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 The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit
by Ralph Waldo Trine

First published in 1918

This ebook edition was created and published by Global Grey in 2020,
and updated on the 31st July 2023

The artwork for the cover is View of the Bosphorus from Çubuklu
painted by Hoca Ali Rıza.

You can download this book on the site:

globalgreyebooks.com/higher-powers-of-mind-and-spirit-ebook.html

©GlobalGrey 2023
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Contents
Foreword
I. The Silent, Subtle Building Forces Of Mind And Spirit
II. Soul, Mind, Body - The Subconscious Mind That Interrelates Them
III. The Way Mind Through The Subconscious Mind Builds Body
IV. The Powerful Aid Of The Mind In Rebuilding Body - How Body Helps
Mind
V. Thought As A Force In Daily Living
VI. Jesus The Supreme Exponent Of The Inner Forces And Powers: His
People’s Religion And Their Condition
VII. The Divine Rule In The Mind And Heart: The Unessentials We Drop -
The Spirit Abides
VIII. If We Seek The Essence Of His Revelation, And The Purpose Of His
Life
IX. His Purpose Of Lifting Up, Energising, Beautifying, And Saving The
Entire Life: The Saving Of The Soul Is Secondary; But Follows
X. Some Methods Of Attainment
XI. Some Methods Of Expression
XII. The World War - Its Meaning And Its Lessons For Us
XIII. Our Sole Agency Of International Peace, And International Concord
XIV. The World’s Balance-Wheel
Foreword
We are all dwellers in two kingdoms, the inner kingdom, the kingdom of
the mind and spirit, and the outer kingdom, that of the body and the
physical universe about us. In the former, the kingdom of the unseen, lie the
silent, subtle forces that are continually determining, and with exact
precision, the conditions of the latter.
To strike the right balance in life is one of the supreme essentials of all
successful living. We must work, for we must have bread. We require other
things than bread. They are not only valuable, comfortable, but necessary. It
is a dumb, stolid being, however, who does not realize that life consists of
more than these. They spell mere existence, not abundance, fullness of life.
We can become so absorbed in making a living that we have no time for
living. To be capable and efficient in one’s work is a splendid thing; but
efficiency can be made a great mechanical device that robs life of far more
than it returns it. A nation can become so possessed, and even obsessed,
with the idea of power and grandeur through efficiency and organisation,
that it becomes a great machine and robs its people of the finer fruits of life
that spring from a wisely subordinated and coordinated individuality. Here
again it is the wise balance that determines all.
Our prevailing thoughts and emotions determine, and with absolute
accuracy, the prevailing conditions of our outward, material life, and
likewise the prevailing conditions of our bodily life. Would we have any
conditions different in the latter we must then make the necessary changes
in the former. The silent, subtle forces of mind and spirit, ceaselessly at
work, are continually moulding these outward and these bodily conditions.
He makes a fundamental error who thinks that these are mere sentimental
things in life, vague and intangible. They are, as great numbers are now
realising, the great and elemental things in life, the only things that in the
end really count. The normal man or woman can never find real and abiding
satisfaction in the mere possessions, the mere accessories of life. There is an
eternal something within that forbids it. That is the reason why, of late
years, so many of our big men of affairs, so many in various public walks in
life, likewise many women of splendid equipment and with large
possessions, have been and are turning so eagerly to the very things we are
considering. To be a mere huckster, many of our big men are finding,
cannot bring satisfaction, even though his operations run into millions in the
year.
And happy is the young man or the young woman who, while the bulk of
life still lies ahead, realises that it is the things of the mind and the spirit—
the fundamental things in life—that really count; that here lie the forces that
are to be understood and to be used in moulding the everyday conditions
and affairs of life; that the springs of life are all from within, that as is the
inner so always and inevitably will be the outer.
To present certain facts that may be conducive to the realisation of this
more abundant life is the author’s purpose and plan.
R. W. T.
Sunnybrae Farm,
Croton-on-Hudson,
New York.
I. The Silent, Subtle Building Forces
Of Mind And Spirit
There are moments in the lives of all of us when we catch glimpses of a life
—our life—that is infinitely beyond the life we are now living. We realise
that we are living below our possibilities. We long for the realisation of the
life that we feel should be.
Instinctively we perceive that there are within us powers and forces that we
are making but inadequate use of, and others that we are scarcely using at
all. Practical metaphysics, a more simplified and concrete psychology, well-
known laws of mental and spiritual science, confirm us in this conclusion.
Our own William James, he who so splendidly related psychology,
philosophy, and even religion, to life in a supreme degree, honoured his
calling and did a tremendous service for all mankind, when he so clearly
developed the fact that we have within us powers and forces that we are
making all too little use of—that we have within us great reservoirs of
power that we have as yet scarcely tapped.
The men and the women who are awake to these inner helps—these
directing, moulding, and sustaining powers and forces that belong to the
realm of mind and spirit—are never to be found among those who ask: Is
life worth the living? For them life has been multiplied two, ten, a hundred
fold.
It is not ordinarily because we are not interested in these things, for
instinctively we feel them of value; and furthermore our observations and
experiences confirm us in this thought. The pressing cares of the everyday
life—in the great bulk of cases, the bread and butter problem of life, which
is after all the problem of ninety-nine out of every hundred—all seem to
conspire to keep us from giving the time and attention to them that we feel
we should give them. But we lose thereby tremendous helps to the daily
living.
Through the body and its avenues of sense, we are intimately related to the
physical universe about us. Through the soul and spirit we are related to the
Infinite Power that is the animating, the sustaining force—the Life Force—
of all objective material forms. It is through the medium of the mind that we
are able consciously to relate the two. Through it we are able to realise the
laws that underlie the workings of the spirit, and to open ourselves that they
may become the dominating forces of our lives.
There is a divine current that will bear us with peace and safety on its
bosom if we are wise and diligent enough to find it and go with it. Battling
against the current is always hard and uncertain. Going with the current
lightens the labours of the journey. Instead of being continually uncertain
and even exhausted in the mere efforts of getting through, we have time for
the enjoyments along the way, as well as the ability to call a word of cheer
or to lend a hand to the neighbour, also on the way.
The natural, normal life is by a law divine under the guidance of the spirit.
It is only when we fail to seek and to follow this guidance, or when we
deliberately take ourselves from under its influence, that uncertainties arise,
legitimate longings go unfulfilled, and that violated laws bring their
