The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-09-16
Happiness.

that a falser and more meaningless SEN
tence was never penned. There is
great deal of strange belief n-the world
touching the question Of happiness.
We are taught that it, is o prize to be
gained, good to be sought, and even
Religious teachers sometimes try to per-
suade US to follow the paths Of rectitude
and religion, because we shah be happy
in so doing. Against all such belief and
all such teaching, we enter our serious
protest. The truth is, We have no right
to strive after happiness; it is IA nowns g
legitimate object Of pursuit. Strictly
speaking, there can beGo lore Of Eappi-
ness for happiness 70 altogether inward
and subjective, it 10 mere state or con-
dition of the mind; whereas love seeks
an external object, something foreign and
separate from ourselves, which we value
for its own sake. Doubtless, by law of
nature, happiness follows a pure love IS
surely as night succeeds to morning; yet
if We love an object for the happiness we
derive from it, that love is entirely selfish
it seeks not another's good but our own,
and cherishing such selfshness we cannot
be happy. The world is full of people
striving to be happy. We pity them.
Their lives will be miserable failures.
Could they forget themselves, go out of
their own little world, think noble
thoughts, cherish generous feelings, and
do manly or womanly deeds, happiness
would steal upon them unawares. Stri-
wing to be happy is very direct means
of bciug miserable. Happiness is not to
be sought as result but it must follow
as sequence. In short to be real it must
happen. To secure it we must 60 out of
ourselves, lose our egotism in love for
all that is lovable, and wake our souls into
broader and more benevolent life. The
child in chasing the butterfly does not
seek happiness but he finds it. The moth
er tenderly cares for her infant child for
the child's own sake, yet that affectionate
care yields harvest of quiet joy. BESIDE
mona spoke from the fulness of most
blessed soul, when she said:
eff it were now to die,
'Twere new to be most happy for fear
My soul hath her content so absolute,
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.
How did she gain such serene and
blessed happinessl By striving for It'll
Oh, no! 1t was the reward of a pure
and self-forgetful love. Happiness, is
boon which will never be granted to vague
warnings ossngonizng prayers. 1t is a
reward never conferred except upon those
who deserve it. If we are ever saved, it
viii not be by desire for salvation-a
love for the happiness of Heaven, but by
a love of him who is "the Way, the Truth
and the Life" Then give over striving to
be happy. 1t is none of your business
whether you are or not. But it is your
bu siness to live full and complete life,
to revere the soul of man and the truth
of God, TO admire all that is beautiful and
love all that is good. We cannot close
this article without quoting n passage
from Willis-a passage which beautifully
portrays those conditions of mind, which
are conducive and essential to happiness.
After speaking of the thirst of pride and
ambition, he says:
There is a softer winding path through life,
And man may walk it with unruffied soul,
And drink its wayside waters till his heart
Is stilled with its o'erfowing happiness,
The chart by which to traverse it is writ
In the broad book of nature IT'S to have
Attentive and believing faculties;
To go abroad rejoicing in the joy
OF beautiful and well-created things:
To love the voice of waters, and the sheen
Of silver fountains leaping to the sea;
To thrill with the rich melody of birds,
Living their life of music; to be glad
In the gay sunshine, reverent in the storm;
To see beauty in the stirring leaf,
And find calm thoughts beneath the whisper
ing tree;
To see and hear, and breathe the evidence
Of Gods deep wisdom in the natural worldi
1t is to linger on "the magic face
OF human beauty" and from light and shade
Alike to draw lesson; tbs to know
The cadences of voices that are timed
By majesty and purity Of thought;
To gaze woman's beauty, as star
Whose purity and distance make it fair;
And from the spell of music to awake,
And feel that it has purified the heartl
1-IV-