The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-01-30
DIR. Marden's
Uplift Talks
BY oRIsoN SWEET MARDEN.
PREACH THE DOCTRINE OF
cHEERFULNESs.

cHEERFUlNESS.
Smile once in a while.
1t viii make your heart seem lighter.
Life's a mirror-if we smile.
Smiles come back to greet us;
~ were frowning all the while,
Frowns forever meet us.
Mr.. Paul Poiret. the well-known
Frenchman who visited our shores
last fall. carried away some not very
Watering impressions of our people
and country-says we do not know
how to laugh, or at least must be
made" to laugh. With the French
laughter is the expression of a gay
heart, while with the American humor
is appealed to through the intelligence.
Even in our sports we are serious,
says NJ. Poiret. Those who take part
In them do it as soberly and as in
tensely as if it were an act of bust
ness. And the spectators! They
might be watching a mar being tried
for his life. They could hardly look
more concerned if they were"
Many people give us the impression
that the famed Damocletian sword Of
pain, suspended by a thread, hangs
over them constantly, ready to fall
and pierce them at any moment, w
In their joys and pleasures. They
eve seem to enjoy anything without
alloy. They give you the impression
that they are conscious of the skele-
tons presence at every feast.
The American people as a rule take
life much too seriously. They do not
have half enough fun. Europeans look
on u care-worn, solemn-faced people
as on pieces of machinery run at
forced speed and which squeak for
lack of oil.
81 question if are and doubt ever
wrote their names so legibly on the
faces of any other population" says
Emerson. "Old age begins in the
nursery"
Why take life so seriously, anyway
"A lot of play will not only improve
your health, but increase your eff
cheney wonderfully.
If a man is living in a perfectly nor
NAL wav he ought not to have, as so
many have, a haunted, bounded look,
as though he suspected either a police
man or a detective we're on his track.
He ought not to be worried and
anxious every minute. He ought not
TO take his vocation so very seriously,
and should not give the impression
that the whole universe is hanging
upon the result of his task.
A great many men fail because they
are too serious; because they develop
%unsocial, morose, cold qualities, which
repel and which make them poor mix
ers. II is the sunshiny, happy nature
which attracts friends and trade. The
too serious people seem to say, Keep
away from me, life is too serious a
matter to be spent on trivial things"
They are dry and rutty because there
is not enough play in their lives to
furnish the necessary fabrication, va
riety, or change.
MOI long ago | heard a young cler-
gyman preach a sermon which was so
very serious, and so very gloomy, that
1t made everybody in the congregation
feel melancholy and depressed. There
was no uplift, no encouragement, moth
ing 10 stimulate one to greatest ell
deavOr. People did not go out of the
church, as they should have gone, re-
solved to try a little harder than ever
before, TO do something worth while;
but the whole congregation went away
with q gloomy look on their faces
There had been nothing inspiring in
the clergyman's appearance. His face
was so serious and his whole manner
so depressing that it was really pain
full to listen to him.
People have burdens enough of their
own to bear, and do not want anybody
to inject dark, doleful pictures in heir
minds. They go to church for uplift,
encouragement. They want to rid
themselves of the enemies of their
happiness and prosperity. Thousands
of people who now remain away from
church would gladly go if they could
come away feeling uplifted, encour-
aged, and with increased hopefulness.
"He that cannot laugh and be gay
should look to himself wrote Henry
Ward Beecher. "He should fast and
pray until his face breaks forth into
light"