The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-12-15
OUR KALEIDOSCOPE.

Already, too the big stores in this big city are be-
ginning TO take on a holiday appearance and there
is noticeable increase In the throngs of shoppers
What happy time for the children. And am
sure that grown people who have the right kind of
hearts in them, enjoy IL no less. We older ones live
over again the scenes Of our childhood In our par
ticipation of the joys of our children Did you
ever notice a man going home with his load OF hol-
iday purchases See his face light up as he thinks
of the bright eyes, the joyous shouts, the happy
faces in that little home. circle toward which the
warm current of his love flows Does he be-
grudge the money thus expended Not he, for has
IL not brought him in richer returns than all his
investments In trade?
pity the man who is too much absorbed In bust
ness matters TO think much and often about the
children and what he do for them besides
merely providing their food and clothing who
thinks il beneath his dignity take an interest in
their little affairs; to chat with them around the
evening lamp; in short, to make himself loving
and a companionable father
Many men have made this mistake and did not
discover it until standing beside the coffin holding
all that is earthly of little one who had often
poured his childish sorrows into ears that gave but
cold and careless hearing. Life is too short and
too uncertain, and childhood, at most, is all too
dieting TO make mistakes like this So, with the
holidays close at hand don't forget the little ones
AMI don't wholly forget the poor and the unfortu
nate, to whom even q small remembrance will
bring much joy and comfort.
Philanthropists and moralists write much on
contentment as constituting very nearly the sum
human happiness. But there is a sort of discon-
tentment that seems to be necessary to real en-
joyment, and certainly to profit And that ID
that form of a mans ambition to better his condi-
tion-a discontentment that spurs him on toI
greater effort Ii is born of his tastes his desires
and prompts him TO toll and struggle toward the
goal he has set. But with this sort of dssatisfac
ton there needs not be any repining melancholy
whining only determination 10 climb up in life,
TO do something, to become something, that after
it has been accomplished shall prove to be worth
all it has cost. Still sometimes the bravest of us
will grow Respondent and filled with genuine
unmanly discontentment at lack of success in
cherished plans, our slow progress toward the
attainment OF a much desired end For this the
best cure have fouDd and it is much fear,
selfish one, is in comparing my own condition
with those around me who have been less fortunate
than myself / tell you soon feel ashamed enough
of my foolishness; and while there still remains az
strong ever, the desire to keep on striving for
better things, for elf-advancement, yet am no
longer disconnected in the usual acceptance of the
word. Try this sometime and if il doesn't both
cure your disease and at the same time encourage
you to go with renewed vigor in the battle of
life
Calderon DE La Barca, Spanish poet, wrote
two centuries ago a beautiful verse touching on
this same philosophy OF curing, helping our
own misfortune by comparing, rather contrast
ing them with those of others. The verse is good
enough to produce here and give it. 1t is a.
follows: