITING SYMBOL. A A /HAT has all this to do with ^ ^ success? Everything. The foregoing all too brief and inadequate presentation of the experiments and discoveries in mind-art and psychology — does it not suggest what masterly power is within vou ? Does it not sug- gest ihsivisuccess is, for you, if you only know how to handle yourself aright*^ Grant that your thought is a force ; that this force influences more or less, according to^ the way you direct it, everybody and every- L AN INSPIRITING SYMBOL 23 thing with whom and with which you come in contact Recall the experiments upon the puppies ; the development of sense, conduct and moral-memories in the children in the kindergartens, which show that you have the power to change the conditions of your mind, if not the cells of your brain. Recall these I pray you and grant that you can change your thought-force for better or for worse as your Will insists. Recall how certain people have affected you ; how some had an atmosphere as pleasant as a sunny breeze and how others seemed ever to move in damp clouds ex- haling gloom. Did you not experi- t I* H SUCCESS IS FOR YOU ence distinct sensations, feelings, and emotions, pleasurable with the one and discomforting and depress- ing with the other ? Recall these and grant, if you please, that psy- chical as well as physical emana- tions are real and that they are not as unsubstantial as "boiled cobwebs," as some melancholy ma- terialists would have you believe. Apropos of cobwebs — the spider is a glorious example for you. Is not the web he spins an inspiriting symbol of the power within you that creates the conditions that surround you ? With equal ease he swings a gossamer hammock in a corner of a castle or a barn ; or loops his filmy threads to tree- ii AN INSPIRITING SYMBOL 25 twigs or spreads his fragile net on spears of delicate grass that serve as pillars for his home near the ground. No matter where he builds it is the same sort of illu- sion — a tangible veil of mist. Does this not hint to you the meaning of the following signifi- cant words ? *' The covetousness, or the malignity which saddens me when I ascribe it to society, is my own. / am always environed by myself r And those elusive gray strands that the spider projects, are they not visible emanations? He decorates or disfigures accord- ing to where he builds. Art has never been able to reproduce in gem or lace the exquisite beauty I ^11 26 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU rtf II m m , of the web of a spider woven on grass-tips and studded with sun- lighted dewdrops. No crystal has ever been glorified with more beautiful, prismatic coloring than that which idealizes a spiders home hung on a tree or between old posts. The light breaking on the perfect angles formed by the geometric lines of delicate gossa- mer, makes the fragile thing seem woven of the intangible radiations of a rainbow. But what a bit of dirty fluff a spider's web is in a clean white hallway or pretty living-room? Many of us like the spider choose the wrong corner in which to weave our web of life. A spider is a poem AN INSPIRITING SYMBOL 27 — but like many another celebrity he is not judged by the highest and best expression of himself, and his vices have been made more prominent than his virtues, except one, his great unfailing industry, his courage to stick to what he has once begun despite repeated at- tacks and defeats. A poet long ago sang in verse the praises of this superb quality of the indefatig- able weaver. But not to digress —if you grant that your thought is a force and that you can direct this force, and that you create an atmosphere round about you that either attracts or repels, what is the first thing you must do if you wish to succeed in any enterprise ? 'I 111 CHAPTER IV. TO MAKE YOURSELF A VALUE. I t ill/ t YOU will first, as suggested in TVAa^ Dress Makes of Us, endeavor to find out if your ap- pearance is for or against your inner self. You will observe whether your clothes are caricatur- ing the lines of your body and the features of your face ; or advertis- ing to the world that you are a vain, erratic creature, or a slovenly disheartened one. You will note whether your body is truthfully revealing your real self, your spirit When you remember that every thought is a chisel literally carving 28 TO MAKE YOURSELF A VALUE 29 its expression upon the face and form you will strive to give your thoughts as attractive an out- ward showing as you possibly can, will you not ? Men judge of a person's character by his form and walk and by the general movements of his body. The new psychology teaches us we can make ourselves over by using and developing the right kind of thought-force. In harmony with Professor Gates another psychologist afifirms : •* Every thought which enters the mind is registered in the brain by a change more or less permanent Bad thoughts build up structures of cells which engender evil ideas, and good thoughts contrariwise. { ■\ 30 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU \i Consider the case of the man who is unhappy and depressed, who has lost ambition and walks the streets with slouching gait The psycho-physicist can take such a person and within six weeks trans- form him to such an extent that every friend of his will notice the difference." By this process of moral upbuilding what might not be done among the criminal classes ? Regarding this process of mak- ing one's self over, Henry Wood, an eminent psychologist, says : ** Every one has long been aware that fear, grief, sin, anxiety, pessi- mism, and all their train pull down bodily tissue, but we have unwit- tingly failed to observe that their TO MAKE YOURSELF A VALUE 3 1 positive opposites would surely build it up. But this is logical and reasonable. Harmony, joy, opti- mism, idealism, love, and courage will surely invigorate. Under the now well-understood law of auto- suggestion and thought-concentra- tion, each mental condition can be positively cultivated and made dominant in the consciousness." You have practised auto-sugges- tion unawares all your life. When you said, for instance, upon going to bed, "I must get up at six o'clock to-morrow morning," and so charged your mind with the thought that you must wake up that you did, you practised auto- suggestion in a familiar way. If ' ■ I, ' 32 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU you say to yourself upon falling asleep, '* I will rise with energy, sunny hope, courage and smiles to- morrow morning," and persist in saying it, you will nerve yourself to carry out the words you declare, and you will find yourself stimu- lated with new power. You will establish sense-memortes that will WILL you to be energetic, radiant, cheerful, and full of bouyant ener- gy, and you will attract successful conditions. Did you ever know a gracious, sunny soul who was not sought for and gladly welcomed everywhere ? A heart that radiates courage and belief in its own powers of accomplishment draws oppor- tunities and attracts "people of kN^\ TO MAKE YOURSELF A VALUE 33 value." To know ** people of value " is a phase of wealth. The time-worn phrase "to be rich in friends " is not a sentimental expression, it is of real market worth to one who can say it truth- fully. To the man or woman " rich in friends " doors are opened and opportunities presented that often are not within reach of those merely rich in money, and are never heard of by the woe-begone who live in the depths. The term "people of value" signifies not only those of prestige and worldly position but men and women of such character and trust- worthiness that their word or re- commendation commands recogni- 9 ii 34 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU tion and respect If your thought is all pure, bright, confident and courageous, your personality will be agreeable, uplifting, and you will be a value, an increasing value, wherever you go, and people, glad that you are alive, will want you, will seek you. Believe me, if you are receptive to impressions and have no false standards of pride that create around you a repellent atmosphere and are cheerfully alert and brave to seize opportunities it will seem as if paths of pleasantness and success appear as if by magic for your willing feet to tread If you are inclined to think this assertion is but moonshine, the blithe vagary TO MAKE YOURSELF A VALUE 35 of an optimist, honestly study the temperament, ways, and disposition of those who succeed in life, and prove the truth of it for yourself. i \ Jf^<-. Am J i l. CHAPTER V. THE BOY WHO WENT TO BOMBAY. ILLUSTRATIVE of this fact, note the underlying forces that won success for the boy who is the hero of the following tale. It reads like a romance, yet it is true : A young man, an orphan, worked in a New York detective bureau. From his occupation you judge aright that he had knowledge of men, and, better than that, he had self-knowledge. Self-knowledge fa- thers self-poise, an admirable trait he possessed in a commendable de- gree. He was a physically and mentally wholesome chap. He was 36 THE BOY WHO WENT TO BOMBAY 37 attractively cheerful. That his personality was lovable one might infer from the devotion of a pretty little East-side girl for whom his chivalrous and tender regard were sweet to see. He had little money, sometimes none. Among the few things his father left him was a recipe for cleaning boilers. He occasionally earned a hundred dollars by mak- ing some of the preparation to the order of a firm in Bombay for whom his father from time to time had done the same. Perhaps it was the recipe that gave him the im- pression that it would be a good plan to go to India. All he had was $7.50 to start on 38 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU THE BOY WHO WENT TO BOMBAY 39 U iM' Mi the journey. Anything is possible, however, to a man who knows his end and moves straight for it, and for it alone. He was determined to get to London, and he did. He worked his passage by assisting in the en- gineers' department of a steam- ship. His $7.50 was intact when he arrived in London. He soon spent it for the necessities of life. One day he sat penniless but hopeful in a park in the great, strange city. Instead of present- ing the gloomy, unattractive ap- pearance of a dejected being with drooping shoulders, grimly shut, unsmiling mouth, lowering eyes, and helpless hands shoved discon- solately in sagging pockets, he gave the impression of being a well-to-do manly young fellow resting from a pleasant walk. He was kempt with care, as usual. His clothes were a bit worn but scrupu- lously neat He whistled softly a jocund air as his lithe, energetic hands whittled a stick. As he whistled and whittled he wondered what he would do next. He attracted the attention of an old gentleman who sat beside him. The old man addressed a common- place remark to him which the boy answered looking the older man straight in the eye, as was his wont, with a direct, searching, but not inhospitable look. The boy in receptive mood re- )! -• 40 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU li 1>> tj sponded to the old gentleman's observations in a spirit of easy, pleasant comradeship. Finally the older man confided to the younger that he wished much to sell his library which, although small, con- tained a number of valuable books. He asked the boy if he thought he could sell it for him. With char- acteristic alacrity of spirit the New York chap, not at all phased, said he would try to do it. The old man gave him some directions. The boy succeeded in selling the books. He received a commission of five pounds for doing it. He lost no time in finding out what were his possibilities for get- ting to India. He seized the op- THE BOY WHO WENT TO BOMBAY 4 1 portunity to go as an assistant of a cook on a steamer bound for Bombay. Among other things his ready hands could do was to play a banjo with pleasing skill. He banished care and homesickness in his leisure hours by picking out many a merry tune. His music won for him the friendly interest of a first-cabin passenger, at whose request the boy went on the upper deck to play. The captain, enraged at his audacity, ordered him below with brutal despatch. The boy was *• rich in friends," the passen- gers pleaded that he should remain to play not only that night but other nights. The favor was grudgingly granted. 