the human heart, sprinkle rest and kindness
and heart's-ease all through their daily tasks. They weave a bright
thread of thankful happiness through the web and woof of life's
pattern. They are never too busy to say a kind word or to do a gentle
deed. They may be compelled to sigh betimes, but amid their sighs are
smiles that drive away the cares. They find sunbeams scattered in the
trail of every cloud. They gather flowers where others see nothing but
weeds. They pluck little sprigs of rest where others find only thorns
of distress.

After the manner of the human heart, they make much of the little
opportunities presented to them. They rest that they may have strength
for others. They gather sunshine with which to dispel the shadows
about them.

The grandest conception of life is to esteem it as an opportunity for
making others happy. He who is most true to his higher self is truest
to the race. The lamp that shines brightest gives the most light to
all about it. Thoreau says: "To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly
to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of life."

He is, indeed, a correct observer and a careful student of human
nature who tells us that the face is such an index of character that
the very growth of the latter can be traced upon the former, and most
of the successive lines that carve the furrowed face of age out of the
smooth outline of childhood are engraved directly or indirectly by
mind. There is no beautifier of the face like a beautiful spirit.

So we see that if we have acquired the habit of wearing a pleasant
face, or of smiling honestly and cheerfully, we have an accomplishment
that is worth more than many others that are more pretentious and more
superficial. If to this accomplishment we can add another--the ability
to speak a pleasant word to those whom we may meet--we are not to
think poorly of our equipment for life.

There is a good, old-fashioned word in the dictionary, the study of
which, with its definition, is well worth our while. The word is
"Complaisance," and it is defined as "the disposition, action, or
habit of being agreeable, or conforming to the views, wishes, or
convenience of others; desire or endeavor to please; courtesy;
politeness."

Complaisance, as it has been truly said, renders a superior amiable,
an equal agreeable, an inferior acceptable. It sweetens conversation;
it produces good-nature and mutual benevolence; it encourages the
timid, soothes the tur