never done anything but tear down and destroy what optimism has built up.

In the business office, as in society, everywhere, the favorite is always the cheerful person. Goodnatured, cheerful people do not waste their vital energy as rapidly as the grumbler or the too sober ones. They work with less friction.

Good cheer is a lubricant; it oils all of life's machinery.

Business men are beginning to find out that employees can do more and much better work in a sunny, cheerful atmosphere of kindness and good will than in a gloomy, depressing one, where harsh criticism and fault-finding is the rule, and smiles and words of cheer and encouragement the exception.

A newsboy in New York told me recently that he has one woman customer who makes his whole day seem brighter, pleasanter, and his work easier, because of her cheerful smile and kind greeting as she buys her morning paper on her way to busi

ness.

People who radiate sunshine have a faculty of turning the common water of life into the most delicious wine. Their cheery salutation; their coming into a home is like the coming of the morning after a long, dark night. Their smile acts upon a sad heart like magic. It dispels the fogs of gloom and despair, as the sun dispels the mists and the miasma which hang over a stagnant swamp. These

sunshine characters are public benefactors. They are the unpaid boards of health who look after the public welfare.

Nobody but himself may be helped by the money millionaire; but everybody is enriched who knows or comes in contact with the millionaire of good cheer, and the more he gives of his wealth, the more it multiplies. It is like the seed put into the soil the more one sows, the greater the harvest.

To be able to laugh away trouble is greater fortune than to possess the mines of King Solomon. It is a fortune, too, that is within the reach of all who have the courage and nobility of soul to keep their faces turned to the light.

Children should be brought up with the idea that life is a beautiful gift, and that they should always rejoice and be glad. They should be taught that they are the children of the King of kings, that happiness and success are their birthright, and that there is nothing to be sad or gloomy about.

A sweet old lady who was asked the secret of her perpetual cheerfulness, said: "I think it is because we were taught as children to be cheerful always, especially at table. My father was a lawyer with a large criminal practice; his mind was harassed with difficult problems all day long, yet he always came to the table with a smile and a pleasant greeting for every one, and exerted himself to make the meal hour delightful. All his powers to charm were freely given to entertain

his family. Three times a day we felt this genial influence, and the effect was marvelous. If a child came to the table with cross looks, he or she was quietly sent away to find a good boy or girl, for only such were allowed to come within that loving circle. We were taught that all petty grievances and jealousies must be forgotten when meal time came, and the habit of being cheerful three times. a day, under all circumstances, had its effect on even the most sullen temper. Grateful as I am for all the training received in my childhood home, I look back upon the table influence as among the best of my life."

The time will come when a person who goes about among his fellows displaying a sour face and ugly disposition, radiating gloom, pessimism, will be considered an enemy of his kind, and will not be tolerated in society.

It is just as much our duty to be cheerful, and to carry a good-will attitude toward our fellowmen as it is to be honest. It is every one's duty to turn to the world a smiling face, a face that is full of hope, that radiates optimism, that indicates that the race is moving God-ward, that things are on the Heaven-ward trend.

To go about the world with a gloomy, forbidding face is not only a great wrong to one's fellowmen, but an insult to the Creator. It is a libel on His work to go through this world, where everythings bids us smile and be glad, wearing long,

sad faces, with expressions of doubt, fear, and anxiety.

I have always felt a protest within me against the sad Christ pictures seen everywhere in art gal leries, especially those of Europe. Personally, I believe that Christ, the God-man, was one of the happiest, most radiant, cheerful characters that ever lived. To me, anything else is unthinkable. I do not believe that He went around with a long, sad face, scattering melancholy everywhere. This would have been an indication of weakness, of failHis mission was to show man triumphant, and I believe He went around with the air of a conqueror, of a victor, not of one vanquished.

ure.

His message was one of hope and cheer for the race. He came to usher in the new day and He did it like a king, not like a slave. There was triumph in His very mien; His manner showed that a masterly Man had arrived and not a weakling, a truckling, apologizing, backboneless man. I believe He walked the earth with an air of triumph which no other individual ever exhibited. There was a light in His eyes never seen in mortal eye before, a declaration of salvation for the race of grandeur and superiority never before dreamed by mortals. I believe that Christ radiated sunshine, cheerfulness, and hope wherever He went. There were no shadows on His face because there were none in His mind. He gave out sunshine and joy and gladness. His very presence gave hope and courage

to those who had lost in the battle for the right. His presence was an indescribable tonic to people, an inspiration that made them feel happier, better, nobler.

"Away with these fellows who go howlingthrough life," wrote Beecher, "and all the while passing for birds of paradise, He that can not laugh and be gay should look to himself. He should fast and pray until his face breaks forth into light."

It is the inner light that shows forth in the face. If you would look sweet and keep sweet you must be sweet. You must think pleasant thoughts, and have a kindly, generous, magnanimous feeling toward everybody. If there are enemies in your mind, enemies in your thought, hateful, jealous feelings in your mind, they will all reproduce themselves on your face.

If you want to be a joy bearer, a sunshine center, form the habit of flooding your mind with healthful, wholesome, happy, kindly thoughts and pictures. This is the way to drive out their opposites,—gloom, sadness, jealousy, ill will, all sorts of bitter thoughts. Good cheer depends upon the mental guests which you entertain.

No matter what excuse you may have, or how tempted you are to hold unkind thoughts, the hatred, angry, jealous thoughts toward others, do not listen to their suggestions; insist on holding the Christ thought, the good-cheer thoughts. Say to