THE JOY OF DOING
Half-way, half-hearted doings never amount to much. Battles are not
won with flags at half-mast. No, they are run up to the very tops of
their standards and are waved as far toward the heavens as is
possible.
If we lack enthusiasm we are almost as certain to fail of achieving an
end as a locomotive engine that lacks steam is of climbing the grade.
Even a listless, lackadaisical spirit may get on all right so long as
the path of life is all on a level or is down grade, but when it comes
to hill-climbing and the real experiences of life that serve to
develop character, it is likely to give up the contest and surrender
the prize it might win to other and more earnest competitors.
"If you would get the best results, do your work with enthusiasm as
well as fidelity," says Dr. Lyman Abbott. "Only he can who thinks he
can!" says Orison Swett Marden. "The world makes way only for the
determined man who laughs at barriers which limit others, at
stumbling-blocks over which others fall. The man who, as Emerson says,
'hitches his wagon to a star,' is more likely to arrive at his goal
than the one who trails in the slimy path of the snail."
Every girl knows that the girl friends whom she loves best are the
ones who are alive to the world about them and who feel an enthusiasm
in the tasks and privileges that confront them.
Enthusiasm is the breeze that fills the sails and sends the ship
gliding over the happy waves. It is the joy of doing things and of
seeing that things are well done. It gives to work a thoroughness and
a delicious zest and to play a whole-souled, health-giving delight.
Only they who find joy in their work can live the larger and nobler
life; for without work, and work done joyously, life must remain
dwarfed and undeveloped. "If you would have sunlight in your home,"
writes Stopford Brooke, "see that you have work in it; that you work
yourself, and set others to work. Nothing makes moroseness and
heavy-heartedness in a house so fast as idleness. The very children
gloom and sulk if they are left with nothing to do. If all have their
work, they have not only their own joy in creating thought, in making
thought into form, in driving on something to completion, but they
have the joy of ministering to the movement of the whole house, when
they feel that what they do is part of a living whole. That in itself
is sunshine. See how the face lights up, how the step is quickened,
how the whole man or child is a different being from the weary,
aimless, lifeless, complaining being who had no work! It is all the
difference between life and death."
We must play life's sweet keys if we would keep them in tune. Charles
Kingsley says: "Thank God every morning when you get up that you have
something to do that day which must be done whether you like it or
not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in
you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will,
cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will
never know."
All the introspective thinkers of the world have agreed that nothing
else is so hard to do as is "nothing." It is unwholesome for one to
have more leisure than a mere breathing spell now and then for the
purpose of setting to work once more with renewed energy.
They who work with their hearts as well as their hands do not grow
tired. A labor of love is a labor of growing delight. "The moment toil
is exchanged for leisure," writes Munger, "a gate is opened to vice.
When wealth takes off the necessity of labor and invites to idleness,
nature executes her sharpest revenge upon such infraction of the
present order; the idle rich live next door to ruin." And Burton puts
the case even more strongly when he says: "He or she that is idle, be
they of what condition they will, never so rich, so well allied,
fortunate, happy--let them have all things in abundance and felicity
that heart can wish and desire,--all contentment--so long as he or she
or they are idle, they shall never be pleased, never well in mind or
body, but weary still, sickly still, vexed still, loathing still,
weeping, sighing, grieving, suspecting, offended with the world, with
every object, wishing themselves gone or dead, or else carried away
with some foolish phantasy or other."
But riches do not necessarily have to be associated with idleness.
Riches rightly employed bestow upon the possessors of them the blessed
privilege of being employed in the kind of work where they can serve
to the best advantage and do most for their fellowmen. Indeed, the
possession of riches places upon those who have them the moral
necessity and obligation of doing more and better things in the world
than is expected of the ones less amply supplied with wealth. "From
every man according to his ability; to every man according to his
needs." The larger responsibilities are placed upon those to whom are
given the larger means of achievement.
So it is a mistake to fancy that the possession of great riches would
relieve us from doing all the tasks and duties for ourselves and for
others that are inevitably essential for the physical and spiritual
health and happiness of all mankind. No matter in whatever walk of
life we may find ourselves, we must exercise our muscles or they will
become weak and useless; we must stir and interest our hearts or they
will grow hard and unresponsive; we must use our minds or they will
become dull and inactive; we must employ our consciences or they will
grow to be blind and unsafe guides that must lead us into dark
distress.
But to be employed does not mean that we must necessarily work in the
fields, or in the factory, or in the office. There are a thousand ways
in which we may serve the world. The only requirement is that we shall
devote a portion of our time and energy to genuine service in behalf
of our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our teachers, our friends,
and all the world. And we must be grateful for the chance to serve
others and deem it an opportunity rather than an obligation.
