f cancer is that the sufferer therefrom
has a dread of mentioning the horror that is eating away her life.

Since, then, imaginary woe is a species of self-indulgence, let us
stamp that healthful person who gives way to it as either grossly
selfish or foolishly affected. Illness is the only excuse for such
weakness, and even then will-power may do much toward chasing away the
blue devils.

Some people find it harder than others to be uniformly cheerful. While
one man is, as the saying is, "born happy," another inherits a
tendency to look upon the sombre aspect of every matter presented to
him. To the latter, the price of cheerfulness is eternal vigilance
lest he lapse into morbidness. But after a while habit becomes second
nature. I do not advocate the idea of taking life as a huge joke. The
man or woman who does this, throws the care and responsibility that
should be his or hers upon some other shoulders. My plea is for the
brave and bright courage that makes labor light. When we work, let us
work cheerfully; when we play, let us play with our whole hearts. In
this simple rule lies the secret of the youth that endures long after
the hair is white and the Delectable Mountains are in sight.

There is no habit of more fungus-like growth than that of melancholy,
yet many good people give way to it. Some Christians go through this
life as if it were indeed a vale of tears, and they, having been put
in it without their consent were determined to make the worst of a bad
bargain, and to be as wretched as opportunity would allow. How much
better to consider this very good world as a garden, whose beauty
depends largely upon our individual exertions to make it fair. We may
cultivate and enjoy the flowers, or let them become so overrun with
underbrush that the blossoms are smothered and hidden under the dank
growth of the evil-smelling and common weeds.

Said a clergyman to one of his depressed and downcast parishioners:

"My friend, your religion does not seem to agree with you."

Only a few chapters back I quoted from the Apostle of
Cheerfulness--Dr. Holmes--that most quotable of men. But he expresses
what I would say so much more clearly than I can, that once more I
refer my readers to him. I do not apologize for doing so. This last
one of the noble company of America's great writers, who have passed
away during the last ten years, cannot be read too much or loved too
dearly. Let us see, what he, as Autocrat of the Break