Evening star., 1932-01-04

They were people who were not con-
| tent to be happy" says Daudet, "but
gloated over their own happiness and
| relished 1t in way to make your mouth
water; especially the man, by the ire
sistible way in which he described the
| joys of their household in Winter"
May one happy person be happier
than another happy person? 1t would
seem SO, and the great French novelist
of past generation points the way as
| truly as compass to the North Pole.
| At least one of the ways.
One may add to happiness, it would
seem, by being conscious of it while 1t
| is at hand, instead Of perpetually plac-
! ing felicity in non-eXlStent future
which perpetually recedes from one.
The animals are happy in sense,
but scarcely in the way self-conScious
human being is The main point in
this purely human happiness is that OF
selection.
1t is not so much the large matter,
as the small matter which here counts
the most.
This is where so many human beings
fall down in the search for happiness.
They want a thrill, instead of being
content with everyday existence, and
attempting to find in 1t something to
felicitate ones self on.
They expect something "big," instead
of realizing that there are great many
more small affairs. which, properly re
garded, may be the essential spirit OF
happiness, after all.
X X
1t is precisely in matters disregarded
so perSistently by the crowd that the
wise man finds his SecureSt happiness.
It must be admitted that every one Is
not so made as to be able to see the
problem in this light. To such per-
son, the matters on which the other
puts SO much stress, seem to be mcon-
seouential. And perhaps each such
matter. in itself, is trivial; the solving
of the riddle comes in the aggregate.
1t is the mass of small matters, each
one pleasing. which, taken together,
help to give the person who has solved,
or at least to some extent, the problem
of happiness, the great fund OF material
which he enjoys.
To such a person there Is nothing
inconSequential.
He is not content to be happy, mere
ly, but makes himself thoroughly aware
of what happiness he possesses. Surely
that is a better way to put, 1t fairer,
truer, than AlphonSe Daudet's ''gloat-
ing"
The honest realization of happiness
seems gloating only to the man who
does not understand it. II one Is IN
terested only in governmental matters,
the building of a waspS nest outside a
window will seem utterly unworthy OF
moment.
II one believes that things interna-
tional are the only affairs the intel
lectual man should consider, and espe-
cially talk about, he will not be very
much interested in the joys of the rainy
day, as described by the garden lover.
Even the professional horticuturist,
who grows evergreens, say for living,
scarce will find the bubbling enthusiasm
of the lover of beauty, as manifested in
point point description of rain in
the garden, food for much reflection.
To him the possible price of evergreens
will be the only consideration.
x
1t will be realized at once that 1t Is
here that the average person, man or
woman, who may possess no special tai
ent except this one, has the greatest
opportunity to shine.
The essential thing is that he be not
ashamed of the triviality of his enthu-
siasm. Let him assure himself that