penalties.
It is well that we remember always that violated law carries with it its own
penalty. The Supreme Intelligence—God, if you please—does not punish.
He works through the channel of great immutable systems of law. It is ours
to find these laws. That is what mind, intelligence, is for. Knowing them we
can then obey them and reap the beneficent results that are always a part of
their fulfilment; knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or
unintentionally, we can fail to observe them, we can violate them, and
suffer the results, or even be broken by them.
Life is not so complex if we do not so continually persist in making it so.
Supreme Intelligence, creative Power works only through law. Science and
religion are but different approaches to our understanding of the law. When
both are real, they supplement one another and their findings are identical.
The old Hebrew prophets, through the channel of the spirit, perceived and
enunciated some wonderful laws of the natural and normal life—that are
now being confirmed by well-established laws of mental and spiritual
science—and that are now producing these identical results in the lives of
great numbers among us today, when they said: “And thine ears shall hear a
word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the
right hand and when ye turn to the left.”
And again: “The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek
him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee;
because he trusteth in thee.” “The Lord in the midst of thee is mighty.” “He
that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the
shadow of the Almighty.” “Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the
field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.” “Commit thy
way unto the Lord: trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.” Now
these formulations all mean something of a very definite nature, or, they
mean nothing at all. If they are actual expressions of fact, they are governed
by certain definite and immutable laws.
These men gave us, however, no knowledge of the laws underlying the
workings of these inner forces and powers; they perhaps had no such
knowledge themselves. They were intuitive perceptions of truth on their
part. The scientific spirit of this, our age, was entirely unknown to them.
The growth of the race in the meantime, the development of the scientific
spirit in the pursuit and the finding of truth, makes us infinitely beyond
them in some things, while in others they were far ahead of us. But this fact
remains, and this is the important fact: If these things were actual facts in
the lives of these early Hebrew prophets, they are then actual facts in our
lives right now, today; or, if not actual facts, then they are facts that still lie
in the realm of the potential, only waiting to be brought into the realm of
the actual.
These were not unusual men in the sense that the Infinite Power, God, if
you please, could or did speak to them alone. They are types, they are
examples of how any man or any woman, through desire and through will,
can open himself or herself to the leadings of Divine Wisdom, and have
actualised in his or her life an ever-growing sense of Divine Power. For
truly “God is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” His laws are
unchanging as well as immutable.
None of these men taught, then, how to recognise the Divine Voice within,
nor how to become continually growing embodiments of the Divine Power.
They gave us perhaps, though, all they were able to give. Then came Jesus,
the successor of this long line of illustrious Hebrew prophets, with a greater
aptitude for the things of the spirit—the supreme embodiment of Divine
realisation and revelation. With a greater knowledge of truth than they, he
did greater things than they.
He not only did these works, but he showed how he did them. He not only
revealed the Way, but so earnestly and so diligently he implored his hearers
to follow the Way. He makes known the secret of his insight and his power:
“The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” Again, “I can of my own self do
nothing.” And he then speaks of his purpose, his aim: “I am come that ye
might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.” A little later he
adds: “The works that I do ye shall do also.” Now again, these things mean
something of a very definite nature, or they mean nothing at all.
The works done, the results achieved by Jesus’ own immediate disciples
and followers, and in turn their followers, as well as in the early church for
close to two hundred years after his time, all attest the truth of his teaching
and demonstrate unmistakably the results that follow.
Down through the intervening centuries, the teachings, the lives and the
works of various seers, sages, and mystics, within the church and out of the
church, have likewise attested the truth of his teachings. The bulk of the
Christian world, however, since the third century, has been so concerned
with various theories and teachings concerning Jesus, that it has missed
almost completely the real vital and vitalising teachings of Jesus.
We have not been taught primarily to follow his injunctions, and to apply
the truths that he revealed to the problems of our everyday living. Within
the last two score of years or a little more, however, there has been a great
going back directly to the teachings of Jesus, and a determination to prove
their truth and to make effective their assurances. Also various laws in the
realm of Mental and Spiritual Science have become clearly established and
clearly formulated, that confirm all his fundamental teachings.
There are now definite and well-defined laws in relation to thought as a
force, and the methods as to how it determines our material and bodily
conditions. There are now certain well-defined laws pertaining to the
subconscious mind, its ceaseless building activities, how it always takes its
direction from the active, thinking mind, and how through this channel we
may connect ourselves with reservoirs of power, so to speak, in an
intelligent and effective manner.
There are now well-understood laws underlying mental suggestion,
whereby it can be made a tremendous source of power in our own lives, and
can likewise be made an effective agency in arousing the motive powers of
another for his or her healing, habit-forming, character-building. There are
likewise well-established facts not only as to the value, but the absolute
need of periods of meditation and quiet, alone with the Source of our being,
stilling the outer bodily senses, and fulfilling the conditions whereby the
Voice of the Spirit can speak to us and through us, and the power of the
Spirit can manifest in and through us.
A nation is great only as its people are great. Its people are great in the
degree that they strike the balance between the life of the mind and the
spirit—all the finer forces and emotions of life—and their outer business
organisation and activities. When the latter become excessive, when they
grow at the expense of the former, then the inevitable decay sets in, that
spells the doom of that nation, and its time is tolled off in exactly the same
manner, and under the same law, as has that of all the other nations before it
that sought to reverse the Divine order of life.
The human soul and its welfare is the highest business that any state can
give its attention to. To recognise or to fail to recognise the value of the
human soul in other nations, determines its real greatness and grandeur, or
its self-complacent but essential vacuity. It is possible for a nation, through
subtle delusions, to get such an attack of the big head that it bends over
