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“How
to Develop Self-Confidence
In Speech and Manner” eBook Online Version
THE FOOT-PATH TO PEACE
To be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars; to be satisfied with your possessions but not contented with yourself until you have made the best of them; to despise nothing in the world except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except cowardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgust; to covet nothing that is your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and gentleness of manners; to think seldom of your enemies, often of your friends, and every day of Christ; and to spend as much time as you can, with body and with spirit, in God's out-of-doors, these are little guide-posts on the foot-path to peace.
Henry Van Dyke.
*Reprinted from The Outlook. Copyright, 1900, by the Outlook Company. Permission of Henry van Dyke.
Chapter XIX
TOWARD THE HEIGHTS
When we go forth to do our work with gladness of heart, a higher power seems to lend us its beneficent aid. Work that is cheerfully done is usually well done. The mighty deeds wrought for humanity invariably have sprung from hearts inspired by gladness of life. To be grateful for opportunity to act, to work, to love, and to serve, is one of the supreme joys of earth.
"We are living now in eternity and the time to be glad is to-day. How often must we remind ourselves that heaven is within us and that cheerfulness is a habit of the soul? Phillips Brooks somewhere says that no man is content to live a half life when he knows of the higher half life that is his. To be truly glad of life we must come into conscious recognition of our rich inheritance. On every side there is so much to inspire gladness of life: the love of men, the beauties of nature, the sweetness of friendship, the joy of service. Every day is the dawn of golden opportunity and every night a purple benediction of rest and peace. We should go forward with blithesome heart song, happy in the consciousness of living here and now.
We are not to be glad of life simply because it gives us riches and houses and books and worldly possessions, but because it gives us the chance to love the true and beautiful and good everywhere. Because it enables us to develop all that is best in us and to raise ourselves to empyrean heights. Because it reveals the divinity within us and the glorious destiny just beyond.
Several years ago a successful man retired from business, wishing to live a life of ease and comfort. He entered society, and with little to do became a slave to drink. Gradually he grew more unhappy, until illness and discouragement took possession of him. One day he determined again to engage in business, and as a result he is to-day as well and happy as ever.
The worst misfortune that can befall a man in this world is enforced idleness. To have nothing to do, no set purpose, no ambition, is as dangerous as it is disintegrating. The record of many rich men's sons living in luxury and ease is a startling testimony to the insidious power of indolence. The will to labor is a greater thing than genius. Perseverance and determination have been the distinguishing marks of all great men. Who can forget Carlyle's heroic will to work when the accident befell his manuscript of the first volume of the "French Revolution"? He had lent the precious document to a literary friend, John Stuart Mill, who left it lying carelessly in his room. 'When he wished to return it Mill could not find it. It was then discovered that the maid, seeing it on the floor, had thrown it into the fire. Carlyle's anguish can easily be conceived, for much of his valuable data had been cast aside or destroyed. "With iron courage he set diligently to work and reproduced the manuscript. He it was who said: "Blest is the man who has found his work."
The work we aim to do is an index of our mind. When Leonardo chose the Last Supper for his theme he forthwith proclaimed the quality of his spirit. Not every one is born a genius, but if your work be good and right, what matter if it be great or small? It is the spirit in which we labor that determines the value of what we do. We may learn to sing with Mrs. Browning:
Beloved, let us love so well our work shall still be better for our love, and still our love be sweeter for our work!
The joy of work is enhanced by occasional periods of relaxation. Every man should have a "playtime" daily. It is well to let the mental and physical machinery down at frequent intervals in order that one may return to his labor rejuvenated. There is a world of philosophy in the saying, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." A man who is merely a machine and money-grubber, who knows not how to play, misses much of the best in life. The railroad magnate who cuts his life in two through overwork, has failed to apply his business astuteness to the important matter of right living.
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