The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-12-07
THE MAN.

"Why do you hurry so to catch the
$50 train, when you know there's an
other That leaves at 8:45, which would
get US into town in plenty of time3"
asked one young lady of another, as
the two were fastening toward @ sub
urban railroad station.
Because" replied the latter, with a
little apologetic laugh, 81 always like
to go in on the sunshine-man's train"
"Pray, who is the sunshine man2'in
CURED her companion. 1.-The con,
ductor9"
"Oh, my, noI' was the laughing re-
Spouse. Hes the crossest bear that
ever was, But there's the dearest little
old gentleman who goes into town
every morning on the 8 80 train. l
don't know his name and yet it does
seem as il I knew him better than any
body else in town. He just radiates
cheerfulneas as far as you can see him.
There is always a smile on his face and
| never heard him open his mouth ex
cept to say some kind or courteous or
good nRtured thing. Everybody bows
20 him, even strangers, and he bows to
everybody, yet never with the slightest
hint of presumption Dr. familiarity. 1t
just warns the cookies of ones heart
20 see his shining face, the twinkle of
his eye and the bright little flower he
always wears in his buttonhole. If the
weather is ine, his jolly compliments
make it seem finer; and if it is raining,
the merry way in which he speaks of
it is as good as q rainbow. Everybody
who goes in regularly on the 8 80 train
knows the sunshine man. It's his train,
There's nothing else to distinguish it
from the 8:45, or any other. You just
hurry up a little and I'll show you the
sunshine man this morning. It's foggy
and cold, but if one look at him doesn't
cheer you up so that you'll want to
whistle, then I'm no judge Of human
nature"
It was a sweet and genuine tribute Of
human sympathy which this young
lady paid to the Overlooking kindness
of the SUNSHINE man." There are a
few such men-and women, too-in
every community; and God seems to
have set them there to keep the rest of
the people from getting too Soul and
respondent and self absorbed and I'm
neighborly. They are the divinely ap-
pointed promoters of optimism, these
sunshine folks. Most people have a
tendency to grow sOmber as they grow
older-especially when they are abroad
among strangers. One glance at the
faces of people in any street car will
prove this. The average adult human
face, when at rest, is said it's lines all
have the downward curves. But, now
and then, there comes along one of
those inherently and constitutionally
cheerful persons whose very face is a
benedictiOn and whose smile is like a
sudden burst of Gods sunshine
over q clouded lands cape. One such
illilluminate the spiritual atmosphere
of q whole carful or rOomtul of people
and perhaps a whole toWntul, if you
give them long enough to get a quaint
ed with him. For nothing is 8 o infec
tious as genuine optimism; and it is
one of the most beneficent provisions
of God that a man, in order to be a
missionary of happiness, has only to be
running over with happiness himself,
May God bless the sunshine man and
all his kinl We need a reinforcement
of his class more sorely than we need
new poets, scholars or money princes.
Exchange.