But all these had the luck of the never-say-die men. They were all of
the class that Emerson describes as having an excess of arterial
circulation.
Every failure to them was simply an access of information. They
regarded each loss as another piece of instruction in the game.
Fortune always gives the winnings to such as these at last. Fortune
loves a daring player; and while she may rebuff him for a while, it is
only to gild the refined gold of his ultimate achievings.
Another thing. Go you to church. Use clean linen. Wear good and
well-fitting clothing. Take care of your shoes. Look after all the
details of your personal grooming. In short, observe all the methods
which human experience has devised to keep men from degenerating.
There is an unalterable connection between the physical and mental and
moral.
The old saying that "cleanliness is next to godliness" has beneath it
all the philosophy of civilization.
It is an easy process that produces tramps. A few days' growth of
beard, the tolerance of certain personal habits of indolence, and your
tramp begins, vaguely, but none the less surely, to appear. This is
accompanied by a falling off in clear-cut thought, a blurring of the
moralities, and a cessation of definite and effective energy.
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