Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 114, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1915 — Contentment [ARTICLE]

Contentment

•Rich people don’t get half as much fun oat of life as some of of poor folks,” exclaimed little Phyllis Hall, as she sat darning her boys' stockings, while she rocked the cradle, with little I “Babbie” in it, with her foot. “Just imagine having all the things , in life that one coaid wish for; never having the fan of saving up for a treat, or to know the triumph of making your own gowns!” she laughed, as she bit off a piece of thread with her gleaming white teeth. "Don’t you ever envy the women yu know who have all the luxuries of life and never have a wish ungrade fled?”

"No. I agree with Ruskin when he said it is happier to live in a small house, and have Warwick Castle to wonder at, than to live in Warwick Castle and have nothing to be aston* ished at. "It’s really fun to be poor if you look at it from the right angle. Tou see, dear, that is what most Women are unable or decline to do.” And reaching to the basket at her side she took up another pair of stockings that were nearly all holes. “Women,” she continued, “are more apt to nodce the disadvantages of life, and brood over them until they become bo big that they hide all the little advantages and benefit*; *“■* 7 ~ “A housekeeper who can afford but one servant bemoans the fact that she must spend part of the morning in the kitchen, and starts to think how lovely it would be to have a whole staff of servants and • housekeper to manage them. “Straightway she begins to pity herself because she can not spend hours in social pleasures, as do her more fortunate neighbors. “About this time all the ordinary little worries and annoyances assume huge proportions, and she grows fussy, ill tempered and says life is not worth living if it must be spent in continual drudgery. “Life Is always worth living. “Even if it is not free from sorrow and disappointment, it is a glorious gift if we will let it be flooded with the rosy hues of cheerfulness and of love. “It is a great mistake to compare our existence with some other one’s who is richer than we. If we must compare then let it be with someone whose life is burdened with sorrow, losses and unhappiness. “Banish the ugly, envious little thoughts that spring up like weeds, and break up our selfish discontent and make room for the beautiful flowers of the soul to flourish. “Never say, ‘I can not be contented; it isn’t my nature.* The thing to do is to cultivate contentment and make the best of what material you have to work with. “In all probability you would do no better, even if you had all the advantages enjoyed by your neighbors, all the money and everything it could buy. “’Make the best of what is, and never worry over what might have been, is my motto. When I become dissatisfied I strive as hard as I can to improve matters, and I always supceed.

“There, there, Babble darling, don’t cry; mother %ill get the baby Jier dinner right away. "Rock the cradle gently a minute, will you, dear, while I warm Babbie’* milk for her?” As she left the room I breathed a prayer of thanks giving for the valu* able lesson in contentment that I had just been taught.