Grave Little Questions of Being Happy

1910

By Maude Neal

People try to be happy on the wrong basis. They won't be happy on what they have; they dream of being happy on something that they don't possess or that belongs to somebody else.

You see a girl who is young, pretty and has nice clothes and a moderately pleasing "steady." You ask for the reason of the discontented expression she wears and she tells you that she has not been invited to a certain party or that if she has been her dressmaker has disappointed her.

Another woman who seems profoundly miserable you question thus: "How are the children?" "Oh," she replies, in a discouraged tone, "they are very well but they grow so fast I can't keep any clothes on them."

"And your new servant?" "Oh, she is a jewel, but you can never tell what moment she will pick up and leave."

"Did your new dress turn out all right?" "Yes, but it's so much trouble getting a dress I would almost prefer to do without."

"How is your husband? Did he get back from his trip all right?"

"Oh, yes. I can hardly realize he has been away."

"You seem to be worried. What is the main trouble?"

"Well, I caught cold in some way and I've been suffering with a stiff neck. I think that is one of the worst things a person can have in the way of ailments."

And there you are! A husband's safe return, children abundantly healthy, clothes made by another, a servant and the wherewithal to pay for her, and yet none of these things count for happiness when pitted against the inconvenience of a stiff neck.

If people would only say, "Oh, I am so happy because I have this. I am so thankful that this trouble which came to my neighbor wasn't allotted to me," instead of whining, "Oh, if I only had his luck," or "It is absolutely unheard of and terrible that I should be called upon to endure this," the world would be made up of a wonderfully cheerful population.

Bridegroom of 13 Spanked by Dad

March 1914

KINGSTON, Ontario. — "Well, father, permit me to introduce my bride," said Eugene Lovelace, a romantic youth of thirteen, as he presented a blushing eighteen-year-old girl, who was Miss Laura Richardson.

"Your what?" gasped the astonished parent, as he looked from one to the other.

"My bride, pop. We've come for the paternal blessing."

The bridegroom has a hazy recollection of what followed. He has a distinct remembrance of father's No. 9 shoe, still containing father's foot connecting with remarkable force somewhere amidships. He remembers getting a fleeting glimpse of a big flat hand coming in his general direction. He is in too much pain to try to recollect other incidents.

The bridegroom does not look any older than his age, and at the time of his decision to embark upon the gale-swept seas of matrimony he purchased with the bulk of his available funds the first pair of long trousers he had ever worn.

Mrs. Lovelace looks and acts much younger than most young women of eighteen do, and was won quickly by the romantic Eugene when he decided to settle down in a home of his own.

The Cheerful Man

1906

By O.S. Marden

The cheerful man is pre-eminently a useful man.

The cheerful man sees that everywhere the good outbalances the bad, and that every evil has its compensating balm.

A habit of cheerfulness enables one to transmute apparent misfortunes into real blessings.

He who has formed a habit of looking at the bright side of things, has a great advantage over the chronic dyspeptic who sees no good in anything.

The cheerful man's thought sculptures his face into beauty and touches his manner with grace.

It was Lincoln's cheerfulness and sense of humor that enabled him to stand under the terrible load of the civil war.

If we are cheerful and contented all nature smiles with us; the air is balmier, the sky clearer, the earth has a brighter green, the trees have a richer foliage, the flowers are more fragrant, the birds sing more sweetly and the sun, moon and the stars are more beautiful. All good thought and good action claim a natural alliance with good cheer. High-minded cheerfulness is found in great souls, self-poised and confident in their own heaven-aided powers.

Serene cheerfulness is the great preventive of humanity's ills.

Grief, anxiety and fear are the great enemies of human life and should be resisted as we resist the plague. Cheerfulness is their antidote.

Without cheerfulness there can be no healthy action, physical, mental or moral, for it is the normal atmosphere of our being. — Success.