ON CHEERFULNESS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 936, 9 February 1917, Page 4

ON CHEERFULNESS.

Cheerfulness is the greatest asset on* can cultivate in these days. The vmnan who goes alnjiit with a long face ami a lugnbrions expression, an<l who has a hal.it of being able to see one side of a question only, and that the <lark s'ule. is p.u enemy to herself, to her friend, and to her nation. She will tell you what a <lu-n<lful thing this war i«. ami how Britain was not prepare<l ami Germany was; what an awful thing it is that our hom and our brothers must go forth ami fight. *" She will enlarge upon the work pnt in by people at the Red Cross and hint darkly that not one-half of the garments or '"omfort." ever reach the men for whom they are intended, but are grabbed up by officials and others who make fortune* out of the simple people at home. She will sigh over the uewspajter and wonder what 'ie* behind it all and how much is bring kept hack. Tf a picnic if arranged, she will invariably prophesy rain and if she goes out in the afternoon and leaves the preparing of the dinner to her maid, she is absolutely certain that the meat will be burnt to a cinder and half her best crockery smashed. She is in every way from the big things down to the most infinitesimal, an enemy to herself, for she gets no single grain of pleasure out of existence and throws cold water on the spirits of others. Not only that, but the meat almost invariably does get burnt to a cinder arid things happen to the crockery for the simple reason that the unfortunate maid has liecome so obsessed by her mistress's unhappy knack of ex]»ecting things to happen that from sheer nervousness they do. When things go wrong she is always ready with an ''l told you -<>." aud she ban a nasty, irritating habit of hesitating whether she will or -die won *t do a thing'. something might happen if she does. In short, she is steej>ed in pessimism and is the most disagreeable person one can meet. Your cheerful ]«-ison is as good as a

tonic any day. She radiates goodness and hope. When she is most down she is most cheerful, which sounds paradoxical but is a truism, for she is so cheerful by nature that she simply can "t help fighting flown her fears and smiling bravely upon the world. The clouds for her have all silver linings and she looks through them with the eyes of faith. Her brightness cheers everyone with whom she comes in contact and her optimism so beams from her eye- that unhappy individual'' whom she passes in the street or sits near on a tram car. are benefited in some uncxplainaMc way. Cheerfulness is one of the most occult forces in human nature. It is more catching than measles or a cold in the head. It is such a dominating factor that it can move mountains. W. M. V.