A GIFT FOR LIVING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 95, 8 May 1937, Page 12

A GIFT FOR LIVING

Of- a lady friend of mine it was said recently, "She has a gift for living ' and it is true. It is the fineat of aL gifts, and oue of the rarest. Some liaVe it,"some do not. Some of us do uOt know how to handle life, perliap*. because We take it by the -wroxig handle.' lt would sutpriee ue to know how mauy people actually hate life, * They And> lt irking, vexin'g, maddening, H not a -rather stupid joke. Its limita tions, its hardships, its senseless tui viality' frets them at times to fury. They go on living because they, see uo . honou'rable wdy- out of it. '• Not so my. friend. She loves- life, despite its aps • and downs atid sa8 vicissitudes, of which she has had her j siiare. Mayhap that is how she learhed the knack of it. She holds a i'ew

things firmly, tenaciously, triumphant ly, and the rest lightly. lt is a joy to see her handle life. For oue thing her mind does not re gurgitate, like a leaky valve. Shc makes quick and* clear deeisions, and what she decides she does. She treats all disasters as ineidents and no iuei dent as a disaster. If she seems to make some big things little, she nevor makes a little thing big. A great sorrow, iong gone by, taught her much. It gave her a new sense of proportion, of value, of whai is worth while and what is not worth bothering about. She knows the dif ference between flowers and weeds, and how to think £hings out. Her mind is not clnttered With old regret. Once two of her friends had a row. She went to each alone and said: "Honestly, now, knee to knee, cat to cat, what do you think about it?: They told her plenty, naugnty . thii\ and a few nice things. She repeated what thdy said — the nice tnings, tlia is, forgetting the rest. An artist, elu said, must select his materiajs wiU skill. So she ironed out the wrinkles and the two fighters became friends bti, Ihey did not know how it Was dont. She is not weakly unselfish, but hei joy is in others. She is practical, helpful, radiant. No wonder she is beloved — when she enters a room it tcas if a light had been turned on. Yes, she knows how to iive — and I know ng higher tribute. — Joseph Fort Newton.