Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-02-27
A Cheerful View of Life.

And all the world is making game"
OF them and laughing you to scorn;
February2. w. W. ).
A Cheerful View Of Life.
As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing: as poor,
yet making many rich; as having nothing, and
yet possessing all things-ll. Corinth1ans' VIZ
We have all found it easy to complain
of the way in which we are treated by
Providence and difficult to SO fit our
selves to-our environment that we get
out of it all the happiness it admits OF.
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
epce. 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
the cloud which throws its shadow over
our paths. You can make yourself
more miserable than you need be by
simply brooding over the ills you are
called upon to bear. You can tighten
the burden or increase your power OF
endurance by making distinct effort
to look upon events with a good natur-
ed faith, first, in God, and second, in
yourself. Your mental attitude is de
cisive 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. 1t is a
sin to take gloomy view when a
bright and CHEEKY view is within arm S
length. 1t is little short of crime not
to make the best of what is happening
in your life. While it 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 better for many rich
man if he were poor.
He who depends on his surroundings
for happiness soon finds that wealth
cannot purchase what he wants most,
but he who depends on what he has in
his heart and mind is surprised to learn
HOW llbbl0 vi bulS WOIlu SOOuc are Ic
Quired to make him contented In
other words, the Creator has so ar
ranged affairs that in the long run a
pure heart and an honest mind can do
more for a man than a pocketbook,
however well it may be filled. 1t is not
matter of money that we
are to consider, but a matter of faith
and the lack of it.
1t is possible for you to acquire a
serenity of disposition and a 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 a woman and their children live in
it. Half 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 ro-
mantle love of years ago. The secret
and five per cents, but by honest 10y
atty, royal independence and the con-
seriousness that the blue sky of God is
overhead. 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 fortune
but rather with those who are worse
off. 1t is very bad rule, and spiritual
ly injurious. Such man is no philos
opher-heed him not. His words are
foolish words, not worthy of your at
tention. You would be poor kind of
creature if you could be made happy
by the fact that somebody else is miser-
able. Look neither up nor down, but
at yourself, and make the most of what
you possess. That is the broad view
the long view that is worthy of an i'm
mortal 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 a 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 difficult
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 next to impossible not to see things
through our avarice and sel6shness,
and yet the heavens reverberate with
the declaration that she that loseth his
of seeking blessing by sacrifice is re
pugnant to US, and yet there is more
satisfaction to be had in wading
through drifts to put a loaf of broad
on the table of starving woman than
in sitting at banquet board laden with
such costly viands as the imperial gour-
mand of Rome never dreamed of.
To sum up the whole matter:-You
are to make the most of your life by
looking for the bright side of every
event.
You are to do your work whatever it
may be, with good natured willingness,
since smiles will be of more service to
you than scowls.
You are to bear your burden not
grimly nor sullenly, but as cheerfully
as hopeful faith that everything
that is is right will allow.
You are to be the servant of Provi-
dence, and if you can help your neigh
Dor you must needs regard it as priv
ilege to do SO.
You are to remember that when you
60 hence you will leave behind every
thing except your character, and that,
therefore, the character is to be care
fully formed and vigilantly guarded.
These are simple rules. but they will
keep you busy until you are summoned
by death to another and better life
-Neac York Herald.
We raised in the Carolinas and Geor-
gia 1913, $50, 1874 pounds of rice.