“Fight！”“Armour！”Enough！Galloping off into the night，these excited young men recruited a mob，returned to the church，put a rope round the preacher，dragged him for a mile up the road，stood him on a heap of faggots，lighted matches，and were ready to hang him and burn him at the same time，when someone shouted：“Let’s make the blankety-blank-blank talk before he burns.Speech！Speech！”Laurence Jones，standing on the faggots，spoke with a rope around his neck，spoke for his life and his cause.He had been graduated from the University of Iowa in 1907.His sterling character，his scholarship and his musical ability had made him popular with both the students and the faculty.Upon graduation，he had turned down the offer of a hotel man to set him up in business，and had turned down the offer of a wealthy man to finance his musical education.Why？Because he was on fire with a vision.Reading the story of Booker T.Washington’s life，he had been inspired to devote his own life to educating the poverty-stricken，illiterate members of his race.So he went to the most backward belt he could find in the South—a spot twenty-five miles south of Jackson，Mississippi.Pawning his watch for 1.65，he started his school in the open woods with a stump for a desk.Laurence Jones told these angry men who were waiting to lynch him of the struggle he had had to educate these unschooled boys and girls and to train them to be good farmers，mechanics，cooks，housekeepers.He told of the white men who had helped him in his struggle to establish Piney Woods CountrySchool—white men who had given him land，lumber，and pigs，cows and money，to help him carry on his educational work.
When Laurence Jones was asked afterward if he didn’t hate the men who had dragged him up the road to hang him and burn him，he replied that he was too busy with his cause to hate—too absorbed in something bigger than himself.“I have no time to quarrel，”he said，“no time for regrets，and no man can force me to stoop low enough to hate him.”
As Laurence Jones talked with sincere and moving eloquence as he pleaded，not for himself but his cause，the mob began to soften.Finally，an old Confederate veteran in the crowd said：“I believe this boy is telling the truth.I know the white men whose names he has mentioned.He is doing a fine work.We have made a mistake.We ought to help him instead of hang him.”The Confederate veteran passed his hat through the crowd and raised a gift of fifty-two dollars and forty cents from the very men who had gathered there to hang the founder of Piney Woods Country School—the man who said：“I have no time to quarrel，no time for regrets，and no man can force me to stoop low enough to hate him.”
Epictetus pointed out nineteen centuries ago that we reap what we sow and that somehow fate almost always makes us pay for our malefactions.“In the long run，”said Epictetus，“every man will pay the penalty for his own misdeeds.The man who remembers this will be angry with no one，indignant with no one，revile no one，blame no one，offend no one，hate no one.”
Probably no other man in American history was ever more denounced and hated and double-crossed than Lincoln.Yet Lincoln，according to Herndon’s classic biography，“never judged men by his like or dislike for them.If any given act was to be performed，he could understand that his enemy could do it just as well as anyone.If a man had maligned him or been guilty ofpersonal ill-treatment，and was the fittest man for the place，Lincoln would give him that place，just as soon as he would give it to a friend....I do not think he ever removed a man because he was his enemy or because he disliked him.”
Lincoln was denounced and insulted by some of the very men he had appointed to positions of high power—men like McClellan，Seward，Stanton，and Chase.Yet Lincoln believed，according to Herndon，his law partner，that “No man was to be eulogised for what he did；or censured for what he did or did not do，”because “all of us are the children of conditions，of circumstances，of environment，of education，of acquired habits and of heredity moulding men as they are and will forever be.”
Perhaps Lincoln was right.If you and I had inherited the same physical，mental，and emotional characteristics that our enemies have inherited，and if life had done to us what it has done to them，we would act exactly as they do.We couldn’t possibly do anything else.As Clarence Darrow used to say：“To know all is to understand all，and this leaves no room for judgment and condemnation.”So instead of hating our enemies，let’s pity them and thank God that life has not made us what they are.Instead of heaping condemnation and revenge upon our enemies，let’s give them our understanding，our sympathy，our help，our forgiveness，and our prayers.
I was brought up in a family which read the Scriptures or repeated a verse from the Bible each night and then knelt down and said “family prayers”.I can still hear my father，in a lonely Missouri farmhouse，repeating those words of Jesus—words that will continue to be repeated as long as man cherishes his ideals：“Love your enemies，bless them that curse you，do good to them that hate you，and pray for them which despitefully use you，and persecute you.”
My father tried to live those words of Jesus；and they gave him an inner peace that the captains and the kings of earth have often sought for in vain.
To cultivate a mental attitude that will bring you peace and happiness，remember that Rule 2is：
Let’s never try to get even with our enemies，because if we do we will hurt ourselves far more than we hurt them.Let’s do as General Eisenhower does：let’s never waste a minute thinking about people we don’t like.
Chapter 44
If You Do This，You Will Never Worry About IngratitudeI