OCR Text |
Show Unclealte Siorif a BEING A SUNBEAM ctttE HEAR and read a great deal VV about optimism," said the stranger, "and- we go around telling our friends not to worry. The advice is good enough, but we don't pause to reflect that optimism is a mental at-rT at-rT titude that can be reached only by &J$& study and train- f ing" Wn&t shall '-""xli we study? I have Mgi w here, madam, a &t little book enti- Vi" itMuw" ft tled- 'How t0 Be a J fcs -Jaw J I Sunbeam,' which IJw' sg vi answers the ques- jp, yjs4 ti0Q fully anl I y x r completely. 1 1 I V-s'i was written by " fV-S'l v"1 don't care I X v 1 wh0 u was writ' fel ;VC-f- V A ten by, or wheth-tt wheth-tt er lt ls inaorsed by all the statesmen and prelates in the country," exclaimed Mrs. Curfew. "I don't want to be a sunbeam, experience expe-rience having taught me that I can get along better and have less trouble and tribulation, when I look as much like a meatax as possible. "Last evening before I went to bed I was reading a book called 'Sunshine Susan.' It was about a woman who just made up her mind to be happy no matter what happened. Then her husband was brought home with a broken leg, and the two children had a number of measles simultaneously, and the house burned down, and the bank in which she had deposited her savings closed its doors, and in spite of everything she went around singing and dancing. "If I had thought It over I might have realized that it was too good to be true. No human woman could be gay and happy in the midst of so many calamities. But I was in a sentimental mood, and when I turned out the light and went to bed I thought that. I ought to be ashamed of myself Mr not being like Sunshine Susan, and I made op my mind I would turn over a new leaf first thing in the morning. morn-ing. "So I came downstairs smiling, and I was singing all the time I was getting get-ting breakfast, and when Mr. Curfew came down he said it warmed up his whole being io see me in such a cheer- j ful frame of mind. It reminded him of him of the time when I was sweet . seventeen, and as pretty as a red wagom Then he gradually drifted into a story to the effect that he had a great opportunity to make the finest horse trade of his career. All he needed need-ed was $7 in cash to close the transaction, trans-action, and he would make at least $15 by it "He knew I had $7 pnt away im the clock to buy myself some clothes I , need the worst way. I had saved that money, a nickel and a dime at a time, and was looking forward to the time when I would have enough to go shopping shop-ping and buy myself an outfit good enough for the queen of Sheba. Mr. Curfew had been trying to borrow bor-row my savings for a long time, offering offer-ing to give me his note as security, and before I read that Sunshine Susan book I always refused him, and nearly Knapped his head off doing it. But that morning I was anxious to mace everybody every-body happy, so I handed him the money, and he went and made his lorse trade and brought home an old crowbait that has been sick ever since, and he spends all his time out at the barn, feeding it pills and powders, and I can't get him to do any ot the chores around the place. "The same morning Mrs. Turpentine heard me singing in the back yard, and she thought it would be a good time to borrow my patent electric washing machine, and came over for that purpose. She had asked for it a dozen times before, but I always told her to go to. Being full of sunshine on that occasion, however, I told her she could have it and welcome, and I've never been able to use It since. The man who sold lt to me says it will cost $6 for repairs, so you see what Sunshine Susan did to me. "No, mister, I don't want any recipe for being a sunbeam, and yon can take your book along to Mrs. Tur-wllllger, Tur-wllllger, in the yellow house across the street. She's the champion middle weight pessimist of this neighborhood." |