THE OPTIMIST CLUB, SYDNEY.
At the opening of a branch of the Optimist Club in Manly, Sydney, Lady Ppore,' in the course of a delightful speech, said: "I often wonder whether it is harder for a man or for a woman to be an optimist. The man has the grave responsibility of ,the breadwinner, but is the responsibility of the bread-dispenser lighter than his? Iu every man's life there must he more than one crisis, but many a woman lives hanuted by some anxiety for years together. It may be a question of health, of her own or another's; it may be by tho domestic problem of making both ends meet, or by the. possession of a skeleton ' in the family cupboard. And it takes some heroism to go on smiling when something keeps clutching at her heart, some l/ogey keeps standing between' her and the sunlight. How many such heroines live and die undiscovered, save by • tho '■(piv— of. the daily round and common task; 'the Mrs. Wigjs of many cabbage p;itchi)s, in maiiy countries, who have suffered, and been helpful and strong, anil smiled. Do not think that I claim for our sex a monopoly of such 'heroism; but are, at least. I believe 'so;-the weaker vessels. Ou'r fibre is less tough, our nerves are nearer the surface, and. for some of .'us .bur work is always with , .us, out a certain liabit of being' pleasant and courageous nnd of tackling difficulties skilfully can undoubtedly he nco.uired, nnd one of the great points-in. being a, professed optimist is that it puts, us on pur honour, as it were, to avoid grumbling, or carping, or whining. ."I feel I have told'j'ou nothing of tho objects of our club or the wide scopo of its moral and intellectual aspirations. That optimism is a great spiritual force is undeniable. Doctors will tell you that a patient who makes up his mind to live aids his own recovery in a way nothing short of miraculous. Pluck and perseverance and a determination to hunt through the folds of the darkest cloud till ho comes, to the silver lining, make ■the subjective optimist; and to these qualitios.:must be, added kindness, tact, and sympathy for objective purposes, such as the conversion of pessimists, and oiling the wheels of life's machinery. Somewhere I read these lines the other, day:—
You aro ueaten to earth? Well, what of that? . : " Rise up with a smiling face. .It isn't against you to fall down flat, •'•But to Hβ there, that's disgrace.
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Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 906, 27 August 1910, Page 10
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422THE OPTIMIST CLUB, SYDNEY. Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 906, 27 August 1910, Page 10
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