domestic happiness depends upon
what he himself contributes to the partnership, that he can not take
out a great deal without putting a great deal in, for selfishness
always reaps a mean, despicable harvest. It is only the generous giver
who gets much. There is nothing which will so shrivel up a man; and
contract his capacity for happiness as selfishness. It is always a
fatal blighter, blaster, disappointer. We must give to get, we must be
great before we can get great enjoyment; great in our motive, grand in
our endeavor, sublime in our ideas.

It is impossible, absolutely unscientific, for a bad person to be truly
happy; just as impossible as it would be for one to be comfortable
while lying on a bed of nettles which are constantly pricking him.
There is no way under heaven by which a person can be really happy
without being good, clean, square, and true. This does not mean that a
person is happy because he does not use tobacco, drink, gamble, use
profane language or does not do other vicious things. Some of the
meanest, narrowest, most contemptible people in the world do none of
these things but they are uncharitable, jealous, envious, revengeful.
They stab you in the back, slander you, cheat you. They may be
cunning, underhanded, and yet have a fairly good standing in the
church. No person can be really happy who has a small, narrow,
bigoted, uncharitable mind or disposition. Generosity, charity,
kindness are absolutely essential to real happiness. Deceitful people
can not be happy; they can not respect themselves because they inwardly
despise themselves for deceiving you. A person must be open minded,
transparent, simple, in order to be really happy. A person who is
always covering up something, trying to keep things from you,
misleading you, deceiving you, can not get away from self-reproach, and
hence can not be really happy.

Selfishness is a fatal enemy of happiness because no one ever does a
really selfish thing without feeling really mean, without despising
himself for it. I have never seen a strong young man sneak into a
vacant seat in a car and allow an old man or woman with a package or a
baby in her arms to stand, without looking as though he knew he had
done a mean, selfish thing. There is a look of humiliation in his
face. We are so constituted that we can not help condemning ourselves
for our mean or selfish acts.

The liar is never really happy. He is always on nettles lest his
dec