Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 286, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1910 — cheering up business [ARTICLE]

cheering up business

The cheerlng-up business is one of the most profitably enterprises one can engage In, so far as paying one’s way in life Is concerned. To be sure, those who always appear cheerful aid happy are never supposed to have troubles of their own, and to them Is denied the gift of sympathy, because it is taken for granted they do not need it, but they have taeir compensations, and those who cheer others need have little fear of themselves. ,

Being cheerful may be made as much a habit of mind as being gloomy. The realization of this is not so general as it should be, but in trying to keep the song going in the lives of others, the melody of it gets into one’s own, and brings the understanding that while the strain may sometimes change to a minor key, it will surely blend again into joyous major tones.

Part of the knowledge one gets by going into the cheering-up business is that the pain which is born of sorrow, the distress which arises from trouble, the stings of irritation, will surely pass away. “Never a shadow sat on one side of the hearth without an angel on the other.” The truth of this is understood clearly by those who cling persistenly to the cheerful view of things and endeavor to bring it before the eyes of others. Many of the cheer-up ones are unconscious that they are engaged in the business. They are. born to face life with a cheery countenance, and are simply fulfilling their destiny without requiring premeditation to govern their actions.

The one who is born with a cheerful spirit is a lucky mortal, but cheerfulness in common with most attributes of the mind, may be acquired if it is nourished by thought and practice. Those who have acquired cheerfulness by a vigorous course of selftraining know its full value. The contrast between the shadowed days and the days ruled by a bright spirit leaves no question as to which is the better, and the enthusiasm thus awakened creates the desire to sow benefits upon the world by being happy. _ j Heart cheer grows and grows as fast as it is given away, and the source from which it springs is seemingly inexhaustible. To be successful in the cheering-up business one must go into it without thought of profit for reward. If these are not looked for one is never disappointed, and under any circumstances generosity means to give, without expecting to receive in return. If reward comes, as it is almost certain to come in some form or other, it brings the happiness of a pleisant surprise, or the satisfaction that is won by doing a good turn for others. These “goodturns” are of various sorts and kinds. One may do a good turn unawares, simply by smiling and “looking pleasant” at some one at a time when a smile and a pleasant look are most needed. The cheer-up business may be overdone, or meet with, failure, especially if it is too astentatious or it not backed by sincerity. When followed as a fad or mission, or if made too evident that it has been adopted as a philosophy it becomes irritating, and loses the good effect which can result only from the real. Aside from this phase, the benefits which one may give and receive from the cheering-up business are innumerable, but to make it successful when It should be combined sympathy with sorrow, and an understanding that all human beings have tempers 'nd feelings of their own. Unvarying 'heerfulness conquers the most prejudiced and stubborn. It ma/ take time, but, like pluck, it always wins. —Elizabeth Ayres.