THE COLONIST. Published Daily—Mornings. Nelson, Monday, February 28, 1898. CHEERFULNESS.

Colonist, Volume XLI, Issue 9108, 28 February 1898, Page 2

THE COLONIST. Published Daily— Mornings. Nelson, Monday, February 28, 1898. CHEERFULNESS.

A lecture was recently given in London by Max O'Rell, the author of " John Bull and his Island," and whose visit to Nelson will be remembered by many, when the lecturer took for his text "The Gospel of Cheerfulness." It is not surprising to gather that he credited Frenchmen with being the most cheerful under the sun, but of course he spoke before his fellow-countrymen became excited over the trial of M. Zola, and before he had any suspicion that the cheerfulness of his compatriots would lead them, or the section in power, to dismiss a professor because he was brave enough to voice his opinions, knowing that they were contrary to those of a French mob, or to punish witnesses who spoke for truth, with a knowledge that they would receive no benefit by doing so. For all that, however, the utterances of Max O'Rell, as he prefers to be called, deserve consideration. He declared that a foreigner visiting France could not fail to be st®ck by the fact that cheerfulness was written on the faces of the people; there was pervading the whole country an air of happiness and contentment that arose from the satisfaction of aims that were attainable because they were not too high. He went on to say that the first duty of man was to be cheerful, and said that France had overcome many great crises through her cheerfulness. His concluding sentence was: "People should not only try to be happy themselves, but should endeavor to make as many persons as they could happy ; and che way to achieve this end was to look at the bright and beautiful side of things. In New Zealand with our wonderful climate and beautiful surroundings there ought to be little difficulty in finding the bright side, but for some reason that has yet to be supplied there seems a very general tendency to search for a. gloomy aspect. It is so at all events in matters political, and in face of progression and of increased comforts there is a decided leaning to depreciate the good and magnify troubles. The disappointed are most affected with the disease, but it is infectious, just as laughter is, and it will bewail for New Zealander3 to bear in mind Max O'Eell's more serious words, and profit by them.