Brains—Birth—Boodle
One of the weaknesses of the human race is envy. No one is entirely free from envy, although the true philosopher who has studied himself and has things sized up correctly is nearly free from envy.
Human kind have three measures for gauging the other fellow. We measure the other fellow either by his knowledge—which is brains, by his pedigree—which is birth, or by the money he has accumulated—which is boodle. These three Bs are like three stars in the sky. The first star—Brains is usually the dimmest, but it is really the brightest star of all. Mankind is prone to look at the brighter stars of birth and boodle.
These three stars of Brains, Birth and Boodle, are three aristocracies. The first aristocracy has no less authority than that of the Almighty. The aristocracies of birth and boodle are sham counterfeits gotten up by man. They do not mean anything when put into the crucible and tested by fire.
The aristocracy of brains differs from the aristocracies of birth and boodle as the sun differs from the jack-o-lantern, or as the music of the soul differs from the bray of the burro, or as a pure woman's love differs from the stolen affections hashed up by the fourth husband.
Brains like air and water, are not always appreciated until we have analyzed and investigated thoroughly. The foolish man thinks champagne is the finest drink. The wise man knows water is the best drink, even though water costs nothing. The foolish man has for his ideal—money or birth. The wise man takes off his hat to brains.
The measure of a man is his brain and not his birth or his boodle. Thought, reason and knowledge are possible to the man who has a brain. No man can buy brains, and truly he is an aristocrat of the highest order who is blessed with a good brain.
Some people whose ancestors came over with the Pilgrim Fathers have a picture of the Mayflower in their homes and they seem to take a great deal of pride in the picture of the Mayflower. There seems to be a halo around the Mayflower. The descendants of the passengers of that ship look upon the picture of the Mayflower as a sort of seal or guarantee of the good qualities of their forefathers, and consequently, being direct descendants they take unto themselves a lot of credit for something in which they had no hand in the making.
The Mayflower was afterwards used as a slave ship, but our disciples of birth do not want to know about this. Some of the passengers in the Mayflower performed acts and violated laws and conducted themselves in such a manner that would cause people of these days to be put in jail for the same offenses. Some of these good ancestors of the present descendants of birth burned witches at the stake.