THE STAB OF HAPPINESS. Ill 



more in hand. Thus had I proven that where 

 people say there are no fish is often a good 

 place to drop a hook and show them otherwise. 

 On my way back to camp I threw myself 

 down on a grassy bank and gazed upward into 

 the vault of blue seeking in vain for that star 

 of mine which I knew was there, yet seeing it 

 not till that greater day star had disappeared 

 and the shadows of night were drawing close. 

 Out into the future I have often gazed seeking 

 in vain for the star of happiness which I hoped 

 was there, yet seeing it not till youth and mid- 

 dle age were gone, then realizing that not hap- 

 piness but content was the star which I had 

 sought and that contentment is as near true 

 happiness as we ever get. Thus had my star 

 been present on those days when labor agreeable 

 was my lot, when tasks well accomplished sat- 

 isfied my conscience ; present yet not visible till 

 the glamour and impatience of youth had dis- 

 appeared, till retrospection and the experience 

 of age had come to be. Then did I know that 

 the light of that star had guided me day by day, 

 that happiness was often present when I knew 

 it not. 



Tuesday, June 13. The face of the sun this 

 morn is hidden and my soul therefor is sad. 

 Only when his beams fall athwart my path- 

 ways, making for me shadows as I move, do I 

 rejoice. 



