rve--just as the real curse of
slavery fell upon the slave-owners.

That people who are waited on by a serving class cannot have a right
consideration for the rights of others, and they waste both time and
substance, both of which are lost forever, and can only seemingly be
made good by additional human effort.

That the person who lives on the labor of others, not giving himself in
return to the best of his ability, is really a consumer of human life
and therefore must be considered no better than a cannibal.

That each one living naturally will do the thing he can do best, but
that in useful service there is no high nor low.

That to set apart one day in seven as "holy" is really absurd and serves
only to loosen our grasp on the tangible present.

That all duties, offices and things which are useful and necessary to
humanity are sacred, and that nothing else is or can be sacred.

The Law of Obedience

The very first item in the creed of common sense is _Obedience_.

Perform your work with a whole heart.

Revolt may be sometimes necessary, but the man who tries to mix revolt
and obedience is doomed to disappoint himself and everybody with whom he
has dealings. To flavor work with protest is to fail absolutely.

When you revolt, why revolt--climb, hike, get out, defy--tell everybody
and everything to go to hades! That disposes of the case. You thus
separate yourself entirely from those you have served--no one
misunderstands you--you have declared yourself.

The man who quits in disgust when ordered to perform a task which he
considers menial or unjust may be a pretty good fellow, but in the wrong
environment, but the malcontent who takes your order with a smile and
then secretly disobeys, is a dangerous proposition. To pretend to obey,
and yet carry in your heart the spirit of revolt is to do half-hearted,
slipshod work. If revolt and obedience are equal in power, your engine
will then stop on the center and you benefit no one, not even yourself.

The spirit of obedience is the controlling impulse that dominates the
receptive mind and the hospitable heart. There are boats that mind the
helm and there are boats that do not. Those that do not, get holes
knocked in them sooner or later.

To keep off the rocks, obey the rudder.

Obedience is not to slavishly obey this man or that, but it is that
cheerful mental state which responds to the necessity of the case, and
does the thing without any back talk--u