The Washington herald., 1915-06-08

did him any good
have notion that most of the ordeals that
children are put through by grown-ups do no good.
Often they do positive harm by making unwise par
ents think they wise.
But the last words of that mother may have
done me good At any rate they set me thinking.
lust try to be good Then you won't have to
think about those things.
There was the expression, however. try to be
good" | don't like that.
Why all this trying Is it such hard state,
being goodo From the way most of us talk about
it, one would think it was fearfully hard.
And yet the wise men OF the world tell us 1t
is really the pleasantest state. They have spread
abroad savings which have become proverbs. sig
nifyinp that goodness is OF the states of hap
piness Perhaps it really is hard state for chill
dren to reach and stay in. To appreciate 1t re-
ouircs under standing and intelligence.
But the really good people | know don't seem
to find being good at all hard. In fact, they don't
seem to know they are good. They never talk
about being good With them goodness is
simply condition OF being apparently an un-
conscious condition. The people who talk so
much about being good, I've noticed, are not
really good. At any rate, they don't seem good
to me- The fault however, may be mine.
In fact after hearing that child lectured by
his mother, | was very much puzzled as to what
the meaning OF being good" And yet !
felt sure | knew people who were good.
resolved to single out these people and to see
if | could find what they had in common.
1t was an interesting task. had my hardest
time in getting group together. was aston
ished by the number OF people | couldn't get
in Not that any OF them were bad, far from IT.
But so many people | should have supposed
could easily get in were barred out as
applied to them the phrase. being good
That phrase suggested being in the state OF
goodness, YOU see, not absolute goodness, but
in an easy and a considerate attitude toward
the world and comfortable and wholesome at
titude toward themselves Most of the people
knew were good at most times. But they could
not be said to be in permanent state of good
ness. In most cases | could think of things that
would suddenly, perhaps violently, throw them
out OF the state OF goodness. At last, however,
got my group together.
Now let us study this thing called being
good" | said, surveying the group.
There they stood, calm, smiling, kind people.
all unconscious of what | was doing to them. l
could not help smiling myself at their uncon-
sciousness | was amazed at what | believed
to be the discovery OF the most conspicuous quail
ty those people had in common. What do you
suppose it was? Not one of them took himself
seriously. Perhaps that why not one of them
could be thought of as considering himself good.
They were not only unconscious of being good.
They were unconscious of themselves. They
seemed to have forgotten all about themselves.
They seemed also to be taking smiling attitude
toward life, humorous. They things in the
right proportions. And they placed themselves
in a right relation to their fellow-crcatures This
relation made it easy for them to be good. And
being good had simply become habit In this
habit they were at ease No wonder they could
face life fearlessly, vigorously and with humor.