Part 5

"Emphatically, no! Emancipation puts one in a condition to be unselfish. Suppose his friend need aid or sympathy; will worry furnish either? With the extirpation of the depressing passions comes the strength, and the ability, and the desire, to give to others, the aid and sympathy they may be in need of. Actual, or even metaphorical, wringing of hands, is not the sort of sympathy that soothes. It is like the "blind leading the blind," or rather, the weak trying to assist the weak. Better try to help with the strength born of Emancipation than with the weakness of the enervating passions."

"I can easily understand how anger can be classed as a sin, because it is aggressive and affects something outside of us; as a sin, I can see how it ought to be cast out; but as worry deals only with one's self, I do not believe it can be called a sin; then why is it necessary to eliminate it, especially as it may be an incentive to action, to prevent the causes of the worry?"

"This whole question has been answered before in the presentation of the theory, but as it has not carried the force of impression that I intended, I will take it up piecemeal, and try to be more clear.

"In the first place, one's first duty is to one's self in the matter of cultivation and care; this, not on account of egotism or selfishness, but in order to fit him to be strong and useful and a good member of his circle. As a parent, he should make himself the most perfect progenitor and example possible; as a member of Society he should aim to be the most able and useful; and as the custodian of the Divine Essence within him, he should not harbor or encourage weeds of the soul, whether visible to others, or within the secret corners of his own heart.

"As to worry ever being an incentive to wise or good action, I will repeat a section of the theory. 'Worry's prophesies are seldom realized, and if they are, the realization is generally caused by the worry itself.'"

"How can emancipation be secured for the community?"

"Through the influence of the emancipated individual; chiefly through the influence of the emancipated woman. In the crossing of sabers she cannot assist; but in a war against the enemies of the mind, when love is the weapon, she can and will occupy a place in the front rank. She can make anger and worry unfashionable, as she already has made profanity and obscenity unfashionable.

"To accomplish this, let clubs be formed in each community and in each church, and let each church become a club-house as well. Introduce healthful amusements such as make other clubs attractive, and place in large letters over the portal and the altar

GROWTH EMANCIPATION HELP.

"You will have then constantly before you the only cure for mental cancers, and the essence of all religions expressed in three words; you will have touched the button of the Divine camera within you whose film is sensitive only to the rays of good. Love and growth will do the rest. The teachers of morality and religion will do abler work under the realization that not only the 'old Adam,' but the Divine Essence as well, have seats in each human soul, and that, when the good is appealed to in terms of confidence and understanding, evil will be cast out instantly, without a lifetime of controversy, and without waiting for eternity, or even for the death-bed to unloose the fetters.

"As a result of organization on the basis of Emancipation, and when it has become an accepted fact that anger and worry are only bad habits of the mind, no clergyman can show them and retain the respect of his congregation; no King's Daughter can entertain them and be worthy of her badge; no member of the Christian Endeavor Society can harbor within himself the arch enemies of Christianity which the Master commanded his disciples to cast out, and be loyal to his cause; and no individual in the pursuit of duty, or even of selfish pleasure, can afford to carry such weighty handicaps and hope to win the race."

PLYMOUTH CHURCH CLUB AND ARMOUR INSTITUTE

A good example of a church club is that which forms a part of Plymouth Church in Chicago. Plymouth Club was founded by Dr. Scudder and is warmly encouraged by Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, the present pastor of the church. Dr. Gunsaulus is also president of Armour Institute, where manual training is taught side by side with letters and the sciences to men and women alike. In these two eminently practical organizations most of the conditions favorable to growth are already furnished. Add to these Emancipation as the motto of the club, and as the requisite mental accomplishment for admission to the school, and the conditions will be perfected to the highest degree.

The word Emancipation has a very formidable sound because it is associated with a great war; but its attainment through germ eradication is a simple and easy accomplishment.

The presidents of great mental and manual training institutions know that the depressing and dwarfing phantoms of the mind are merely bad habits--weeds that can be rooted out--and that anger and worry are the roots.

They have provided commodious buildings, learned professors, the most perfect chemical and mechanical appliances, and thousands of books, to aid mental and manual culture; and yet, they fail to apply the first principle of all their sciences to the preparation of the pupil. In horticulture they do not tolerate worms or weeds; in chemistry they first examine into the purity of the ingredients; and in mechanics the greatest care is taken to avoid friction. Anger and worry are conditions of extreme mental friction, which, during their presence, stop the progressive action of the mental machine.

It would impose no impossibility, neither would it entail any hardship, to require of students that they should subscribe to the following:

Science teaches, and experience corroborates the fact, that the depressing or evil passions are bad habits of the mind, and not necessary ingredients.

Anger and worry are the roots of the evil passions and can be pulled out.

In order to promote the best possible growth it is required that Emancipation should be the rule of life of the student.

Under the suggestion of the possibility of Emancipation from undesirable mental enemies, emanating from so respected a source as the faculty of a chosen college, the student would acquire the prerequisite condition of "faith"; while the absorbing work of college life, surrounded by fellows working in sympathy with him, would strengthen the faith into a belief; and the immediate recompense of harmony would be evidence of its value as a rule of life.

From the school the student would carry the rule back into the family, and into all walks in life; and with the aid of present means of communication the influence would spread the world over, disarm the prodigious preparations for struggle that are being made, and distribute the palm branch to take the place of the sword.

Will not the great educators whom the world respects so highly, and in whom it has so much faith, try the experiment? The promised fruit is worth the trial.

DIAGNOSIS AND REMEDY

It is believed by many, that Society and Politics, at the present time, are badly diseased. Mr. Max Nordau's diagnosis of them, which he entitled Degeneration, has met with general approval. Legislative (especially municipal) corruption, and the degradation of some of the courts, are open evidence of the fact. Statesmanship and Politics have been divorced, and are already strangers to each other. The marriage of Might and Right, has been sanctioned by popular consent. Power is no longer used as a lever with which to uplift the weak, but has been transformed into a social crushing machine. Caste, ostentation, dissipation, and insincerity, are the established idols that lure the present generation towards greedy ambition.

It is also believed, and is perhaps true, that the social ulcers have been so irritated by ostentatious rivalry, and the commercial ulcers are so distended with the pus of ruinous competition and corruption, that they must soon come to a head, and that convalescence and cure may be possibilities of the future.

While these symptoms of disease are visible to all, and are tolerated as necessary evils, they fortunately do not cover the whole body politic; but yet, they seriously disfigure its face, and grievously affect the healthy action of its heart.

In the political world, many agents are actively at work to effect cure of the evils which flaunt unblushing in the face of the public. The Committee of Seventy in New York, The Civic Federation in Chicago, and the National Municipal Reform League of the United States, are all doing good temporary work, but they do not reach the root causes of the evils they aim to correct; and it is doubtful if the reforms they accomplish will be any more permanent than were those of their equally zealous predecessors.