backwards, and it is liable, in this exposed position, to get a thrust in its
vitals.
To be carried too far along the road of efficiency, big business, expansion,
world power, domination, at the expense of the great spiritual verities, the
fundamental humanities of national life, that make for the real life and
welfare of its people, and that give also its true and just relations with other
nations and their people, is both dangerous and in the end suicidal—it can
end in nothing but loss and eventual disaster. A silent revolution of thought
is taking place in the minds of the people of all nations at this time, and will
continue for some years to come. A stock-taking period in which
tremendous revaluations are under way, is on. It is becoming clear-cut and
decisive.
II. Soul, Mind, Body - The
Subconscious Mind That Interrelates
Them
There is a notable twofold characteristic of this our age—we might almost
say: of this our generation. It is on the one hand a tremendously far-
reaching interest in the deeper spiritual realities of life, in the things of the
mind and the Spirit. On the other hand, there is a materialism that is
apparent to all, likewise far-reaching. We are witnessing the two moving
along, apparently at least, side by side.
There are those who believe that out of the latter the former is arising, that
we are witnessing another great step forward on the part of the human race
—a new era or age, so to speak. There are many things that would indicate
this to be a fact. The fact that the material alone does not satisfy, and that
from the very constitution of the human mind and soul, it cannot satisfy,
may be a fundamental reason for this.
It may be also that as we are apprehending, to a degree never equalled in
the world’s history, the finer forces in nature, and are using them in a very
practical and useful way in the affairs and the activities of the daily life, we
are also and perhaps in a more pronounced degree, realising, understanding,
and using the finer, the higher insights and forces, and therefore powers, of
mind, of spirit, and of body.
I think there is a twofold reason for this widespread and rapidly increasing
interest. A new psychology, or perhaps it were better to say, some new and
more fully established laws of psychology, pertaining to the realm of the
subconscious mind, its nature, and its peculiar activities and powers, has
brought us another agency in life of tremendous significance and of far-
reaching practical use.
Another reason is that the revelation and the religion of Jesus the Christ is
witnessing a new birth, as it were. We are finding at last an entirely new
content in his teachings, as well as in his life. We are dropping our interest
in those phases of a Christianity that he probably never taught, and that we
have many reasons now to believe he never even thought—things that were
added long years after his time.
We are conscious, however, as never before, that that wonderful revelation,
those wonderful teachings, and above all that wonderful life, have a content
that can, that does, inspire, lift up, and make more effective, more powerful,
more successful, and more happy, the life of every man and every woman
who will accept, who will appropriate, who will live his teachings.
Look at it, however we will, this it is that accounts for the vast number of
earnest, thoughtful, forward looking men and women who are passing over,
and in many cases are passing from, traditional Christianity, and who either
of their own initiative, or under other leadership, are going back to those
simple, direct, God-impelling teachings of the Great Master. They are
finding salvation in his teachings and his example, where they never could
find it in various phases of the traditional teachings about him.
It is interesting to realise, and it seems almost strange that this new finding
in psychology, and that this new and vital content in Christianity, have come
about at almost identically the same time. Yet it is not strange, for the one
but serves to demonstrate in a concrete and understandable manner the
fundamental and essential principles of the other. Many of the Master’s
teachings of the inner life, teachings of “the Kingdom,” given so far ahead
of his time that the people in general, and in many instances even his
disciples, were incapable of fully comprehending and understanding them,
are now being confirmed and further elucidated by clearly defined laws of
psychology.
Speculation and belief are giving way to a greater knowledge of law. The
supernatural recedes into the background as we delve deeper into the
supernormal. The unusual loses its miraculous element as we gain
knowledge of the law whereby the thing is done. We are realising that no
miracle has ever been performed in the world’s history that was not through
the understanding and the use of Law.
Jesus did unusual things; but he did them because of his unusual
understanding of the law through which they could be done. He would not
have us believe otherwise. To do so would be a distinct contradiction of the
whole tenor of his teachings and his injunctions. Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free, was his own admonition. It was the great and
passionate longing of his master heart that the people to whom he came,
grasp the interior meanings of his teachings. How many times he felt the
necessity of rebuking even his disciples for dragging his teachings down
through their material interpretations. As some of the very truths that he
taught are now corroborated and more fully understood, and in some cases
amplified by well-established laws of psychology, mystery recedes into the
background.
We are reconstructing a more natural, a more sane, a more common-sense
portrait of the Master. “It is the spirit that quickeneth,” said he; “the flesh
profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they
are life.” Shall we recall again in this connection: “I am come that ye might
have life and that ye might have it more abundantly”? When, therefore, we
take him at his word, and listen intently to his words, and not so much to
the words of others about him; when we place our emphasis upon the
fundamental spiritual truths that he revealed and that he pleaded so
earnestly to be taken in the simple, direct way in which he taught them, we
are finding that the religion of the Christ means a clearer and healthier
understanding of life and its problems through a greater knowledge of the
elemental forces and laws of life.
Ignorance enchains and enslaves. Truth—which is but another way of
saying a clear and definite knowledge of Law, the elemental laws of soul, of
mind, and body, and of the universe about us—brings freedom. Jesus
revealed essentially a spiritual philosophy of life. His whole revelation
pertained to the essential divinity of the human soul and the great gains that
would follow the realisation of this fact. His whole teaching revolved
continually around his own expression, used again and again, the Kingdom
of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, and which he so distinctly stated was
an inner state or consciousness or realisation. Something not to be found
outside of oneself but to be found only within.
We make a great error to regard man as merely a duality—mind and body.
Man is a trinity,—soul, mind, and body, each with its own functions,—and
it is the right coordinating of these that makes the truly efficient and
eventually the perfect life. Anything less is always one-sided and we may
say, continually out of gear. It is essential to a correct understanding, and
therefore for any adequate use of the potential powers and forces of the
inner life, to realise this.
Other documents randomly have
different content
 Varieties.

