The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-05-20
ON BEING CHEERFUL.

(By the Rev. Joseph M'Sorley, c. S. P.)
Be Of Good Heart" (St. Matt
We live in world of defects and linz
iitations, where there is no character
without flaw. and no life without its
tempering of pain. Only on the farther
bliss be even hoped for here, all is rel
alive and imperfect; thorns hide amid
the roses; bitter is mixed with sweet:
and, sooner or later. the coarse, seamy
side Of men and things chafes every
one of US.
To be cheerful means to make little
Of the hardships we encounter. The
good-natured man looks on the bright
en- SUMNER side of his surroundings: he
accentuates the pleasant and beautiful
features Of life; he smoothes over the
rough places of the road, and, in a gen.
eral way. the smiling aspect of things
attracts him more strongly than their
troWn. Incorrigible Optimist that he is,
he fixes attention on the circumstances
which give most joy and hope to the
heart. In memory, as in speech, he
keeps dwelling on the inspiring. en-
couraging elements of every situation,
and on the amiable characteristics of
every acquaintance. In a life; his
presence is a raw of sunshine as
Trend he is man Of men.
Few people need to be told that
cheerlness is precious treasure; that
The power to overlook or TO smile away
some Of the distressing details of eXis-
fencC is a necessary condition of hap
pness that in each life much must be
ignored, and in each personality much
forgiven and forgotten. There are at
Ithdant circumstances sure to impair
me harmony of every situation, if
gNelt upon. Unless a mind is able to
dlsengage itself from the consideration
'I these, 1t rapidly becomes morbid and
uhhealthy-like the mind of Swift. who
is said to have developed so aggravated
a synicism that he could see nothing
ialr without at once adverting to its
hidden elements Of ugliness. and could
look on no beautiful face without mag
-"iHS the ioathsOmes appearance ii
would present under the microscope.
ne man who is thus hypercritical and
lault-flndmg soon becomes an object
on ufead TO his acquaintances. No mat
let now witty his mind and interesting
ms conversation, we quickly learn TO
car him; we run away from the sound
OF MS approaching footstep. We pre-
Ter the less sparkling. but more COM
iortable speech of the simple good-the |
people from whom we part with a re-
leWed sense Of trust in the innate |
and kindness of human |
nature, the people who inspire CONVEX |
Satlon that leave a good taste in the |
mouth. One type Of his sort is de- |
scribed i'm the following quotation
aIlus did say" remarked Aunt |
Mary, that Henrietta Wood had real /
royal memory"
Aunt Mary's niece looked up curious
". "A royal memory she repeated. |
I don't believe / understand Doesn't |
she ever forget anything"
That's jest the point" Aunt Mary |
-eSponded promptly. 81 should say she
orgets full as much as she remember
nebbe more That's part of what l call
royal memory. There's folks that
lont forget anything; the way you act
d the day everything went wrong,
TASTY Judgment that you repented as
;oon as they were made. words that
popped out before you knew your
mouth was open-there's folks that
lon't ever forgot one of them nor let
-ou either. / have one of those memoir
es i'm mind this minute; / allus feel
ike flyin' out of the back door when
zee it comm in the gate.
But they amt the only folks in the
World: there's others that never seem
o remember anything except the good
h people I'll warrant there isn't a
aan or woman in Lockport so shift
ass or good-f nothing that Henrietta
couldn't remember some good about
hem People allus freshen up when
he comes round. / amt ever heard it
Explained, but / have nay theory L
eiieve it's because she allus thinks
DIks up instead of down, an they (