XVIII 



THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS 



A BOUT the pursuit of happiness, how often I 

 -^-*- say to myself, that considering life as a whole, 

 the most one ought to expect is a kind of negative 

 happiness, a neutral state, the absence of acute or 

 positive unhappiness. Neutral tints make up the 

 great background of nature, and why not of life ? 

 Neutral tints wear best in anything. We do not 

 tire of them. How much even in the best books is 

 of a negative or neutral character, — a background 

 upon which the positive beauty is projected. A kind 

 of tranquil, wholesome indifference, with now and 

 then a dash of positive joy, is the best of the com- 

 mon lot. To be consciously and positively happy 

 all the while, — how vain to expect it ! We cannot 

 walk through life on mountain peaks. Both laugh- 

 ter and tears we know, but a safe remove from both 

 is the average felicity. 



Another thought which often occurs to me is that 

 we each have a certain capacity for happiness or un- 

 happiness which is pretty constant. We are like 

 lakes or ponds which have their level, and which as 

 a rule are not permanently raised or lowered. As 

 things go in this world, each of us has about all the 



