Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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WHY TAKE LIFE SO " * By Orison Swett Mard When President Roosevelt .as leav ing Washington this, summer for his Oyster Bay vacation, some friends expressed their sympathy for him because of the great burden of his arduous tasks and the stupendous problems pressing upon him. "Oi,, do not waste any sympathy on me," he said, "I have enjoyed every min ute of my stay in Washington. I have had a perfectly corking time." Most men would take the presi dency so seriously they would be so weighed down with its tremendous responsibility and so anxious all the time lest things should not go right, lest they should make some terrible mistake, that they would not really enjoy themselves 'very much. . Sensi tiveness, timidity, would keep many president from any real enjoyment be cause of an embarrassing self-con ciousness as to how they were deport ing themselves, how others were re garding them. They would live in constant dread of the cartoon, cari cature, and criticism of the press. But Mr. Roosevelt always gi: es the impression that he is having a good time. He says he gets a great deal of fun as he goes along, from the hu morous and luclicrous things that are constantly happening, and that there is plenty of it in his home life. When your husband or father comes home again with a thunder cloud on his face, looking as thoug', he thought he were Atlas carrying . world on his shoulders, just laugh him out of his seriousness; tell him how President Roosevelt manages to carry the responsibilities of a nation and still keep fresh, sunny, and happy. The president has certainly given American business and professional men a remarkable example of a man performing the dutieg and carrying the burdens of a great office without losing. his elasticity or buoyancy of mind or body. Some of us are beginning to realize that we have 'taken life too seriously; that we have not had enough play in our lives: that we have not had half enough fun. Many business men see the fallacy of working too many hours a day. Formerly men thought they must spend most or all of the daylight hours in working. Intense applica tion sto business had become almost a religion. But now they are begin ning to learn that it is efficiency, men tal vigor, freshness of mind and body, and not necessarily. long hours, that do things; and that the mental vigor, freshness, and energy which produce efficient work are -impossible when the body is weary and the brain is fag ged; that mental robustness means physical robustness. So there has been a stehdy shortening of the working hours of men of affairs, and an in creasing of the play hours, just in proportion to the importance and ef ficiency of their work and responsi bility. 'Multitudes of men now find that they can accomplish very much more in a yest by spending part of the time which they used to put into work in playing golf, tennis, or in some other recreation, such as yacht ing or flying about the country in an automobile. There are plenty of business men in this country at the head of great establishments who get through an enormous amount of work, who do~not spend more than three or four hours a day in their offices, and who fre quently take long vacations. They find that a good deal of play and mix ing much with the world not only im proves their health and multiplies their efficiency, but also gives them a broader, saner outlook. There is no greater delusion than that we can accomplish more by working a great many hours, strain ing mind and body to the limit of endurance, than by working fewer hours with less strain, less fatigue, but with greater vigor, greater inten sity. Great efficiency, vigorous mental concentration, are impossible when the mind is overstrained, fatigued, or when we do not have sufficient re creation to restore its elasticity, its rebound. Many- Americans have the idea that great achieveme-nt depends upon unceasing, strenuous industry, the everlasting grind. They think that the more they work the more they will accomplish. The fact is that what we achieve in life depends upon the effectiveness of our work, upon our effciency, rather than upon the length of time we work. Many people who are capable of doing good work, do very inferior work, simply because they are mn a run-own jad condition much of 0 SERIOUSLY, ANYWAY. 