Evening star., 1924-12-23

The enjoyment of little things adds
so much to life 1t is a pity more peo-
pie do not know about 1t.
BY little things / mean trifies, small
odds and ends OF this and that, usu-
ally unnoticed by the too serious.
who think them beneath them. or by
the frivolous, who have other irons
in the fire.
II one has q sense Of humor, and is
not too hard to please, there are any
number of felicities, both natural and
mental, as we'll as artificial, which
hold real pleasure.
A striking instance Of what I mean
is contained in a slender book, "Remi-
niscences of Lafcadio Hearn," by Set
suko Koizumi, his wife. Hearn was
Hearn writes:
Il often recall memories Of mornin q
glories. When the end of Autumn
drew near, and the green leaves were
beginning to turn yellow, there was
always the last morning glory of the
season blossomtng 80 lonesomely by
itself. When Hearn saw that lonely
flower. he admired 1t. "Will you
please look at It? What beautiful
courage and what honest sentiment!
Please give 1t q word of praise. That
dainty flower still blossoms until the
end. Just give 1t a word Of praise
And later she wrote: Two or three
days before he died, Osaki, the maid,
told me that the cherry tree was
blossoming out of season In the gar
den Of the studio. In my household
things like that are of great interest.
Today some little bamboo sprouts
have shot up in the woods; look. a
yellow butterfly is fitting about;
hill; toad came to the door; or the
sunset Is full OF beautiful changing
colors.
Such details as these drew more at
tention from us than II they had been
important matters, and Hearn was in
| formed OF every one of these Incl
dents. He was delighted to hear
about them. 1t seems funny that this
gave us SO much pleasure. Toads, but
terf1ies, ants. spiders. cicadas, bam-
boo sprouts and sunsets were among
Papa-san's best friends"
Happy Is the household where little
matters like that are of great in
| terest where tribes draw more at
tention than II they had been i'm
portant matters.
In such a home you will find no
srouchy old man, but joyous group
| where everything that happens, nc
matter how small, is interesting.
Theodore Roosevelt was as different
from Lafcadio Hearn as day from
night, In many respects, but in the
keen enjoyment of little things he
was one with the man who wrote SC
charmingly of Japan. his adopted
country.
The late President ir bis ,....
shows his childlike interest in anil
| mais, the games of children, walks
nature study of all sorts. in fact, such
a multiplicity of matters that many
| of his tremendously serious com
| patriots must have marveled at him
| because they themselves did not have
his infinite capacity for enjoyment OF
| the little things.
This interest, whether In men or
boys. women or girls, may properly
| be called childlike, because in this
| the children are far ahead of US
When we do what we like TO call
grow up" we are really doing what
often might be called growing
down"
We grow down from love and
beauty. down from genuine affection
and appreciation, down from graft
| tude, down from love of sunsets and
fogs, where splendor bathes one, or
shadows enfold one; down, down
down to whtskers and badness and
grasping and many other unIovely
things.
Let US not be ashamed of being
childlike.
l have a friend who gets more
pleasure out of d simple tube OF
toothpaste than most men do out OF
| a new roadster or a box at musical