The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-11-29
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( AS I have studied this subject of thank
fuiaess 1t has seemed to me to be very
| largely matter of temperament-sone-
/ +thlng, however, t-lat, like all other nat
uraI faculties, can be educated, made
larger. deeper, broader, more fruitful
Some people seem to be born tbann,l1I
They go through life CHEEKY sunny. ap-
pfeclatlVe, ready 20 see the good in their
circumstances, the good in others, the
good all around them, and to be glad and
grateful for It. Ofttimes they are peo-
pie OF little education whose lives seem
very barren and empty, whose homes are
OF the simplest kind, and who are them
selves driven from morning to night with
! toil, and yet they go on their Wav sing
: ing and glad, apparently thankful just
because they are living. because they can
breathe the fresh air. see the blue sky
ard look out over this marvellous world
On the other hand others seem to be
born with just the opposite disposition:
they come into the world with a cry,
and go through 1t with a grumble, see
ing nothing anywhere for which to be
grateful They remind you of the poets
description of the grumbler:
THE grumbler has sorrows more deep
than his tears,
He grumbles to think ne has grumbled
for years;
He grumbles to think he has grumbled
His home and his fortune. his nfe's little
day.
But. alas! it's too late; it Is no use to say
That his eyes are too dim and his hair Is
He knows he is wretched as wretched
can be;
There is no one more wretchedly
wretched than he.
And so he continues to grumble away
He grumbles by night and he grumbles
by day;
He grumbles at life, but to live how he
pants!
And he'll grumble In heaven If he Las
half chance"
The life of the grumbler may be full
of blessing, full of good, full OF material
for enjoyment; and yet he sees nothing
for which to be grateful. no cause for
thanksgiving either to God or man. You
remember the significant story of Ha-
man, in the old Book of Esther, who was
the greatest man in the kingdom, next
TO the king himself, having power,
wealth, and every means of personal
qualification a his disposal, and yet at
the same time sour, disappointed and an
CRY, seeing no cause for gratitude or joy,
because there was one man in the realm
too Independent to bend the knee before
l-AIl 10" many EtOplS NilGIc are WnD
compare what they have with what they
desired to have. As they look abroad
over the world, and think of the ten
thousand things they hoped to get or
hoped to DO or hoped to become, II sense
Of dissatisfaction arises in them. and
browns out any feeling OF gratitude.
Then there is another class OF people
who feel that the very attitude Of thank
fulness has about it a touch Of humalty
that lacks in manliness. Some people
do not Ike to feel that they are under
any obligation TO anyone, to their friends
or ne.ghbors. They DO not like TO feel
that they even owe Cod very much be-
cause it oppresses them. and they feel
Illuminated a. the thought.
Then there are Cthers-and IN these
days the number seems to be multiply
ing-who as the result OF the transition
OF thought through which we are pass
ing, because OF their questions concern
ing God, concerning the aiming OF life,
concerning human destiny, have been
thrown into such state of doubt that
they are asking seriously whether life +
worth living, whether there is really any