0 m in Succsss Magazine. the time. Everywhere we see 'nef fective, botched work, inferior pro ducts, because meni do not keep them selves in a vigorous. healthy condi ti n. They do not play enough, d> not have sufficient exercise in the open air; they do not have that re creation that refreshens, renews, and strengthens both mind and muscle. They take life too seriously. When you have plenty of fun ;p'u work with more vigor, and with great er enthusiasm; you begin your day in better spirits, are more hopeful, and you leave your work at night happy, and in a more contented frame of mind. Many men work their employees so gany hours, and so hard, that they do not keep fresh, buoyant, 'and enthusiasti'. Where did the idea come frum that we should take life so seriously, anyway ? Why should a man be such a slave to his bread-winning? There is certainly something wrong in the very idea of sacrificing the juices of our lives for the husks which we get. Remember that there is something else in the word just as important as making money, and a litile more so. Your health, your family, your friend ships should mean a thoutand times more to you than dollar-chasing. Life was given us for enjoyment, not for one long, strenuous, straining struggle spent in the drear-y drudgery of scraping dollars together. Living getting was intended to be only a mere incidental in the larger life of growth, of .freedom, of soul expan sion, mind-enlargement. Men could get fun out of their busi ness if they only knew how. and by taking the drudgery out of it they would not only be happier, but they would also be more prosperons. A great many men fail be-ause they pre too serious; beeuse they develop unsocial, morose, cold qualities which repel, and which make them poor mixers. It is the sunshiny, happy nature which attracts friends and trade. The too-serious people seem to say, "Keep away from me, life is too serious a matter to be spent ou trivial things. '' They are dry, and rutty, beause there is not er;ough play in their lives to furnish the nec essary lubrication, variety, or change. It is well known that many be c .ne irsane beesuse t'-ey. ha not had e'nough play in t.heiin lives. Am ; op1e think it .a undignified to give full vent to their fun-loving instinct. They think the.r mnt be thcongLi!ul, sober-minded, very digni fied, if they would carry any weight in the world, and not be regarded as light-headed and frivolous. We have all seen people who go about with their finger on their lips, figurative ly speaking, as though they faered they might laugh out loud or say something funny. "Away with these fellows who go howling through 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.'' There is too little sentiment in this country; almost everything is reduc ed to a commercial basis, and has ref erence to the dollar. Our American life has become so strenuous, time so valuable, that even Dr. Edward Ever ett Hale, chaplain of the United Sta tes senate is only allowed one minute for prayer in the senate chamber, ex epting on some extraordinary oc casion! I have heard travelers say that when in the United States, they feel depressed, because of the sad,'serious expressions on the American faces. They say we are prematurely old, that we take things too seriously, that we seem to think life was intended to be spent only in pursuing with ire mendous energy some occupation or profession. The average American gives a for eigner the impressionn that he is in that he is in the act of rolling ashuge stone up a steep bill: that while he may smile for a moment now and then, he does not dare to stop and rest and have a little fun lest the stone get away from him. Why take life so seriously, any way? A lot of play will not only improve your health, but increana your efficiency w(.nderfully. Happy recreation has a very sub ie influence upon ones ability, which is emphasized and heightened and multiplied by it. How or.r courage is braced up, our determi-.ation, our ambition. our whole ont'ook on life changed by it! There seem.; to be a sutle fluid from hum:br and fun bati. all ie nwnt? f w!hie". and wCashe- out the brain-ash -ndn debris fr'im exall;lusted lrEbul)1'mll anl Imnus ele-. \V have all experienced the transforming, refreshing. renewing, rejuvenating power of good. whole some fun. From business and econovical standpoints alone, to say nothing of increased health and happiness, even l a good deal of time spent in play is time well spent, and is an essential part of the shrewdest, most profitable business policy you can adopt. The man too absorbed in his busi ness or vocation, too busy to take care of his health, to preserve it by whoseome recreation, is like a work man who is too busy to sharpen his tools. You may never be able to accumu late a large fortune, but whether you are a big lawyer or a small onb, a large merchant- or a little one, you can cultivate the capacity for enjoy ment and fun, and can get a great deal more out of life than many who are perhaps far above you in wealth and position. Take your fun every day as you go