THE CULT OF JOY 315 



Professor Dearborn's thesis is in a line with 

 many other, characteristically American, studies in 

 psychobiology, which aim at a cultivation of the 

 personality on what one may call direct lines. The 

 danger ahead is well known, that just as the direct 

 pursuit of health is apt to engender hypochondria 

 and valetudinarianism, and just as the direct pur- 

 suit of happiness is apt to defeat its own end, so 

 the direct pursuit of joy for the sake of the " joy- 

 reward " may prove consummately futile. But it is 

 possible to make a bogy of this risk. Forced cheer- 

 fulness is, of course, a horror, but "the persistent 

 will to be glad," if worthily satisfied with some 

 of the real joys of life, may soon become a habit 

 which requires no artificial stimulation. A con- 

 ventional approach to Nature and Art is often 

 rewarded much beyond its deserts, and men who 

 began with taking walks for duty's sake have often 

 become genuine enthusiasts for the open country. 

 The pursuit of joy may be futile and the faking of 

 it an abomination, but there is nothing absurd, for 

 instance, in humbly learning to know the endless 

 things of beauty which are joys for ever. If we 

 make sure of these, the euphoria will look after 

 itself. 



