The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1873-12-19

our hands so heavily, aud the keen and
eager air that sends the currents Of life so
swiftly along the wakencd nerves, mark
this as the period to be given up to enjoy
ment.
We have no quarrel with the custom
of the season. Il Is we'll that our lives
have their periods Of relief from toll and
the drudgery, the weary rounds Of care
and duty that make them SO monoto-
nous A little real pleasure in the spice
of existence. II makes us not only hap
pier, but healthier and better. 1t is the
best moral, as well as mental and physi.
cal tonic.
The morose, gloomy nature that frowns
on everything joyous and exhilarating, is
usually not only an unhappy, but an
evil one. A man with such spirit may
never he misled into any shocking open
otfenses. A selfish, calculating prudence
deters him. But the acidity of his ma
turc eats away his generous impulses, his
shriveled soul becomes incapable Of true
friendship, and you are always in doubt
of him lest he may secretly stab and
plumber you in one Of the many ways
with which these solemn.face hypocrites
become so familiar. We have no nten.
ton Of inaicting upon the readers of the
Sunday Commercial dismal homily upon
the vanity of life, the certainty of death,
the emptiness and sadness of this misera
bic "vale of tears" of drearily droning
over the old advice about the general
worthlcssness of all things, an old sermon
about Dead Sea fruit, the journey through
the wilderness, and other rhetorical orna-
ments and metaphors. These are the
opiates by which persons beguile them
selves into a sort of lazy stupor, which
they take to he humility, hcavenly-mind-
edness, or something of that sort. The
fresh force and vigor which a little
downright pleasure instills into a mans
being, the sunlight which little real joy
lets into his soul, are infinitely more
health-giving than a whole armful of
these wet blankets that are thrown on Us
whenever we dare to laugh or give way
to little exuberant feeling. A nature that
reaches outafter everything that is bright
and joy-giving, as the plant after the
sun, is immeasurably more vigorous and
healthful, more to be loved and trusted,
than one that is morosely rasping and
squaring and worrying itself with moral
maxims, croning over penitential songs
and torturing itself with passages from
the Lamentations. We all have, either
in possession or in memory, upon our
list of acquaintance friend of q cheer
full, sunny nature, who always meets Us
with smile, a smile that does not play
languidly about the lips as if it were an
effort after good feeling, but one that
seems to come yelling up from the very
center of his being, that brightens and
blossoms all over his face, that glows in
his eyes. You feel its influence sitting
into your spirit like bencdiction Be
fore any word is spoken the shadows that
may be resting on your spirit begin to
lift and the sunshine and the warmth
penetrate the clouds that have gathered
about you. There is a magic power in
that smile, an electric quickening power,
because it comes charged from soul
that is full of healthful and joyful life.
So, too, it will be easy to recall an ac-
quaintance who sends a chill through
you when you meet him. He is won
derfully solemn and oracular, and you
see the reproof coming through the faint
smile. lie salutes you with a moral
maxim, and discharges at you some wise
saws about the vanity of things and the
shortness of life. Your most urgent err
rand just then is to get away from him.
Which man would you trust with your
money, your honor, your reputation,
with anything? Under these moral
lphofisms and this mock solemnity you
ire always looking for stratagems and
yiles.
The best Psychologists have long since
Known that cheerfulness is better than
Medicine, that genuine pleasure is better
han pills. This is true rs well in the
piritual as in the physical nature.
jheerfulness is not only the great pro-
noter of good health, it is the browning
race of character. Ii is the condensed
unshine in the soul that is ready to pour
nut on every occasion to make many a
'ath brighter. 1t is an armor that shell
ers man from the most insidious evil.
I keeps the soul robust and generous.
luther said that "the Devil hates moth
ng SO much as good laugh"
His evil majesty leaves when one of
hese provoking missiles is discharged at
lin.
But We have wandered from the
bought that started US out on this ram
lie. 1t is well to have these intervals
f pleasure. Let the carping Pharisee
nd the sour cynic say what they will,
4 all \, :, A. a. Ill - Al -