Pun.—While the repairs were going on in State street, Boston,

two gentlemen of the bar happening to meet, one said, “I think this
looks like putting new cloth upon an old garment.” “I think so too,”
replied the other; “but it will make the rent greater.”

Humor.—A number of years ago, an eccentric old gentleman,

residing in a cottage in England, was greatly annoyed by noctural
depredators, who broke the fences in his garden, in order to get at
the good things contained therein. As he did not care so much for
the loss of the fruit as the damage done to the enclosures, and as he
was rather fond of witticisms, he had the following notice put up: “All
thieves are in future to enter by the gate, which will be left open for
the purpose.”

Has a Dog Wings?—“Father, has a dog got wings?”

“No, my son.”
“Well, I thought so—but mother told me, the other day, that as she
was going along the road, a dog flew at her.”

Irish Wit.—An honest Hibernian, upon reading his physician’s

bill, replied, that he had no objections to pay him for his medicines,
but his visits he would return.
 Death of the President.

William Henry Harrison, who became President of the United

States on the 4th of March last, died on the night of the 4th of April,
just thirty days after he had entered upon the duties of his high
office.
This event is calculated to cast a gloom over the whole nation, for
Gen. Harrison was generally esteemed a good man, and most
persons believed that he would govern the country in a manner to
promote the happiness of the people. He had lived to be almost
seventy years of age; and now, being elevated to the highest office
in the gift of the people, he is suddenly cut down, and laid in the
same dust that must cover ordinary men. This dispensation of
Providence seems almost like quenching a great beacon-light upon
the sea-shore at night, just at the moment when its illumination had
begun to scatter the darkness around.
A solemn thought is suggested by this event. Gen. Harrison has
lived a long life, and has often been in the midst of seeming peril. He
has often been in battle with savages and with the British soldiery.
He has often trodden the forest amid all the dangers and vicissitudes
that beset the traveller there. He has spent many days of toil in the
field, laboring as a farmer. In all these situations and conditions—
from youth to age—he has enjoyed the protecting care of
Providence. But at last he was elevated to a great office; he became
the occupant of a palace; he was the hope of a great nation; he was
surrounded with friends, with mighty men, with skilful physicians,
with tender nurses—with the great, the good, the prayerful—but all in
vain. His time had come—the arrow was sped from the bow, and no
human arm could stay its flight. And this should warn us all to
consider well the lesson conveyed by this event—which is, that life
and death are in the hands of God. He can protect us everywhere—
in the cottage or the log-cabin, in the forest or the field; or he can
take us away in the midst of power and pomp and riches. Let us
therefore be ever prepared for the decisions of his wisdom.
 THE APRIL SHOWER, A SONG.
the words and music composed for
merry’s museum.

Patter, patter, let it pour,

Patter, Patter, let it roar,
Down the steep roof let it rush,
Down the hill side let it gush,
’Tis the wlecome April shower
Which will wake the sweet May flower.

Patter, patter, let it pour!

Patter, patter, let it roar!
Let the gaudy lightning flash—
Let the headlong thunder dash—
’Tis the welcome April shower,
Which will wake the sweet May flower.

Patter, patter, let it pour!

Patter, patter, let it roar!
Soon the clouds will burst away—
Soon will shine the bright spring day,
Soon the welcome April shower
Will awake the sweet May flower!
ROBERT MERRY’S MUSEUM.
 My own Life and Adventures.

(Continued from page 71.)

CHAPTER VII.
My uncle’s influence.—​The influence of the tavern.—​State of society
forty years ago.—​Liquor opposed to education.—​The church
and the tavern.—​The country schoolhouse.—​Books used in
the school.—​A few words about myself.

