RIGHT THINKING.                     571

aspirations of the human race are to society what the compass
is to the ship. It sees not the shore, but it guides to it.
  To make a good mechanic we must develop in the mind the
ideas of mechanism and the desire for construction. It is the
quintessence of nonsense and folly to encourage boys to be-
lieve that the only great men have been soldiers, the only wise
men have been statesmen, lawyers or philosophers, the only
good men have been preachers, the only learned men have
been teachers or editors; that the only successful men have
been merchants, tradesmen or speculators, that wealth is the
only blessing and always comes by chance--such as drawing a
lottery ticket, betting on horse-races, or finding a hidden treas-
ure. It is the height of nescience, I say, to cultivate such ideas
in our children's heads and then expect to make of them con-
tented farmers, industrious mechanics and willing manual
laborers. It won't work. Train the mind carefully, with a
due regard for the physical health and you have done the best
that can be done for a human  being.   Mens sana, in sano
corpore, is still the fundamental desideratum of the human race.
  It is a good thing to teach a boy a trade, but it is a better
thing to convince his understanding that a trade is a necessity.
Set the mind right and it will do the rest. Great deeds are
always preceded and impelled by great thoughts. Successful
wars are the results of dominant ideas. "We do not take pos-
session of our ideas, but are possessed by them. They master
us and force us into the arena,where, like gladiators, we must
fight for them."
  Why does not Spain conquer Cuba? The idea of liberty
has seized the Cubans, and they may be killed but will not be
conquered.
                  "Freedom's battle once begun,
                  Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
                  Though baffled oft, is ever won."
  What was the triumphant march of Christianity over the
philosophy of Greece and the sacerdotalism of Rome but the
illustration of the force of an idea? What else were the Cru-
sades? What else the successful movements of Mohammed?
What else the late Civil War? The disparity between England




			

OHS/National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center Serial Collection

African Methodist Episcopal Church Review, Vol. 28, Num. 2

Volume:  28
Issue Number:  02
Date:  10/1911