Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1916-04-25
~ Our OWN HANDS.

IL VAS Robert Louis Stevenson
who. IN moment Of dependency
said that virtue MAS not It's own re-
ward bccausc any degree Of good
ness couid uct result IN mitigating
the msfortuprS to which flesh is
heir and ~ which some pcorlo have
a much LARGER share than others. lie
felt that our happiness was not IL
our own hands. because We were
heirs to maladics and misorics tha
were not the results of our own acts
and we were the victims OF misun.
derstandings and enmities which We
had done nothing to deserve, and
some people were gifted with
greater degree of scnsitivoness which
made them cringe before attacks
that others might pass by withou.
being hurt. In such cases as these
Mr.. Stevenson maintained, We coulo
not assert that virtue was its own re.
ward, because goodness could d,
nature or fate had brought upon us
in fact, he believed that virtue wat
thing unto itself with no relation
to the persons happiness or misery.
II happiness were altogether oil
essentially "A physical affair, no doubt
the great novelist was right, foi
virtue cannot protect us from physi-
cal suffering, nor can IL give us inn
munity from the shafts of malice oN
the thankcssncss of unfaithfu
friends. We cannot be good enough
In act or thought to avoid the en-.
croachmonts Of disease nor to stay
the dissolution Of advancing years.
Yet, on the other hand, virtue is able
Of our suffcrngs, and the practice of
goodness does help to postpone the
evil day when disease or age claims
us as a victim. The man who obeys
the laws of God and the laws of
nature may not avoid such maladies
as herodity or accident have visited
upon him, but the righteous man
does have n greater degree of pro-
lection and of palliation from evil
than he who ignores such law. This
is not necessarily a religious truth
only, but is a scientific fact, as all
medical authorities agree. But the
man who thinks, as Stevenson sug-
gests, that because he is virtuous he
should be entitled to freedom from
all physical unhappiness is trying
TO deceive himself with a fallacy.
But the physical life is not the
most important feature of our ex-
istence, and our physical welfare is
not the chief influence is making us
either happy or unhappy. Happiness
Is essentially an intellectual trait,
and the man whose heart is light
and CHEEKY, even when his body Is
racked with pain, knows more about
real happiness than he who is
healthy and prosperous, besides
which he has much greater appre-
citation of the value of happiness
than no who has no physical reason
for being unhappy. More than that
tho greatest happiness granted to
human beings comes not from cater
ing to their own pleasures. but is
found In making other people happy
Happiness is reflexive, and the
greatest degree of happiness is the
lot of him whose chief concern is
the good of his fellows: while the
man who tries to accumulate happi-
ness for his individual qualification
loses the very gift he seeks Mr.
Stevenson himself is shining ex
ample Of how much good to the race
ono mans life may be, even though
that life be one of sorrow and suf-
fering.
Virtue is its own reward In Its re-
fiex action upon the consciousness
Of the man who is virtuous. A con-
science clean of offcnse toward God
and man is the acme Of happiness
for the posseSsor thereof harbors no
malice and is not concerned with
plying himself because of his mis-
fortunes. Such man sees the silver
lining to every cloud, and loses con-
sciousness OF his own ills in irving
TO alleviate the ills Of others. Self
ishness is the greatest enemy of han
piness, and the man whose effort Is
all for himself never knows what It
is to be happy. The very search for
personal happiness is in itself a bar
TO finding it. When you forget self.
your desires and your troubles; when
you cease to pity yourself and COM
plain about your hard lot when you
get the habit OF conducting your
self so as TO make life easier and
better Tor other people, then you are