'I ^^1 ■1 I \\ 1 ! ii . J 42 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU When the boy hired to assist the cook he had signed papers to re- turn with the steamer. He did not wish to do it but, like the cheerful philospher that he was, he did not spoil the comfortable present by worrying about the future. Verily, "Fortune favors the brave." The captain, displeased with the boy's apparent lack of appreciation of class-distinctions, and resenting the attentions be- stowed upon him by grateful pas- sengers who had enjoyed his music, discharged him at Bombay. Of course, this unexpected dismissal made the boy more than glad. He hunted out the firm that had THE BOY WHO WENT TO BOMBAY 43 sent for the preparation for clean- ing boilers. They wished to buy his recipe. He had the commer- cial knowledge and wit to know enough not to take their price. He used the recipe for his own profit. He prospered. One day he came back to New York, very comfortably off, and more manly than ever in his bright, unassuming, self-poised way. He married his East-side sweetheart and made a tour of the United States before going to his home in Bombay. Were not cheerfulness and cour- age, as well as willingness to work, among the fine qualities that at- tracted success to this boy ? 1^ III 44 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU You may rightly remark, "The Fates were kind to him. He had that most precious of natal gifts — a happy temperament. It was easy for him to get along." To be sure the man or woman who is born with a brave, cheerful, and ener- getic temperament has the start in life of the one in whom mel- ancholy, negation, and timidity predominate ; but thanks to the beneficent forces within us all a man or woman can conquer tem- peramental weaknesses. If J t i'iS I^Pf^ CHAPTER VI. TWO WHO CONQUERED. A GIRL, with a tendency to ^^ grumble at everything, made life a burden to her roommate at a fashionable boarding-school. The roommate turned upon her one day and said, '' I wouldn't be you for all the money in the world, even if you are the first in all your classes. You always see the worst side of things. Nothing pleases you. Do you know I Ve been keeping an account of the things you Ve grumbled at this morning ? It is only eleven o'clock and you have scolded about twenty things. m ii 46 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU If you don't stop finding fault I 11 ask Mrs. Parsons to let Sally Ridge room with me. She 's untidy, but she always has a good word for everybody and is not carping at everything." The girl who was arraigned had a sensitive, critical, and imaginative temperament. She was high-strung and idealistic and scarcely anything satisfied her lofty standards. She was wounded at many things one of less keen sensi- bility would not notice. Her sen- sitiveness, not being controlled, developed into mere touchiness, a disagreeable phase of vanity. She had never been taught to weigh all sides to get just values. Her school- mate's denunciation, delivered with ( TWO WHO CONQUERED 47 the uncompromising manner of a candid giri, hurt her pride. She had not been conscious of her fault-findings, and honestly believed herself incapable of making herself so disagreeable, and would have believed herself sincere when she asserted " I judge people by their excellences not by their defects." But the list of her criticisms of her schoolmates, teachers, and the servant, her grumblings at her clothes, bed, in fact everything, so glibly read off by her observing companion convinced her that she was indisputably guilty. She re- solved to check her inclination to find fault. It was difficult at first. The tendency to measure every- ill kI H' 48 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU body and everything by her own standards was strong within her. She kept account of her criticisms of both people and things, and of the number of times she controlled her impulse to denounce. She tried to see her schoolmates as they really were, not as she thought they ought to be. She persisted until she conquered the desire to find fault at all. She in the mean- time had developed a power of keen discrimination and a justness of judgment that were remarkable and that came to be relied upon by older people. Her word in after life became one of authority. Her condemnation or praise of anybody was accepted in many •i TWO WHO CONQUERED 49 cases as final. It was said of her, "You know if Mary says it, it is so, for she never judges hastily, and sees you from every point of view she can." Yet another equally simple illus- tration of the mastering of a tem- peramental weakness, that proves that anyone can govern her tem- perament. A talented young wom- an so craved novelty and variety that she lacked in a conspicuous degree the power of application. She was always beginning some- thing and never was known to completely finish any work she ever tried to do. She was brilliant in a birdlike way— the way of a flitting, fluttering humming-bird, ii 'III I i 1 1^ I ll If 50 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU that flies rapidly from one flower to another, but does not stay long at any. She had many good thoughts, yet they were scattered. She could talk on a great variety of subjects in a short time, but failed sadly in consecutiveness of feeling, thought, and action. A huge trunk full of expensive ma- terials for fancy work was a revela- tion of the condition of her mind. In the trunk were fine linen pillow shams, one richly braided, the other scarcely begun, both mussed and age-worn ; there were all sorts and patterns of embroidery, the latest of the hour, tossed on old-fashioned specimens. None were completed. In some a flower exquisitely .*■ TWO WHO CONQUERED 51 wrought in silk and perfectly matched in colors showed the skill of the worker. There were endless beginnings of lace work for collars, cuffs, and trimmings, all soiled and thrown aside, some in knotted little bundles ; there were half-fin- ished slippers, sacks, and smoking- caps that the restless, active fingers had eageriy worked at in the fresh, stimulating enthusiasm of a first attack. In her mental methods was the same want of steadiness and persistency. She jumped rap- idly from premise to conclusion, and failed to connect and carry out her ideas, really fine and worthy as the majority of them were. One day a profound student and keen 1 1 f I I fit 52 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU observer of human nature said to her, " Do you know that your lack of thoroughness is your greatest fault ? It will be at the bottom of all your failures in life. If you do not conquer it, you will never be a success in anything." The girl was proud. She wished to be a noted success in one special calling and an all-around success in what- ever she did. She blushed and quivered at the philosopher's re- mark. His words stung her like a lash. His words had weight however. Poor child, she started in to conquer this lack of conti- nuity, not knowing what a weari- some battle it would be. She practised in every way. When she f TWO WHO CONQUERED 53 knelt down to say the Lord's Prayer, she was amused, first, and then horrified to note upon how many things her mind wandered while she was repeating the familiar lines. She made effort after effort to concentrate her thoughts upon the meaning of the words ; at last she gained the restful upliftment that any prayer or poem, said with absolute attention to the meaning of the lines, gives the one who utters it. The world is shut out with all its harassing turmoil and hurry by this power of concen- tration. She dwelt upon and pored over work that became so disagree- able to her that she would shed tears doing it. She took music I'i il H {If 54 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU lessons and learned her notes by heart. Not having a perfect ear this took intense application. She studied French verbs. She made herself finish whatever she began. To-day she is a great artist. She dates her success from the hour the philosopher told her of her greatest fault. She is not only a mistress of details in her profession but a thorough housekeeper. She did not conquer by magic but by many months of persistent effort. The effort, however, soon ceased to become irksome for she resolved to conquer with smiles instead of tears. She had learned the value of cheerfulness. i^ \ CHAPTER VII. SUCCESS IN CHEERFULNESS AND CONCENTRATION. EVERYTHING proves to us that cheerfulness upbuilds, uplifts, attracts. Be cheerful. Grumbling, whining, complain- ing are just so much capital taken from your bank account of mental force and put to a very poor use, indeed, to no use at all. If you drew your money out of your bank every day and tossed it into the sea people would deem you insane. You would soon become poor and neglected. You waste your precious God-given force just 55 t I I III 56 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU as foolishly, and lose your power of attracting by fretting over tri- fles, — a letter expected, a bit of dirt on the floor, imaginary insults and a hundred other silly, false ideas. Your vital energy, your very life is thus uselessly dissi- pated and soon you repel, and people study how to avoid you and you lose opportunities of suc- cess. If you are inclined to be miser- able and have a tendency to mel- ancholy and despondency practise auto-suggestion vigorously and in- sistently and change your sense- memories. Determine to be cheer- ful Project a vision, a picture of yourself as cheerful, lovable, cour- %\ M CHEERFULNESS 57 ageous, hopeful, and make yourself like it. Concentrate vour thought upon cheerfulness. ^Concentration is one of the chief forces of success in anything You even comb your hair Setter if you concentrate your thought upon doing it. Your good-morning is more magnetic, more helpful to both yourself and your hearer, if you concentrate your thought upon the person as you utter it. You project a shaft of concentrated spiritual light that warms and brightens. A man's thoughts may all be good and correct and commend- able, yet if his mind flits quickly from one thing to another they become mixed, weak, and lose in Hi i ^f 58 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU power of attracting, of magnetiz- ing. They will accomplish com- paratively nothing in building up business or character. A thought to be effective must be clearly defined and steadily held. It may be made to fly like the shot of a skilled gunner whose aim is sure and swift ; or it may be projected with the diffusive brightness of a sky-rocket which challenges admir- ation for an instant and then dis- appears into nothingness. I trust you see how imperatively necessary it is that your thoughts should be classified, should be clear, should be definite, and that you should have concentration. A western judge, to whom young niJlliidtgi '"III"'!" mamsBfaamafamaL^^ CHEERFULNESS 59 people often went for advice, offered