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MAKING LIFE WORTH WHILE
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[Illustration: A modern Musketeer]
MAKING LIFE
WORTH WHILE
BY
DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS
_Author of “Laugh and Live”_
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
BRITTON PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
BRITTON PUBLISHING COMPANY
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I LITTLE GRAINS OF SAND 13
II AS THE TWIG IS BENT 23
III THE NEW ORDER OF LIVING 31
IV FEEDING THE INTELLECT 41
V BACKING UP THE FLAG 49
VI HALF-BAKED KNOWLEDGE 57
VII HARNESSING THE BRAIN 65
VIII EXALTING THE EGO 73
IX GENIUS PLUS INITIATIVE 81
X THE BIG FOUR 87
XI APPLYING THE RULE OF REASON 95
XII THROUGH DIFFICULTIES TO THE STARS 109
XIII IN ANSWER TO MANY FRIENDS 115
XIV THINGS THAT MONEY WON’T BUY 127
XV THE BOY ACROSS THE SEA 133
XVI SUPERIOR--SUPERIORITY--SUPER 139
XVII WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME 147
XVIII REGENERATION 153
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Modern Musketeer--(_Frontis_)
----and his brother John
Teaching his dog to smile
“And her name is Maud”
A pointed argument
“Smile when you say it”
Companions
“What ho!” says the King. “Ho, hum!” replied his guest
Tweedle-dee--Tweedle-dum
Where once one equals two
A quick getaway
A rattling good story
A one-minute reverie
A studio confab
Alone with the Grand Canyon
“In tune with the Infinite”
_Decorations by Harold A. Van Buren_
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AUTHOR’S FOREWORD
In _Laugh and Live_, my sole purpose was to emphasize our first duty
toward ourselves, which consists of doing our level best at everything
we undertake, and making the best of every situation that arises to
confront us.
All through my early life I read inspirational books and liked them
best of all. They seemed to beckon me on. I could feel myself being
pulled along by an unseen hand.
Let there be no mistake about _Making Life Worth While_. It has no
particular plan or sequence whereby to back up its title. Nearly
everything has to do with such a subject and that is what the book
contains--everything in general--and nothing in particular--just such
things as came to mind that seemed worth while.
As a follow up to _Laugh and Live_ here’s hoping that it will _fill the
bill_.
D. F.
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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.
[Illustration: ----and his brother John]
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.
[Illustration: Teaching his dog to smile]
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.
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