National Republican., 1877-10-26
The ,yoyIe,. American.


III. H." in writing upon this subject. saysf
1T is easy TO fancy that n European, on fist
reaching these shores, might suppose he had
chanced to arrive upon day when some great
public calamity had saddened the heart of tho
nation. IL would be safe to assume that Out
of the first five hundred faces which he sees
there will not be ten wearing a smile, and not
fifty, all told looking as II they ever could
smile. II this statement sounds extravagant,
let any one try the experiment for week Of
noting down in his daily walks about town
every face he sees which wears q radiantly
cheerful expression. The chances are that at
the end of seven days he will not have en-
tered seven faces In his notebook without bo-
ing aware at the moment Of some conscen-
ti?us difficulty in permitting himself to call
thef positively aud unmistak keably cheerful"
The ruth is, this wretched and jOylcss cS-
preston on the American face is so common
that we are hardened to seeing 1t, and look for
nothirg better. Only when by chance some
hlcss'd, roliCking. sunshiny boy, or girl or
| mar, or woman flashes the beam Of their laugh
| ing countcnance into the level gloom do wo
even know that we arc in the dark. Who has
not observed the instant effect of the entrance
of such person into an omnibus or carr
Even the most stOlid and apathetic soul relaxes
little. The unconscious intruder, simply by
smiling, has set the blood moving more quickly
in the veins Of every human being who sees
| him. He is, for the moment, the personal ben
|
money or bread it would have been philan-
thropy of less value.
| What Is to be done to prevent this acrid look
| of misery from becoming an organic character
istic of our people2 Make them play MORE"
says one philosophy. No doubt they need 10
] play more but when one looks at the average
expression of a
FOURTH OF JULY CROWD
| one doubts II ever so much multiplication Of
that kind Of holiday would mend the matter.
| No doubt we work too many DAYS in the
| year and play too few; but, after all, 1t is
the heart and spirit that we bring to our work
and not those that we bring to our play by
which our real vitality must be tested and BY
| which our faces will be stamped. If we do
not work hcalthfully. moderately, thankfully,
ioyously, we shall have neither moderation,
nor gratitude, nor Joy in our play. And hero
| is the hopelcssness here Is the root of tho
trouble of the joyless American face. Tho
worst of all demons, the demon of unrest and
| overwork, broods in the very sky Of this
land. Clear and sparkling as our atmosphere
is, it cannot exorcse.the spell Any old man
can count on the fingers Of one hand the per-
sons he has known who led lives of serene,
unhurried content. made for themselves
OCCUPATIONS AND not TAsKE,
and died at last what might he called natural
deaths.
"what then :" says the congressional candi-
to the Oceanic Mdga=ine, Mrs PotiPhar from
behind her liverics, and poor Dives, sr, from
Wall street; "Are we to give up all ambitionT
God forbid. But because one has goal must
one be torn by poisoned spursp We may see %
the corso in the days OF the carnival, what
speed can be made by horses under torture.
Shall we try that method and that pair on our
journeys3
So long as the American is resolved to do In
one day the work Of two to make In one year
the fortune of his whole life and his childrcn's.
to earn before he is forty the reputation which
belongs to thIee-score and ten, so long he will
go about the streets wearing his present object,
pitiable ovcr-wrought joyless look. But even
without q change Of heart or q reform Of
habits, he might better his countensnce little
If he would. Even If he does not feel like
smiling, he might smile, II he tried and that
would be something. The muscles are all
there; they count the same IN the American
as in the French or Irish face; they relax
easily in youth; the trick can be learned.
Laughing masters might as well be paid as
dancng-masters to help on society.
SMILING MADE EASY"
or tho Complete Art of Looking Good Ma
tured," would be a. taking titles on bookshelf
crs' shelves as THE Complete Letter Writer"
or Handbook of Behavior" And nobody caa
calculate what might be the moral and spirit
ual results If II could only become the fashion
to pursue this branch OF the fine arts. Surli-
. ness OF heart must melt little under tho
sisple effort to smile. A man will inevitably
be a little less of bear for trying to wear tho
face of Christian. "Hc who laughs can COM
i nit no deadly sip," said the wise and sweet
r hearted woman who was the mother OF GIetho.
"Our Husband"
In beautiful Mount Auburn Cemetery, near
' Boston, is carefully-kcp lot, containing iivo
|. stones, one at each corner and one in tho
centre. The latter tablet is aieotingy in-
scribed, "Our Husband" and the others
respectively bear the legend, My !. Wife,
my IL. Wife," my Ill. WIFE," MY ~.
Wife" Death loves shining mark, but
doubtless IL he could have been persuaded to
spare that man long enough the lot would
have been filled and the Roman characters
exhausted. We are led to infer that the cen
tral stone was placed last, and the inscription
traced by sprit-hands, unless there may be
one survivor of the Quartctte who Willingly
subscribes to the cOpartnCrship.
The Young Poets Lament.
Twas ever thus-frOm childhood's time,
I've seen my fondrst hopes decay;
| ne or scut IN Il little rhyme
| But what II was returned next day.
never offered cen verse.
l.alIn