none to his son who was coming East to start upon a musi- cal career. The young man half- fancied his father was not interested in his success. When the judge bade his boy good-bye he said, ** Stick to it. my son. Remember those three little words," he con- tinued, emphasizing them afresh by telling each one off on his fingers, '*Shc^ to it! I say." His son never forgot the admonition. It nerved him to keep on although discouragements came thick and fast, and the struggle in New York, where competition was in- tense, was terrible for a time. He finally attained success and an < >.i \ p •IP I! 60 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU international reputation in musical circles. Clean, clearly defined, concen- trated thought-force has a quality of electricity. It is powerful to attract, and properly directed it burns away what is useless and offensive. I • ! CHAPTER VIII. THE GAIN FROM STUDYING YOUR FELLOW-MEN. \ A /HEN you thoroughly under- ^ ^ stand yourself you will the better understand your fellow- beings. But study your fellow- men, so you will not be deceived. If you are deceived it is your own fault, and you have no right to rail against those who have deceived you, as if they alone were the chief sinners. You should learn to know the trading eye that weighs your purse ; the worldly eye that weighs your position ; the beastly eye that weighs your form, and the heart's eye that weighs your soul. 61 I yi 62 ^ 1,1' I I SUCCESS IS FOR YOU Educate your ear to discern and to differentiate the distinctive quality in the voices of all you meet. The over-tones in the voices of the false signalize to you to be careful and cautious in your dealings with them. Treachery is revealed in the sideling, catlike walk, the covert gesture and the obsequious bear- ing of a man or woman, even the plastic clothes publish charac- teristics of their wearers. You have eyes with which to see and study, you have intuitions with which to feel, to •* sense" condi- tions, and the emanations of those you meet. It is not only your fascinating and glorious privilege STUDYING YOUR FELLOW-MEN 63 to be able to do this, but it is your duty. It has a commercial value. The man who can read aright his fellow-men, be he hotel clerk or bank president, is worth a deal more money in every position he fills than the man who cannot. Remember your power to feel the quality of the natures of those with whom you come in contact is always proportionate to your freedom from evil thought. The thought-wave from those you meet will cause distinct vibrations within you, either harmonious or dis- cordant, according to the nature of the persons you meet. If your own thought is purposeful, spirit- ual and pure in quality, it goes itf 64 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU forth like ArieFs spear and instantly detects the false from the true through all disguises, through all atmospheres. Let no self-right- eous idea of your own superior virtue, however, lead you to con- demn those you do not understand. Conceit will deaden your sensibil- ities more quickly than chloroform does your senses. Look to it that your touch is not discordant and that you have given your neighbor the benefit of a good light. Be as generous to him as you would be to a picture. He is a series of pictures, vitally interesting. There is no arrogance so foolish and despicable as the arrogance of piety. Do not mistake the form STUDYING YOUR FELLOW-MEN 6$ for the spirit. Many religious people who assume that they are following the precepts of God, and condemn their fellow-men, are merely expressing their own nar- row opinions of God, their own caricature of Him. Such piety does not save them from disease, accident, misfortune and death. They frequently fall where the so-called bad and lawless safely run. But be it understood that no one is brought into the atmos- phere of a truly spiritual person without reaping lasting benefit Many pious persons are not at all spiritual, that is one reason they make religion repellent instead of attractive. i >i .i^ CHAPTER IX. TO ATTRACT SUCCESS. WHEN you understand your- self and your fellow-men you should then study to know how to use the power within you so you will not waste volumes of energy through ignorance. So you will not dissipate your vitality through anger, through worry, through at- tending to other persons* affairs, unless it is your business to do it. Many a woman makes herself look like a withered orange by wasting her energy and vital strength in futile efforts to accomplish vain re- forms. The first impulse of an in- 66 TO ATTRACT SUCCESS 67 telligent engineer would be to put the governor on to an engine in which the steam was evaporating near the danger point and to no purpose. How many human en- gines dissipate their will-force, their energy, through unchecked anger, continual fretting, and misguided philanthropies until they become unattractive, broken-down ma- chines? Above all things mind your own business, but be keenly alive. When you are negative and indifferent you are really half-dead. There are unused muscles in your body withering away for want of exercise, there are unused cells in your brain contracting for want of nourishing thoughts. CHAPTER IX. TO ATTRACT SUCCESS. WHEN you understand your- self and your fellow-men you should then study to know how to use the power within you so you will not waste volumes of energy through ignorance. So you will not dissipate your vitality through anger, through worry, through at- tending to other persons* affairs, unless it is your business to do it. Many a woman makes herself look like a withered orange by wasting her energy and vital strength in futile efforts to accomplish vain re- forms. The first impulse of an in- 66 TO ATTRACT SUCCESS 67 telligent engineer would be to put the governor on to an engine in which the steam was evaporating near the danger point and to no purpose. How many human en- gines dissipate their will-force, their energy, through unchecked anger, continual fretting, and misguided philanthropies until they become unattractive, broken-down ma- chines? Above all things mind your own business, but be keenly alive. When you are negative and indifferent you are really half-dead. There are unused muscles in your body withering away for want of exercise, there are unused cells in your brain contracting for want of nourishing thoughts. il 68 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU Get physical poise and keep it by proper exercise, as suggested in The Way to Keep Young. Try to become nobly self-centred and har- monious, so nothing will disturb you. When you are in a discord- ant mental state you are depleting your energy. You are sinfully wasting it. It is worse than if you threw gold into the street. Get your mental poise as you do your physical. When the body is tense and strained let go of it for a time. Let it become limp. When the mind is disturbed and unhappy, Entertain no thought. Mark the meaning of the word entertain. Thoughts discordant and harass- ing will come like phantoms. They TO ATTRACT SUCCESS 69 will breed new ones, as they flock into your brain, that will be more disturbing than the first-comers. Entertain none. Make your mind as blank as possible until you are calm and poised, and then invite cheerful and hopeful thoughts and entertain them with royal hospital- ity. If you grant the truth of the discovery that each of us radiates psychical emanations, as palpable as the glow of heat from a regis- ter, then you will understand the full significance of the command, " Guard well thy thoughts," for every person gives out a psychical emanation which is the direct re- sult of his mental, and conse- quently of his physical, condition. !•■ ly 70 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU If your thoughts are gloomy your emanations will be depressing, and you will attract despondent people only and put yourself into an ever-growing current of gloom. If you are bravely cheerful you will draw unto yourself bright condi- tions and will attract cheerful com- rades, for by the law of affinity in nature such atoms as belong in the same circle are mutually attracted while those which belong in other circles repel. We all know from experience how depressing the at- mosphere is, where gloomy, cross, and unreposeful people live. Their rooms are permeated with oppress- sive discontent. If you are sensi- tive you will feel the atmosphere TO ATTRACT SUCCESS 7x as keenly as if it were a fog. It is moral fog. Despondent people live in a blur and could not see an opportunity for success if they stumbled over it. It is as Mrs- Browning pictures it in the follow- ing : " Methinks we do as fretful children do, Leaning their faces on the window-pane, To sigh the glass dim with their own breath's stain, And shut the sky and landscape from their view; And thus, alas ! . . . . We miss the prospect which we are called unto." . . . Look at yourself ! If the corners of your mouth sag, Smile ! Smile ! Smile ! Smile and keep on smil- ing until you have changed your ^ 1 »i- ♦ f \l ^2 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU expression. Do not allow disa- greeable, dissatisfied thoughts to furrow gutters of despair on either side of your mouth. Face the world with your heart forward and your backbone straight, and if there is a grumbling, groaning, discon- tented tone or vibration in your voice, get it out as soon as possi- ble. You must know " The eye must be sunny ere it can see the sun," before you can attract you must first make yourself attractive. A woman who has chiselled her face with melancholy and worrying thoughts, said pitifully : ** Surely I am not so unattractive that I could not gather a pleasant circle of friends around me if I sent cards TO ATTRACT SUCCESS 73 out and kept up one evening or day at home through the season." She added, wistfully, "I am so lonely. I only know two families in New York." Her profession brought her within touch of hun- dreds, yet she was so gloomy, so full of her own trials, difificulties, and tribulations that she only at- tracted those as gloomy and dis- heartened as herself. Yet she was a woman of brains, whom it would have been a pleasure and distinc- tion to present to people if she had not been such a mournful ego- tist. She asked to be loved, but never once asked herself if she were lovely. She sought cheerful, attractive people, but made no r. I.' i' I '•rf*,*- •- »««^ V-*»%*'»^. _. 