If we but make up our minds to it, we can be cheerful under any circumstances, no matter how adverse and discouraging they may appear for the time being. And by how much we do this, by so much we increase our own and the happiness of those around us. Charles Lamb used to say that “a laugh is worth a thousand groans in any state of the market.” Dr. Johnson maintained that the habit of looking on the bright side of everything was “better than $5,000 salary a year.” Cheerfulness and diligence, says Samuel Smiles, are the life and soul of success, as well as of happiness; perhaps the very highest pleasure in life consists in clear, brisk, conscience-working. Bishop Hall wrote: “For every bad there might be a worse; and when one breaks his leg, let him be thankful that it was not his neck.” There are few, if any, persons who find things just as they would like to have them. Annoyances, vexations, and trials, are incident to the life of every one. We may allow them to constantly fret and irritate us, souring our dispositions, and making us unhappy generally; or we can rise above them and be cheerful in spite of them. It should be the aim of all to cultivate a habit of cheerfulness; to look upon the virtues and not the faults of those around them; to refrain from brooding over the past, and study how the future may be bright and cheery. We should keep depression and low spirits at a distance, and not permit ourselves to indulge in melancholy moods or repinings because matters are not so and so. In this busy, bustling period, there is great danger of men being worried by the friction and wear and tear of business life into a chronic condition of irritability and peevishness. In their eagerness to acquire wealth, they overtax their energies, encroach upon the necessary hours of sleep, and become fretful, fidgety, and waspish. Those in large cities particularly should be on their guard against falling into this condition of constant anxiety and apprehension lest something is going wrong. It is an excellent resolution which some make to leave the “shop” behind them when returning home at night, to dispel all thoughts of the day’s cares and anxieties, and surrender themselves to the soothing, quieting influences which should be found in every family circle. Whoever will do this is bound to be cheerful. Rest, recreation, and participation in amusement are designed by our Creator to counteract the effect of hard labor on mind and body. Whoever refuses to recognize this fact, and conform to it, will suffer both mentally and physically. How much better it is for one to pass down to old age with a limited competence, feeling that he has enjoyed life and contributed to the enjoyment of others, than to secure riches at the sacrifice of all the better instincts of nature and all enjoyment! There is no more pitiable object in the world than the sordid, crabbed old man who has devoted a lifetime to money-getting simply, and sacrificed every trait of manhood in his endeavors. As cheerfulness is essential to happiness, so regular habits and plenty of sleep are essential to cheerfulness. We cannot violate physical laws with impunity. The Almighty has arranged in his physical economy that his creatures must have so much rest and nourishment in order to maintain health, and mental elasticity and buoyancy. There is such an intimate relation existing between the body and mind, that the former cannot be out of gear without disarranging the latter.—Hearth and Home.