Cheerfulness! How sweet in infancy, how lovely in youth, how saintly in
age! There are a few noble natures whose very presence carries sunshine
with them wherever they go; a sunshine which means pity for the poor,
sympathy for the suffering, help for the unfortunate, and benignity
toward all. How such a face enlivens every other face it meets, and
carries into every one vivacity, joy and gladness.
At the same time, life will always be to a large extent what we make it.
Each mind makes its own little world. The cheerful mind makes it
pleasant, the discontented mind makes it miserable. “My mind to me a
kingdom is,” applies alike to the peasant and the monarch. Life is, for
the most part, but the mirror of our own individual selves.