The Monmouth inquirer., 1924-01-24
he Bitter and
the Sweet


Life to most ofNus reduces itself to
q quest Of happiness, yet probably but
one In a hundred attains the hearts
desire. It is an old story that realiza-
ton falls infinitely lower than anticipa-
tion.
Happiness IS akin to love in that it
often eludes pursuit: like love again
it Is also much matter OF temporal
ment, for many who have apparently
every reason Cor, SO we Think to be
happy are unhappy, while others who
ought by all rules be m BILE fsoat
joyously along on the bubbling sea OF
their troubles. Life indeed requires
an art, and some of US declare that
happiness is the whole OF It,
All down life's high road we meet
with those who calmly insist that 1t
Ia but a mater OF middle ways. Elk
tremes are false, things not so dark
as we fear nor yet so bright as we
fondly hope. Carefully they tear on
the buds with the thorns and assure US
that the tree of life is but smooth
wand and that sorrow should not be
ours any more than is unqualified Joy.
Doubtless their theory, supported by
prudent arguments, makes for much
placid comfort.
It must be gratifying indeed to be
able to think, during those CHASTITY mo-
ments Of darkness which come to US
all at times, that we axe nj 50 IN
fortunate as we imagine, that some
where, somehow, not far from us IS
the promise Of radiant dawn. When
the heart bleeds, when hops flies and
q sense of loss seems our whole being,
surely 1t must be good to say that mis-
erv does not exist, that by an effort
Of our will this apparent agony may
pass. that ali the pain is only OF our
fancy and that within lies the secret
of its death.
Yet there is another side OF this
cold wisdom, and question, born OF
this theory, insistently clamors for
hearing. II we regard this rule as
our refuge and comfort in trouble,
must we not be consistent and measure
all our joys and ambitions in the same
sane way? Must we not then curb
that gladness which would leap In our
hearts and when love and hope and
the sense of pleasure make our pulses
throb to bursting, must we not then
apply this rule and declare that all
this madness, all this exhilaration, all
this passion Of happiness Is but de-
fusion, or, failing here, must we not
lose the power to cc-avince ourselves
that misery does not exist? Else would
relief from shadow rob US of sunshine
all our castles Of delight would
crumble before our longing eyes and
all the charm Of life be shorn with
ruthless hand. Never to suffer-yes
but the price! never to walk In the
fiowery way of life's great garden! All,
who would choose? To forego the
power of intense enjoyment, or, keep
ing it, retain capacity for pain! For
the glory of few swift-passing joys,
to wander at times through the dun
geons of despair! Is the joy worth
the sigh: is the pleasure so much
greater. sn n-c', $3.50 compclNr :
than Its bitter aftermath Of grief, that
we can dare all for brief spell OF
happiness?
And, can we choose?
Can we SO rule ourselves that we
may order the very throbs of our faulty
hearts?
1t is so easy to preach, so difficult
to follow a wise counsel. For count
less centuries the normal heart has
rebelled against the teaching Of those
whose temperaments make them In
sensible to sorrow, proof against joy
and ever strangers to the keen emo
lions which wear and tear, but fill and
glorify the lives of those who welcome
them.
"The heart that is soonest awake to
the flower is the first to be touched by
the thorn"
True! Every word of it. But is not
the flower worth seeking in spite OF
thorns? Perhaps its petals are fairer,
its glowing heart of gold but richer by
contrast to the thorns which scratch
and wound, resist, but may not wholly
deter the eager hand which gathers
It.
All that we look for, do we only find,
for the eyes of the heart are sharp and
clear, but never do they lie to us, and
as we are born so do we suffer, re-
joice or stagnate. All we may do is,
at most, to accept the fashion of our
temperaments and, in accepting, try
TO draw from them their best, for If
it were not almost an impiety to claim
happiness as a right, 1t would be for