The Washington herald., 1907-06-17
THE OPTIMIST.

I am conscious that I have never read
the book, but equally certain that some
one has written a volume with the title
| How to Be Happy Though Married.
There are lots Of books on similar sub
jects, offering a universal recipe FOR happi-
ness under any and all conditions. And
yet I have come 20 think that. after all,
happiness never lies in attainment. The
great happiness in this world Is hope:
it always remains just beyond the horizon
and the JOY Of life is TO keep firm hand
on the tiller. trim the sails so as to catch
the most fayoring breeze, and sail on
and on. ever hopefully, always longingly,
but-you shall never arrive
What We achieve We know; we know
the worth Of a wife: the spending quail
ties In a fortune, the bitter taste OF the
dying away Of the shouts that hail
our fame The things we have are at
the top Of the hill and, having them, we
must needs descend. going down. down,
and finding the thing we struggled for
less desirable at every step
But desire IS forever a great 10Y: we
cannot spend IL or quarrel with Il, or
81 NAAfA VI H. 4t AliLFlt~L Ntl II We
may draw day by day, OF gloat over in
the silent watches Of the night with a
rarer, purer Joy than the mser knows
lingering his gold.
We have had such trite and common
place example IN this age, in Mr. Rookie
feIler, who, with all his millions. cannot
eat heartily, that the old aphorism about
appetite has lost something OF it's classic
significance But we may still know that
the things that make life really worth
while are desire. aspiration, curiosity.
Supposing that a man could know all
about this world Of ours; the purlieus
and the palaces Of the strange cities OF
the East; that the West hid none Of her
mysteries from him; that the warm
South was commonplace through entire
knowledge, and the frozen North held
no untrod trails. In such case, I imagine,
the world would be but a sorry place
Tor that man. There could be no desire
left in him; he would be satiated and
miserable, apd the only end possible to
such a one must be that he should
aspire 20 curiosity as 20 the other world,
and so his Quietus make"
Fortunately for US and for the world.
there IS always a going forward 10 be
had. One problem is solved and another
takes its place. We gather knowledge
from the universities or from the world.
only to find that We can never, in this
life know as much as we would. We can
accumulate money, but We can never get
II ALL We may waste health or fortune
Ike a spendthrift seeking new curiosities;
we can never get TO the bottom Of the
bag. The best book has never vet been
written, the best poem still remains TO
be sung; bright eyes have looked into
ours but there are brighter ones vet
70 which we may aspire. Onward. ever
onward. the remorseless march Of life
pushes US. and It is in the struggle To-
ward the mountain-top that we find our
happiness. Only those can never know
true happiness who, with the pessimistic
doubt as TO whether the struggle is worth
while, sit down By the roadside and are
content 70 sit. watching the motley pa
rade go by.
There they pass young man and
maiden, soldier and poet, merchant and
fool, and toward the end of the pro
cession the graybeards. with wagging
heads and t0othless gums. whose trem-
bling limbs need the aid Of a stout stick
20 help them on thei- way But ever
hope sings IN all their hearts. They are
faring forth. whether they are just be-
ginning life or Just about 10 end IL, they
are faring forth, knowing that the goal
lies just beyond. Il IS like Stevenson s
march 10 El Dorado:
o urvezried feet. travelling ve know not whittier,
soon. soon u seems % ylI. y0I must come forth
on some conspicuous hilltop. and but a little way
further, aeairs. The setting sun, ds-rrv the
srirs q Fl Dorado. Little do re know your own
besseduess fer % travel hopefully Is better thing
thsr % arr-ra ari he the .-cr.s- e tn LII