Evening journal., 1898-05-10
ART OF APPRECIATION.
nestle Machinery Run
Smoothly.

Some cynics say that appreciation is
lost art in our age. They can quote
too many utterances from the pulpit,
the platform and the press in support
of their verdict. There are immense
advantages in freedom of speech, but
there is no advantage to all-except to
the devil and the forces that make for
despair-in unfair and unl1indly criti-
cism. The more excellent way is to
look at the bright side of things, and
TO recognize whatever is good in men
or movements. The world will not be
lashed into goodness, but it may be
coaxed. Resolutions to be and do bet
ter flourish in the sunshine of genial
appreciation, but they wither and die
before the blighting breezes of fault
finding. The larger practice Of the art
of appreciation will add much to the
sweetness and helpfulness of daily
living.
Appreciation is, in many instances,
but another form of gratitude. Some
writer says that heart without graf
itude Is like crate filled with fuel un-
lighted, and the room all the colder be-
cause of the unfulfilled promise of glow
and warmth. Those who have received
favors and feel their obligations, either
to God or man, are bound to give some
expression to their feeling. Apprecia-
ton may be and often Is giving thanks
to whomsoever thanks are due. This
| Is done on n large scale when, after n
great campaign, honorable mention is
made of the heroes who have distin-
| guished themselves by successful valor.
| II is right that the soldier who bore
| the heat and blEden of the battle with
out finching should receive the CRATE
full acknowledgement of the country he
| has served so faithfully. Such appre-
citation is not fattery, but the fitting
tribute of the nation to services worthy
of recognition. The same principle
should extend into every department
Of civil, social and domestic life, lead
ing us to say the helpful word and
manifest the grateful spirit in which
there are both inspiration and re-
ward.
Appreciation is the oil of family life,
making the domestic machinery 90
swiftly and smoothly. A superficial
critic of the undemonstrative char
acter of Scottish affection says that
| Scotchman never tells his wife that he
loves her until she is dead. He was
not an Irishman, although in this in
statnce he perpetrated a bull, but
| solid, matter-of-fact, if somewhat dull,
observer. Too many a weary and bur
dened wife has to wait until the hour
of death for the loving word of appre-
citation which would chase away the
clouds from her sky and surround her
with sunshine. The husband who is
true house-band of the qualities that
sweeten and strengthen life by the fire
side, speaks frequently and freely his
grateful appreciation of the unceasing
ministry of the wife and mother. This
is his duty as well as his privilege.
Parents have to wait too long for the
recognition of their devotion to their
children, a devotion which gathers into
itself the prayers, the anguish, the sac
riice of body, soul and spirit. Fer
, vent eulogiums in the chamber of
death, fragrant flowers heaped in pro-
fuse prodigality on the coffin, and a
2 beautiful marble monument in the
churchyard, are poor substitutes for
, the loving words which ought to have
been spoken in the days of service that
was appreciated, but never praised. 1t
is better to break the alabaster box of
grateful love in the ministry of affec-
> tionate attention than to hoard it up
!, for the hour of burial, when the heart
is cold and unresponsive.
There is another class of workers for
the welfare of humanity in our day
who should receive more generous APP
! probation. Preachers of the everlast-
: ing Gospel, who hold forth the word
I of life Sabbath after Sabbath, pastors
D who spend heart and brain and en-
! crgy week after week in comforting the
. sad and ministering to the sick, deserve
e cordial acknowledgements of their labors
They would shrink from flattery as
from a blow, but the frank and cor
dial mention of help received from theiI
q services would often be TO them as a
| draught of cold water to thirsty trav-
q eler. The words of criticism and con
Il demnation are spoken freely, but the
p" | MOIuS VI appreciation arc NoAOh ON
j with miserly hand-except in obituary
; notices. Appreciation of the pulpit is
, like mercy, twice blessed-it blesse!
q him who gives and him who receives
r Mr.. Gladstone once said that what al
# audience gives in vapor comes back t.
r them in rain. Surround your ministe
70 with an atmosphere of appreciation il
- and out of the pulpit, and see if you
appreciation does not return to yol
laden with blessing
If you would live the happy, helpful
s. life, abandon the art of fault-finding
IS and cultivate the art of appreciation
N 1t is far easier to criticise superbl
than TO do the smallest deed well. Non
of your neighbors is perfect, and yo
iS do not show your own perfection b,
sr ninging stones at their imperfection'
Y. The better way is:
"Be TO their faults a little blind,
And TO their virtues very kind
re Rev. d. Sutherland, in n. y. Ledger