, 1890-02-23
is ANYBODY HAPPY?
ARE MARRIED PERSONS HAPPIER
THAN SINGLE oNEsi
Mar Never L., but Always to BE, BIessedi''
Ths Happiness of Youth Ii the scorn Of
Astarity-.TAs Wise Mans" Happiness.
It Cannot BE Made Certain.

~ 10 Ae.<11
The Happiness of Youth Ii the scorn Of
Astsrity-.Us Wise Mans" Happiness.
1t Cannot BE Made Certain.
Copyright 1901
A little while ago / was asked to write
a brief paper answering the question,
What was the happiest of your
life?
/ replied to that, and truly, the happi-
est moment Of my own life was the one
in which / could lay before those whom
they concerned the proofs that / had full
filled the great task of my life, had paid
the last penny of Frank Leslie's indebt-
edness, and cleared the memory of that
noble man from the stigma Of debt which
clouded his last moments.
But, after all, was that a moment of
happinessl A moment of satisfaction, a
moment of triumph, a m of hon
orable pride-yes, it was all of this; but
the bitterness of the strife through
which that peace was conquered, the
lonely WEAKNESS of labors beyond my
strength, the yearning for the word Of
loving thanks l could never hear-all
these came in, and so embittered the
sweetness Of that thought, so dimmed
the glory of that sunshine, that after all
1 cannot call it a moment of happiness.
But If it was not, / do not know that /
ever felt happiness, and in looking around
among my friends and acquaintances I
am inclined to wonder if anybody really
is or can be truly happy.
l do not mean just amused or free
from care; children are that, but 1 do not
call them happy, for they cannot know
how they are, and happiness
must involve a mental contrast with
some other condition in which we might
have been involved; my happiness in
paying those debts was the outcome oil
the misery of not being able to pay them;
the happiness of the travellers return
home is the contrast with the separa ton
and homelessness of his travels.
We have all heard of the Indian whom
the missionary found pounding his own
finger with a brick. The good man
thought it was a penance and was APP
plauding the piety of his neophyte, who,
however, interrupted him to explain,
with a solemn grin, that Much poundee,
much achee; feel muchee good when
leave off,"
Perhaps, then, happiness for us who
know u world is only the absence of
pain or trouble, and as the child does
not know about pain and trouble, it an
not really know happiness.
But older children, babes between 10
n %, what of them? Girls do not
know much of the sorrow or care of ex-
istence If they have a father to provide
the means of life, and a mother to ward
Off worries and responsibilities, and
young men with somebody to make a
place for them in the world, and to boil.
ster them up in it, nave as little real
knowledge of the rough side of life as
they have of rheumatism.
But are these girls and boys truly
happy2 No, for they are, both consciously
and un~consciously, in a transition and
therefore in an unsatisfied condition;
the girl is looking forward more or less
frankly to the day when some Mr.. Right
shall come along and invite her to be-
come the queen consort of a little king
dom of their own, shall introduce her
into some ideal condition of life wherein
she shall find happiness; and however
fortunate her girlhood she seldom looks
upon it as more than q vestibule and
waiting room through which one passes
to life.
As for the young man, he does not
know or care anything about happiness.
II you spoke 20 him of the subject, he
would probably reply hat he didn't ego
in for sentiment" that he supposed he
did as well as other fellows, or that there
wasn't much the matter with the world
SO far as he vas concerned.
Or, If he is the bidse and cynical style
of young man, he will reply with some
Byron-and-water speech about the world
being a beastly hole. in which happiness
is only possible to fools and puppies,
causing one to close ones lips very firmly
lest they should unclose in an obvious
and unseemly retort.
A little later on, there is a condition
which / suppose comes as neal true hap
piness as anything this world affords; it
is the early married life of two persons
really in love, and really adapted by age,
education, tastes and temper for COM
partnership with each other. To such q
couple, with money enough between
them to free them from the sordid cares
and anxieties of life, there may come a
few weeks-nay, let Is be liberal and say
a few months-of almost perfect. happi-
ness; but oh, my hearth how sure it is
to change as time goes oni The honey
moon itself wanes steadily from the hour
of its perfection, and though other moons
may come, and be very bright and very
beautiful, that especial moon comes no
more.
And, in later life, how few people, if
you ask them what has been the happiest
hour of their existence, would place it in
the present epoch of life. As a rule they
go back to childhood's ignorant careless
ness, or to youths calcium lighted and
impossible dreams Of a future that never
came.
One lar of my acquaintance, when
asked the above question, replied:
"The happiest moments of my exist
ence are when, after a really good dinner
with good Wines seat m in my study
chair, my slippered feet upon a rest, a
capital cigar between my teeth, a steady
light falling over my left shoulder, and
an interesting magazine or book in my
hands. Then, if nobody disturbs me, !
experience for two or three hours the
fullest sense of happiness Of which my
human nature is capable"
"And you do not include human COM
naniorship in vo,rr racipeSss