Progress and Achievements of the Colored People / Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success

by Kelly Miller; Joseph R. Gay

The food of the mind, the drink of the mind, means all the other pleasures of the flesh resolved into the spiritual body through education and learning, and the more education, the more learning, the higher the enjoyment.

A great lawyer once said: “The pleasure of learning may be likened to a bucket in a deep well of clear, cool water. It is easy to move the bucket about if it is kept beneath the water, but when we attempt to raise it above the surface, then comes a tug and a hard pull.” Whence he derived the conclusion that the deeper we plunge into the clear, cool depths of education and learning the more pleasure there is and the easier it is to remain there.

One of our poets says:

“Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring.”

In these modern days every man must have some sort of an education, preferably that for the occupation or profession which he selects for his life work.

If he goes in for a commercial business, then he must learn all about the rules and laws governing his business or the branch of it he aspires to learn. He must know all about the nature of the goods he purposes to sell; the markets; the prices; the demand; the production; the consumption, and other matters connected with the business.

If he does not learn these things he will fail in business, and if he does not learn some of them he can not get a job in any business house.

The rule is the same in every trade and profession. The modern man is exacting. He demands the best service, because his customers or clients demand better goods, better qualities, and better treatment.

The time has gone by when a tradesman, for instance, could offer goods to his customer with a “take it or leave it” air. Competition is too keen to permit that, and prices are too liable to be cut to enable him to say, “That’s my price,” for there are others who will say, “I will knock off ten per cent.”

An education that does not fit in with a man’s occupation is a relaxation, and aids him to rise in his business and profession, so that nothing is lost by keeping up with the times, but there is everything to be gained. This is refinement and a valuable asset. Everything that can be learned is worth something sometime.