The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-11-11

the one man who has no chance OF
happiness at all is the millionaire
do not think have visited any place
but one where there was absolutely
no happiness and no possibility of it
That place was not Jail, though ]
have spoken to men in the sha dow OF
the gallows. 1t was not a hospital
where people are brought to su!fe:
the most excruciating pain. 1t was
not any of the places usually associ,t-
ed in the mind with misery. But the
place refer to is a safe deposit vault,
one of those mysterious catacombs of
the modern business world where mil
lionaires hoard the evidences of their
wealth. l have myself been IN one
of these subterranean rooms and met
In the passage a man who on the sur
face of the earth would greet me with
a warm shake Of the hand; but when
we meet down there, each with a tin
box under his arm, we pass each 9th II
|
caught in some place where we had no
right to be, each of us Fastening off
! to little room in order to get out
of sight and cut Off our coupons or
change the nature of our securities.
That Is one place in the world where
| man is never known to smile. It Is
one place where it is impossible. The
/ man in gray who is stationed at the
gate. watching every person going in
or out with an expression Of disgust
in his eye-he would know what to
do Immediately If he heard a pistol
shot or If there was an explosion of
dynamite. He would turn in an alarm
to the police station. But there is
! one thing we would not be prepared
for. If he heard somebody whistle a
tune or sing comic song, he would
not know how to deal with that. That
would be one Of the things he never
heard and had never known.
you may say, If there is no happi-
ness in fame or in wealth; if there is
no happiness in power, is happiness to
be found, is it attainable by any one
on this earth? My friends, 1 do not
believe it is to be found in any pos
session, and all my philosophy and ex-
perience go to prove that. That is the
thing which the Church teaches you.
The man who is thoroughly unhappy
Is the person who assumes that all
there is of life is the things that he
can see and that he can touch. He
goes through life with the idea that
If he has certain amount of gold it
vii! be as a golden key by which he
can unlock the door of limitless happi-
ness. And at the end he finds that
The key IN his hands will not open
the door, and then he tries to persuade
himself that there is something wrong
with this particular key.sthat ii is not
large enough, that it must be larger,
and that he will find sonle other door
through which he can pass to the
realize that the whole of happiness
consists. not in the things the. you
get. but what you make Of yourself
in the process of requirement.
But wealth is not thing % be
despised. Aye, wealth acquired by
honest effort has its vain, in two as
poets: First, it is a m ,nument to tine
| success of the owner; 1t is the mOnu-
ment which your fellow citizens have
erected to mark their appreciation of
| the service which you can render
| them; and, secondly, it widens the
theatre of your action, so that /! gives
you larger field to work in; it makes
you more effective in serving your
fellows, and thus increases your
chances of happiness. What is hap
piness? My conception OF happiness,
| the one that have often given, is the
absorption of all your faculties in the
task before you, whatever it may be.
The task before you is not always the
same. Sometimes it is the storing of
your minds with truth; sometimes,
again, 1t is the exercise of your body
in physical labor, and sometimes it is
mental relaxation. Absorb yourself In
the thing before you. Remember that
| every faculty spared from your occu-
patton, every faculty not enlisted in
the thing you are called upon to do,
is sure source of injury to yourself,
a certain source of unhappiness. I
do not care what your lot in life may
be; I do not care what task may be
assigned to you-absorb all your fac
Utilities In it and you will never have
an hours unhappiness. Now, some
body may say that he would be glad
to absorb himself in his task If he
had something to do that suited him
better. something else than the thing
he had to do. Believe me. my friends.
not one of us is doing the thing he
would select for himself. 1t may be,
also, and it is our faith, that higher
power, a wider intelligence, one that is
omniscient and grasps everything, as
signs to you your proper theatre OF
action.
VHyN .