FEEDING THE INTELLECT
Feeding the intellect is naturally the most fascinating pursuit in this
life and probably will be in the life to come. There is nothing like
stocking up the mind, tickling the brain cells, making dents in the
cerebellum, for thereby is induced the most _perfect sanity_ and the
power to think with precision.
It is bully to be able to think straight to the point, and to quickly
analyze right down to the bone. Such ability loans us proper respect
for ourselves and compels the respect of all with whom we may brush
against.
Power to think begins with _first realizations_, and thereafter we have
only to add fuel to the intellectual fires day by day, month by month,
and year by year, until we arrive at that state of mental sufficiency
which may happily be termed “the fullness thereof.”
Not until we cross this bridge are we safe--not until then will we have
come into a state of _sane thinking_--nor will we be _fully alive_!
On our march we will have learned to delve with patience, listen
with understanding, and communicate with intelligence. Then we may
give and take with common understanding with the best of them. What
we get we store away for use when needed. Then may we commune with
our intellectual equals on the basis of _quid pro quo_--_horse and
horse_--“_even Stephen_.”
But what a heartache when we cannot give! What a sensation of regret
when we find ourselves standing still intellectually while we
watch the procession go by. Not capable of giving, likewise we are
handicapped in our ability to receive--_we’re hitched to a post_, so to
speak, along with other species of lesser understanding.
Alongside of us in our journey through life are sure to be men of
more than ordinary achievement, who by dint of _special genius_ have
accomplished worthy objects most passing well--something that brought
them wealth or fame and likely both--but left them dumb and speechless
in the presence of intellectual persons, who, in self-defense, must
pass them up for want of _mental fellowship_.
To speak of the “_Dark Ages_” is but a polite reference to that period
of time when mankind generally was known to be “addle-pated.” The light
refused to shine upon his _thimbleful of brains_, although the sun of
centuries had blazed down upon a world of half-baked intellects--and
even yet has work ahead. But coming through the ages, in the due course
of events, a few master minds coincided in the belief that a little
exercise was good for the “noddle” and set about it to experiment.
The first hard work indulged in by our early ancestry, after receiving
a slight smattering of instruction, was to _kill off their teachers_.
Many centuries were allowed to skip by before education was again
utilized in stimulating the understanding.
[Illustration: “Smile when you say it”]
Pending the dawn of the new era, man was taught only the use of his
hands and feet for the sake of his stomach--his upper story becoming a
warehouse for dark superstitions, and fearful forebodings. It is not
unlikely that from this period descended the later day reference
to certain persons as _numskulls_--a species of mankind known to have
_bats in the belfry_.
Notwithstanding the seeming uselessness of many hundreds of centuries
in their relation to human intelligence, there is no discounting the
fact that we have finally come into an age when brain power is not
counted a misdemeanor and made subject to fine and imprisonment. From
the end of our Civil War to the breaking out of the great world-wide
strife, the intellect of man had expanded tremendously. More important
still, intellect had been discovered to be a _world-asset_, and of such
mighty consequence that _human knowledge_ progressed amazingly.
Pity it is that the world’s brain power could not have forestalled the
great slaughter--impossible, however, at this stage of our mental
development. But the time is coming--our grandchildren will see the
day--when _intellectuality_ will rule the universe. Brains and bodies
of individuals are to be developed for other _uses than war_. Until
that day arrives we are bound to continue as before, and will, with
true patriotism, _follow the flag of our cause_.
Some day when our intellects have been fed up into a higher state
of efficiency and humanity is more nearly matched in brain power,
settlements between nations will be made beside the lamp of reason
rather than under the flare of the cannon’s mouth.
[Illustration]