Seed Thoughts for Singers

by Frank Herbert Tubbs

CHAPTER I.
SUCCESS

"I am what I am because I was industrious; whoever is equally sedulous will be equally successful." Bach.

"To steer steadily towards an ideal standard is the only means of advancing in life, as in music." Hiller.

SEED-THOUGHTS
FOR SINGERS.

I.
SUCCESS.

A few decades ago a clumsy, lank, raw-boned boy roamed over the hills of the State of Ohio. He was not marked with the talent of many, nor was he noted for anything in particular except, perhaps, an aptness in "doing sums." Bare-footed, and with scanty clothing, he appeared at a school in a village near his home and begged admission. At first he was refused. Persistence overcame the opposition and he entered, becoming in a short time by his application, the leading spirit in the school. The course of study there being completed, he went to an office across in Delaware as a clerk. That year, the Representative to Congress from Delaware, when about to appoint a youth to enter the Naval Academy at Annapolis, announced a competitive examination. The country lad competed and secured the prize. Friends whom he had made raised funds for the necessary uniforms. At the end of his course a good appointment in the navy followed. Visits to various countries gave him command of three languages. A change to shore duty permitted him to study law. At a recent courtmartial trial at Brooklyn he served as advocate for the Government so acceptably that he has been offered and has accepted, membership in one of the largest law firms in New York. The change from the rough lad to the cultured advocate indicates success.

On a bench in an old-fashioned shoe shop sat a young man working at his trade. A singing teacher, passing along, noticed the rich voice of the young man, singing as he worked. The teacher inquired where he sang in church and if he sang in public. Learning that the young man sang no-where, had had no instruction or education, and lacked even the clothes necessary to a respectable appearance, he interested himself in the youth and lived to see him become the leading oratorio basso of America. Success! You will say these two had great natural gifts, all their faculties, and had friends. Another case: A boy at six, was left as a result of scarlet fever, stone blind. Nor has he since seen a ray of light. A necessary faculty to success gone, is it? To-day that young man is one of the best musicians and singers; getting $1,500 for his choir singing. Success.

There is within each and every one that ability and prime element, which, properly commanded and developed, COMPELS success. But few understand themselves or realize the power within them. Without comprehension of what is within, no start toward success can be made. A reason for absence of comprehension lies in the fact that but one side of self is ever seen, and that side is the grosser one. The body—a head, a trunk, arms and legs. These we see with our physical eyes and call the object, man. We incline to think if these parts are comely, well shapen, strong, beautiful, the possessor may march on to success. "Trust not to appearance." Were the body the root of all things, or of especial worth, the race would be to the swift, the fight to the strong. But that seen, felt, heard, is not the real self. Within the body, as a dweller and a motive power, is the ego, the real self. It is that and that only which can be developed and which possesses those attributes, compelling, bye and bye, success. It is that which must, to some degree, be understood. Be the body what it may, the real self has the power of expression and improvement. That real self will be spoken of as the ego, and its power considered.

There enters into existence at birth or early in life an indefinable something. We term it soul, spirit, mind. When we meet or associate with a person, in a short time we recognise that mind. At first we may notice the body or even the dress and be influenced by it. In time we see back of that outward covering and see the mind behind it. After, we forget the body in the acquaintance with the mind. A homely person becomes illumined with new life. A beauty loses attraction. We have learned to know the ego in our acquaintance. That ego we come to know as all there is of the acquaintance. A dozen bodies in the dissecting room of the medical college are almost exactly alike. More alike than are the suits of clothes cast off last year by a dozen men. The ego from a dozen men will have small point of resemblance. The ego has so many characteristic elements that it makes possibility of development, throughout the years allotted to man while passing over the earth's crust, into ANYTHING. The body is the home of the ego and the tool for its development and action. Train the body to ability to respond to the demands of the ego, and keep it healthful, and no more can be done with it. For now nothing more need be said of the body. In speaking of the cause of non-success, limited success or disaster, reference to it will be made.

Attributes of mind lead always in the direction of progress. Ego, mind, real self, is God within us. "He breathed in his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul." That "breath of life" is God. That cannot tend downward. The attributes of God are the attributes of the ego. Love, thought, sympathy, ambition, helpfulness, desire for refinement, culture, expansion—these are such attributes. Is any mind lacking these? If we say yes, look within ourselves and see if they are lacking in us. Accord the same faculties or attributes of mind to each of our fellow men. These attributes cultivated will cause growth of the ego as surely as it is that God liveth and we are in Him. But this growth makes the ego greater and by its reaching out after the things of the world and taking them to itself, produces that which we term success. Understand, then, the ego. Grow it. Reach and possess. These attributes are the forces within each and these forces are the elements of success.