November 21, 1918 
LAND 6s? WATER 
19 
Pelmanism and the Silver Badge 
By George Henry 
If it were within my power, I would so order it that every 
Silver Badge issued to a discharged soldier would be accom- 
panied by a free enrolment for a course of Pelmanism. 
For Pelmanism is of the greatest import to the discharged 
soldier, and I am putting my views in regard to it upon 
record because I believe that the lessons to be learned from 
my own case may be of some service to many thousands of 
my comrades in the great Brotherhood of the Silver 
Badge. 
It is just a year since the day when I cast aside khaki, 
consigned my tin of "Soldier's Friend" to oblivion, and 
feverishly arrayed myself in the most flamboyant clothes 
that my tailor and hosier could provide. 
It is twelve months since the day I realised that, after 
nearly three years' service, I had become a free man — free 
to order my comings and goings as I listed — free from the 
tyranny of the bugle-call — free to follow the dictates of 
my own will in everything, unhedged by restriction or 
prohibition. 
And I was eager to burst upon a civilian world with all 
the theatrical flaire of a newly discovered prima donna. 
In my innocence, I thought that this same civiUan world 
was waiting to lay bare its rewards before the sword of my 
wits. 
But I was sorry to discover that this view-point savoured 
of the unsophisticated. It had not occurred to me that 
the battle for a living was quite as strenuous as ever — indeed, 
had intensified during war time — and that in going "over 
the top" in business or professional hfe one must still be 
equipped with the most effective mental munitions. 
In my pre-war days I had gained a comfortable income 
in the practice of my profession. My mind had enjoyed 
ample exercise and was always (if I may be forgiven the 
simile) at "concert pitch." And so I thought that, with a 
world full of splendid topics of general interest, I could not 
fail to produce of my best, and rebuild my shattered fortunes. 
I took a hoUday, and, returning, came to my desk filled 
with a resolve to work as never I had worked before. 
It was just there that I came down to earth, and the 
bubbles of my childlike faith bespattered themselves on 
the stones of reahty. 
One morning of fruitless, futile scribbling showed me that 
nearly three years' service as a soldier had had its inevitable 
effect on my mental processes. 
That nimble wit I had been so proud to possess positively 
would not be stimulated ; that ability to analyse a subject 
and classify its components that had m^de my previous 
work clear and forceful had fled ; that ease in the choice 
of the right word that had made work a recreation had taken 
a fancy for aviation and winged away. 
There I was, with a comfortable desk and chair, quires 
of fair, white paper, an efficient fountain pen, nebulous 
ideas in abundance — and I could not express myself for the 
life of me. 
And it was not just a matter of mood, for this inability 
to work persisted. In a week or two there came the realisa- 
tion that it was a chronic state. The reason was not far 
to seek. For nearly three years my every day's activities 
had been planned ahead for me. Almost had my every 
action been governed by the decisions of my superior officers. 
Day and night, week in, week out, I had, and rightly so, 
surrendered myself to the mechanical will of the military 
machine. My thinking had been done for me. I had no 
reason to think for myself. Indeed, I soon learned that 
"thinking for oneself" was a short path to the pleasures 
of "pack driU." 
All of which resulted in a brain lying fallow. Its functions 
had not been properly exercised — it was a great obese brciin, 
over-fed with facts and impressions, suffering from a species 
of mental indigestion, torpid and unresponsive to my will. 
I had, indeed, come to a pretty pass I It was necessary 
for me to earn at least double as much as in pre-war days 
merely to provide the bread and butter of respectability. 
How was I to make provision for this — much less for the 
occasional jam that makes fife Uvcable — with my mind rusted, 
faculties blunted, and thinking-power to a great extent 
atrophied by disuse ? 
Obsessed by this sort of query, little wonder that that 
sneaking little traitor, the Imp of Introspection, came upon 
the scene. I gave way to depression and doubt, and feared 
for my future. I began to think that I was going to be one 
of life's "wash-outs," and in the hght of later learning, 
I really think I did for a time belong to that peculiar species 
of humanity — until Pelmanism came to me ! 
Until Pelmanism came to me — by the prosaic path of a 
daily paper announcement, and the subsequent clipping of a 
coupon. Many thousands of Silver Badge men have hesitated 
over that same coupon. I wish I could make them realise 
to the full the import of it. For Pelmanism gave me what 
it has given many a thousand men and women. It gave me 
courage, first of all. The first "little Grey Book" refreshed 
and stung my mind into activity, just as a plunge into a 
cold bath reinvigorates a tired body. My mind steeped 
itself in that little text-book and came forth permeated with 
confidence. 
The Imp of Introspection and the legions of other mental 
devils who are his co-mates fled from my ken. I had no 
further use for them, and as "Grey Book" followed "Grey 
Book," and the fascinating exercises of Pelmanism unfolded 
their wonderful interest and charm, my mind began to bestir 
itself and throw off the shackles of its hibernation. 
Pelmanism changed my whole outlook on life, gave me 
new interests, and made me THINK. 
My mind began to function more speedily and easily. 
I found that I could collect my thoughts, concentrate on a 
subject, analyse and classify possibilities, and, finally, express 
myself without the hair-tearing and other temperamental 
performances which are popularly supposed to be the accom- 
paniment of creative work. The upshot is that to-day my 
work is accomplished with ease, and I am never tired of 
reiterating the fact that Pelmanism pays for itself a thousand- 
fold. 
So much for my personal experiences of Pelmanism. I 
have dealt with my own case at length because it is typical 
of thousands of others. I have lately had an opportunity 
of investigating the work of Pelmanism, and found that the 
register of the Pelman Institute teemg with cases of students 
who at their introduction to the Course had suffered from 
the same mental '"dry-rot" that was once my portion. I 
found, too, that among my brothers of the Silver Badge 
there is a great army of Pelmanists equipping itself for the 
stem struggle for a living that follows the laying down of 
the weapons of war. In many cases, officers who have 
appreciated the quahties of the men who served under them 
have paid for a coufte of Pelmanism for such men on their 
discharge from the service. 
And no person who can read can escape the wonderful 
tributes which are being paid to Pelmanism by distinguished 
men in every section of the Press. 
Yes. Pelmanism is, without a doubt, a vital necessity 
for the discharged soldier. For it is the men of the "Silver 
Badge" and their comrades who wiU return when peace 
comes — the youth of the world — upon whom the duty of 
rebuilding a new social order on the ashes of the old will 
devolve. It is the youth of the world who, when the peace 
comes, must so order things that the peace shall be kept 
and the earth cleansed of the corruption and loose thinking 
that played a great part in bringing about the mud-and- 
blood welter of the last four years. And to equip them for 
their labours in this respect, as well as for their own indivi- 
dual welfare, I think that Pelmanism is of inestimable value. 
The Pelman Institute publishes a small book, " Mind and 
Memory," in which Pelmanism is fully explained and illus- 
traied : and a supplement treating of "Pelmanism as an 
Intellectual and Social Factor." These two publications, 
together with -a reprint of "Truth's" Report on the Pelman 
Institute and its work, will be sent gratis and post free to any 
reader of LaniJ & Water who addresses a post card to the 
Pelman Institute, 39 Pelman House, Bloomsbury Street, 
London, W.C.i. all correspondence is confidential. 
Overseas addresses ; 46-48 Market Street, Melbourne ; 
15 Toronto Street, Toronto ; Club Arcade, Durban. 
