The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-23

| things he possessed and exhibited TO them an
invitation from the Queen to banquet pre-
pared for the King. He was not satisfied with
possessing all these, but envied q man who
sat at the Kings gate, in those days post of
! honor What a miserable donkey, to make
himself and those around him wretchedl l
| believe, from the comparison, have done the
! donkey injustice, because l am quite sure the
donkey would not have been guilty of such
an exhibition. Job says of the donkey that he
eats his grass and is satisfied, but not so
with this miserable set of people. They
possess many things but are never satisfied
! Our happiness in life, and our contribution to
the happiness of Others depends not only upon
the kind temper with which we go through
! life, but also very much upon the way in
which we see. There is not such a great differ
ence as many seem to think between the rich
and the poor. Our fathers, in the Declaration
Of Independence, declared that "all men were
created free and equal" They did not mean
that all men were circumstantially equal.
Some men at this present day try to make out
that there is no truth in what those men
wrote. They certainly make great mistake,
as If our fathers supposed they would ever be
stupid enough to imagine that all men were
circumstantially equal. There is great
diversity in circumstances. What our fathers
meant was that men were not circumstantially
equal; they were substantially equal-they were
men. Every condition has its own advantages
and disady antages. Some people always see
things on the wrong side If they could turn
the blind eye from the disagreeable things and
overlook them and look at the pleasant things
how much pleasanter a time they would have,
and how much better it would be for them! |
think it is Cowper who said that-"If go into
the garden in the summer time to seek snails
and spiders, l shall be very likely to find them
there; but If l go to seek flowers, shall quite
as likely return with rose in my bosom."
That is the way with happiness; if you desire
it, you can find it. If you seek disagreeable
and offensive things, or pleasing and pleasant
things you will find them. There is another
class of persons who lead a miserable life.
They are those who tell you they enjoy poor
health. They tell about their neighbors who
enjoy very poor health. 1t is a very mysteri-
GUS enjoyment. | always admired the philo-
sophy of an old colored man, who was a slave
at the time His master found him. on one
bright morning in the spring-time, on the
sunny side of the house blaclzing boots, his
usual morning occupation; but singing away
like lark "What, Caesar what in the
world makes you so merry this morning %
"Ah, ha massa, feel so good it's so warm
and cOmft'b ble." After indulging in some
further remarks, his master asked him the
question, "Why people were happy in the
summer and not in the winter?' He gave
the following reasons:-'In the summer, when
de wedder is warm, the darkeys kind Joys
themselves and feels comfortable, so they Just
stretches themselves out - stretches them
selves out dis way, and stretches themselves
out dat way - and dey is determined to
make day of it; but, massa, in the
winter time, when the Wedders cold, de
darkey draws hsself up, and is determined
to do as little as he cam" Caesar had the true
philosophy of life if he didn't have exactly
the natural philosophy. He saw that it was
the best way to make the most of the bright
! days, and make the most of the sunshine, and
enjoy the blessings that God gives us to enjoy.
| There is great deal in knowing how to enjoy
what God has given us to enjoy. "Tell the
| rich, " says Paul, "that it is God who hath
given them these things" and a greater than
Paul said, 'It is more blessed to give than to
receive" There are a great many people that
seem to have no faculty for making the most
of their condition in life. Some here may say:
'It is all very well for the speaker to talk
about sunshine, and about looking at the good
and on the bright side, but they forget that
man, born Of woman, is full of troubles
No, my friends, do not forget. l think
your troubles may, in the first place. be
imaginary troubles, in the second place magni-
fed troubles in the third place borrowed
troubles, and in the last place real troubles.
! think this is fair classification, There is a
large class of persons who are continually
imagining trouble. Then there is another
class who magnify trouble. They make
great deal out of very little things. What
you ought to do is to grasp all these troubles
with tight grasp and then you will be all
right Did it ever occur to you why the
Government paid bounty for every Goldfish
caught on the shores of New England Is it
because fish are scarce No But because the
Government wanted to inure men to the hard
ships of life, and these Maine boys are sent
out to battle with the waves, and learn to reef
! and steer in the storms, and when they grow
up, then we have men who possess hearts
| of oak. We want to carry this sun
| shine not only in our hearts and in our
! spirits, but in our whole field of life, and
| especially through the field of our religion. l
never talk sectarian religion. If there is any
| thing despise, it is a nutshell Christian
| Let us let more sunshine into our religion,
and a little more cheerfulness. We want a
little more joyous and hopeful Christianity
We want to get the gloom out of it. The
gloom is there, and it is there from our weak
ness. A great many good people-good be-
cause they are sincere-suppose piety, to be
really genuine, must be cadaverous. They
put on a long face, and suppose that to be
piety. They make a great mistake. Some
have told us that Christ never smiled. What
a perversion of the truth / give you, in con-
clusion, the secret for securing happiness. 1t
is not original, but if you will act in accord
ance with 1t, you cannot fail to enjoy that fell
city which is possessed by not few in this
others happy"
The speaker then related an anecdote of his
little daughter. Her mother sent her on an
errand, and gave her six cents to pay her fare
in the omnibus 1t being in the time when
AN..1,,. -.