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Cheerfulness as a Life Power by Orison Swett Marden
page 75 of 77 (97%)
minutes, you feel an exhilaration of spirits, a quickening of energy, a
renewal of zest and interest in living, and are ready for any duty or
service."

"Great hearts there are among men," says Hillis, of Plymouth pulpit;
"they carry a volume of manhood; their presence is sunshine; their
coming changes our climate; they oil the bearings of life; their shadow
always falls behind them; they make right living easy. Blessed are the
happiness-makers: they represent the best forces in civilization!"

If refined manners reprove us a little for ill-timed laughter, a smiling
face kindled by a smiling heart is always in order. Who can ever forget
Emerson's smile? It was a perpetual benediction upon all who knew him. A
smile is said to be to the human countenance what sunshine is to the
landscape. Or a smile is called the rainbow of the face.

"This is a dark world to many people," says a suggestive modern writer,
"a world of chills, a world of fogs, a world of wet blankets.
Nine-tenths of the men we meet need encouragement. Your work is so
urgent that you have no time to stop and speak to the people, but every
day you meet scores, perhaps hundreds and thousands of persons, upon
whom you might have direct and immediate influence. 'How? How?' you
cry out. We answer: By the grace of physiognomy. There is nothing more
catching than a face with a lantern behind it, shining clear through. We
have no admiration for a face with a dry smile, meaning no more than the
grin of a false face. But a smile written by the hand of God, as an
index finger or table of contents, to whole volumes of good feeling
within, is a benediction. You say: 'My face is hard and lacking in
mobility, and my benignant feelings are not observable in the facial
proportions.' We do not believe you. Freshness and geniality of the soul
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