Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-07-11
EFFECT OF cHEERFuLNEss.
Makes Life Worth tho Living and Pre-
pares for tho Hereafter.

Makes Life Worth the Living and Pre-
pares for the Hereafter.
As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing: as poor
yet making many rich: as having nothing and
yet possessing all things.-IL Corinthians, vi,
TO-
! We have all found it easy to COM
plain of the way in which we are
I treated by Providence and difficult to
SO fit ourselves to our environment that
we get out of it all the happiness 1t ad-
mits Of
2 Something is, of course, due to tenn
permanent There are those who would
still be wretched if they had all they
could desire, and others who can ex-
tract honey from almost any expert
ence. These are exceptional cases and
have nothing to do with our present
purpose.
= 1t is very important duty to look
for stars on a dark night and to take
! special note of the fringe of silver on
she cloud which throws its shadows
over our paths You can make your
self more miserable than you need be
by simply brooding over the ills you
are called upon bear. You can tighten
the burden or increase your power of
/ endurance by making distinct effort
to look upon events with a good-na-
tured faith, first, in God, and, second,
! in yourself. Your mental attitude is
decisive of happiness or misery. 1t is
possible for you to be wretched any
! where, and possible for you to be rea ,
sonably contented anywhere. If your
! temperament helps you to be happy all
! the better, but If it is an additional OBJ
/ stacle it only makes the task little
! harder, nothing more.
We are wrong in not getting more
pleasure out of life than we do It is
! u sin to take a gloomy view when n
bright and CHEEKY view Is within
arms length. 1t is little short of IL
crime not to make the best of what Is
happening in your life. While 1t may
be true that your lot is hard and your
| fortune frowns, you can still discover
great many things to rejoice at If
your heart is in the right place. The
| poor man may be sorry that he is not
rich, but if he could see as God sees
he would know that it might be bet
| ter for many a rich man If he were
poor.
He who depends on his surroundings
for happiness soon finds that wealth
can not purchase what he wants most,
but he who depends on what he has in
his heart and mind is surprised to
learn how little of this worlds goods
are required to make him contented.
In other words, the Creator has
SO arranged affairs that in the long run
a pure heart and an honest mind can
do more for man than pocketbook,
however well it may be filed. It is
not matter of money that we are to
consider, but matter of faith and the
lack of it.
1t is possible for you to acquire a
| serenity of disposition and cheerful
ness of outlook which are beyond any
| price which any bank would be able to
| pay. An humble home is well enough,
provided it is home as well as humble
A palace is not home because a man
and woman and their children live in
it. Half a dozen rooms on a side street
are real palace as beautiful as ever
fairy built if husband and wife are
still in love with each other
with the romantic love of years
ago. The secret of life is not
solved by a bank account and
five per cents, but by honest loyalty,
royal independence and the conscious
ness that the blue sky of God is over
head. When you have found out how
little you want you will wake up from
this nightmare of how much you want
and begin to sing songs.
Some religious dreamer will tell you
it is good rule never to compare your
self with those who have better for
| tune, but rather with those who are
worse off. 1t is very bad rule, and
spiritually injurious. Such a man is
no philosopher-heed him not His
| words are foolish words, not worthy
of your attention. You would be
poor kind of creature If you could
be made happy by the fact that some
body else is miserable. Look neither up
nor down, but at yourself and make the
most of what you possess. That is the
broad view-the only view that is
worthy of an immortal soul. You have
nothing to do with those who have
plenty except to rejoice with them
that they have what they think they
want, and nothing to do with those
who have less than you except to lend
them helping hand in their distress.
If you will only believe it, you can
find more happiness and larger de-
velopment of character in giving than
in getting. The small man gets and
keeps: the great man gives. 1t is not
what you can make others do for you,
but what you can do for them that ir-
radiates your life. We find it diff
cult to learn that truth, but
! it is certainly Gods truth.
The problem has been studied
, for eighteen centuries, but the world
still shakes its head in doubt. 1t Is