Frances Holbrook Pfeiffer, "Some Illogical Conclusions," Mind (New York), April 1904

A short essay in Mind, a New York monthly of the New Thought movement. Found 10 Oct 2026; read from the scan.

It opens: “A noticeable fact about the so-called New Thought is its many-sidedness. It is broken into many fine bits … This is a very hopeful sign.” Christianity, she argues, began as one and broke into numberless creeds; the New Thought begins in parts and will grow into one whole, “and it will be called Religion,” with one word for it all: “The word God is short, terse, comprehensive and great.”

Of the two teachings she finds in it, “Do everything yourself” and “Look to God,” she writes: “We must ‘hold the thought and hustle.’ This is the illogical conclusion; God knows what I have need of, and gives me exactly what I need … but I by my thinking, living, and doing, make or change my needs. God and I work together.”

It ends with her college days: “When I was in college I selected my room with great care, as if it were to be my abiding place forever. If there were defects in it, it was most momentous, and made me miserable. I was not wise enough to realize that I was there for only a short time, and that by far the most important thing was how well I learned my lessons. In this school of the earth I have learned that by far the most important thing is how well we learn our lessons.”