CHAPTER I

LITTLE GRAINS OF SAND

Holding down a seat in the _rocking chair fleet_ out on the shady piazza is most certainly not making the most out of life.

We all remember the line--“If wishes were fishes we’d have some fried.” That is the answer to those who rock and dream, and hope for something to _turn up_ instead of _turning up_ something on their own account.

Of course, there is a time for everything, even the stealthy, creeping rocking chair--and that’s about bedtime. In the estimation of an eminent neurologist there is no crime against nature in the home that cannot be traced to this monstrous thief of time, which, while apparently screeching and groaning under its load, is, in reality, shouting with joy at the job it is putting up on its occupant.

_Taking the most out of life_ is the proper label for this old squeaker--breeder of idle contentment, day-dreams, inertia. Like everything else that saps the energy from mind and body, it counts its victims by the score, and throws them up on the sands of time.

Speaking of sand may serve to remind the reader of a well-known poem handed down from Grandmother days, which holds a lot of precious wisdom--probably more than any poem of its length--its breadth and depth being equal to the world in which we live. In childhood days this poem took my fancy, being short, to the point, and easy to remember. I was ready to recite it immediately and _automatically_ upon request. I had no thought then as to its meaning, but as the years rolled by it tagged along in memory until now I find in it a sort of statement of fact upon which to build my theory of making life worth while. Here it is:

_Little drops of water, Little grains of sand, Maketh the mighty ocean And a pleasant land._

To those who adopt the idea of finding out just _why_ little drops of water and little grains of sand accomplish so much, will come the greatest reward in the way of mental satisfaction--and, meanwhile, they’ll keep busy.

There is unbounded happiness in the pursuit of knowledge; a wonderful satisfaction in building up one’s treasure house of information. It’s all so easy, requiring nothing more than a healthy, enquiring mind--and _a zest for the sport_.

Zest is a big word. It has to do with _get up and git_, which has been most appropriately boiled down into the word _pep_. Lazy people, mentally or bodily, seldom get anywhere. What they do get is either accidental or by _absorption_--if by the latter process, more likely through the pores than the brain. No use to talk to them about making life worth while.

The greatest of human possessions are a well-trained _mind_, a _body_ to match, and a love of achievement, without which a man is old before his time. After that comes _energy_--the great propeller! What the brain directs the body will carry out--if the _propeller_ is working. No hesitation--when the _will_ commands the _body_ acts. They synchronize--they are attuned, harmonious, fraternal, so to speak. And to hitch them together is just as easy as getting wet by standing bareheaded in the rain.

There is no intention of littering up this chapter with ways and means of putting one’s upper story in fine working order--or the physical structure below. That is first-reader information. If we treat ourselves right, the brain will behave and the body will follow suit. _Activity_, mental and physical, is _the meat in the cocoanut_. Seeking knowledge leads along the sunlit paths of life where happiness abounds. The alternative is _mental shiftlessness_, leading from nowhere to nothing at all.

Cain killed Abel because, undoubtedly, of the shiftless life he led. Indolence and ignorance being the order of his day, he lacked the stamina with which to control his mind. His physical forces merely acted in consonance with his rage at Abel’s popularity. Cupidity led him on, but if Cain hadn’t lost his head through lack of _will to control himself_ the example of murder might never have been set before mankind.

Centuries have come and gone and still the passion to kill continues upon the face of the earth. To stop it is but a matter of correcting human thought through physical and mental training so that those notions which interfere with a normal, healthy brain tendency, will cease to exist. This done, the degenerate born of indolence somewhere along the line, will disappear from the face of the earth in jig time.

New intellectual forces will do the trick; forces built up from healthy, right thinking, energetic investigation, and consequent acquisition of knowledge.

How the world will wag a few years hence depends upon Mothers and Fathers of today. As great trials are _strengthening to character_, the prospect seems bright.