Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 July 1886 — Recipes for Happiness. [ARTICLE]

Recipes for Happiness.

Cultured, educated people have not become so in a day. They have grown so gradually. It is a lifelong task, a lifetime’s collection, learn one thing today, acquire another grace to-morrow; or, “save the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves,” is a good rule in self-cultivation as in everything else. Our most successful American actress tells us that, early in her career, she was given the following advice by thq poet Longfellow: “Each day look at some beautiful picture, listen to some beautiful music, and give yourself some pleasure, no matter how busily engaged in your profession.” This systematic education has, no doubt, aided greatly her artistic success. Add a grace to your home, hang a picture in a new light, or put a fresh ribbon on baby’s frock, go out, visit an acquaintance, if only for five minutes, study the art-store window, if you can do no better, and you will unconsciously breathe in a new interest in life. : To meet the claims of every-day commonplaces is a righteous duty; but to become the-slaves of labor, to leave no time for culture and social intercourse is immediately paid by the penalty that we soon have no desire for them. We are born “heirs of all the ages,” and time is given us for these very things. The world, with its natural beauty and harmony, is made for our pleasure and use; we are in it, and must fulfill our destiny. To drudge away life for a conspicuous place in society can never be considered a laudable enterprise; but to devote time and intelligent attention to the cultivation of the mind, the accomplishments of the hand, and the beautifying of the personal appearance, so as to influence those around us to higher aims, and by our very presence give them pleasure, is certainly only meeting the demands made upon our higher natures. It would be no unworthy thing to live for alone to cultivate the powers within us until they become the breath of others’ joys, to be able to fill the atmosphere in which others stand with a brightness which they can not create for themselves. Bnt su h an investment of power pays a two-fold dividend. The brightness thrown over other lives is always reflected back upon our own.— Chicago Ledger.