San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-06-24
TIE Daily tiqGt
THURSDAY, JUNE "a, 1897.
HOW MUCH SHOULD WE SMILE7
Leave Expression of Fnce to Take
Care of Itself.

Leave Expression of Face to Tnko
Care of Itself.
The pleasant expression" is of great
use to the. photographer. The good
mother tries constantly to imprint it
upon her children's faces. Everyone
agrees that certain kindness and char
ity should beam forth from the eye
yet the face which wears a perpetual
smile is usually a weak one, always
a tiresome one. Its owner seems al
ways to have been reading only the ''hu-
morous pages" Swimming only the sur
face, thinking only of amusement, and
never to have buckled down to the real
battle of life. 1t is only honest effort
in this struggle which entities man
to respect and he must wear some sign
of having engaged in it before casual
acquaintance can esteem him. 1t is
hardly possible to smile all the time
without appearing more or less silly,
and as though one appreciated little of
the true meaning of existence.
One Of the most distinguished must
clans in certain large city, who has
done really fine work and ought TO
stand among the first half dozen in
America in his calling, is undervalued
and lightly spoken of by his associ-
.ates. He wears a perpetual smile, and
many have attributed to this cause
his failure to win the place which he
deserves.
A lady, in speaking of two brothers,
remarked that one of them was So
cially far inferior to the other.
Theron enters room with per-
fectly serious look on his face" she
said, land everybody wants to know
him at once and longs to see his rare
smile. Then comes Harry, Sinking
and grinning, and nobody has any in
terest in him whatever. Yet Harry is a
fine fellow, and if he would only cul-
,tivate little more dignity he might be
as popular and as much sought after
by the best people as Theron"
Availability and evenness of temper
are among the most essential qualities
of sane character, but no man need
shipper continually to demonstrate his
sweetness.
Ruskin says that all great generals
have been serious men, and Emerson
afirms the same of all great orators.
The distinguished Tom Marshall, one
of the wittiest men who ever lived, babe
his son observe that the public monu-
ments are always erected to the sol
emn men; and DR.. Austin Phelps re-
marks: 1.-TWO classes of men are never
buffoons-yery great men and very
good men," '..
1t is generally safe to leave the ex-
preston of ones face to take care of
itself, and to devote ones efforts main
ly to the formation of character. If a
man really busies himself with weighty
affairs, reads the 'funny p4pers" only
in moderation and as a sort of intel
lectual dessert, avoids the journals
which treat dippantly of public ques-
tons and great national and moral
movements, and tries necessarily to
find truth and pursue it, he will usual
ly have an expression which matches
his character; but the eminently social
and kindly man, though he may be
good at heart and not silly in mind,
must be on his guard lest people de-
spise, not his youth, like Timothy's,
but his whole mental and moral endow-
ment, if he wears an habitual smile
for the conclusion of the old poet voices
the instructive feeling of all mankind:
Eternal smiles but emptiness betray,
AS shallow streams run dimpling all the
way. ..f.
-Leslie's Weekly.