74 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU effort to get in harmony with their happy views and amiable moods, but radiated gloom, and talked of her woe-begone self, detailing her physical pains and her mental dis- tresses. The most warm-hearted of the cheerful people she met, who sought to make life less difficult for her, finally left her to herself, explaining, "She's impossible." If she had tried to cultivate courage, hope, cheerfulness, and gracious- ness she would have soon been swept into a tide of healthier, hap- pier, and more successful condi- tions. It is possible for every miser- able, slaving, unhappy being just like her, or unattractive, pessimis- tic-looking men, to make them- TO ATTRACT SUCCESS 75 selves over. Yes, literally over, and become magnets that will at- tract what is desirable. You say, '* It is all very well, when you are comfortable and life is easy, for you to sit up and spin out these fine theories ; but look at me I am poor and unhappy. I have few friends, I have no pleasures, I wish I were dead." As long as you say these things, think these things, you will be poor, unhappy, and unloved. Your external environ- ment and conditions are in a great measure but the materialization and reflection of your inward states. '* Whatever we think about we produce within us and attract to us, and the more we dislike the Ali I r; ' I! 1/ 76 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU approach of any appearance the more surely and quickly do we draw it to us or express it within us." Job testified to the truth of this philosophy when he said,*' That which I most feared is come upon me. 11 In the words of the late Prentice Mulford : " Stop worrying over anticipated discords. Keep your mind in the present. You only intensify and hasten discord by worry, and at the same time you take from the present those forces which should be employed in the present, and which would fortify you against the anticipated discords. Disabuse your mind of the belief that there TO ATTRACT SUCCESS n is anything too good for you; place the mark of your ambition high, and always hold it in view ; never relinquish it for a moment no matter how crushing the in- fluence brought to bear against it. Your body will soon be where your aspiration always is, provided you hold there unwaveringly. " If in mind you abase yourself before another's talent or their grander style of living, or are over- awed by their pretentiousness into a sort of envious humility, or into that sinful self-depreciation which is ever saying, *I can't stand there,' you place the greatest of barriers to standing there. Look always on the best things the world m y 78 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU can give as if they were yours, not the houses, carriages, and fine clothes of others as yours, but others like them when you earn them, and earn them you can, if you have sufficient faith in the spiritual law or mental condition of mind which brings these things, and is the only force which really ever brings them to any one." CHAPTER X. TRUST THYSELF. OUCCESS or failure in any line^ ^ is dependent upon the faith | of the thinker in his power to ac- I complish the work before him. | The positive character that de- J termines to attain the thing de- sired must approach more nearly the goal than the vacillating, hesi- tating thinker who fears failure. ** Trust thyself: every heart vi- brates to that iron string'' The law of echo makes this inspiriting line from Emerson practical and prov- able. If you project thoughts of courage, of trust in your own abil- 79 .11 ! m. Ii 80 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU ity to succeed, you awaken answer- ing vibrations of trust in you in the hearts of even those who are not in spiritual or mental rapport with you. It is proven that when we change our chemical condition mentally we change perforce our radiations. These changes can be scientifically regulated by govern- ing our thoughts aright, and we may become effectual magnets of success. This law is illustrated every day in every line of business. A chambermaid who did her work well, kept herself neat, minded her own business and proved herself so reliable in every way, impressed the observing housekeeper in a fashionable hotel — one of the mod- TRUST THYSELF 81 ern palaces— that she was capable of filling a higher position. She was promoted from one service to another until she became assistant housekeeper. In all phases of service she bore herself 'Mike a lady." She walked quietly and had a dignified, self-respecting bearing. She was low-voiced, court- eous, and amiable. She fitted into each position with easy adapt- ability. After she had finished arranging her rooms, before she closed a door she inspected each one as if she were a thorough housekeeper. She really was one. Do you not see that it did not require a very vivid imagination to picture her filling satisfactorily and n - .1 82 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU successfully the position of assistant housekeeper? In thinking of her work and doing it as a housekeeper would, she radiated thought-forces that eventually attracted the actual place to her. She did not put herself into the position by fretting for it, nor did she waste time in envying those above her, nor did she lose thought-force in idly dreaming that some day she would be a housekeeper. She simply did her work as if she were as respon- sible for the care and appearance of the rooms as the housekeeper was. She really was an assistant housekeeper all the time, and she un- derstood her work so well that she had trust in her ability to fill the TRUST THYSELF 83 high position that was offered her, and awakened a responsive echo of belief in her powers of ac- complishment in the minds of those in authority. The thought-force of those who have strong, steadfast faith in their own ability to do, is so convincing that although they may have little skill, knowledge, and real talent they so influence people to believe in them that they often secure positions that more expert and talented but self-distrusting and timid men and women are unable to get III 1 ^i '\% CHAPTER XI. THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN. DO you not see that it is your own attitude toward life and your work that affects you more than anything else in the world ? A laboring man, evidently embittered, wrote to the editor of a brilliant daily, suggesting to him that if he went to look for work with the mien and clothes of a poor man, he could find out for himself with what scant courtesy a poor man was treated. ** TAe mien of a poor man'' In that phrase the writer unwittingly reveals the reason for the " scant THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN 85 courtesy." What is the mien of a poor man ? If it is that of envious humility ; of self-abasement ; of cringing appeal, or of abject ser- vility, it richly deserves to be treated with scant courtesy. Why should any self-respecting working- man or woman who gives skill, labor, and time in exchange for money assume the attitude of a beggar when he or she seeks em- ployment ? If you must for a time wear the shabby clothes of a beg- gar, I beseech you not to have the mien of a beggar, or your person- ality, your bearing, will suggest to those to whom you go for employ- ment, or to your acquaintances, that you will never be anything else but \ ... (I 86 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU a beggar, and you will be treated with the condescending benevo- lence or brutal indifference the unthinking bring down upon them- selves. Remember character, in- tegrity of purpose, and self-respect lend distinction to any sort of suit. Believe me, if you carry yourself like a self-respecting, self-reliant man who knows he has the skill and ability to give in perfect ser- vice a good return for money received, you will be granted a respectful hearing that a beggar never can nor will be able to com- mand. If one person has no place for you, he may be able to suggest to you somebody who does need just such work as you offer, if you THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN 87 offer it in a manly or womanly way. Apropos of this let me tell you another true story. A high- bred girl was thrown upon her own resources, and like many another of her cultured but un- trained class she did not know what to do, but was bravely ready to try any reputable thing. A physician whose eyes were weak offered to teach her short hand if she would read to him. She accepted the proposition. When she knew his easily learned system of shorthand, he told her he wished some notes of lectures transcribed on a type- writing machine and asked her if she knew how to use one. She 1 I : *»«»!• '."la I «■- 1 a. • •»■ > _ , J, ^> 88 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU I I did not, but said she could learn, she supposed. He said, "Of course you can and these notes will be a splendid discipline." They proved a terrible discipline for they abound- ed in medical terms. With tear- ful determination the girl worked at them until the whole series of lectures was completed. Her work proved so satisfactory that the physician said, ** Now you must get a little office down-town, such intelligence as yours is needed in the business world." Quick to act the girl soon heard of a desirable place in the rooms of a big firm on one of the main streets of the city. She asked the president of the corporation for the privilege THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN 89 of renting an available corner in one of the offices which she would pay rent for in money or in ser- vice, if extra work was needed. The firm had its own type-writer. No available corner was at the president's disposal. The girl thanked him for his courteous at- tention and left Two days after she received a note telling her cer- tain changes had been made and it was necessary to have another type-writer in the firm, and the position was at her refusal. She accepted it, explaining she had never been in an office and might not suit at all, but she was willing to try. The president, a keen reader of character said, " I think I 4 I IlllnUiagitl: Jf'li. ..^^ .;f4iL.;i^k»^ "i{(i^l|!JL . ys U i t 90 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU you can fill the place, I judged from the way you presented your own case the other day that you have business instincts, if not knowledge, and from your appear- ance and manner I readily infer that you have the intelligence to do the work and that you also can understand the requirements of a business office. The affairs of the office are never to be discussed out of it, and it is a rule, as there are several of your sex here, as you see, that there shall be no friendships in the office." The girl accepted the position, and filled it satisfactorily until she resigned to accept a position of more re- sponsibility, from which she was THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN 9 1 graduated into another place of still greater responsibility. Her employer remarked, "That girl has intelligence and ability far above merely mechanical type-writ- ing." A place of honor and trust as private secretary at a large salary was given to her. This girl had never cringed in her life. It is very true that having been comparatively rich, and educated at a fashionable boarding-school among wealthy girls, she had never been made to feel class-distinctions. She had the perfect breeding that gives poise and surety of one's self. She neither was servile in her bear- ing when she sought employment, ii \ )] \i ii •.