along. That is the only way to be sure of it. Do not postpone your happiness; paradise is here or no where. Do not drag your buisness home. Lock it in your office when you leave there at night, and do not think of it until you return. The long, anx ious, sad face and the sour expres sion do not belong in the family cir cle. Just make up your mind that you are going to make your home the happiest place on earth-so happy and so attractive that your children will prefer spending an evening there to going anywhere else. Make a busi ness of having a good time' after din ner or after supper, and during your holidays. Let your presence in the home be a signal to the children for a romp and a play and a good time generally. Do not be afraid of a lit tle noise. or of a little scratched or broken furniture now and. then. This is infinitely better than stunted child hood. dyspepsia, and d1etor's bills. The growth of many a child has been irved and stunted to save a little furniture, bric-a-brac,- or clothing. The first duty we owe a child is to teach it to fling out its inborn glad ness and joy with the same freedom and abandon as the bobolink does when it makes the meadow joyous with its song. Suppression of* the fun-loving nature of a child means the suppression 'of its mental and moral fa9ulties. Joy will go out of the heart of a chila after a while if it is continually suppressed. Mothers who are constantly cautioning the little ones not to do this or not to do that, telling them not to laugh or make a noise, until they lose their natural ness and become little old men and women, do/not realize the harm they are doing. An eminent writer says. "Children without hilarity will never amount to much. Trees without blossoms will never bear fruit.'' There is an irrepressible longing for amusement, for rollicking fun, in young people, and if these longings were more fully met in the home it would not be so difficult to keep the boy and girl under the parental roof. I always think there is something wrong when the father or the chil dren are so very uneasy to get out of the house at night and to go off "somewhere'' where they will have a good time. A happy, joyous home is a powerful magnet to child and ma1i. The sacred memory of it has kept many a person from losing his self -respeet, and from the commis sion of crime. Fun is the cheapest and best medi ine in the world for your children as well as for yourself. Give it to them in good large doses. It will not only save you doctor's bills, but it will also help t.o make your ehildren hap pier, and will improve their chances in lif ',We e' onld 'i need h:.lf - many prisons, insane asylums, arnd almshouses if all childre had a hr py childhood. The very fact that the inict to play, that the love of ifun is so im perious in the child; shew a gre-t necessity in its nature, which, if ruppressed, will leave ai famnmie in ts life. A sunny, joyous, happy ohildhood a to the individua' want -i ne s:.9 au-i genial sun are to the yoatng j.l:av. If the early conditions arz not fav orable, the plant starves and becomes etur.ted, and the results can not be corrected in the later tree. It is now or never with the plant. This is true with the human plant also. A starv ed, suppressed, stunted childhood makes a dwarfed man. A joyful. happy, fun-loving environment de velops powers, resources. and 1possi bilities which would remain latent in a cold. dull. repressing atmosphere. ;Ilt'l l i lr' lit (.'ll (.'d alld ti11.pp , ejuse there was no play in their ear Iy lives. and when the young clay had hardened it w' ild not respond to a larger environment. Can anything be more incongruous on this glorious, glad earth. than the picture of a worrying child, a chil with a sad face. a human rosebud blighted before it has a chace to open up its petals. and fling out its beauty and fragrance? Somebody has sinned and is res ponsible for this blight, this blasting of promise, this chilling of hope, this strangling of possibility. Childhood should be sunny. Clouds do not belong to chilhood. Joy, beau ty. exuberance, enthusiasm, bouyancy, belong to chilhood. A sad, worrying child, a child who has no childhood, is a disgra.e to civilization. What has a child to do with the past or the future? It should live in the glad, joyous now. To fill the hour with happiness, with gladness, this is the child's life. Enemies of Dyspepsia and 'Blutes." I know a family with whom it is a perfect joy to dine. The members of this family vie with one another in seeing who can say the brightest, wit tiest, funniest things and tell the best stories during dinner. Dyspepsia and nagging are unknown there. The announcement of dinner should be the signal for a jolly good time. Make the dinner hour