The Washington herald., 1908-01-30
THE OPTIMIST.

II the greatest happiness possible in
this life does not COME from the proper
| performance Of duty, at least It may be
said truly. that there is no happiness
possible unless duty has been faithfully
/ performed And one danger that con-
fronts us is the natural tendency Of
humankind 10 look abroad for duties; 70
seek to find them in the large. heroic
things Of life. seldom dreaming that the
real and the most difficult duties lie right
at our very doors. IL is not what we
imagine might have been our duty IN
some other sphere Of life. in other en-
vironment We must find our duties in
what comes 20 US, not ia what We I'M
agine might have been.
Walter Scott said that no good man
can ever be happy when he Is unfit for
the career Of simple and commonplace
duty, and this is true saying and a
just one, and is corroborated by Kingsley
who declared that the only way TO re-
generate the world Is 10 do the duty that
lies nearest to US, and not hunt after
grand. far-fetehed ones for ourselves
Dean Farrar said
The vast majority Of US are placed, by Gods ap-
pointment. amid those quiet duties of a common
Fac3 and uneYcutful routine which are most closely
4haagous 10 the thirty years # his retirement
The essence q at highest duty the meaning Of all
unes- lhe-aike Toe most acceptable service 10 God
ana me most ennobling example 70 men. is in.
Tolred in aef-ssaTiAce.
And although we speak about the
little duties Of life, there is in reality no
duties, are, ia effect, the great duties
because they are duties. II is one Of the
Oldest OF aXi0ms that it Is they who are
faithful in a few things who will be
faithful over many things. and Il fol-
lows, as matter Of course. that it is
only those who do their whole duty in
everyday and seemingly trivial matters
who VIII Loyalty fulfill their greater
duties upon large occasions
Ana we should bear IN mind also. that
no one can know just exactly what are
our duties save ourselves alone As En-
erson said, and Stevenson said the same
thing after him. in different words:
What I must do i5 all that concerns me. not
what the people think. 10 is the harder because
you wiz always find those who think they know
what Is y0ur duty better than you know IT, Do
that which Is assigned thee, and thou eanst not
There are many times in life when the
mere performance Of duty is pleasure
enough in itself: other times there are
when duty seems painful and a sacrifice,
but, as Rousseau says:
Even if the sacrifices ghich are nsds 70 dutv ana
virtue are painful to make. they are well repaid by
ine sweet recoeelons which they leave at the bot
tom of the heart.
Tn u~~HE -,
JOY Of every honest man. but at times
you shall find that that duty compels us
TO crawl painfully toward the goal At
such times the sustaining hope and joy
Is that even If the progress be slow It Is
still toward the goal:
He that ever following her commands.
On with toll Of heart and knees and hands
Shall find the topping cTags Of DUTY sealed
Are close upon the shining table-ands
To Which cur God Himself Is moon and sln.
The thought Of duty is one Of the primal
instincts Of the human heart; il has i'm
PEELED men through all ages, from the
time when our first father, Adam. failed
In his duty and 50 opened the gates TO
sin The ancients felt duty 10 be one
OF the highest virtues, and we find Mar
Gus Aurelius saying
Do but your duty and do not trouble yourself.
whether it is IN the cold by good fire, whether
you az oTergatcfed satisfied with sleep. whether
you have a good FIRE or a bad one whether you are
dying or doing anything else for this last must be
done a. one time 0F another. II is part a the
business q life to leave it, and here. too it sufaees
70 manage the present we'll
To DO ones duty-the humble duties
that come with every day-as we'll as the
great duties Of life. is to be at peace with
God and with ones own conscience.
There Is but one inalienable right given
TO man. and that Is the right-and the
ability goes with it-of doing his duty al
all times, under all circumstances, and
in all places. That way lies the only real
and Unselfsh happiness.
Possessions vanish and opinions change
And passions hold a fiuctusting seat;
But. b. the storm Of circumstance mistaken.
And subject neither 20 eclipse nor waue,