Year: 1873

The Art Of cultivating Unhappiness


The chase after happiness, or the
/ pleasure which we dignity by calling il
happiness, Is generally supposed to be
the-common occupation of all the world.
But tins IS by no means the case. There
are people too apathetie to care about
happiness at all. Some there are who
pursue it in an inverted form, they and
pleasure in being unhappy, and haPpi-
ness in making themselves and all
around them miserable; while others do
really prefer tragedy to comedy, and, if
they can get it in. no other way, they
viii create tragedy or the illusion of it
in private life. There are few actors,
either good or bad, who have not at
some time believed that their role was
tragedy; and it is thus with these every
day actors on the worlds broad stage.
There is a certain dignity in the claim.
The tragedies of Euripides rank higher
than the comfortable sayings of Horace.
81 also have suffered, they proudly say.
In sorrow only I seekfo consolation. &"
Clearly, there are as many ways of be-
ing or doing the one thing as there are
of being or doing the other. To cnIti-
vate habits of ready forgiveness, of
earnest and persistent cheerfulness
about small things, of looking on the
bright side, carries a man long way in
one direction. To such, however, as
choose the oppisite path we volunteer
some well-intentioned advice. Those
who find their pleasure, or, if that be
too strong a word, their satisfac-
ton, in developing unhappiness in
and for themselves and others must
| bring to their task as much care and
concentration of purpose as if the OBJ
jectWefe hot5only good and diwise in it
self, but in the nature of things abso-
lutely necessary and the means to this
end should be the subject of serious
reflection A well-sustained arti-
fetal physiog lomy or demeanor of any
kind often turns counterfeit into reality.
If man fixes his face for good temper,
he almost compels himself to be good
tempered whereas by assuming perpet-
ually peevish expression, a peevish
temper is engendered. But this is
work of time. OF course, the better
and more thorough method is to Gre
ate in your own breast the sentiment
You desire to manifest. And this with
practice becomes a matter of the utmost
facility, laying down a line beforehand,
so that in representing un appiness you
may not appear in the character of des-
pair.--PaH Mall Gazette. .5..-


Freedom the Basis of Home Joy.


Theoretically. we eagerly subscribe to
the belief that "there's no place like
home !" practically we often enstultify our
selves by makinghome so far from agree
able that the beautiful song is true to
our experience in an opposite way from
the one thepoet meant. The great trou-
BILE in three homes out of five is that
they are inelastic: there is no room left
in their economy forindividual freedom.
The same unbending rule is made to ap-
ply to half dozen people, no two of
whom are precisely alike, and who may
be so differently constituted that what
to one is no trouble is to another ty-
ranny. For instance, In fit of virtue
such as comes to most morals now and
then, the heads of house ordain that
breakfast shall be an hour earlier than
usual Ali right, if they would consent
to take it themselves and leave the rest
to do as they please. But early rising,
with all due respect to it, is of the Phar-
isees, Pharisaical, and it's votaries sell
dom fail to sound a trumpet before them,
which nos only procIaims their ownmer-
its but efectually puts an end to sleep
on the part of others. There is no earthly
reason patent to the unpreiudiced mind
why a table must needs be kept stand
ing with the debris of a meal upon it, a
mute. but eloquent reminder to the last
conner that he is late or why a coffee
pot may not be set conveniently back
upon a range, a saucepan left boiling for
the egg that is cooked just in three lit
| tie minutes, and toast or mullins kept
warm at an expenditure of time and pa
tience quite inhnitesimal. Gould one,
| disinclined to rise at the breakfast hour,
feeling the need of "a little more sleep,
a little more sIumber,D be perfectly sure
that he was not keeping the dining-room
in confusion, that the work was going
on, and that pleasant smiles would vel
come him by and by to a cozy littleside-
table, how much more comfortable would
be that last hour of repose There are
sanity beings who darken blinds and
steal round softly in the morning that
tired people may enjoy just this sort oi
\ rest but they are, alas rare. It is OF
triles, after all, that the JOY of home
| living depends At bottom family may
be entirely devoted to each others in
.terests, the husband may toll and the
wife may save with unfaltering zeal and
fidelity, and both may love their chill
dren and be willing to lay down theil
lives for them. Yet they may make
each other wretched, and render theii
children's lives a burden, by failure il
little eourtesies, by lack of little recog
nitions, by caring more for things tha


perish than for the essence that Is i'm
mortal. - Hearth and Home.


History Written in Song.


1t has been we'll said that the history
I OF most European nations might be ga
thered from their song. This is pre-
eminently true of Great Britain. Ever!