Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1904-12-16
CHAPTER VII.
THE SIMPLE PLEASURE.

/ lear tnat my IMPRESSION may w
altogether personal. To see my con-
temporaries live, to hear them talk,
feel myself unhappily confirmed in
the sentiment that they do not amuse
themselves very much. 1t is not,
however, the fault of not having tried,
but 1t must be admitted that they
have had but a mediocre success
Now. how does that happen?
Some accuse politics, or business;
others the social questions, or mill
tarism. One has but an embarrass-
nent of choice when one begins to
tell the rosary of our great cares.
Go then afterward and amuse your
self. There is too much pepper In
our soup, for us to eat 1t with pleas
ure. We have our arms full OF stun
of all sorts, any one OF which would
suffice to spoil our humor. From
morning to night you will meet people
in a hurry, worried and preoccupied.
These have left all their good blood
In the vicious conflicts of a morose
political movement. Those men have
lost heart from the vile proceedings,
| the jealousies they have met with in
the world of literature and arts. Com
mercial oppositions also trouble many
slumbers, programmes Of too exacting
studies and the careers too much en-
numbered spoil the life Of the young
men; the working class suffers the
consequences of an industrial strug-
gle without intermission It becomes
disagreeable to command because the
prestige is gone; to teach, because re-
spect has diminished; wherever one
looks there are subjects for discon-
tent. And yet, history represents GER
tain troubled epochs which lacked In
idyllic tranquility as much as ours
and the gravest events did not hinder
from knowing gayety. 1t seems even
that the gravity Of the times, the In
security Of the morrow and the vio-
lence of the social commotion be-
come the occasion of a new source Of
vitality. 1t is not rare to see soldiers
sing between two battles, and I do
not think I deceive myself in saying
that human joy has celebrated some
of it's grandest triumphs, in the hard
est times, and in the midst of obstac-
les But, to sleep peaceably before
the battle or to sing in the whirlwind
they had motives of internal order
which we to-day perhaps have not got.
Joy is not in Objects it is in us. And
l persist in believing that the causes
of our present discomfort, of that con-
tagious bad humor which invades us,
are in us at least as much as in eX-
ternal circumstances.
To amuse oneself with free heart
one must feel himself on a solid base;
he must believe in life and possess it
in himself. Many men, alas! even
among the young ones, are today dis
gruntled with life, and do not speak
of the philosophers only. How can
you expect them to amuse themselves
when they have that hidden thought
that 1t had perhaps been better
after all, that nothing had ever ex-
listed? We observe, aside from that,
in the vital forces of these times, a
disquieting depression which we must
attribute to the abuse that man has
made of his sensations. Too many ex-
cesses of all kinds have warped our
senses and altered our faculty for
being happy Nature SuccumbS be-
meath the eccentricities with which
they have afflicted her. Profoundly
stricken in it's very roots, the will to
live, in spite of all persisting, seeks
to satisfy itself by fictitious means.
In the medical domain they have re-
course to artificial respiration, to ar
tificial alimentation and to galvanism.
With the same aim we see around the
dying pleasure a multitude of beings
Fastening to awaken it and to reani-
mate it. The most ingenious means
have been invented it will not be said
that they have been niggardly in pay
ing the expenses. Everything has
been tried-the possible and the i'm
possible. But in all those complicated
alembics they have never succeeded
in distilling one drop of real joy. We
must not confound pleasure and in
struments of pleasure. Would it be
enough to provide oneself with n
brush to be a painter, or to buy at
great cost a Stradivarius to be a
musician? Even if you had external
objects of the most perfect kind, and
the most ingenious, for your amuse-
ment, you would be no farther ad-
vanced. But, with bit of charcoal
great painter can trace sketch that
will be immortal. One must have the
talent or genius to he a painter, and
to amuse oneself one must have the
faculty of being happy. Whosoever
possesses that can amuse himself al
small cost. This faculty is destroyed
in man by scepticism, fictitious life,
and the abuse of 1t, and it is gained
only by confidence, moderation, nor.
NAL habits of activity and thought
One excellent proof of what | ad
vance, and one very easy to gather, is
found in the fact that everywhere
that one meets a simple and healthy
life, authentic pleasure is its accom-.
paniment, like the perfume of natural
flowers. This life may have been diff
cult, shackled, deprived of what we
panarallU comedian tba uarU oor