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.