I pass over a space of several years in my history, and come to

the period when I was about fifteen. Up to this time, I had made little
progress in education, compared with what is done at the present
day. I could indeed read and write, and I knew something of
arithmetic, but my advance beyond this was inconsiderable. A brief
detail of certain circumstances will show the reason of this.
In the first place, my uncle had no very high estimation of what he
called larnin; he was himself a man of action, and believed that
books render people dull and stupid, rather than efficient in the
business of life. He was therefore opposed to education in general,
and particularly so in my case; and not only was his opinion
equivalent to law with respect to me, but it was of great force in the
village, on account of his character and position.
He kept the village tavern, which in those days of rum and punch
was an institution of great power and authority. It was common, at
the period of which I speak, for the church or meeting-house and
tavern to stand side by side; but if one day in the week, sobriety and
temperance were preached in the former, hard drinking and
licentiousness were deeply practised in the latter during the other
six. The tavern, therefore, not only counteracted the good effect of
the preacher, but it went farther, and in many cases corrupted the
whole mass of society. The members of the church thought it no
scandal to make regular visits to the bar-room at eleven o’clock in
the forenoon, and at four P. M.; the deacon always kept his jugs well
filled, and the minister took his toddy or his tansy bitters, in open day,
and without reproach.
In such a state of society as this, the tavern-keeper was usually
the most influential man in the village, and if he kept good liquors, he
was irresistible. Now my uncle was a prince of a tavern-keeper for
these jolly days. He was, in fact, what we call a whole-souled fellow:
generous, honest, and frank-hearted. His full, ruddy countenance
bespoke all this; and his cheerful, hearty voice carried conviction of it
to every listener. Beside, his tavern was freely and generously kept:
it was liberally supplied with good beds, and every other luxury or
comfort common to those days. As I have said before, it was situated
upon the great road, then travelled by the mail stages between
Boston and New York. The establishment was of ample extent,
consisting of a pile of wooden buildings of various and irregular
architecture—all painted a deep red. There was near it a large barn
with extensive cow-houses, a corn-crib, a smoke-house, and a pig-
sty, arranged solely with a view to ease of communication with the
house, and consequently all drawn closely around it. The general
effect, when viewed at a distance, was that of two large jugs
surrounded with several smaller ones.
Before this heap of edifices swung the tavern sign, with a picture
of a barn-yard cock on one side, and a bull upon the other, as I have
told you before: and though the artist that painted it was only a
common house-dauber, and though the pictures were of humble
pretensions when compared with the productions of Raphael, still,
few specimens of the fine arts have ever had more admirers than the
cock and bull of my uncle’s sign. How many a toper has looked upon
it when approaching the tavern with his feverish lip, as the emblem
and assurance of the rum that was soon to feed the fire kindled in his
throat; how many a jolly fellow, staggering from the inn, has seen
that sign reeling against the sky, and mixing grotesquely with the
dreamy images of his fancy!
If we add to this description, that in the street, and nearly in front
of the tavern, was a wood-pile about ten feet high, and covering
three or four square rods of ground; that on one side was a litter of
harrows, carts and ploughs, and on the other a general assortment
of wagons, old sleighs, broken stages, and a rickety vehicle
resembling a modern chaise without a top; and if we sprinkle
between all these articles a good supply of geese and pigs, we shall
have a pretty fair account of the famous Cock and Bull tavern that
flourished in Salem nearly forty years ago.
The proprietor of such an establishment could not, in those days,
but be a man of influence; and the free manners and habits of my
uncle tended to increase the power that his position gave him. He
drank liberally himself, and vindicated his practice by saying that
good liquor was one of the gifts of providence, and it was no sin—
indeed it was rather a duty—to indulge in providential gifts freely. All
this made him a favorite, particularly with a set of hard drinkers who
thronged the bar-room, especially of a wet day and on winter
evenings.
As I have said, my uncle was opposed to education, and as he
grew older and drank deeper, his prejudice against it seemed to
increase; and though I cannot easily account for the fact, still every
drunkard in the place was an enemy to all improvements in the
school. When a town-meeting took place, these persons were
invaribly in opposition to every scheme, the design of which was to
promote the cause of education, and this party was usually headed
by my uncle. And it is not a little curious that the tavern party also
had its influence in the church, for my uncle was a member of it, and
many of his bar-room cronies also. They were so numerous as to
cast a heavy vote, and therefore they exercised a good deal of
power here. As in respect to the school, so in the house of worship,
they were for spending as little money as possible, and for reducing
its power and influence in society to the lowest possible scale. They
even held the minister in check, and though he saw the evil tendency
of intemperance in the village, he had not nerve enough to attack it,
except in a very soft and mild way, which probably served to
increase the vice at which he aimed; for vice always thrives when
holy men condemn it gently.
Now I have said that my uncle was a kind-hearted, generous
man, by nature; how then could he be so narrow-minded in respect
to education and religion? The answer to this question is easy. He
was addicted to the free use of liquors, which not only tends to
destroy the body, but to ruin all the nobler parts of the mind. As he
came more and more under the influence of ardent spirits, he grew