And above all, we must find delight in the work we are privileged to
do. "Every one should enjoy life," writes the ever glad and inspiring
pen guided by the hand of Patrick Flynn: "Life was made to enjoy. We
mean life, itself. The very living and breathing. It is a divine
pleasure to inhale a breath of fragrant air out here in the country
these charming summer mornings. And what jewels can compare in color
or brilliancy with the pearly dewdrops that shine and glisten in the
early sun! And the sun, itself! The great, mysterious, miraculous sun!
Its myriads of vibrations dancing in the warm air like golden fairies
and dazzling one's eyes with their wondrous beauty! Aye, and filling
one's soul with love and one's body with health. And in the evening
when the day's work is done there is above us that mysterious depth of
star-spangled sky. We cannot fathom its mystery but like a stream of
grace descending from heaven, we can feel the cool, refreshing dew on
our upturned brow. Until at last we feel that we should like to take
wing and actually fly up among those unknown worlds and come back with
the story to our readers. And even though we cannot grow the wings, we
go up in fancy and seldom come back without some new tale. The message
is: 'Live life, love life, enjoy life, if you would overcome all fear
of death.'"
That is the spirit in which we should look upon all the beauty and
wonder about us. To-morrow will ever be a joyous hope and yesterday a
golden memory, if we are thoughtful regarding the manner in which we
live
TO-DAY
Let's live to-day so it shall be,
When shrined within the memory,
As free from self-inflicted sorrows
As are our hopes of our to-morrows.
There are many who make the serious mistake of thinking that
joyousness and cheerfulness are only for the play hour and are not to
be made a part and factor of the time we must devote to toil. No view
could be more faulty and regrettable. It is in our working hours that
we should seek to be cheerful and sunshiny. All of our tasks should be
sweetened and glorified with the leaven of good humor.
The task seems never very long
If measured with a smile and song.
Listen while one faithful worker, Emory Belle, tells us how she
carried the spirit of good cheer to her daily tasks and what came of
it:
"I started out to my work one morning, determined to try the power of
cheerful thinking (I had been moody long enough). I said to myself: 'I
have often observed that a happy state of mind has a wonderful effect
upon my physical make-up, so I will try its effect upon others, and
see if my right thinking can be brought to act upon them.' You see, I
was curious. As I walked along, more and more resolved on my purpose,
and persisting that I was happy, that the world was treating me well,
I was surprised to find myself lifted up, as it were; my carriage
became more erect, my step lighter, and I had the sensation of
treading on air. Unconsciously, I was smiling, for I caught myself in
the act once or twice. I looked into the faces of the women I passed
and there saw so much trouble and anxiety, discontent, even to
peevishness, that my heart went out to them, and I wished I could
impart to them a wee bit of the sunshine I felt pervading me.
"Arriving at the office, I greeted the book-keeper with some passing
remark, that for the life of me I could not have made under different
conditions, I am not naturally witty; it immediately put us on a
pleasant footing for the day; she had caught the reflection. The
president of the company I was employed by was a very busy man and
much worried over his affairs, and at some remark that he made about
my work I would ordinarily have felt quite hurt (being too sensitive
by nature and education); but this day I had determined nothing should
mar its brightness, so replied to him cheerfully. His brow cleared,
and there was another pleasant footing established, and so throughout
the day I went, allowing no cloud to spoil its beauty for me or others
about me. At the kind home where I was staying the same course was
pursued, and, where before I had felt estrangement and want of
sympathy, I found congeniality and warm friendship. People will meet
you half-way if you will take the trouble to go that far.
"So, my sisters, if you think the world is not treating you kindly
don't delay a day, but say to yourselves: 'I am going to keep young in
spite of my gray hairs; even if things do not always come my way I am
going to live for others, and shed sunshine across the pathway of all
I meet.' You will find happiness springing up like flowers around you,
will never want for friends or companionship, and above all the peace
of God will rest upon your soul."
And all of this was brought about by a change in the attitude of the
mind and a determination to look upon the sunshiny, rather than the
dark, side of life. We can all do as much. It is for us to say whether
we will be happy and make others happy, or whether we shall be
distressed and thereby distress others.
What sort of girl are you going to be? Are you going to make the world
glad or sorry that you are in it? Why don't you decide, as you read
these lines, as did Emory Belle when starting to her work that
morning, that you will try to carry sunshine and not gloom into the
lives of all you meet? Let us hope that there is no great reform in
this matter to be worked in your life; but that you have ever been a
joy-bringer and not a gloom-maker.
Therefore let us look well to the attitude of mind and our habit of
looking at things. One of our careful students of human attributes
tells us--and the truth of which we all know--"that there is nothing
surer than that we go and grow in just that direction in which our
mind is most firmly fixed. Hoarding money absorbs the whole time and
mind of the miser; how to scatter it is the chief thought of the
spendthrift. Our daily actions, and their result on our lives, are the
effect of a cause--and that cause is invariably our previous thought.
