Sharp County record., 1888-10-04
CHEERFULNESS.
ga Fair Garden, But the Man was
Blind"
Rabv wisdom-The Beauties Around Us
The Giving and the Getting OF Joy
-ASuggestlve Balance Sheet
Looking Up.

"Am I a little thing?" said my baby
girl of four to me few nights ago.
"Yes," answered, with the usual
assurance of grown-up mothers.
"But," persisted Margaretchen, with
the wise argumentativeness OF baby
hood, "I love you big"
The baby wisdom set me thinking as
Irocked my child in my arms until
the little hand loosened its hold OF
mine, and she lay asleep in my lap, SO
soft and round and pure, so still after
all the ceaseless prattle of the day, SO
warm and alive, so blessedly my "little
child"-little, but big to love.
And long after baby was "bed,
thoughts kept in my mind of the many
things in life which we call little, or
entirely ignore in the hurry and fever
we call life, little things that yet hold
for us the blessing of joy and peace
and love.
1t would be we'll for us if through
but one common day of life some
sweet angel could walk beside us and
lift the vail from our eyes and make us
to see the beauty and joy, and to
blessedly sit at life's plenteous board.
First, perhaps, the bright angel
you'd show us the fair narden- of
all days are golden, and every rock
and prairie and hill and mountain and
lawn and meadow alive and fresh with
God. If for one day we saw the dance
of the leaves, felt the stir of life in the
growing corn, heard the song of the
waters, caught the sparkle of stars,
felt the free pulse of the wind, listened
to the bird JOY, or the sweetness of
rainfall, would not the memory of one
such day leaven all of after daysp 1t
Is pleasant to think of faraway places,
of big forests full of the free, wild
creatures, of open glades tlecked with
tropical suns, of great rivers majestic
ally flowing to the big seas. Always
the sun shines somewhere. Some
where is the eternal beauty of snow
capped SUBMITS, the grandeur of ice
fields, the expanse of blue oceans, the
enduring beauty of God in all. But
sweetest, dearest, best of all we call
common, are the people around us,
men, women and children.
We fret, we whine, we whimper be-
cause it is hot, because 1t is cold, be-
cause we want a dress, or house, or
a piece of candy. There is nothing too
trihing to furnish us with worriment.
We spoil our own life, and, what is
worse, the lives of all around us, by
this unhealthiness of mind.
We call our work drudgery, and
drag out our days like long funeral
procession. But a wise man knows
that "a mans task is his life-pre.
server" and that life is divine.
What a gift, day! How sweet to
rise with the light, to breathe the
morning, to feel alive, to have work to
do! How sweet to again look into the
faces of those we love, to eat together,
to work for each other, to be glorious
ly alive! Our faces should shine with
love and joy, gospel that he who runs
might read. We should be all alive to
human brotherhood.
Indeed, what do we live for if it is
not to make life less difficult for each
otherP 1t is the adorableness Of love
to find its own joy in that of others.
We should count the day lost in which
we have added to the pain of life and
not its joy. And how easy to give joy;
a glance of the eye, the thoughtful
words, the love that speaks through
silence. 1t is out of such little things
that we build the temple of life. How
stern and glum and selfish and sour do
some of us pass the beautiful days of
life! Even in homes, how often is the
loving word not spoken, the smile not
given, the praise withheld!
1t is wonder some peoples hearts
do not quite waste away from sheer
Jack of use. Who can number the |
opportunities that come into one day |
to bless and cheer and help?
Oh! we may live in narrow house,
and yet inhabit the wide universe.
We may lack pictures on our walls,
but the poorest can fill his home with
loves pictures, the beauty immortal
What wealth like the rich heart? The
of the heart, how it blesses
it's puestsi