XLIII.
My friend, do you know why the work you accomplish fails either to give pleasure to yourself or others?
It is because it is not cheerfully done, and therefore appears discolored.
A joyous heart amid our work imparts to duty a brilliancy that charms the eyes of others, while it prevents those feeling wounded who cannot perform it equally well.
Joy, with us, is like a lever, by which we lift the weights that without its help would crush us.
A workman once said: "If I were to leave off singing, I should be quite unequal to my business."
Then sing always; let your heart sing as in its earliest years.
The refrain of the heart, which perhaps never passes the lips, but which echoes in heaven, is this sentence:—