What you think most of to-day will be most likely what you will repeat
to-morrow. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that we begin to
think as deeply as possible on just those things that build us up.
Half the work is already done if we can only concentrate our minds on
that which we desire to do. It is the mind that drags us either up or
down. Where that leads we follow. The power of direction is with us,
but we cannot send our mind in one direction and then take the
opposite road ourselves. Therefore, whether we are moving upward or
downward in the scale of life depends on whether we are thinking up or
thinking down. This is a truth that every person's experience will
prove to his own satisfaction. Thought impels action, action forms
habit, and habit rules our lives. So that no matter what direction we
may wish to take, up or down, it is only necessary for us to fix our
mind in the desired direction."
So let us pause and take an account of stock and ascertain whether we
are thinking ourselves up or down, whether we are building truthfully
or falsely, whether we are going forward or backward,
JUST THIS MINUTE
If we're thoughtful, just this minute,
In whate'er we say or do;
If we put a purpose in it
That is honest, through and through,
We shall gladden life and give it
Grace to make it all sublime;
For, though life is long, we live it
Just this minute at a time.
Just this minute we are going
Toward the right or toward the wrong,
Just this minute we are sowing
Seeds of sorrow or of song.
Just this minute we are thinking
On the ways that lead to God,
Or in idle dreams are sinking
To the level of the clod.
Yesterday is gone, to-morrow
Never comes within our grasp;
Just this minute's joy or sorrow,
That is all our hands may clasp.
Just this minute! Let us take it
As a pearl of precious price,
And with high endeavor make it
Fit to shine in paradise.
One who finds joy in the doing of things can work more easily and
steadily than one who works unwillingly and unhappily. Good nature is
a lubricant for all the wheels of life. It changes the leaden feet of
duty into the airy wings of opportunity, it not only brings happiness
but that almost necessary adjunct of happiness,--health.
"In the maintenance of health and the cure of disease," says Dr. A. J.
Sanderson, "cheerfulness is a most important factor. Its power to do
good like a medicine is not an artificial stimulation of the tissues,
to be followed by reaction and greater waste, as is the case with many
drugs; but the effect of cheerfulness is an actual life-giving
influence through a normal channel the results of which reach every
part of the system. It brightens the eye, makes ruddy the countenance,
brings elasticity to the step, and promotes all the inner forces by
which life is sustained. The blood circulates more freely, the oxygen
comes to its home in the tissues, health is promoted, and disease is
banished."
When we note how generally the members of the medical profession
ascribe to cheerfulness the very highest of health-giving powers, we
are led to think that the wise words quoted above possess a foundation
of scientific fact. "Faith, hope and love," says Charles G. Ames, "are
purifiers of the blood. They have a peptic quality. They open and
enlarge all the channels of bodily vitality. As was learned long ago,
'A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.' And the self-control which
keeps reason on the throne and makes passion serve is the best of all
domestic physicians."
So the girl who would go down the paths of sunshine will put joy and
enthusiasm into her work and into her play. She will practice her
music lesson, take up her studies at school, assist in performing the
household duties, and in doing the many tasks that come to her hands
in a joyous, whole-hearted manner.
In so doing she will make a pleasure of that which, with dull
complaining, would be a drag and a distress. By this cheerful attitude
of mind she will be able to mold all things to her will and, better
still, she will be able to mold her will to her highest ideal of
splendid womanhood. For none can doubt that man is the architect of
his own fortune, to a very great extent. He is even more than that, he
is of his own self
THE SCULPTOR
I am the sculptor: I, myself, the clay,
Of which I am to fashion, as I will,
In deed and in desire, day by day,
The pattern of my purpose, good or ill.
In breathless bronze nor the insensate stone
Must my enduring passion find its goal;
Within the living statue I enthrone
That essence of eternity, the soul.
Nor space nor time that soul of yearning bars;
It flashes to the zenith of the sky,
And dwelling mid the mystery of the stars,
Aspires to answer the Eternal Why.
It loves the pleasing note of lute and lyre,
The lily's purple, the red rose's glow;
It wonders at the witchery of the fire,
And marvels at the magic of the snow.
"Who taught," it asks, "the ant to build her nest?
The bee her cells? the hermit thrush to sing?
The dove to plume his iridescent breast?
The butterfly to paint his gorgeous wing?
"The spider how to spin so wondrous wise?
The nautilus to form his chambered shell?
The carrier-pigeon under alien skies,
Who taught him how his homeward course to tell?"
By force or favor it would win from fate
The sacred secret of the blood and breath:
Learn all the hidden springs of love and hate,
And gain dominion over life and death.
In every feature of this sculptured face
Of spirit and of substance, I must mold
The shining symbol of a grander grace;
The hope toward which the centuries have rolled.
