THE GOSPEL OF CHEERFULNESS Some people find it harder than others to be uniformly cheerful. While one man is, as the saying is, "born happy," another inherits a tendency to look upon the sombre aspect of every matter presented to him. To the latter, the price of cheerfulness is eternal vigilance lest he lapse into morbidness. But after a while habit becomes second nature. I do not advocate the idea of taking life as a huge joke. The man or woman who does this throws the care and responsibility that should be his or hers upon some other shoulders. My plea is for the brave and bright courage that makes labor light. When we work, let us work cheerfully; when we play, let us play with our whole hearts. In this simple rule lies the secret of the youth that endures long after the hair is white and the "Delectable Mountains" are in sight. There is no habit of more fungus-like growth than that of melancholy, yet many people give way to it. Some Christians go through this life as if it were, indeed, a vale of tears, and they, having been put in it without their consent, were determined to make the worst of a bad bargain, and to be as wretched as opportunity would allow. Said a clergyman to one of his depressed and downcast parishioners: "My friend, your religion does not seem to agree with you." It is one of the unexplained mysteries of human nature that people receive their griefs as direct from the hand of God, but not their joys. Why does not a kind Father mean for us to profit by the one as much as by the other? And since into nearly every life falls more sunshine than shadow, why leave the sunny places and go out of our way to sit and mope in the darkest, dreariest shade we can find? I believe in the Gospel of Cheerfulness. It is your duty and mine to get every drop of cream off our own especial pan of milk. And if we do have to drink skim milk, shall we throw away the cream on that account? If it were not to be used it would not be there. God does not make things to have them wasted. All of us have our worries--some small, some great-and the strength and depth of our characters are proved by the way in which we meet the trials. Cheerfulness is God's own messenger to lighten our burdens, and to make our times of joy even more bright and beautiful. Have you noticed how, as soon as you can laugh over a vexation, the sting of it is gone? And the best of it is that you cannot be happy yourself without casting a little light, even if it be but reflected sunshine, into some other life. GOOD HUMOR What then remains, but well our power to use And keep good humor still whate'er we lose? And trust me, dear, good humor can prevail When airs and flights and screams and scoldings fail.-Pope. LITTLE MAN So you're six years old at last, And you mean to grow as fast Tall as papa soon you'll grow, To be clever you intend, You'll have money, too, to spend, In a carriage you will ride, With your sweetheart by your side Wish to be contented first, Little man! Then the world may do the worst Pray, my boy, you may be then Loved by all your fellow-men, With the blessings of the poor That is better far, be sure, Then your manhood will be blest Whoever wears a happy face does a service to humanity; for it is infinitely better that the world should seem full of sunshine than of gloom, that the general heart should be lifted in gratitude rather than abased with rankling injury; and happiness meanwhile, or its semblance, begets happiness, like a dollar at usury, and enriches the moral world as sunshine does the earth. JOY I could not watch a single cluster of leaves without feeling that the passion of its whole nature was thrown into every instant of its being, and that the passion was thrilling joy. The face of every flower was like that of a radiant child. The air shook with the joyful thoughts of the birds, the dance of insect life had begun, and the airy ravishment of the butterfly born too soon, was the expression of the life that trembled with delight through every animal. The sky was full of happy voices, the clouds sailed with swift pleasure through the Joyous sky, the waters glittered with their own delight, it was not only joy, it was rapturous joy at every instant and in every place. Love, life, joy, what are these in their tale to the spirit, as spring sends them flowing into our hearts? They are a revelation of the Being of God. Its first attribute is infinite life. In this world of decay and death, where sorrow and apathy and dulness play so large a part in us, it is unspeakable comfort to know that there is above us and in our God, an eager, unwearied, universal life. Nothing in spring gives me so much joy as that thought. It is God's life that is moving everywhere, breathing to the sunlight in the blossom, flowing in the running water, growing in the corn, singing in the birds, glittering in the dew that nourishes the grassthe inexhaustible fountain of God's life that makes the world in the rushing of its stream. True, it is dear to us who need sympathy in pain, who know so much of pain, to feel, through Christ, that God can be touched with sorrow for us, that it pitieth him to see us in the dust, but that is not of the absolute in his being. The essence of his being is, on the contrary, joy; intense, overflowing, streaming in rapturous life, through universes of life, material and immaterial. 66 That is the second thought of him that comes to us, in the ecstasy of the spring. Take it into your life. It will do you good; it will help you to conquer the disabling of sorrow, the apathetic results of pain; it will rescue you from that overmuch contemplation of self that wearies and dulls the heart; and lift you on the wings of a mightier emotion than grief, into a brighter heaven." For the ocean of life in which we move is, in truth, an ocean of joy, and we shall know that, in spite of sighing and tears, ere long.-S. A. Brooke. THE CHEERFUL ONE Every family needs, and every "well-regulated family" has, at least one sunshiny member; generally it is some one who does not bear the heaviest burdens of the home, but yet whose heart has been touched by sorrow, melted by pity, and warmed by love,-some dear "grandma," or "auntie," or sister, or mother, whose presence makes sunshine, whose smile scatters clouds, whose soft answer turns away wrath, whose sympathy dries tears, whose. counsel composes difficulties, whose ear listens to troubles, whose heart keeps secrets, and who weaves a band of light and love about the home, and paints it with those mellow tints which never fade from memory's canvas, and which cause so many a long-drawn sigh when the dear spell of youth is broken, and we go forth to stem the storms of earth alone. Can we not catch this sunshine, and each become a sunshiny member of the circle where we move? How much peace, and joy, and hope, and strength, and courage we may thus minister; how much weariness, and doubt, and care, and gloom we may dispel! This gift is not all nature; part of it is nature, part grace, and part experience, born of sorrow and of tears. The secret is love-love thy neighbor as thyself-patience towards all men, and the spirit of Christ abiding in the heart. Remember, fathers, brothers, husbands. and sons, that the role of the "Cheerful One" belongs as rightfully to you as to the women-tu.ks of the family. My business is not to remake myself, But make the absolute best of what God made. -Robert Browning. |