The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1906-08-03
WHO IS HAPPlEsT2
Occupation Has Much to Do With This,
But Fame Does Not Always Brings
Happiness as its Reward.

How to get the best results out
of life-in other words, how to be
| happy-is the oldest and most
vexed of the problems. Life is
largely wasted by most people, and
not appreciated by others. Many
live through long periods and at
the end are compelled to say
mournfully, with old Jacob of
Israel: Few and evil have the
days of the year OF my life been.
The occupation of course, has
much to do with it; in fact, it has
all TO do with it. The possession
of power and fame does not bring
happiness but just the reverse. All
the kings and conquerors who have
spoken on the subject have admit
ted this Uneasy lies the head that
wears a crown" applies to every
one of them, from King Canute to
Napoleon, from Ghengis Khan to
Emperor William, from the MUIR
derous monarchs of Judea to the
much-vexed Car of Russia. The
rule applies to presidents of re-
Dublics as well as to the deSCotS: in
fact, to all men who act as the
supreme executives of nations.
Literary fame does not of itself
produce happiness. The great writ
ers were nearly all miserable men,
and their wretchedness seemed to
be proportional to their fame.
Take Milton and Dante, for in
stance, and Goldsmith and Byron
and our own Edgar Poe, whose
lives were tragedies and marked
with misery from the cradle to the
grave. So we must look outside
the lists of the great for those who,
by their pursuits have extracted
from the mystery called life the
greatest amount of innocent enjoy
ment.
The farming life, when pursued
in the humdrum, rotatory I'm
imaginative way, is not productive
of happiness. Indeed, farmers as
class are not happier if so happy,
as men in other callings. This
is due to the fact that they make
drudgery of their business, a !
dingdong of cares and worries, a |
monotonous round of sameness and |
sordidness. Though this is true as
an abstract proposition, it is also |
true that in agriculture are found |
the best opportunities for the best
results. Those who have the in
clination to develop new things
and improve old ones, who are, in
short, endowed with the creative
faculty, will find here the field for
its development. There is Joy in
creating things, and this joy may
be made continuous as to time and
increase in proportion as its pos
SCISSOR finds employment in con-
genial lines. We are inclined to
say, therefore, that the happiest
people in the world are those ell
gagged in propagating new fruits,
new flowers, new grains or grasses
and new live stock. In other
words, we should look for our
happy man on a farm or in a fruit
garden, among a patch Of vege-
tables or a collection of greenhouses.
The most conspicuous type of this
class is Luther Burbank, though !
there are many less conspicuous
to whom Our remarks apply with
equal force. The reason why the
propagation should get the best re-
suits out of life are philosophical
and founded upon facts familiar
to those who have made a deep
study of human nature.
If we do not get pleasure out of
our employment we shall not get
it at all. 1t is not to be obtained
in dissipation, in idleness, in spend
ing money. The life must be ra-
tional and it must be lived simply.
The propagation is in touch all the
time with growing things, feels