Oh, hands of mine that the unnumbered years
Evolved from hoof and wing and claw and fin,
'T is ours to bring from out the stress and tears,
A godlike figure fashioned from within.
[Illustration: LOUISA M. ALCOTT]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Transcriber's Note: Sidenote quotations from the preceeding chapter are
gathered in this section.]
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think.
--Emerson.
Gentle words, quiet words, are, after all, the most powerful words.
--Washington Gladden.
Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.
--Thoreau.
Nothing will be mended by complaints.--Johnson.
Peace! Peace! How sweet the word and tender! Its very sound should
wrangling discord still.--Nathan Haskell Dole.
The Spartans did not inquire how many the enemy are, but where they
are.--Agis II.
The man in whom others believe is a power, but if he believes in
himself he is doubly powerful.--Willis George Emerson.
The secrecy of success is constancy to purpose.--Disraeli.
Men talk about the indignity of doing work that is beneath them, but
the only indignity that they should care for is the indignity of doing
nothing.--W. R. Haweis.
Share your happiness with others, but keep your troubles to yourself.
--Patrick Flynn.
Neither days, nor lives can be made noble or holy by doing nothing in
them.--Ruskin.
Use thy youth as the springtime, wherein thou oughtest to plant and
sow all provisions for a long and happy life.--Walter Raleigh.
To have ideas is to gather flowers; to think is to weave them into
garlands.--Madame Swetchine.
When a firm decisive spirit is recognized, it is curious to see how
the space clears around a man and leaves him room and freedom.--John
Foster.
That person is blest who does his best and leaves the rest, so do not
worry.--A. E. Winship.
Work is the best thing to make us love life.--Ernest Renan.
If you want to be miserable, think about yourself,--about what you
want, what you like, what respect people ought to pay to you, and what
people think of you.--Charles Kingsley.
Aspiration carries one half the way to one's desire.--Elizabeth
Gibson.
The best thing is to do well what one is doing at the moment.--Pittacus.
To work and not to genius I owe my success.--Daniel Webster.
No thought is beautiful which is not just, and no thought can be just,
that is not founded on truth.--Joseph Addison.
The loss of self-respect is the only true beggary.--John Lancaster
Spalding.
The tactful person looks out for opportunities to be helpful, without
being obtrusive.--Margaret E. Sangster.
It is labor alone, backed by a good conscience, that keeps us healthy,
happy and sane.--Godfrey Blount.
Labor was truly said by the ancients to be the price which the gods
set upon everything worth having.--Lord Avebury.
Our daily duties are a part of our religious life just as much as our
devotions are.--Beecher.
Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win,
by fearing to attempt.--Shakespeare.
The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be
preserved only by the most delicate handling.--Thoreau.
Energy and determination have done wonders many a time.--Dickens.
Discretion of speech is more than eloquence: and to speak agreeably to
him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words or in good
order.--F. Bacon.
Bread of flour is good: but there is bread, sweet as honey, if we
would eat it, in a good book.--John Ruskin.
What is wrong to-day won't be right to-morrow.--Dutch Proverb.
We are only so far worthy of esteem as we know how to appreciate.
--Goethe.
We are grateful that abundant life lies waiting in the heart of
winter, and there is no condition where life is not.--Isabel Goodhue.
Wishing will bring things in the degree that it incites you to go
after them.--Muriel Strode.
It is impossible to estimate the power for good of a bright, glad
shining face. Of all the lights you carry on your face Joy shines
farthest out to sea.--Anonymous.
No one in this world of ours ever became great by echoing the voice of
another, repeating what that other has said.--J. C. Van Dyke.
One fault mender equals twenty faultfinders.--Earl M. Pratt.
Let us then, be what we are, speak what we think, and in all things
keep ourselves loyal to truth.--Longfellow.
There are some people whose smile, the sound of whose voice, whose
very presence, seems like a ray of sunshine, to turn everything they
touch into gold.--Lord Avebury.
It is work which gives flavor to life. Mere existence without object
and without effort is a poor thing. Idleness leads to languor, and
languor to disgust.--Amiel.
How poor are they who have only money to give!--John Lancaster
Spalding.
Fear begets fear.--A. E. Winship.
What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a
man and fix our attention on his infirmities!--Addison.
There can be no true rest without work and the full delight of a
holiday cannot be known except by the man who has earned it.--Hugh
Black.
The more we do the more we can do; the more busy we are the more
leisure we have.--Hazlitt.
Lost--a golden hour, set with sixty diamond minutes. There is no
reward, for it is gone forever.--Beecher.
Good company and good conversation are the sinews of virtue.--Stephen
Allen.
A triumph is the closing scene of a contest.--A. E. Winship.
Don't forget that the man who can but doesn't must give place to the
man who can't but tries.--Comtelburo.
Advise well before you begin, and when you have maturely considered,
then act with promptitude.--Sallust.
------------------------------------------------------------------------