narrow-minded, sottish and selfish. And this is one of the great evils
of taking ardent spirits. The use of them always tends to break down
the mind; to take away from us those noble feelings and lofty
thoughts, which are the glory of man; in short, to sink us lower and
lower toward the brute creation. A determined drunkard is usually a
great part of the time but little elevated above a beast.
Now I have been particular about this part of my story, for I wished
to show you the natural influence of the habits of my uncle, and their
operation upon my own fortunes. I have yet a sadder story to tell, as
to the effect of the village tavern, not only upon myself, but upon my
uncle, and several others. That must be reserved for some of the
sad pages through which my tale will lead you. For the present, I
only point out the fact, that a man who encourages the sale of liquors
is usually unfriendly to the education and improvement of mankind;
that his position tends to make him fear the effect of light and wish
for darkness; that hard drinking will ruin even a generous and noble
mind and heart; and that the habit of dealing in liquor is one to be
feared, as it induces a man to take narrow, selfish, and low views of
human nature and human society. It appears to me that a trade
which thrives when men turn drunkards, and which fails when men
grow temperate, is a trade which is apt to injure the mind and soul of
one who follows it. Even my noble-hearted and generous uncle fell
under such sinister influences.
But to return to the school. I have already described the situation
of the house. The building itself was of wood, about fifteen feet
square, plastered within, and covered with benches without backs,
which were constructed by thrusting sticks, for legs, through auger
holes in a plank. On one side, against the wall, was a long table,
serving as a desk for the writers.
The chimney was of rough stone, and the fire-place was of the
same material. But what it lacked in grace of finish, was made up in
size. I believe that it was at least ten feet wide, and five in depth, and
the flue was so perpendicular and ample, that the rain and snow fell
down to the bottom, without the risk of striking the sides. In summer,
the school was kept by a woman, who charged the town a dollar a
week, boarding herself; in winter it was kept by a man, who was paid
five dollars a month and found. Here about seventy children, of all
sizes, were assembled during this latter portion of the year; the place
and manner of treatment being arranged as much as possible on the
principle that a schoolhouse is a penitentiary, where the more
suffering, the more improvement.
I have read of despots and seen prisons, but there are few of the
former more tyrannical than the birch-despot of former days, or of
the latter, more gloomy than the old-fashioned schoolhouse, under
the tyrant to which it was usually committed.
I must enter into a few details. The fuel for the school consisted of
wood, and was brought in winter, load by load, as it was wanted;
though it occasionally happened that we got entirely out, and the
school was kept without fire if the master could endure the cold, or
dismissed if the weather chanced to be too severe to be borne. The
wood was green oak, hickory, or maple, and when the fire could be
induced to blaze between the sticks, there was a most notable
hissing and frying, and a plentiful exudation of sap at each end of
them.
The wood was cut into lengths of about five feet, by the scholars,
each of the larger boys taking his turn at this, and at making the fire
in the morning. This latter was a task that demanded great strength
and patience; for, in the first place, there must be a back-log, five
feet in length, and at least fifteen inches in diameter; then a top-stick
about two-thirds as big; and then a forestick of similar dimensions. It
required some strength to move these logs to their places; and after
the frame of the work was built, the gathering of chips, and the
blowing, the wooing, the courting that were necessary to make the
revolting flame take hold of the wet fuel, demanded a degree of
exertion, and an endurance of patience, well calculated to ripen and
harden youth for the stern endurances of manhood.
The school began at nine in the morning, and it was rare that the
fire gave out any heat so early as this; nor could it have been of
much consequence had it done so, for the school-room was almost
as open as a sieve, letting in the bitter blast at every window and
door, and through a thousand cracks in the thin plastering of the
walls. Never have I seen such a miserable set of blue-nosed,
chattering, suffering creatures as were these children, for the first
hour after the opening of school, on a cold winter morning. Under
such circumstances, what could they do? Nothing, and they were
expected to do nothing.
The books in use were Webster’s Spelling Book, Dilworth’s
Arithmetic, Webster’s Second and Third Part, the New Testament,
and Dwight’s Geography. These were all, and the best scholars of
the seminary never penetrated more than half through this mass of
science. There was no such thing as a history, a grammar, or a map
in the school. These are mysteries reserved for more modern days.
Such was the state of things—such the condition of the school,
where I received my education, the only education that I ever
enjoyed, except such as I have since found in study by myself, and
amid the active pursuits of life. But let me not blame the schoolhouse
alone; I was myself in fault, for even the poor advantages afforded
me there, I wilfully neglected; partly because I was fond of amusing
myself and impatient of application; partly because I thought myself
worth ten thousand dollars, and fancied that I was above the
necessity of instruction; and partly because my uncle and his bar-
room friends were always sneering at men of education, and praising
men of spirit and action—those who could drive a stage skilfully, or
beat in pitching cents, or bear off the palm in a wrestling-match, or
perchance carry the largest quantity of liquor under the waistcoat.
Such being the course of circumstances that surrounded me at
the age of fifteen, it will not be surprising if my story should at last
lead to some painful facts; but my succeeding chapters will show.
(To be continued.)
 The Artists’ Cruise.

