THE GARLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3115, 26 November 1913, Page 71

THE GARLAND.

FOR THE QUIET HOUR.

No. 13. By Duncan Weight, Dunedin. SUNSHINE OR SHADE : WHICH SHALL IT BE? Diogenes, cynic and philosopher, while on a visit to Greece was visited by Alexander the Great, who desired to see this eccentric character. The King accosted Diogenes in his tub : “I am Alexander,” said the King. “I am Diogenes,” said the cynic. ‘Can Ido anything to serve you?” said the King. “Yes,” replied the cynic, “stand from between me and the sun.” Live in the sunshine, don’t live in the gloom. Carry some gladness the world to illume. Live in the brightness, and take this to heart, Tho world will be brighter if you’ll do your part. Live on the housetop, not down in the cell. Open-air Christians live nobly and well. Live where the joys are, and, scorning defeat, Have a good-morrow for all whom you meet. Live as a victor, and triumphing go Thro' this queer worlds beating down every foe. Live in the sunshine; God meant it for you! Live as the robins, and sing the day through. May I venture to ask the candid, honest verdict of readers concerning the following? Do you believe in a sunshiny Christianity? Or do yon believe in a Christian who always looks dreary, weary, and sad? Just for the moment don’t bother about the perpetual giggler who seems to treat life as if it were always a>nd only for childish merriment and puerile jesting. Yon recall Goldsmith’s wellknown utterance ; —“The loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind.” And in view of the perfectly clear and definite words of the Old Book, please don’t throw at me the foolish words, “Jesus Christ was never known to smile.” If yon revere the sacred name never use such a phrase again; put it out of sight and out of mind for ever. He was spotless, holy, divine. Let Scripture speak:— “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance.” “He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” “A merry heart doeth good like medicine.” Wise men talk in this way: Piety is cheerful as the day. “Cheerfulness gives harmony to the soul, and is a perpetual song without words.” “Cheerfulness opens, like spring, all the blossoms of the inward man.” A cheerful spirit moveth quick, A grumbler in the mud will stick. “Cheerfulness enables Nature to recruit its strength.” “Cheerfulness smooths the road ox life.” Be always as cheerful as ever you can, For few will delight in a sorrowful man. Sydney Smith, celebrated for his wit, when a poor curate at a poor dreary place, wrote: —“I am resolved to like it, and to reconcile myself to it, which is more manly than to fancy myself above it, and to send up complaints by post of being thrown away, or being desolate, or such-like trash.” And he acted up to it by honestly doing his duty; and upon bright mornings he drew up tho blinds of bis parlour, opened his window, and “glorified the room,” as he called the operation, with sunsllSne. Oh that we had grace and sense to open the soul to the sunshine! How gloriously sweet is the light! How vast the great creation ! Heaven, earth, sea, and sky, and everything is given to man. Alas ! pride, and lust, and selfishness, like a tangled network of thorns and briars in a dank graveyard, dim the vision and cloud the higher nature, and in place of contentment, song, and a great gladness, there are too often found angry disputations, bitterness, wrangling, and malice. Is one justified in mentioning these things and in putting tho case thus ; Sunshine ok Shade: Which Shall It Be? Happy the man who in spite of the turmoil and struggle of daily life can say and sing : My life flows on an endless song. Above earth's lamentation; 1 catch tho sweet though far-off hymn That hails a new creation. Through all the tumult and the strife, I hear tho music ringing; It finds an echo in my soul— How can I keep from singing? Dr Alexander Maclauen has clearcut utterances on this, and, indeed, on all cognate subjects, and without reservations of any sort declares that it is a distinct duty to be joyful: — “It is a plain, positive duty to cultivate true Christian joy. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ is a command. The true ideal of Christian people so to gather into their place to gladness, and those who do not in some measure attain to a joyous religion fall in a very important part of Christian duty. “Of course there arc many experiences in Christian life, and there arc sides of Christian truth which are calculated to produce a sobered solemnity and sadness. But whilst all that is perfectly true, it is also true that it is incumbent upon Christian people. So to gather into their hearts the far more abounding joys of Divine Communion, quiet trust, and bright hope, as that there shall be no room in our lives for despondency or despair, and not much room in our lives for tears. Christian gladness is Christian duty.” I wish somebody would, or could, tell mo the name of the man (poet and philosopher) who wrote the lines: —