the brightest, cheerfulest, most sunshiny hour of the whole day. Fine all "knockers' and every one who appears with a long face. Laughter ar. fun are the enemies of dyspepsia d the 'blues." The home ought to .be a sort of theater for fun and all sorts of sports-a place where the children should take the active parts, al though the parents should come in for a share too. Don't Mr. Business or Mr. Professional Man, cast a gloom over your home just because things have gone wrong during the day! Your wife and children have troubles of their own. . They have a right to expect that you will contribute some thing besides vinegar to the dinner hour and the evening. Did not Lycurgus set up the god of laughter in the Spartan eating-halls because he thought there was no sauce like laughter at meals? The constantly increasing success of the vaudeville playhouses and oth er places of amusement all over this country shows the tremendous de mand in the human economy for fun. Most people do not appreciate that this demand must be met in some form or the character will be warped and defective. ''Laugh until I come back,'' was a noted clergyman's ''good-by'' saluta tion. It is a good one for us all. Many people make anything like joy or happiness impossible by dwell. ing upon the disagreeable, or the sad and the gloomy things of life. They always see the ugly, the crooked, the wrong side of things. I once lived in a elergyman's fam ily where I scarcely heard, a person laugh in months. It seemed to be a part of the inmates religion to wear lone faces, and to be sober-minded and solemn. They did not have much use for this world; they seemed to be living for the world to come, and, laugh, he would,often remind me that I had better be thinking of my ''lat ter end'' preparing for death which might come at any moment. Laughter was considered frivolous, worldly, and, as for playing in the house, it would not be tolerated for an instant. The Religion of Cheerfulness. The time has gone by when long faced, too-sober, too-serious people shall dominate the world. Melancho ly, solemnity used to be regarded as a sign of spirituality, but it is now looked upon as the imprint of a mor bid mind. There is no religion in it. True religion is full of hope, sun shine, optimism, and cheerfulness. It is joyous and glad and beautiful. There is no Christianity in the ugly, the discordant, the sad. The religion which Christ taught was bright, cheerful, and beautiful. The sun shine. the ''lilies of the field,'' the ''birds of the air,'' the hills, the val leys. the trees, the mountains, the brooks--all things beautiful-were in His teaching. There was no cold, dry theology in it. It was just happy Christianity! With many people, seriousness seems tci be a necessary part of suc eess. They look upon fun as frivo lous, undignified, and unbecoming to a person who is trying to be some body, but they do not realize thalt the capacity for play is just as impo'rtant as the capacity for work, that the two belong together, that neither is complete without the other. Life was given us for work and play, not for either exclusively. CINCO CIGARS can be bought from 1 to 1000 at Broaddus & Ruff's. VULCM TRY THE VICAN Well finished,Strong, I Rib Strengthened Mold, Full( Point, Land and Standard.' Poi Chili, Long Snoot Chll, Pate STRONGEST and MOST DUR When buying a Plow, Consider FOR BA E. M. EVA Picture A nice lot ( ture Frames ji MAYES BO You Mare I When You Purct I GOODS F We bought when good and we sell at much L the everlasting Bargain The nimble nickel is rn than the slow dollar. Compare quality and: that the greatest GEM always to be found at O. K LE' The Fair and S First sisipmnent of fall i N ever n'o better, nor c YOUR 'B) THE NEWDERRY Capital $50,000 - - No Matter How Small, The Newberry Mill give it careful atte 1pplies to the men and t JAS. McINTOSH. President. :The First Cough * Re'aQwg not sever, 115a t4 Coughs then come easy all wint ulHghtest cold. Cure the first co *set up an inflamation in the delic *lugs. The best remedy is Y UP es at .once get righ * schildas for anadiit. 25 cents SMAYES' DRI I cBET PLOWS e Vulcan Plow Co., KVIESVILLU, i80. Durable, Light Draft.v :illed Shinpiece, Interlocked it has Face Ch il, Wide Edge nted Extension and is the ABLE Chilled Point made. uality First. Price Second. t By NS & CO. Frames )f Oval Pic ust received. OK STORE. lo Mistake ase your FALL loM US. s were at the LOWEST OWER PRICES than. Day Sellers. tore appreciated byNus ~ou will invariably find JINE BARGAINS are FTNER, quar~e Dealer. oods arrived. heaper. COME. LNKINQ!/ SAVINGS DANK, - Surplus $80,000 No Matter How Large, Savings Bank ntion. This message 'a women alike. JE. NORW'OOD, Cashier. of the Season,: QG STRE COG