^fc. ^^1, V « 92 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU nor had she the air of a ruler in a large kingdom. She simply had the atmosphere and carriage of a well-bred, modest young gentle- woman, whose self-command was the result of training and of min- gling with men and women of the polite world. She had the uncon- scious self-trust of a courteous child, and radiated character qualities of cheery self-reliance, loyalty, and faithfulness in service and womanly self-respect that won recognition and appreciation in every place she filled. Perhaps this is another il- lustration where temperament and breeding conspired toward success. It is possible, however, as many a progressive man and woman has >ll>'i I » \\ i'. THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN 93 proven, to make one's self over and develop just such qualities. When a man seeks employment does he not offer the fruits of his spirit; his time; the work of his hands, and his skill for another man's money ? Is it not a fair business proposition ? Is it not an exchange of values ? Money is not the only value, it is only one of the values in the world. If a man by his beggarly mien and servility when he seeks employment thus plainly undervalues his labor, is it surprising that the one to whom he goes treats him as if he were a beggar asking for alms, instead of a noble workingman offering his services for the mutual benefit of t 4 94 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU both ? The attitude of mean sub- mission of some poor men is as responsible for the despicable ar- rogance displayed by some rich men, as the latter is for the former. They react upon and make one an- other. If the employers bearing toward the workingman is the right one, he gives the laborer more than money. If the workingman s bear- ing toward his employer is the right one, he gives him more than his labor. Each one gives to the other what cannot be paid for, yet it is the most precious part of their mutual relationship. Many a grown-up should go to the kinder- garten and learn the spiritual sig- nificance of service. The child THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN 95 learns how the farmer is indebted to the miller for converting his wheat into flour ; how the miller is indebted to the baker ; how the baker is indebted to the grocer- man, and finally how the customer is indebted to the grocerman's clerk. Each by his service helps the other and enables the other to stay at his post and do his special work. They all serve the last buyer of the small loaf, who is saved the time and trouble of grinding out his bread cake like a savage. It is this ennobling inter- dependence that makes service a beautiful privilege and a high pleas- ure. Cultivate a respect for your own powers. Respect your work 96 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU whatever it is. Lilian Whiting speaks so pertinently anent this very subject that I delight in quot- ing her. She says : **To hold one's work — whether it be that of selling goods behind a counter, or building a house, or work in the professions, the arts, or the industries, to hold it as that which forms one s medium of ex- pression, one's part in the general cpmmunity, by means of which he conveys with his work, his good will, his generous sympathy, — the entire support, indeed, of that magnetic love which radiates from him who has the love of God and the love of man in his heart, — to give thus always of one's best is THE MIEN OF A POOR MAN 97 the true success in life. The lin- gering idea that there is caste in work is an unworthy one. The only caste is in character." When you assume the attitude of a beggar you reflect upon God and demean your spirit, which it is your high privilege to set forth as nobly .as possible. What would you think of an electrician who apologized in envious humility be- cause the illuminating threads of sunlight generated under his con- trol were allowed by him to glow through muddy ill-formed globes, which were offensive to the sight beside lamps as clear as crystal- ized bubbles? Are you not an electrode of Divine Force ? Is not 98 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU II I ' I I your work, whatever it may be, a visible showing of the way you use the Divine Force within you ? Do you not see that the right kind of self-trust is absolute faith in this power within you to aid you to do whatever you have to do ? You are butthe instrument. Like the master electrician you can direct the force within you to give light, pleasure, comfort, and help to whatever and whomsoever comes within your atmosphere ; or, you can so mis- direct it or neglect to use it, that darkness, discomfort, despair comes to yourself and all who come with- in touch of you. , CHAPTER XII. PROJECT YOUR WORK ARIGHT. IF you realize what real self-trust is, you cannot confound it with self-conceit. The self-conscious timidity of many who bewail their sensitiveness is but the most dis- heartening expression of self-con- ceit. They are ever thinking of themselves. The selves they have projected, not of the spirit which is of them yet not of them, just as the yolk of an egg, different in form and color, is in and not of the white substance that surrounds it, yet both are one. The right kind of self-trust bids a man or woman 99 lOO SUCCESS IS FOR YOU achieve, relying on their spirit and forgetting absolutely their own personality. They have no false pride that is wounded because somebody has failed to do defer- ence to their fancied importance. To express the work of their spirit is the main thing with them. If you project your work aright, it will speak for itself. It is your duty, however, to project it aright Too many of us are like the proud, snobbish old woman who became so poor she had to take the cherries that grew in her garden into the streets to sell. They were toothsome and luscious, deep, red beauties, shining with seductive brightness. She did not see their PROJECT YOUR WORK ARIGHT lOI value. She only saw her poor, miserable self, reduced in circum- stances, carrying them. She sought aback street and mournfully murmured, '* Cherries ! Cherries ! Good heaven, I hope nobody hears me ! " Nobody did. She went home and wept, and bitterly com- plained of the heartlessness in the world, just as ten thousand of her kind have done, are doing and will do until they learn to see how shabby and despicable they make themselves, and how they demean the spirit within them. The old woman had more cheap pride than character, more cowardly self-con- ceit than womanly courage. Are not many of us like her? If she I02 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU had been brave enough to stand in the highway, forgetting her miser- able self and thinking only of pre- senting her fruit attractively as she cheerily piped out, ''Cherries! Cherries ! " can you not readily picture her going home with a serene countenance, carrying an empty basket that must be filled on the morrow ? If she had taken this attitude toward the world and her work, does it not seem quite probable that her fruit would have soon become known and that after a time people would have sought the garden ? Believe me, the world is a mirror, it reflects back to you the face you present to it, and you get out of the world just what you PROJECT YOUR WORK ARIGHT IO3 put into it. If you make no effort to let It know what you have done It makes no effort to find out what you have done. Is not this the just working of law ? If you make no action, there will be no re-action. If you do not sing out, can you get an echo ? You know, of course, in the law of echo that the angle the ray of sound makes with a wall or a hill upon approaching it, will be the same made by the ray of sound when it leaves the wall or hill. But mark this ; unless you stand in the proper place in the line of the angle of reflection, it will be observed that the sound can- not be heard at all, or, if it is heard, it is heard with difficulty and is in- 1*J I 104 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU distinct and not at all impressive. Do you not catch the hint ? Does it not behoove us all to find the place where the conditions are the best for the clearest and most re- sponsive echo to our call ? There are other laws of course, as I have tried to show, besides the law of echo with which we must be in harmony to be completely in touch with the uplifting and helpful con- ditions of the world. Of all classes, the artistic one, whose sensitive temperament is its joy and its curse, should note the workings of the law of echo, the law of action and re-action and the law of vibra- tion especially, as it works not only in deeds and words but in thoughts PROJECT YOUR WORK ARIGHT IDS of positive, cheerful self-trust. Many of this class suffer needless pain and poverty through ignoble pride. They are those " who from carelessness, timidity, or ig- norance of practical life, imagine that everything is done that can be when the work is completed, and wait for public admiration and for- tune to break in on them by es- calade and burglary. They live, so to say, on the outskirts of life, in isolation and inertia. We used to know a small school composed of men of this type, so strange, that one finds it hard to believe in their existence ; they styled themselves the disciples of art for art's sake. According to these simpletons, art K .'" 1 06 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU for art's sake consisted in deifying one another, in abstaining from helping Chance, who did not even know their address, and in waiting for pedestals to come of their own accord and place themselves under them." Henri Murger wrote the foregoing more than fifty years ago. The class to which he re- fers is as numerous to-day as it was then. * If they write they think their manuscripts are such precious, heaven-born documents that people should seek them with eagerness and haste. They do not regard them as disposable commodities for which they must find the right market They do not keep alert ll PROJECT YOUR WORK ARIGHT 107 to know what the market wants and they do not offer their wares with dignified self-respect. " Ped- dle em as if they were apples," was the terse and practical advice of Frank M. Pixley, the late brilliant editor of the San Francisco Argo- naut ^ to a trembling sentimental girl who offered him a manuscript with the air of a convict about to receive a death sentence. " If one man does not want your apples another man may. Don't be afraid of me or anybody." If this sensitive class who think they are ** gleaming in obscurity" paint, they have the same timidity. Their pictures are too fine to be regarded as marketable. Through U l!i M m 1 08 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU self-conscious pride they suffer and grow poor and despairing and unat- tractive in their studios. Their mor- bid, bewailing Selves form screens that shut their work from view. What would happen to a farmer who sat in his granary looking at his wheat, bemoaning his fate and rail- ing against God and man, because wheat dealers who did not know of his existence failed to come after it ? If you do something worthy and present it in the proper way and the world finds it cheering, uplifting, or even healthily diverting, you will more likely have to run from those who will seek you with devouring appreciation than weep because you are not sought for. But mark this, PROJECT YOUR WORK ARIGHT IO9 the world rightly demands joy. It does not want to be reminded of the woe and misery in it. It wishes to forget them. Remember, " To cul- tivate a sense of pleasure is to civilize." Project your work what- ever it may be — selling ribbons over a counter, making out unin- teresting law briefs, cooking, wait- ing on table, reading, or singing — cheerfully. Give joy and get joy. You need not do it so much in words as in your emanations. The inexhaustible sun is behind each ray of sunlight, the immeasurable source of Divine Force is behind you. Why should you not radiate a sunny, self-trust and make what- ever you touch luminous ? 