There's a saying old ami rusty, But as good as any new: 'Tis, “Never trouble trouble Till trouble troubles you.” Do not hurry worry By worrying lest it come; To flurry is to worry, ’Twill miss you if you’re mum. If minding will not mind it. Then better not to mind; The best thing is to end it— Just leave it all behind. Then do not, trouble trouble Till trouble troubles you; You’ll only double trouble. And trouble others too. [The reader -who skips these lines (which are not by Browning) in too big a hurry will certainly fail to grasp their meaning and full ” value. Respectfully, therefore, I would suggest that they ba read again slowly, and then the light may come.] -** Moral: Don't cross bridges before you come to them. As the birds sing and trill in their native bush, by all means encourage all young people to be bright and merry and glad. This is their inalienable birthright. But God forbid, however, that they should, like the silly moth, dance round the light as if this were the chief end of life, and finally leap into the flame and perish! I repeat the words, “ God forbid.” I quote a sentence from “ The Gentle Art of Making Happy”; “I think that all of us have known some lives, quit© commonplace, fragrant, with no gifts, yet every life they touched or entered seemed to be blighter and happier and richer for them.” Don’t forget the widow in her bitterness. Don't pass by the poor. Tho Saviour of the world was poor, homeless, and penniless. Think of the aged ones, and tho lonely sufferers who long for a word of cheer. A smiling face is heaven's balm for weary, wounded souls. ’To the aged, the infirm, and the decrepit, who are shut or from God’s fair world, how welcome is a quiet visit, a few words of sweet song, and a nice little gift of level Try it, reader, try it, and radiant beams of sunshine will fill and flood the heart and soul. Behind the glare and the glitter there are sad weary hearts that need your smile and sympathy. Put a bit of sunshine in the day; Others need its cheer, and so do you—• Need it most when outer sky’s dull ray Leaves the sunshine-making yours to do. Give the day a streak of rosy dawn, G?vo it, too, a touch of highest noon; Make the ones about you wonder why Sunset crimson should appear "so :-oor.. w A wise writer says: “ When you find yourselves overpowered, as it were, by melancholy, the hast way is to go out and do something kind to somebody.” Says anotnev: “Next to the sunlight of heaven is the cheerful face. There ia no mistaking it—the bright eye, the unclouded -brow, tire sunny smile, all tell of that which dwells within. “ Ah, there is a world of magic in tha plain, cheerful face. “When care and sorrow would, snap our heartstrings asunder tin’s face looks down upon us, and the painful tension grows lighter, the way seems less dreary, and the sorrow less heavy. God bless tho cheerful face.” May God deliver us from the vile sin of selfishness, which the Veil. Dr Sinclair, Archdeacon of London, affirms i& tha secret of unhappiness. Dark, lowering clouds, but not a. ijiy of sunshine! ’Twas just n tender glance and smileIt drove away the gloom; And cheeks, once wan and pallid, Like summer roics bloorii. “ The truest evil in the world is colei* creeping egotism and heartless selfish - ncos.” Benson writes : “ Smiles are much morci becoming than frowns.” Pascal says: “Kind words never blister tho tongue; though they do not cost much, yet they accomplish much.” Most of us will, I think, cheerfully endorse this sentiment, too: “We firmly believe that the need of the Church to-day is not an austere and unbending Puritanism, but a large-hearted, cheerful spirit of Christian brotherliness.” Sunshine-making ia a blessed task: Cheery hearts, like lovely, wide, blue sky, Banish weary gloom and give fresh hope, Check tho rising tear of thoughtless sigh. Perhaps you can easily spot the pessimistic man who admits quite frankly that this Dominion has had years of marvellous prosperity and development. But, putting on a grave look, he says sadly: “ But think of the times that are not far away; we must pay for all this yet.” What a dismal world this would be if such characters were universal. But, happily, they are not; and a good thing too. There are, happily, crowds of souls that arc gentle and loving, cheerful and bright, hearty and wholesome. They Jiv© in the sunshine, and scatter healing sunbeams everywhere. Wo know them. You know them, and we wish there wero more like them.