The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1897-12-12
GooD-HUMOR AND ILL.

Can anybody define good-humor'
We all know what it is. We can
feel it and enjoy it, but it is hard to
pin the thing down to any formal
definition. The good-humored man
is, at all events happy man; man
to be envied, a man on whom
troubles sit lightly, and a man who
confers as much happiness as he en-
Joys, He radiates it, as it were,
and his good-humor becomes an at
mosphere in which other peoples
good-humor, latent oripined half to
death, comes out, reviveS, and
houriShes.
Good-humor can scarcely be cal
led moral virtue. 1t depends per-
haps as much on disposition and the
perfect action of the liver as on any
thing else. A good-humored man
must be, ipS0 faciO, eupeptic man,
a man that enjoys his dinner. Now,
a quality which depends upon the
action of mans liver can scarcely
be high moral quality. And yet
: has any man a right to be a dyspep-
tica Is it not moral duty not to
g be? Setting aside the rare cases of
inevitable misfortune, is not dys-
pepsia mans own fault generally,
THE result of his glutony, his lazi-
ness, his stupidity, his carelessness,
or his ignoranc? And are these
things moral virtues3
Has any man a right to make him
self wretched, to people the world
with horrors, to be a nuisance to
himself and everybody about him,
because he lacks the sense to control
his appetite, or the energy to take
sufficient exercise to keep his liver
healthy?
One of these days We shall come
to the conclusion that snarling, fret
full, ill-tempered or complaining and |
depressed victim is not merely to be
pitied, but deserves to be punished !
as he is. He may be very devotion
al in his way. He mayImake high |
pretensions to piety and religious
feeling, but he is none the less
nuisance, and, on the whole, dyspep-
tic piety is as unhealthy as any other
dyspeptic thing.
Commend US to the good-humored
man, who feels, in some degree, sat
isfied with the world and his life in
it, and who thinks men and women
are generally good and pleasant
creatures, whom it is good to know
and meet; who believes they mean
well toward him, as he certainly q
does toward them; who is ready to
give and take in the struggle of life
IN a hearty, cheerful way, and;who
has an unspoken sort of conviction
that it is no part of Gods service to
fret and whine, and no mark of deep
piety to worry everybody into mis-
cry.
There's little to jest about in these
things, and one may be excused for
taking the thing very soberly, and
fighting out his small share of the
battle in very grim sort ofstyle.
1t is all dead earnest-we know that {
well enough-and the issue is life or
death, But the brayest soldier has
always certain cheerfulness, and
fights the better because he has. +
One needs a little of the wineEof life o.
to strengthen hisIheart in the 'strug-
gle. He is Gods soldier too, and
the issue is certain, if he keep up
good heart and hope, and fight away
faithfully. The spring of tears and
laughter lie close together, and a
healthy nature originates the one as
promptly as the other.
Take it altogether, there is good
deal to be thankful for in this life,
and there is a fair amount of right
good enjoyment to be got out of it
i one keeps his eyes open and looks
lfter it.
1t is the peculiarity of a good-na-
ured man that does this. He can