Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1915-09-09
HOW TO HAVE A GOOD TIME
ACCORDING TO A MINISTER
fBy the Rev. Charles E. Jefferson in
Farm and Fireside)

(By the rev. GnaTl6S e. dSuSNsOn AZ
Farm and Fireside).
When happiness is missed it Is be-
cause it has been sought in the wrong
way. The most common of all the
| wrong ways of seeking it is to run
after it. 1t is queer universe in
which we are living, and life has many
paradoxes. There are treasures which,
if they are to be gotten, must not be
too ardentIy pursued. They will come
of themselves If one keeps his feet in
the path Of life. Much depends on put
ting first things first. Woe to the
man or woman who places good time
at the top of his list! He will never
get it. Paradise shapes itself only in
minds intent on doing the will Of
God. One can say of happiness what
Charles said of fortune: Fortune
hath somewhat of the nature of a
woman who. if she be too closely
wooed, is commonly the further off,"
We err when we expect good time
to be handed to us. Happiness is not
a cake which can be passed over the
counter to any person who asks for it.
We speak of giving good time to
children. We take the boy to the cir
Gus, or the girl to the seashore where
she makes pretty things in the sand
But good times such as these are pos
sibly only to children. Grown-up peo-
pie cannot receive good times from
Others. Each must create his own.
Happiness is an affair of the heart. It
is an art of the inner man. Many a
woman who is now moping would be
joyful II she set out as girl to be
the architect of her own happiness,
and had not formed the habit of ex-
pecting others to give her a. good
time. Happiness is heavenly plant,
and it blossoms only in gardens culti-
waited and cared for by their owners.
A good time does not depend on
place. There are those who are al
ways certain that they would : be
happy il they were only somewhere
else than where they are. They are
ever wanting to go somewhere. Their
present environment never satisfies.
If they were in another house, or in
another position, or in another city
then all would be well. They do not.
know that happiness comes from ones
state, and not from ones station. It
flows from ones condition, and not
from ones situation. It depends upon
character, and not upon surroundings.
A woman who is fussy in cottage
will be fussier in mansion. A man
who is disgruntled in a village will not
be better humoFed in city. The poet
who wished he had the wings of a
dove so that he could fly was not I'M
like the rest of us when we get fool
1sh. Wings are, not provided, and if
they were they would never carry us
where happiness is found. The fasci-
nation of the farway is an illusion.
Many would have good time If they
did not postpone it. They build their
In next year. 1t is not until
they reach certain point, finish a
certain course, amass certain amount
Of money, secure a certain honor, set
tie certain problem, complete GER
tain task, that they think it possible to
settle down and begin to enjoy life.
Their good time is always coming
It never arrives. He who is
not master of today, need not
expect to make conquest of tomor-
row. ut Is too bad he had to die, for
he had just gotten ready to live" so
heard his neighbors say of a man
who had died at the age of sixty. What
he had been doing through all his sixty
years I do not know, but according to
those who knew him best he had not
yet begun to live.
1t is an ancient delusion that happi-
ness is dependent on things. Never
had 1t firmer grip. on the imagination
than now. The world is fuller of love-
~ things today than ever. They never
have been so bewitchingly displayed.
Our neighbors never before had so
many of them. The advertisers we're
never so eloquent and persuasive.
They make US unhappy because they
Haunt in our faces things we are not
able to buy. Oh, If l only had that!
This is the sigh of many a twentieth !
century heart. But ones life does not
consist in the abundance of things
which he possesses. If 1t did, then !
people who possess most would be
h&ppiest. But are they? Are there no |
Wretched homes on the proudest ave-
nue., no cherries faces in the finest
carriages in the park, no accounts of |
suicides OF men who are worth mill |
liens? The barns may be full and
the heart empty. Carlyle is right |
when he says you cannot by giving |
him half the universe make a boot |
black permanently happy.
Nor does happiness lie in freedom to t
do what one pleases. The tired work /
erl sometimes wishes he could play ALI
tne time. but he would soon get weary I
OF 1t. Charles Lamb groaned at his t
9esk' long for liberty, and when at I
Iast liberty came he exuIted +
fof a few days, and then be- |
tne man or woman whos on awaking in I
the morning, finds standing at the +
beside a line of duties waiting to be
performed. Wordsworth, in his lode |
10 DUTY, confesses that. having fol-
loved his own inclinations, he was
tired OF this freedom, and ends with /
q prayer FOR the spirit of self sacrifice /
ant the privilege Of living the bond
man of Duty. I