Personal Change: A Treasure Found

I recently stumbled upon a priceless treasure. While looking for something uplifting and motivating to read I went to my grandparents bookshelves to see what they had. Tucked among many westerns(Grandpa) and sappy love stories(Grandma) I found a little volume entitled "Think" written by a Col. William C. Hunter and published in 1918 by the Reilly & Lee company of Chicago.


My efforts to find much information about the author have proven fruitless, however, I did find some information about the publisher. The Reilly & Lee Company was first founded as Reilly & Britton in 1902. It is interesting to note that the founding of the company was the result of another publishing house going under-the same publishing house that first published the Wizard of Oz. But I digress. The Reilly & Lee company was eventually purchased by what is today McGraw Hill. The volume I found originally belonged to my great great grandfather on my grandmothers side of the family-Ed Fernley.


I searched the internet for any reference to the book and have only found it here.


Now for the treasure. "Think" is a collection of thoughts by Col. Hunter on a wide variety of topics from pills and medicine to religion to daily exercise. He does not pass himself off on an expert, but only expresses a desire to inspire the reader to, well, think. I found many of it's passages particularly inspiring and share on with you from the 13th chapter regarding personal change:

Big things take time and patience. The great ship lies in the harbor pointed North. A tug boat could make a sudden pull and break the great chain or tow line.

Yet you could take a half-inch rope and with your own hands turn the great ship completely around by pulling steadily and patiently. The movement would be slow, but it would be sure and you would finally accomplish your purpose.

Don't jerk and fret and be impatient with yourself. You have been for years perhaps worrying and thinking fear-thoughts. You have put a lot of useless and harmful material in your brain.

You can't clean all your brain house in a day or a week, but you can do a little cleaning each day.

You can take the faith-rope of good purpose and start to pull gently, and finally you will turn your whole life's character toward the port of success.

This simple yet eloquent analogy has actually been a blessing for me to understand and utilize in my own journey of personal growth and change. We do not accomplish monumental change all at once. We must keep at it and little by little realize the change we want.