1^ \> i«. XIII. NOBLE SELF-ASSERTION. T^HE proper kind of self-trust i begets self-assertion and self- assertion is one of the most potent elements of success. That is the eason so many of the so-called bad, selfish, disagreeable people in life succeed. They assert themselves. They make themselves a steady, driving force before which the neg- ative, the unwisely sensitive, and the ignobly humble go down. They attain a certain kind of suc- cess, a material sort. They want money and they bend every energy, every thought to get it, and in many no l«/-:,=- j|H[*f- fjt NOBLE SELF-ASSERTION III instances they get what they strive for. They assert their own conceit in a continuous, concentrated in- domitable way and they get on where really better, but lazier and more timid ones fail. They are willing to make the effort and they are rewarded according to their effort. The noblest self-assertion is not the self-assertion of the brag- gart, who not only boasts of his work but boasts of himself, ignor- ing God or any Divine Force ex- cept his own muscular energy and mental power. He dominates by sheer physical and the lowest sort of mental force, because he projects it with imperturbable courage. His phase of assertion is a symbol of i r I C 112 sucx:ess is for you the higher and better. His lowest expression of self-assertion wins because insistent energy and courage and the cheerfulness born of his success are spiritual qualities in anyone. They draw success to the froward as well as to the self- respecting, dignified worker who is determined to win without tram- pling over his fellow-men to do it. The currents in the ocean bear the ships of the pirates as swiftly as they do the steamers of the mer- chantmen. Sunshine lights a brothel as radiantly as it does a sanctuary. Fire makes even refuse beautiful. Under its beneficent influence a dirty old bone, a worm- eaten dead branch will give forth NOBLE SELF-ASSERTION 113 warmth aftd become instruments of comfort and power. Sunlight, air, water, and fire, which are for the use of all, giving life or death ac- cording as they are used rightly or wrongly, are they not symbols of the Divine Forces within us ? In ignoble instruments they are igno- bly expressed, but they are not without power. Remember this when you are inclined to arraign God for partiality and to look with murderous envy upon your fellow- men. Is it not yourself that you should challenge ? The self-assertion of braggarts, it is easily seen, is not the finest kind. They win something, but they lose many of the most enrich- 9 I 114 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU ing experiences of life. They as- sert themselves and their achieve- ments in such a way that they become bores, and unless people have to do business with them they avoid them. The force that helps them to succeed in material lines, when misused deprives them of the social and spiritual enjoyments of life. They are not welcomed at the tables of the cultured and re- fined and doors once opened to them, through their lack of tact, courtesy, and consideration they find shut upon them. But even as objectionable as this intrusive form of self-assertion is, it is better than the envious humility of the mourn- fully modest. Self-contempt, self- NOBLE SELF-ASSERTION II 5 depreciation are the worst forms of pride. Self-abasement is the neg- ative expression of the same pride of which offensive self-assertion is the positive. If the positive ex- pression is cheerful, of course it wins. But, as you no doubt have noticed, if the braggart has no other claim to recognition than his push and persistence he is finally measured for his just value and is not able to hold places which for a time he usurped by sheer force. But why should any of us either manifest the ignoble self-assertion of the braggart or the negative self-approval of the self-depreciator when we have the sweet privilege of showing forth the highest kind I . I I ^1 n ii6 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU of self-assertion ? It is not only our privilege but our manly and womanly duty. What is the high- est kind of self-assertion? It is spiritual self-assertion. Spiritual self-assertion is not self-conscious conceit It is the unconscious emanation of a self-sufficing, self- relying, self-controlled man or woman, who has self-knowledge and self-reverence. It is the quickening radiation of a serene, sunny, self-poised soul. Self-poised because conscious that if it assume the right attitude toward its work and the world it is backed by Om- nipotence Itself. It is the asser- tion of the Soul. ** Who has more soul than I masters me though he NOBLE SELF-ASSERTION II 7 • should not raise a finger." Give your soul room. If you doubt that you have a soul to express in the highest form of self-assertion, you can prove for yourself how potent in success is self-assertion in its lowest form, so of the two forms of ignoble pride chose self-approval instead of self-depreciation, and cease to wail. CHAPTER XIV. THE WISEST SYMPATHY. / npo succeed you must not dissi- I pate your precious force in I unwise sympathy. "Do not spill I thy soul " in running hither and yon grieving over the misfortunes the mistakes and the vices of others. The one person whom it is most necessary in this world to reform is yourself. "A sympa- thetic person is placed in the dilemma of a swimmer among drowning men who will catch at him, and if he gives so much as a leg or a finger, they will drown him. They wished to be saved from Ii8 THE WISEST SYMPATHY II 9 the mischiefs of their vices but not from their vices. A wise and hardy physician will say, come out of that ^ as the first condition of advice," To truly sympathize with a friend who is quivering with trouble or sorrow, is not to respond to his mood and intensify his misery by dolorous remarks of agreement with his mournful views of himself and humanity. Give him mental and physical invigoration by pro- jecting clearly formed thoughts of courage and cheer. Miserable folk are in a negative condition, they need to have their creative mental energies quickened. Make them vibrate with hope. Instead of tak- ing their minor key, woo them to I20 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU take your major note of hope full of resonant harmony. Stimulate them to believe in themselves. Show them how they dramatize their woes and what despicable satisfaction they sometimes take in being the leading men and women in their particular scenes of woe, and how eager they are to have an appreciative audience to weep with them. Show them how their super- sensitive vanity magnifies wrongs and their morbid imaginations ex- aggerate mistakes until their trou- bles become companions. Show them that it is as ill-bred to go around complaining of having the blues and inflicting themselves upon anyone while they are sel- THE WISEST SYMPATHY 121 fishly meditating on their miseries, as it is to appear before others in soiled clothes, bad temper, and a diseased condition. If they are so conceited that they prefer to think always of themselves and whine about themselves, leave them alone. You say " Cruel philosophy, see how many good people suffer. See how many good people fail." Are you sure they are good ? Analyze them before you denounce this philosophy as unsympathetic and selfish. Perhaps if you will take the measure of so-called good men and women fairly, you will find many self-righteous cowards who pass for *' the good " because they are negative and oftentimes lazy. i m( ■li. I li: 122 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU They have keyed their lives to submission and obedience by their religious teachings. They have sung so long, '* Such a worm as I," that they are content to crawl and squirm like worms, and make no effort to fly and change themselves into higher, freer, and more beauti- ful forms. They take a selfish delight in self-sacrifice, ignoble self-sacrifice. They pretend to be humble yet talk of their glorious rewards in heaven and have not the nobleness of soul nor alacrity of spirit to enjoy this divinely beautiful old earth. It is true that the falsely humble and popularly supposed good people do suffer pain and misery that the popularly f V THE WISEST. SYMPATHY 1 23 supposed bad escape. The bad express the force within them. They may do it ignobly, but they do it. The self-abasing good do not recognize God, they give no expression to the power within them. If you do not sail your boat in the current why should you not be wrecked? If you do not turn on electricity, or, if you do not use it properly why should you not be in the dark, and what is to save you from being destroyed by it? The negatively good bring much of their troubles upon themselves. Those who make a profession of being humble have certain lines on their faces peculiar to and discern- ible on the faces of waiters. A A 1\ )! \\ Ui i • 124 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU waiter tells by his attitude, his ges- ture, the expression of his face that he serves. A quick eye can single out a waiter in a group by certain unmistakable characteristics. Peo- ple who believe in their own inferi- ority betray their secret thoughts just as some waiters do their occu- pation, and they look and move like waiters. If you are willing to make a doormat of yourself, do not be surprised if people wipe their feet on you and kick you aside. Many so-called good people by a foolish obliteration of their individ- uality make doormats of themselves. They grow lean and feeble in mus- cle and weak in spirit They have no power of resistance. They have THE WISEST SYMPATHY 12$ no power of attraction. It seems almost cant to affirm, ** It is noble to serve, if one serves nobly," for the experienced know that he com- mands best who knows how to serve best. It all depends upon the spirit with which you serve. It is a sin to be too humble. If you believe you are inferior and op- pressed you unite yourself with a great tide of oppression. You be- come a depressor, a destroyer of energy and it is your privilege to be a stimulator, a creator of energy. Can you not see if you are a negative, self-abasing man or woman you deny the power of God in you ? H !!' CHAPTER XV. WHOM AND WHAT TO AVOID. REMEMBER, to succeed you must be wise in your asso- ciates, not only because one of the greatest riches in the world is to be rich in the right kind of friends, but because it has been proven by one who knows : — ** To be much of the time with a gloomy or despond- ent person, or one fretful, or easily angered, or cynical or sceptical, or in any way thinking evil or injuri- ous thought, is for you unsafe. Be you as confident, determined, and courageous as you may, you will absorb some of their despondency, 196 — — w^ WHOM AND WHAT TO AVOID I 27 irresolution, or cowardice and be affected by it. It will be a blur upon your judgment. It will be so much extra load of cowardly or ir- resolute thought to tax your cour- age and resolution. Of whatever evil quality that person s thought is, It will infect you more or less with that quality. If you associate with people who tire and bore you, you keep better, more helpful peo- ple away." Take no interest in the disturbing, disintegrating men and women that bustle around you like buzzing bumble bees, and they will soon leave you to your work. Pre- occupied attention in your own af- fairs is the best and most effective answer to importunate frivolers who * n w 128 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU ii ■' I would absorb your strength, vital- ity, and time. Another pernicious absorber of strength is worry. Much has been said and written upon the health-destroying power of worry, yet few seem to realize that worry withers the bodily tissues and wastes vital force more than work does, no matter how hard. Worry enfeebles the nerves and brings about a generally wretched sense of weakness and discontent. It makes you negative and unattractive. For health's sake, for beauty's sake, do not worry. It is not safe. If you do not sleep, do not make your bodily and mental condition worse by worrying and talking of your in- somnia. Look to your food. If WHOM AND WHAT TO AVOID 1 29 you cannot sleep after you have excluded from your meals drinks and dishes that excite and stimu- late, try at least to get some rest. Relax every muscle. Think only of the most delightful experiences you have ever had ; the most suc- cessful things you have ever done ; live over in imagination the most joyous scenes in your life. Feast your mind at a spiritual banquet. Even if you do not sleep — and the chances are that you will — you will rise refreshed. Learn to swing with the tide. Even in the simple matter of going down-town in a cable car for instance, get the mo- tion of the car. Get the rhythm of the crowd and it will stimulate in- stead of deplete you. I I CHAPTER XVI. THE WISDOM OF THE OPTIMIST. HOW can one be cheerful when life is SO tragic? you ask. When life is so serious, and there is so much sadness, how can one be joyful ? If life is tragic to you, perhaps you have made it so. Perhaps you have made no effort to understand yourself, and un- stable as water you have been swayed by every changing circum- stance, every whim, and every im- pulse, becoming a victim instead of a master of your emotions. Per- haps unawares you have been so supremely selfish and exacting that 130 '. 