Editorial July 3, 1909 Issue

THE RETURNS OF GRATITUDE

John B. Willis

Whatever else we may or may not be able to give in appreciative recognition of benefits received, the meed of gratitude is always at our command, and is sure to bring joy to our benefactor's heart. When spontaneous and sincere, its expression is sure to bring satisfaction to all who have befriended us.

The guerdons of gratitude include very much than this, however, for they sum up all that comes by way of return to the grateful heart, and to measure their riches is to taste life's sweetest joys. The mere mention of this gain leads one to think of the happiness which is inseparably linked to a sense of thankfulness. Gratitude and gladness have ever dwelt in holy wedlock, and the more constant our companionship with the one, the more certainly do we possess the other. Hand in hand they go singing through the corridors of the heart, and their sweet roundelays fill all the place with song.

We are all quite in that we cannot help wanting to be happy, and if we would fill our "garden of gladness" with the fairest and sweetest blossoms, we shall accomplish it never so surely as when we plant and nourish the seeds of gratitude. The desire for human happiness often has a strong flavor of that sense of self-gratification which ends in its own surfeit, but genuine thankfulness yields a joy that is unfailing, and for the reason that it impels to love. The grateful heart is a perennial fountain of affection. This is the larger, more significant gain of gratitude, for it gently leads to all those kindly, unselfish doings that make our lives worth while to others and that most truly register an appreciation of our own blessings. Upon every plane of life, he who loves much most fittingly evidences his remembrance of all that has been done for him. Thus he honors and fulfils the two great commandments and insures for himself a continuous return of good.

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July 3, 1909
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