About the first of August, 1840, an excursion was set on foot, by

five young men of Boston, for recreation and amusement—one full of
interest and excitement, conducive equally to health and pleasure.
The plan was this—to embark in a small pleasure-boat called the
Phantom, built and owned by one of the company, who was also well
skilled in nautical affairs, and proceed by easy distances along the
coast as far “down East” as time or inclination would admit—letting
the events and adventures of the day determine the movements of
the next.
The company consisted of young artists—lovers of nature—ready
to appreciate all the new and beautiful points that might meet the
eye. The boat was hauled up at Phillip’s beach, Lynn, to which place
the party proceeded, and fitted her out with all the conveniences and
comforts proper for the cruise. Everything being ready, they sailed on
the first of the week, with a fair southwest wind, passed Marblehead
and Salem gaily, and stretched onward for Cape Ann. As night came
on they were becalmed, but it was very clear, and the moon shone
gloriously, as they moved, creeping lazily along, catching a slight puff
at intervals. The musical portion of the company contrived to make
the time pass pleasantly away in singing certain old airs which
chimed in with the feeling and situation of the company. At last the
breeze came again, and about ten at night they found themselves in
the little cove before the quiet town of Gloucester. Here they cast
anchor; and so much pleased were they, that they stayed the next
day and enjoyed the pleasure of a ramble along the rocky shores,
fishing for perch, &c. They found an excellent host at the Gloucester
hotel, where they passed the next night. I cannot do better than to
tell the rest of the story in the words of these adventurers.
 “With a bright sun, a fresh breeze, and a calm sea, we left
Gloucester and shaped our course around Cape Ann for the Isles of
Shoals, a group which lie at the farther extremity of Ipswich bay,
across which we merrily steered, embracing the opportunity of
initiating the inexperienced in the duties of amateur seamanship. In a
few hours we ran in between the rocky isles, which, as we gradually
neared them, seemed to rise from out the waves. Anchoring in the
midst of a fleet of fishing boats, we prepared our supper, which was
soon despatched with much mirth, owing to the primitive simplicity of
our arrangements. We passed the night at our anchorage, after
witnessing the effect of a magnificent thunder-storm, and spent the
morning in strolling among the rocks along the shore, and amusing
ourselves with the characteristic traits of the islanders whom we met;
their isolated position, and constant devotion to the single occupation
of catching and curing fish, appearing to interpose a bar to their
advancement in any other qualification. From the Isles of Shoals we
had the next day a fair run to Wood Island, and anchored in Winter
harbor, near the mouth of Saco river—a place of considerable
importance at the time of the last war, owing to the exertions of an
enterprising merchant by the name of Cutts. During the war the
British entered the harbor and wantonly sawed through the keel of
three of the largest class of merchant vessels, then in progress of
building, and whose remains are still to be seen. We had plenty of
fowling, fishing, and sporting apparatus, and we here had ample
opportunity for exercising our skill as sportsmen—plover, curlew,
sand-birds, &c. being abundant. In this manner we passed the time
until the afternoon of the next day, when we left for Portland.
“Favored with a fine breeze, we dashed merrily over the waves,
which had now begun to be tipped with foam, and, under the
influence of the freshening wind, had assumed a size that, in
comparison with our miniature bark, might have been termed
mountain-high; but there was no danger, for our craft was as buoyant
on the sea as one of its own bubbles. The weather had gradually
been growing “dirty,” as seamen call it, and we raced into the harbor
of Portland with a small squadron of coasting vessels, all crowding
for shelter. The wind during the night blew a gale from the southeast,
which however did not prevent us from sleeping soundly. Our
appetites having assumed a remarkable punctuality since leaving
Boston, reminded us early of breakfast, and, in spite of wind and
rain, we resolved upon cooking a quantity of birds shot the day
previous. Having formed an imperfect shelter by means of a spare
sail, a fire was kindled, coffee made, birds broiled, and our meal
concluded amid a rain so drenching as to be quite a curiosity in its
way. Each person bent over his dish to prevent the food being fairly
washed away, and covered his mug of coffee to avoid excessive
dilution, and used many other notable expedients suited to the
occasion, which will certainly not be forgotten if never again
practised. It was most emphatically a washing-day with us, though
not accompanied with the ill-humor generally reputed to exist upon
those occasions.
“The storm and its effects being over, we received a visit from the
proprietors of the elegant pleasure-boat, Water Lily, who very kindly
invited us to accompany them to Diamond cove, a romantic spot in
one of the many beautiful islands that so thickly stud Casco bay—a
place much frequented by parties of pleasure from the city of
Portland. We left the harbor with a fine breeze, our pennants
streaming gallantly. We were soon upon the fishing-grounds,
anchored, and for a moment all was bustle and excitement, each
hoping to be the first to pull a ‘mammoth’ from the deep. Success
crowned our efforts, and a boat was despatched with the treasure to
the cove, to be there converted into a savory chowder; while we
again anchored near the rocks of one of the smaller islands, where
fortune favored us, and we soon had a goodly store of perch for the
fry.
“The sun was just sinking as we entered the cove, and the gray
shadows of twilight were fast gathering under the grove of fine old
oaks that crowned the shore. Soon the woods resounded with the
shouts and merry laughter of the party. Misty twilight yielded to the
brilliant rays of the full moon, which, streaming through the openings
of the forest, touched here and there, lighting up the picturesque and
moss-grown trunks with almost magical effect. The word was given,
and each one searched for his armful of brush to light us at our feast,
and soon it crackled and blazed away, lighting up a scene almost
beyond description. The party numbered about fifteen or twenty,
including the Phantom’s crew, and were scattered about in all the
various groups and postures that inclination or fancy might suggest,
each with his plate and spoon, or for the want of them a clam-shell
