Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-06-23
The Duty Of Finding Happiness.

George Eliot. in a letter to Mrs. Bray,
writes. Il am more and more i'm
pressed with the duty of finding happi-
ness
We are all occupied in looking for
happiness: the duty of finding il seems
to occur t. but few. Indeed. most of
us would be astonished to learn that
duty and happiness bore any but the
Sunday school relation to each other.
the "bc-g oodand- you'll bel happy re-
lation which we are taught in our
cradle-and begin to disbelieve as soon
as we receive cur first lessons in
worldly wisdom at school when Tom
whispers To Dick. ana Dick gets pun
iShed for the Offense.
Happiness we regard as a wild bird
Of rare plumage. In the early morning
Of our life il fits around Us through
leafy bowers. never quite caught,
though now ana then we fancy We
have grasped the gorgeous thing fur
one moment, and We mean to hold il
tight. and then-whirr go the wings,
and again it is fitting just beyond our
reach but ever in our sight
in age we see it, too. lowering AZ
ways before us. but with slberer hues.
We look into the past ana know that
We had it many times within our
grasp, but We're too slow To seize 1t. or
too dun To see it. We look into the
future, and behold it nuttering over
the heads IF our children-who ar
blind. as VIZ We're. We catch dim out
lines Of il. faint and mysterious. be
yond the deep river where we may not
pass-yet.
But happiness is a duty" a tame
barnyard fowl. that We should keen
ever at our door. ana feed each day,
and teach to come AZ our whistle
why" we say. who can harness
Pegasus to the pillow, nr set cupid Ia
tending the baby? Happiness is rare.
very rdro, We cam. It expect to have ii
in this workaday world: and we
make great virtue Of being cheerful
and accompanying.
or course one can't be happy with
toothache: neither is grief real ana
bitter grief. Ia BE- desired. But it j.
wonderful. when one stops to think of
it, how much happiness. real happiness
can be controlled: how it could b,
summoned ana hidden t. stay many
times when We ut it drift away.
In these days when everything is re-
duced t. a science scientists have re-
duced happiness tn Il science also. Not
merely the science of healthy body
which will naturally produce a healthy
ana 50 happy. mind but 4 science NJ
propagation. the sowing If mental
germs which one may cultivate ana
multiply t. the exclusion Of opposing
germs. If We are habitually happy
Il. A..,
that condition grow strong and in
crease. and the longer we maintain
that attitude If mind the more the
happy brain cells enlarge. and thy
easier il is to be happy in future. This
is not scientifically stated. but it Is
the GiSt of the matter put in everyday
words. The brain. like everything else
responds To cultivation. and by sowing
the proper seed nruriShing ii. ana pro
tecting it from adverse conditions. Wc
may raise almost any crop We likc-jpy
or sorrow. vice or virtue. knowledge OF
ignorance.
We have long known that virtue and
knowledge must be cultivated. in order
to weed out vice and ignorance: hut it
il 4 comparatively new thought that
we may plant laughter or tears. ana
reap accordingly. Yet if we may teach
a child to be unselfish. not jealous
many other things-why not to he
merry?
| 1t often seems as If busy mothers
tired mentally and physically by the
| endless demands made upon them
| found it all they could manage Il
| cling to the garments of weary
! Patience. bidding her not desert them
| while her sister JOY is forgotten and
| turns away. Yet children are essen
! TALLY joyous beings; they are borr
| With fountain of happiness. even
| hubbling ana overlooking in theii
natures: and surely what has been 81
! plcntifully bestowed in the first place
might be cared for and kept. one OF
/ the chief requisites in nurse SHOULD
/ be a cheerful, merry disposition. Yel
| how many poor little younglings pass
! years Of their childhood under tn,
! shadow thrown by some stern. fretful
or impatient nurse. who perhaps mean:
| t. be kind. is not actively unkind yet
never, from weeks end to weeks end
feels an impulse to play or to frolic.
! And the tired mothers, The day be-
gins with rush, breakfast. school
| dinner. must all be accomplished al
| certain hours; meantime the babies re-
| quire thousand things done for then
baths, bottles, stitches and steriliz-
! ing-onc cannot catalogue the occupa-
| tions that crowd each day. If she is j
good ana loving mother she probably
/ finds quiet half-hour somewhere tC
/ read and talk with the older ones. t.
| cud lie and kiss the tots: but it is d
! tired. subdued hour at the end of the
| day; rcstful, not cnlivening.
| The children learn that when they
want to have fun they must seel,
other boys and girls out # doors
Home is place that is good when one
is i'll or tired, but chiefly for being fed
clothed, and improved in. There is MOI
time or strength left to be merry.
And so in the home the happy brain