1 WISDOM OF THE OPTIMIST I3I you have demanded too much of others and have exhausted their in- terest, love, and patience. Perhaps you have allowed yourself to be deceived, although you have every power within you to aid you in reading your fellow-beings aright Perhaps you have put false values on the accidents of wealth and so- cial position, and bewailed your lowly station in life with woful hu- mility, forgetting it is the soul that occupies the place and not the place that commands our reverence, or respect, or admiration. The Christ made a stable a sanctuary. Diogenes lived in a tub. Perhaps you have forgotten that all of us, like polygons, have several U2 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU ^ft sides, and you have not taken the trouble to see some apparently un- kind relative or associate from every point of view. Many a high-minded, but exact- ing wife, expects her husband to live up to her theories instead of the highest and best in himself, and she makes no effort to discover the highest and best in him, to help him nourish and show it forth. Many a husband forms a character- mould for his wife to fit into, with- out trying to tenderly learn the real nature of his companion. He ex- acts from her what his preconceived idea of her, his caricature of her, would do and say. Affection can- not thrive under such treatment. kl WISDOM OF THE OPTIMIST 1 33 and many an exacting husband and wife have thus created their own sorrow. Perhaps you have been too self- sacrificing. As has been shown, ignoble self-sacrifice is as bad, sometimes worse, than exacting selfishness, because it develops selfishness in others and makes one negative and powerless to hold and attract the most dignified, ennob- ling, and enduring kind of love. You say " How can anyone be cheerful when death is omnipres- ent?" It requires our strong- est, highest effort to face the desolation and loneliness that fol- low in the track of death. May we not hope that anything so uni- 134 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU versal as death must be beneficial ? May we not trust, as we watch the workings of nature, that death is but another condition of life ? Despite the unspeakable sadness that wrecks our own hearts we, at least, should not grieve selfishly. Many a mourner grieves in a self- pitying way. Passionate grief neither does the dead any good nor the living. It does the latter harm. Death is the Messiah that redeems us from brutal unkindness and all uncharitableness. Without death and little children what would not the world lack in gentle- ness, loving kindness, and sweet- ness? There is sadness, there is misery, but to be sad and miserable WISDOM OF THE OPTIMIST 1 35 only increases the weight of woe In the world. Your wailings do harm. You can lessen the great sum of misery by making yourself such a sunny, serenely poised presence that wherever you move you will radiate brightness, you will diffuse sweetness, strength, and light. Try to see how the laws of na- ture work and be an optimist. Be a liberal, tolerant one. A wag says " A pessimist is one who has met an optimist" That's a fine hint not to make your optimism too ill-advised, too belligerent. You will hear the unreflecting say, " The optimist is a fool. The pessimist understands life. He gets below the surface of things. ■•hf ^' »:' »! 1 ' i'S 136 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU He hears the ceaseless murmur of woe through all the immemorial years." Sing back " The optimist is the wise man. The pessimist is the fool." The pessimist is worse. He is a moral and mental poisoner. He paralyzes energy. He judges only by defects, the lowest form of judgment, and has not the mental penetration to understand the workings of nature*s laws. The pessimist looks at Niagara and says " Useless sheet of water, thunder- ingly noisy. Lots of men dashed to pieces in the whirlpool below. Water everlastingly flowing," and he adds self-pityingly, '* it will be tumbling over these precipices when I *m dead and gone." The WISDOM OF THE OPTIMIST 1 37 optimist looks at the cataract ex- ultingly. He sees in it a tre- mendous object-lesson of nature's immutable laws. He understands if he works in harmony with these unchangeable laws they will serve him, and he proceeds to use Niagara to light a city. He makes a cata- ract his toy. If the optimist is a fool who would be wise ? ■)ii ^11 r J < XVII. ^li t 13 t' If m HOW TO TRAIN FOR SUCCESS. TO recapitulate : If you are a miserable, despondent, slav- ing, unsuccessful individual, get hold of yourself this instant. First get yourself into the con- dition for success. If possible have a den of your own into which you can go and preserve the sacred and uninterrupted seclusion that would be granted you, if you were saying your prayers. If you can- not have a place, choose an hour at night or early in the morning when you may be sure of being un- disturbed. If you are despondent, 138 HOW TO TRAIN FOR SUCCESS 1 39 train your mind to be hopeful. If you have no pleasant experiences in your life to recall, imagine the pleasantest things you would like to have happen to you or you would like to do. Picture yourself in a commanding attitude, full of courage and brightness. See your face as radiant with cheerfulness as you can imagine it. Look in the glass and catch your expression. Recall these thoughts, quicken the emotions and sensations of hope and courage. Go over and over them with the steady persistency of a student bent upon learning a diffi- cult Greek verb. Soon your brain cells, nerved with new thoughts, energized with an inspiriting inflow f^. H I40 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU s( 'III of positive thought-force, will work for themselves, and your Will will will you to think in currents of hopeful and courageous thoughts, and you will view life from a newer and higher plane, and see oppor- tunities you never saw before. Your cheerfulness and courage will add warmth to your manners. You will grow more winning unawares. A gracious manner, full of hospi- tality and cheerful composure, sug- gests self-poise, self-respect, and self-command, qualities that we all admire. Emerson says, " 'T is an inestimable hint that I owe to a few persons of fine manners, that they make behavior the very first sign of force, — behavior, and not perform- \\\ \ 11 HOW TO TRAIN FOR SUCCESS I4I ance, or talent, or, much less, wealth." Do not despise the forms and rules of polite society. Learn them, master them. "They aid our dealing and conversation, as a railway aids travelling, by getting rid of all avoidable obstructions of the road, and leaving nothing to be conquered but pure space." After you have acquired mental and physical poise and have ener- gized your despondent heart with courage and cheerfulness, project clearly and definitely in a mental vision what you wish to accomplish. Go over it, just as you went over the thoughts of hope, courage, and cheerfulness, until you de- velop conduct memories as the chil- 1^ 142 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU 11 m ■I N dren do by their ethical plays in the kindergarten, and persist until your Will wtVls you to work steadily, forcefully, and indomita- bly. Permeate, magnetize your den, your office, your room with eman- ations pf success, of hope, of cour- age, and concentration. Create a vitalizing atmosphere of success so that whenever you enter your sanctum you will be uplifted and encouraged. Entertain no thoughts of failure, no forebodings of defeat, no distrust in your powers of ac- complishment, no matter how fre- quently and forcefully they obtrude themselves. Make your atmos- phere so tingle with faith, hope, courage and cheer that every one HOW TO TRAIN FOR SUCCESS 1 43 that comes to you will have his confidence in you strengthened, will be cheered and stimulated, and convinced that you are the sort to be trusted with business enter- prises. Concentrate with unwavering effort on whatever you do. Re- member, if you go down-town with your thoughts in a chaotic state, flitting hither, thither, and yon, you will ally yourself with all the chaos and irresolution round about you. What good would a cable be whose strands floated outward and inward on every wave and tide? If you are a magnet of sufficient power, you attract to yourself thought-forces just as the f 144 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU positive, sympathetic piece of silver drew all the particles of invisible silver to itself from the water. This is not nonsense. You can notice for yourself that a man who goes to his work with a trained mind, who has methodized sense- memories of business, and who is alert and energetic, is a positive force that attracts stimulating thought " out of the everywhere." He proves the truth of the old saying : — " Firmly drive, firmly draw." He stirs vibrations of healthy, hopeful energy, and quick- ens confidence in everyone he meets. The conditions he thus awakens react upon himself. Some psychologists go so far as to say HOW TO TRAIN FOR SUCCESS 1 45 that successful operators and gam- blers make themselves magnets for money. Their thoughts are so concentrated on money that their radiations, penetrating the per- sonal atmosphere of others, suggest money and the possibility of get- ting money to those susceptible to such influences. Money-mongers quicken the commercial feeling in the minds of others and focus their thoughts on finance. They believe in themselves and make other people believe in them. Their very spirit of adventure is a con- quering force. Money-mongers rarely have divided interests and therefore reap the benefit of their loyalty. Loyalty is a spiritual p 146 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU quality and even in its least com- mendable form, it is not without magnetism. A man longing to be an artist, a writer, a scientist, or a musician, goes down-town with less concentrated attracting force than the one who is content to be a business man. Many of these dreamers go through life becoming neither successful tradesmen nor artists. . CHAPTER XVIII. OTHERS HAVE MASTERED, YOU CAN. IF you are dissatisfied with what you do, you have less power of attracting successful conditions than if you loved your work. Love is magnetic wherever and however it is expressed. If you dislike your work challenge your- self and find out justly and squarely why you do. Determine whether it is laziness, false pride, or lack of ability on your part that makes it irksome to you. If your work is so uncompromisingly uncongenial that you are doing yourself physi- cal, mental, and spiritual harm by 147 148 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU pursuing it. leave it, for as Paul Bourget says : ** There is for every soul an atmosphere of ideas which is appropriate to it, and outside of which it cannot endure for any longtime." If you are fearless and energetic you can do the work you like, or a phase of it. A brave girl who longed to be an artist could not spend the time and money neces- sary to become one ; she became an artistic photographer. The composition, grouping and posing in her pictures were unusual. In the photographs there was a sin- gular charm not unsuggestive of an ideal creation of an artist. Get into your right circle. Others have done so with success and you -ilfri J«V._^.. . OTHERS HAVE MASTERED 149 can, if you are willing to suffer a few deprivations and inconveniences for a time. A man who wished to be a lawyer had to slave at news- paper work. One day he deter- mined to study law. He very properly tried to arrange his work and time so he could do so, and obtained a night desk upon a daily newspaper. He thus secured time to attend the law school and to study law during the day. He bravely continued in his dual role of editor and law student until he was admitted to practice, and suc- cessfully established himself in his chosen profession. If it is utterly impossible for you il 150 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU to give up the uncongenial work you are doing, get into harmony with it. Every rebellious thought concerning it depletes your force. As you dissipate your force, you may observe that you become soggy» pasty looking, negative and unattractive, pitiable and repellent. Master your work; others have done so, you can. CHAPTER XIX. SHE MADE DRUDGERY AN ART. A WOMAN of fine character, a great actress, had to do the housework of her large family when hard times came. She had the artistic temperament that loves the ideal, the aesthetic, and finds its highest joy in mental work. The menial drudgery of housework was irksome and repellent to her. She bravely determined to do it so the home might not be sacrificed dur- ing the period of financial distress. She had herself pretty well in hand and did not allow her emotions, whimwhams, and moods to control 151 ill •'A jf i 152 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU her. She understood the workings of certain psychic laws. She knew if she faced her daily round of neverending and exacting cares with sullen, rebellious discontent, she would deplete her very life, and brutalize herself, and be irritably tired at night and inharmonious all the time. She also knew if she approached her work in the nega- tive, spiritless attitude of dogged endurance she would enslave her- self and destroy her spiritual grace and become a mere working ma- chine. She resolved to master it. She made it an art. She took the same keen interest in learning ways to simplify and beautify the end- less details of housework that some MADE DRUDGERY AN ART 1 53 women take in learning a new pat- tern of lace. She did her work as far as she was able with the same exquisite daintiness and lightness of touch. She knew the best " tex- ture" and "quality" of bread as she did those of velvet or silk, and in her hands a piece of bread be- came interesting. As she really dis- liked housework temperamentally, she did not feel the thrill of joy in perfect accomplishment that genu- ine housekeepers who love their work do, but she experienced a glow of satisfaction in labor well done, and felt the comforting up- liftment of spirit we all feel when we have triumphed when the odds seemed all against us. She could 154 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU not help occasionally thinking, after days of especially tiresome cares, " I never will be able to act with grace, subtlety, finesse again." She would sometimes look regret- fully at her hands, roughened with kitchen-work, and wonder if she could ever use them again with facile ease in expressive gesture. Lo! When she returned to the stage her work was finer, more convincing than it had ever been before. ** The gray angel of suc- cess," as Drudgery, not inappropri- ately, has been called, had not for- gotten her faithfulness in executing the small, uninteresting details of housework, nor the cheerfulness and courage with which she faced MADE DRUDGERY AN ART 1 55 the distasteful labor. Among the priceless gifts that Drudgery gave her was perfect poise. In master- ing disagreeable duties she had "gotten hold of herself." Self- mastery everywhere commands ad- miration, confidence, and respect. An actress more than any other worker needs this self-mastery. The public pay their money to see her at her best in whatever line she appears, and they resent, subcon- sciously if not consciously, any appeal to their s)mipathies through illness, timidity, or lack of poise. The actress who figures in this recountal had such absolute surety of touch, such authority, that she dominated easily and graciously 156 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU without seeming to do so. She was deft and flexible in her move- ments and more subtle in her in- terpretations, in truth, she was more artistic in her acting than she had ever been. She had experi- enced physical weariness and dis- comforts ; but, wisely directed la- bor, such as hers had been, proved wholesome exercise, and unawares she had been spiritually beautified for with smiling determination day by day she had asserted her spirit. If she had made a martyr of her- self in doing her household work she would have returned to the stage deteriorated physically and spiritually, but she made her re- entrance as a conqueror with MADE DRUDGERY AN ART 1 57 greater breadth and freedom and the fearless ease born of the ex- perience of cheerfully mastering tasks that seemed unspeakably burdensome. Every task that we master adds to our reserve fund of strength and spiritual force. Every task that masters us depletes our spiritual force and decreases our strength of character. r 1 1 !f I CHAPTER XX. THE MOTHS IN THE FURa TOO many housewives allow themslves to become enslaved by brooms, brushes, and dusters, and numberless things in the way of useless ornaments and furniture that are neither necessary nor beau- tiful, but absorb time that could be better spent upon keeping physic- ally wholesome, mentally alert, and spiritually awake. A wise woman in Boston, who realized how she was hindered by too many useless things in her house, went through it and noted down what she could comfortably do without. She took 158 THE MOTHS IN THE FURS 1 59 down inartistic pictures, ugly old vases, worsted work, and a hundred other things that had sentiment, but nothing else to commend them, and made a bonfire of them in the backyard. No man or woman can be a success either in character I or work who allows him- or herself \ to be hampered by things, thin^^f^ things. /^^ Do not exaggerate your needs. It is as harmful as magnifying your miseries. Unthinking individuals lose all power of self-mastery by exaggerating their troubles. A widow in financial distress and har- assed with cares became so dispir- ited she decided to commit suicide. One day she was crossing in a II l6o SUCCESS IS FOR YOU ferry-boat the marvellously beauti- ful bay of San Francisco. The dream of beauty, however, was lost upon her sorrow-weighted eyes. She was planning the quietest and best way to slip out of what to her was a most miserable world, when a friend came up to her and said in distressed tones, "Oh! I am so unhappy ! Something awful has happened to me!" The woe-be- gone widow asked in anxious sym- pathy, "What is it? Tell me, perhaps I can help you." The very distressed woman wailed forth, *'Well, I opened my closet this morning, where my handsome furs are packed, and I found them all moth eaten." The one contemplat- ing suicide gave an irrelevant laugh, THE MOTHS IN THE FURS l6l hysterical and mirthless. She apologized and tried to express her sympathy. She fortunately had a salutary sense of comedy, and after- wards said the woman with the moth-eaten furs "saved her life." She saw herself from a new point of view. The matter of furs de- stroyed by moths seemed such a trivial, frivolous grief compared to her deep sorrow that she was amused at the distress of the mourner of the furs, and noting how she exaggerated her woe, challenged herself and decided that she, too, might be exaggerating her miseries in the same childish way. She decided to live a little while longer. She is now a rich and happy wife. Beware of magnifying 1 62 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU your miseries. You will make them seem bigger than yourself, and be- come a despicable coward. Entertain no thought of sorrow until you have to. If a telegram awakens you in the middle of the night, do not dissipate the strength that you might need for some emergency by imagining terrible things before you open the mes- sage. Entertain no thought as you try to coolly face the difficulty. If you train yourself to nurse your energy thus, you will meet sur- prises without having to make an effort to be calm, for your devel- oped conduct memories will act sub- consciously, and will will you to be calm* ■ A CHAPTER XXL THE WORLD NEEDS YOU. DO you not see that it all lies with you whether you suc- ceed or not ? The uplifting, help- ful and successful effects of this philosophy have been proven by common-sense folk. Prove it for yourself. Make yourself over. If a dog can be given more brain- power, a human being certainly can. Heart-power, brain-power and spirit-power form an invincible trinity to redeem you from despair and failure. " Never mind ridicule, never mind defeat. Up again old heart." Remember, my comrade, 163 i »l M ^^ ,4 ***.•-• . ■* '» 164 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU every obstacle is a stepping-stone to the one who knows the law of nature and of thought. What an- swer could you make to this query of Walt Whitman ? ** Have you leam*d lessons only of those who admired you and were tender with you and stood aside for you ? " Have you not leam'd the great lessons of those who rejected you and braced themselves against you or who treated you with contempt or disputed the passage with you ? " Comrade, we are not alone in the struggle. Even the flowers have to make an effort to reach the sun- light. Properly directed effort generates energy. Energy is life, life is the manifestation of the spirit Give your spirit room to THE WORLD NEEDS YOU 1 65 express itself. Use the forces J within you intelligently, fearlessly, j joyously, triumphantly, persist- \ ently, and you will succeed. Get ) success. Your success is my suc- cess, is everybody's success. Get in swing with the universe. All is rhythmic and harmonious, do not be a note of discord in the univer- sal harmony. " For the world was built in order, And the atoms march in tune." Remember the world needs you and you need the world. Is it not laughably clear that neither could be complete without the other ? " Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky, And the Wolf that shall keep it may 1 66 SUCCESS IS FOR YOU 11 prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back, For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack." THE END ; COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the dmts Indieatsd btlow, or at tho expiration of a definite period after the date of borrowing, as provided by the library rules or by special arrangement with the Librarian fan charge. OATS aOMWOWCO DATS OUK OATC •OfVflOWKO OATK DUK «l 5;^ r . vSf. ■ OW(»4«)MIOO \< { 174 Q16 y COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 010663274 APR 1 1947 "!f^. u§'m^^'i^/-^-'^^''r:^^W^^i^^-S'X^m ^^--fcr' Wl 'Jferf '-*.-»*« V^BT/ - \ i Aaim