THOMSON J. HUDSON
Psychic Evidence Mr. Thomson J. Hudson, in his Law of Psychic Phenomena, has marshalled a great array of authentic evidence, gathered from the researches of many Psychological Societies, which all prove the power of the mind over itself and over the body, and its amenability to suggestion, under the receptive condition of faith. One can not read this able work without becoming convinced that Emancipation is entirely possible. Any one who wishes to learn something of the power stored within him, will do well to read the Law of Psychic Phenomena.
The success of the Keeley Cure in conquering the habits of drinking, opium, and tobacco, is proof of the efficacy of germ treatment where the germs are sensual, or mental. If bichloride of gold can cure such dread passions of the appetite, may not bichloride of common sense cure the bad habits of the mind that cause them?
A MASTER WORKMAN
Source of All Wealth And now, comes a scrap of evidence that is valuable because it is furnished by a man whose experience is wide among the people who make the wealth which we all enjoy; to whom we are directly indebted for the comforts and luxuries of life; and whose endorsement of an idea or reform is necessary to make it become a feature of our system or government. He went west many years ago from New York, a mechanic by trade, and found employment in the shops of one of the great railroads. In time he was advanced to the position of foreman. In private life he is now a Baron Bountiful in the service of everybody within his reach. As Masterworkman of Labor Organizations, he has urged the just cause of his confreres with the success that follows earnest conviction. In the intimate confidence of his employers, he has presented their side of a controversy to the men without any of the misrepresentation of a demagogue.
Brings Sunniest Comfort He is the President of a sound Building and Loan Association, without salary, not to make money for himself, but for the purpose of helping his men to build and own homes; and those who have felt his assistance in that direction, and owe him debts of gratitude for various benefactions, are numbered by the hundreds. Whenever there is sickness, he brings solid help and the sunniest of comfort; and when there is death, he knows just how best to serve the afflicted family with those delicate attentions which relieve them from repulsively material details, his presence always bringing comfort even under circumstances in which people want most to be alone. His sympathy is universal, and reflects itself into the hearts of all with whom he comes in contact.
Emancipation Appreciated To such a man, one would naturally think the depressing passions were strangers, and that he must have been born without them; but he assures me that he was a slave to them for many years, and that he was frightened out of harboring them by a physician, and that whatever good he has accomplished in his humble sphere (as he calls it) he attributes to the partial Emancipation which his doctor's warning led him to enforce upon himself. The story that follows was elicited on hearing an outline of the theory of possible Emancipation as presented in these pages.
"Stop right there: don't go any farther till I have talked with you about that part of it. It is as true as gospel, but I never knew what it was. I have had an experience which makes me know that it is true, but I didn't know the reason for it. When the doctors told me that I must quit worrying and take it easy, or medicine would do me no good, and I would die, why didn't they tell me that anger and worry were not necessary, and that it was they that I was suffering from? I would have understood it better, and I wouldn't have had so much trouble about fearing I would have them back some time in spite of myself. Why didn't the preachers tell me this when I was a boy, and let me begin to live then, instead of waiting till I got to be an old man or pretty near to it? You can bet that my boys will know this thing right away, and live "The Old Gentleman Needs it"it too, and I want my men to know it. It is the only thing they need to complete their happiness. The old gentleman needs it, and Mr.——, and Mr—— (mentioning a number of well known men who are their own worst enemies, who harm no one but themselves, but whose abuse of self, through worry, is as merciless as the tortures of the Inquisition); and what a blessing it would be for the women! See here, I want a hundred of those books as soon as they are published, and I know where they will do a heap of good. They will be better than the medicine of all the doctors, and do a lot of good besides. I'm going to commit what you have told me to memory, so as to tell people about it if I haven't got a book by me. You see that I know all about this, for I have had an experience. When I was a youngster, I was naturally ambitious, and pretty smart with the tools, and 'took' with my employers, and finally got to be superintendent. Then I got to be more ambitious, especially after I was married and the children came. I wanted them to have a good education and be fitted to be gentlemen, which I knew their mother's, and I might remark incidentally, my own blood entitled them to be. I was pretty sensitive, and was always standing up for my rights. I was too apt to worry. I had not heard what you have told me and thought worry necessary. If I had not worried I would not have got angry.
"Got to be Superintendent" "When I got to be superintendent I thought that one of the things that I had to do was to be sure and maintain my dignity, and show it by occasionally making believe mad at something. At first I did not feel it half as much as I showed it; but I thought it was part of the It Became a Habitbusiness of a boss to get mad, until finally it got to be a habit, and grew on me till I was in a state of anger most of the time. I also thought that I had to worry about things, or I would not show the proper respect for my responsibilities. It was the way I had of letting myself feel that I was carrying a terrible burden and earning my salary. The trouble was that, while it was partly play-acting at first, it came to be habit, and worked on my health in the end. The doctors dosed me with all sorts of medicine. I was a regular pigeon, and gave up many a hard-earned dollar to them for no good at all. One day Dr. "Frightened out of my Wits"L——, to whom I went as a last resort, for I was beginning to have dizzy spells and twitching in the face that was serious, asked me a lot of questions about myself and my habits and duties. I told him frankly, Anger and Worry Caused Sicknessand when I had done so he said: 'There is no use giving you any medicine, you have got to quit worrying and take it easy; that is the only trouble with you. If you keep on with your worry I will have to give your family a certificate of death; so, if you don't want me to do that, you just quit your worrying and take life easy. Whatever you do, don't get into fits of anger, for that is more wearing to a man in your condition than anything else.' Well, to 'fess up and tell you the truth, I got frightened out of my wits. I hadn't got near enough to eighty (my limit) to think about dying, and I didn't want to do it right then, especially as I hadn't got Mary and the boys well enough fixed to leave. The other doctors had made a monkey of me, and took my money, and told me that I would be all right in a few days; but this honest German told me the truth and set me to thinking. I didn't say a word to anyone, but made up my mind I would take his advice. At first I thought that I was shirking some of the duties of a superintendent, when I quit getting mad and worrying; but I squared it with myself by saying to myself, 'Better be a tame donkey for the company than a dead one.' Well, I didn't know it at the time; that is, I didn't know the cause of it, but from that time I have just had luck under my wing all the time. I have pleased my employers, and I have pleased the men, and Emancipation Makes Good Neighborsthings have been coming my way in great shape, and they are still a-coming. Why, I see it all as plain as the nose on your face. Those little devils that keep a man back, and keep him from being happy, have no business there by rights; and all you have got to know is that they are poachers, and all you have got to do is to tell them to 'git.' And just see how it would work if everybody knew this as I see it. If you knew that your neighbor knew that Emancipation was possible, you would know at the same time that he was no fool, and that, knowing it, he had become Emancipated, of course, and there would be a trustful sympathy established at once, and you would pull together and never apart after that. If his fence accidentally encroached an inch on your land, you would be glad of it; or, if your fence had been set on his side of the legal line, he would not object; and so it would go on between you, and you would be happy and good neighbors to each other. Why, I would rather my men would have that secret and day's wages, than a million of dollars without it; and my boys, if I don't leave them a cent, I will leave them full of this secret, and won't worry about their future happiness. I was much interested in that book you gave me several years ago called 'Looking Backward.' What the author said about co-operation, and all that, was all right and very beautiful; but I didn't take much stock in it because I had such a poor opinion of human nature, that I didn't think people could quit grabbing and get down to brass tacks in a co-operative way. But if you can spread the idea of Mental Emancipation as you have told it to me (and I don't see what can help its spreading like wildfire as soon as it gets out), the social "Looking Backward" from Emancipationparadise pictured in 'Looking Backward' will come as a matter of course; and I see it a-coming. If you take off a brake I can see how a car can run down a hill, but with the brake on I couldn't see how you could push it down.
Free-Masonry of Emancipation "The more I think of this thing the bigger it gets, and it is a sure winner. Now suppose my family, and the B. family on the corner, and the N. family next door had found out the secret, anybody that couldn't grasp it couldn't live in the street, he would feel so uncomfortable. In fact, if there were such an one, we could put him down for a crazy man or an idiot, and treat him with the same consideration we treat such weak people.