Some body once said to Lorenzo Dow, who was a very eccentric strolling preacher:
“Mr. Dow, I don’t know what to do. Bad thoughts trouble me very much. They come into my head, and I don’t know how to keep them out. How can I help doing wrong, if it is wrong to have bad thoughts?”
Mr. D. replied:—“We can’t keep birds from flying over our heads, but we can keep them from building nests in our hair. Do you ask how can you drive away these bad thoughts, and keep them from making nests in your mind? Why, just as we exclude thistles from the lands, by putting in so much good seed there is no room left for them to grow.—Keep the mind busy, with something innocent and useful, and leave no trace for the intruder.”