and box-cover, doing such justice to the feast as an appetite
sharpened by fasting, salubrious sea-breeze and wholesome
exercise would induce. Not the least important feature of the scene
was the picturesque costume assumed by our “Phantoms;” it
consisting of white pants, Guernsey frocks, belts, knives, and small
Greek caps tight to the head. Above us hung the blest canopy of
glowing foliage thrown out from those old oaks; each mass, each
leaf was touched and pencilled with a vivid line of light, whose
brightness might compare with that of sparkling gems. The more
distant groups were relieved from the dim and shadowy background
by a subdued and broad half-light. Fainter and fainter grew the light,
till all was lost in the deep and gloomy shadows of the forest.
“Amid this fairy-like scenery all was mirth, jollity, fun, and frolic; not
a moment passed unenjoyed. At ten o’clock our party broke up, and
we returned to our boats. We here parted with our kind friends, who
were soon on their way to Portland. We seized our flutes, and
breathed forth a farewell with all the pathos we were masters of. This
was soon answered by a smart salute from a cannon, which awoke
the echoes of the cove. Three cheers were given and returned, and
all was still.
“The next was a beautiful day, and it being Sunday, we remained
at anchor in the cove, enjoying the silence and repose of nature in
that lovely and sequestered spot. The succeeding morning being
fine, we started with a light southerly wind, which carried us slowly
along among the islands of Casco, and gave us a fine opportunity to
observe all their beauties. The scene was continually changing—
new islands opening upon us almost every moment. Before evening
we had made the little harbor called Small Point, where we remained
that night. The succeeding day we doubled cape Small Point and
made the mouth of the Kennebec, which we entered with a fine
breeze, that carried us briskly up to Bath, where we spent the
remainder of the day. Having taken a pilot, we continued up the river
with a fair wind and tide, which took us as far as Hallowell.
Considerable curiosity was here excited, in consequence of our
having come so far in so small a boat, it being thought a rather
hazardous enterprise. In the morning a council was held, and we
determined to return; accordingly this and the succeeding day were
spent in getting back to Bath. We did but little more than float with
the tide, in consequence of its being so calm. The scenery of the
Kennebec has been so often and minutely described, that it is best
to pass over it without comment.
At Bath we were treated with all the attention and kindness we
could wish for. The succeeding day we beat down the river, and
doubled the point, encountering a head sea, which tossed us about,
to the great detriment of our culinary apparatus. We again anchored
and passed the night at Small Point. We proceeded the next day, by
a difficult and somewhat dangerous channel, between ledges and
islands as far as Haskell’s Island, and anchored in the cove.
Continuing our course the next day, we stopped at Portland, saw our
friends of the Water Lily, and proceeded as far as Winter harbor,
where we arrived at twelve o’clock at night. We continued here a day
to take advantage of the fine shooting, and had very good luck. We
went as far the next day as York, where we anchored, cooked our
birds, and, with the help of good appetites, made a glorious supper.
“Leaving the town of Old York, we rowed slowly out of the small
river which forms its harbor, accompanied by numerous fishing-
boats, which came in the evening previous. It was a dead calm, and
continued so about two hours. The time passed however without the
usual tedium attendant upon the want of wind, it being employed in
the preparation and discussion of a hearty breakfast. The wind came
at last, a light breeze and ahead, and we soon exchanged the
swinging and rolling motion of the glassy ground-swell for the regular
rise and fall and cheerful dash of the ripple against the bow, and the
music of the breaking bubbles as they whirled away in the wake.
With all our canvass set, we stretched slowly along the narrow coast
of New Hampshire.
“Passing the harbor of Portsmouth, with its lighthouse built upon a
ledge so low that the tide sweeps over its foundation, as is the case
with the famous Eddystone, at nightfall we were off the mouth of
Merrimac river, yet some fifteen or twenty miles from our destined
port. A few clouds that had collected about dark now dispersed, and
the stars shone clear and beautiful from the heavens, while the
beacon lights blazed in rival brightness from the shore. About two in
the morning we approached the entrance of our port, which is
situated near the mouth of a small river which intersects Cape Ann,
and which, like most rivers, has a bar at its mouth. After passing the
lighthouse, being within half a mile of our anchorage, the wind fell
suddenly, and the rapid current swept us aground upon the highest
part of the bar, where the receding tide soon left us high and dry
upon the sand. Being stopped thus abruptly, we gazed about in
search of some means to ‘define our position,’ which measure was
presently vetoed by the rolling in of so thick a fog that in ten minutes
everything in sight could have been touched with a boat-hook.
Finding sight unavailing at this juncture, we resorted to sound, and
commenced firing signal guns, which were heard and answered from
the shore, and in a short time assistance arrived in the person of the
keeper of the lighthouse, who informed us that we should not float
again for six hours. Day broke upon us in this position, and having
plenty of time, we despatched two ashore for provisions in the pilot’s
skiff, and in a short time the sand-bar presented a singular
appearance, our baggage of all kinds being strewed about upon the
sand, and in close fellowship with cooking utensils, loose sails, spare
baskets, boxes, rigging, &c. &c.; for we had entirely unladed the
boat, for the purpose of washing and cleansing the inside from the
effects of an unlucky basket of charcoal, which had been upset in the
confusion consequent upon our endeavors to get into deeper water.
Upon the return of our purveyors all hands displayed great activity in
providing and eating breakfast. The fog still encompassed us, so that
we enjoyed all the uproar and fun of the meal in our own way, as our
apparent horizon was hardly more extensive than a common room. It
was a memorable breakfast, that seemed much like a day’s eating
condensed into a single meal, the whole being much enlivened by
the cheerfulness and local anecdotes of our old friend from the
lighthouse, to whom we were indebted for sundry excellent hints
touching the best method of extricating vessels in difficult and