The Washington herald., 1910-10-30
ELUSIVE HAPPINESS.

ELUSIVE HAPPINESS.
Tile one thing on earth t..t we are all
striving fsr hoping for, working for, is
happiness. and so elusive is the quality
of happiness that often when we nave it
We know it not Some men find their
greatest happiness in absolute selhshness,
in -the piliug up Of money; in hugging
10 themselves all the sood qualities they
suppose they possess. and never thinking
OF sharing their Sits with their neigh
bors Others find their happiness in gen
crosby, I'm free giving: in the giving Of
money. II they have it; if not, then in
tn- giying of themselves. OF sunny good
nature. The helpful word, the CHEEKY
smile; ,he handshake of comfort
Vino is there among AS an can tell
what happiness is? We all know the story
OF Tie monarch who was told that he
might have perfect happiness If he could
borrow the shirt OF a contented man,
and when, after "a long and weary search,
~
ed. 10. and behold the happy fellow had
not a shirt TO his back! Nathaniel Haw-
thorne reckoned something Of this win-o'-
the-wisp quality of happiness when he
wrote.
"Who can tell where happiness may
come, or where. though an expected
guest. Il may ever show It's face?
D of aI fI s.ifi
puteuCc. and an earnest effort toward
right things there come az length
sumbeT and thoughtful happiness taste il,
and thank Heaven.
II is ID o'-the-wisp. this happiness
we all seek SO ardently. Always. indeed,
il seems 10 lie further ON, beyond the
hills, unless, perchance, ii lies behind as.
and we have realized it not. Looking
back Ola life. cannot most of us say that
in spite of sorrow, of hard times. of bit
Ter struggles, of the loss OF loved ones,
the sreat sum of it an amounts 10
this: That tine JOY Of life has always
even if we We're not quite conscious of It
al the time-outweighed the SORROWS and
the raine
Most of us hope on for the time when
real happiness shah come TO us from ex-
terual things, when. as a matter Of fact
the only possibility Of real happiness lies
within ourselves As Dean Farrar said:
"The only real the only eternal secret
OF anything which remotely can be called
happiness, depends i'm no respect on eX-
terual things The sources of JOY and
glory Ie olely within ourselves. II a
mans hear, boz NOT az peace; if he does
NOT possess his own approval, if Il peace
tul conscience aces not shed IFS light upon
him-then nothing can make him happy"
True happiness for human beings lies
within Tie human heart-the same source
from which spring our greatest sorrows
Indeed it is true that We may only know
happiness as we have capacity for sor-
row. Those who live placid. tranquil
lives, Wao do not dare much. nor suffer
much. may live in a duII sort Of content
ment and go To their graves ignorantly
satisfied with themselves; but these peo-
pie have never touched the high points of
n'c-thsv have never made fair test
of their capacity, either for suffering or
Jov' Milton tells as:
Happiness consists in religion. pietv.
Justice, prudence, temperance forbear-
ance. f0rtltlde. and the contempt Of ava
rice and ambition They in whOmsoever
these virtues Gwell eminently, need not
kings 90 make them happy, but are the
architects Of their own happiness. and
whether 20 themselves or others, are not
less than Kings
But, after all, this is but the negative
Side Of happiness. TO sit silent in "a her
mits cell may be prudent, but # is not
life, to have "a contempt for ambition
NAV De WELL bat it viii not help this
weary workaday world upon its way No
thinking man could really be happy with
the consciousness that his duty was I'M
done because ia refusing to do it ne had
avoid O pain and sorrow. and the chances
Of failure. What we are put on earth
for is % express ourselves; 10 work out
FOR the worlds good the divinity that is
within as: 10 DO. humbly. but with an our
might the work that the Master of all
good workmen has sent us to do, ana to
take gratefully the rewards and. with
humility. the suffering.
II may wen be that struggling along
tie road Of life we shall toll in pain and
turmoil and trouble. but the true man
viii only thank God that he mas been
given the strength TO endure! And al
the END ne viii rejoice in his soul that
The wonderful happiness has come 70
him Of having achieved something; OF
having at whatever sacrifice OF himself
accomplished some bit of honest work
that VIII make-for the ages vet to come
this grim old world better place to
live in.
Happy. my brother, First of all. what
difference is il whether thou art happy
0r uote To-dy becomes yesterday 80
fast, an to-morrows become yesterdays
and then there is no question whatever OF
thy happiness, bat quite another ques-
ton The only happiness a brave man
need ever trouble himself about is-hap-
piness enough to get his work done"
Clifford Pinchot Is telling what the
American people want in politics. A