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Letter to Editor
July 6, 1863
Spirit Of The Age
Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina
What is this article about?
An essay praising cheerfulness as an essential virtue that brightens life, eases burdens, and aligns with philosophy and Christianity. It encourages cultivating cheerfulness for personal and social benefits, signed by Nell Lake from Geranium Cottage.
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FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE
Cheerfulness.
There is no greater every-day virtue than cheerfulness. This quality in man among men, is like sunshine to the day, or gentle, renewing moisture to parched herbs. The light of a cheerful face diffuses itself and communicates the happy spirit that inspires it. The sourest temper must sweeten in the atmosphere of continuous good humor. As well might fog and cloud and vapor hope to cling to the sun illumined landscape, as the blues and moroseness to combat jovial speech and exhilarating laughter. Be cheerful always. There is no path but will be easier traveled, no load but will be lighter, no shadow on heart or brain but will lift sooner in presence of a determined cheerfulness. It may at times seem difficult for the happiest tempered to keep the countenance of peace and content, but the difficulty will vanish when we truly consider that sullen gloom and passionate despair do nothing but multiply thorns and thicken sorrow. Ill comes to us as providentially as good-and is a good, if we rightly apply its lessons. Why not, then, cheerfully accept the ill, and thus blend its apparent sting: Cheerfulness ought to be the fruit of Philosophy-much more Christianity. What is gained by peevishness and fretfulness-by perverse sadness and sullenness. If we are ill, let us be cheered by the trust that we shall soon be well-if misfortune befall us, let us be cheered by hopeful visions of better fortune--if death robs us of the dear ones, let us be cheered by the thought that they are only gone before to the blissful bowers where we shall meet them, to part no more forever.
Cultivate cheerfulness, if only for personal profit. You will do and bear every duty and burthen better by being cheerful. It will be your consoler in solitude, your passport and commender in society. You will be more sought after, more trusted and esteemed for your steady cheerfulness. The bad and vicious may be boisterously gay and vulgarly humorous, but seldom or never truly cheerful Genuine cheerfulness is an almost certain index of a happy mind and a pure good heart.
NELL LAKE.
Geranium Cottage.
Cheerfulness.
There is no greater every-day virtue than cheerfulness. This quality in man among men, is like sunshine to the day, or gentle, renewing moisture to parched herbs. The light of a cheerful face diffuses itself and communicates the happy spirit that inspires it. The sourest temper must sweeten in the atmosphere of continuous good humor. As well might fog and cloud and vapor hope to cling to the sun illumined landscape, as the blues and moroseness to combat jovial speech and exhilarating laughter. Be cheerful always. There is no path but will be easier traveled, no load but will be lighter, no shadow on heart or brain but will lift sooner in presence of a determined cheerfulness. It may at times seem difficult for the happiest tempered to keep the countenance of peace and content, but the difficulty will vanish when we truly consider that sullen gloom and passionate despair do nothing but multiply thorns and thicken sorrow. Ill comes to us as providentially as good-and is a good, if we rightly apply its lessons. Why not, then, cheerfully accept the ill, and thus blend its apparent sting: Cheerfulness ought to be the fruit of Philosophy-much more Christianity. What is gained by peevishness and fretfulness-by perverse sadness and sullenness. If we are ill, let us be cheered by the trust that we shall soon be well-if misfortune befall us, let us be cheered by hopeful visions of better fortune--if death robs us of the dear ones, let us be cheered by the thought that they are only gone before to the blissful bowers where we shall meet them, to part no more forever.
Cultivate cheerfulness, if only for personal profit. You will do and bear every duty and burthen better by being cheerful. It will be your consoler in solitude, your passport and commender in society. You will be more sought after, more trusted and esteemed for your steady cheerfulness. The bad and vicious may be boisterously gay and vulgarly humorous, but seldom or never truly cheerful Genuine cheerfulness is an almost certain index of a happy mind and a pure good heart.
NELL LAKE.
Geranium Cottage.
What sub-type of article is it?
Philosophical
Reflective
Ethical Moral
What themes does it cover?
Morality
Religion
What keywords are associated?
Cheerfulness
Virtue
Philosophy
Christianity
Happiness
Morality
Personal Profit
What entities or persons were involved?
Nell Lake
Letter to Editor Details
Author
Nell Lake
Main Argument
cheerfulness is the greatest everyday virtue, akin to sunshine, that eases life's burdens and should be cultivated through philosophy and especially christianity to accept ills and foster happiness.
Notable Details
Compares Cheerfulness To Sunshine And Moisture
References Philosophy And Christianity As Sources
Contrasts With Peevishness And Sullenness
Mentions Afterlife Reunion In Blissful Bowers