118 



THE OPAL SEA 



Concerning 

 happiness. 



The modern 

 view of hap- 

 piness. 



shine, and his music of the seas is more con- 

 tent. Happiness is not hidden in a bank vault 

 or a philosophy; it is in the free air, under the 

 blue sky, in the mountains, on the prairies, by 

 the seashore. Contentment is not attained by 

 possessions or positions, or pursuit about the 

 globe ; it comes to those who will but fold their 

 hands and wait. 



Old truths these — old when the world was 

 young — but the new generation flouts them, 

 scorns them, laughs at them, thinking that the 

 tale of human happiness shall be different with 

 this new time. It nurses the strange belief that 

 all the good things of life can be had by a 

 bold dash in the lists of Mammon, that every 

 prize is there and within the reach of the 

 knight who will but ride boldly. Ever the 

 golden bugles are calling, calling to enter the 

 lists. And the gentle song of the sea, wooing 

 to love and to beauty, is lost in the clash of the 

 conflict. 



