[All communicatioTis relating to "Simsliine" should be addressed to Mrs. Jessie Macken- 

 zie Walker, 1943 North Eleventh street, Kansas City, Kansas.] 



Have you had a kindness shown, * 



Pass it on. 

 'Twas not given for you alone, 



Pass it on. 

 Let it travel down the years. 

 Let it wipe another's tears. 

 Till in heaven the deed appears, 



Pass it on. 



AS the days grow shorter and the ther- 

 LX mometer hovers in the region of zero, 

 the average family becomes increas- 

 ingly dependent upon itself. In summer, 

 trees and flowers and birds conspired with 

 Old Sol to diffuse suiishine. Instead of be- 

 ing the all in all, the home atmosphere was. 

 in a sense, but one of several factors in the 

 production of happiness. Suppose some of 

 the home folks were selfish, grumpy, or even 

 downright cross, God's blessed out-of-doors 

 offered a delightful retreat — one could run 

 away and forget. In autumn, everything is 

 different. Out-of-doors things are no longer 

 inviting; naked branches shiver in the moan- 

 ing wind, drizzling rains beat down with a 

 chill that numbs the heart; everything is 

 dreary. Instinctively we seek comfort 

 within. We feel the necessity of doing some- 

 thing to make up for the loss of summer sun- 

 shine, and so we set up a plant for the man- 

 ufacture of warmth and brightness; we light 

 fires, trim lamps, and draw the curtains. 



So far, so good. But are not these things, 

 material warmth and light, after all compar- 

 atively unimportant factors in the produc- 

 tion of home happiness? Have you never 

 felt chilled at your heart while seated be- 

 fore a blazing fire in a cosy room? And has 

 joy within never illumined the darkness of 

 a black night for you. so that you were 

 bathed in light? O, it is truth that the real 

 things are not the material: the impalpable, 

 the invisible it is that are really the real 

 things. Important as are heat and light, 

 they are utterly insignificant when compared 

 with love and faith, kindness and unselfish- 

 ness. It is these that are the potential fac- 

 tors in the making of home sunshine. 



We are all more or less conscious of the 

 importance of so-called trifles and of the 

 infectiousness of moods, and yet we fail to 

 realize their far-reaching influence. The 

 Japanese consider it ill-bred to exhibit grief 

 or anger; they think it selfish to thrust one's 

 sorrow or misfortune upon others. Would 

 it not be well if we took a leaf out of their 

 book and conned the lesson well for use at 

 home? 



''Mary got up on the wrong side of the 

 bed this morning," sighed a troubled looking 

 mother, as her daughter flounced out of the 

 room in a pet, "and the whole house has 

 been in a ferment all day." 



Two ladies had been calling upon a friend 

 who had lost her only son a few months be- 

 fore. As they walked home, one said, "I am 

 awfully sorry for Mrs. Taft, but, do you 

 know, I can't help thinking she is selfish. 

 She makes the house a veritable tomb with 

 her grief and her tears, and it is not fair to 

 her husband and the other children." 



"The coffee is Al, Mollie, and the chop 

 cooked to perfection," said a husband to his 

 wife at breakfast. Then, as he bade her 

 good-by, "Let me tell .you a secret. When a 

 man's wife gives him a good send-off in the 

 morning he is armed for the day." Next 

 door to this home the husband drank his 

 coffee in silence, and frowned because the 

 children's chatter disturbed his enjoyment 

 of the morning paper. 



The offices of Sunshine are many. One is 

 to call attention to the tremendous impor- 

 tance of fiooding the home with the warmth 

 and light of love — love smiles, love words, 

 love deeds. 



It is pathetic to knov/ how many hearts are 

 simply starving for love. I read a little while 

 ago of a wife whose heart-hunger found ex- 

 pression in a request for "just one letter 

 like you used to write when we were sweet- 

 hearts." About the same time I read of a 

 husband who thought to win a word of ap- 

 probation from a cold wife by having the 

 whole house decorated during her absence 

 for the summer. On returning her first 



