“I shall try to be cheerful and smiling all the time,” wrote Cecily.
“You are, anyway,” said Sara Ray loyally.
“I don’t believe we ought to be cheerful ALL the time,” said the Story Girl. “The Bible says we ought to weep with those who weep.”
“But maybe it means that we’re to weep cheerfully,” suggested Cecily.
“Sorter as if you were thinking, ‘I’m very sorry for you but I’m mighty glad I’m not in the scrape too,’” said Dan.
“Dan, don’t be irreverent,” rebuked Felicity.
“I know a story about old Mr. and Mrs. Davidson of Markdale,” said the Story Girl. “She was always smiling and it used to aggravate her husband, so one day he said very crossly, ‘Old lady, what ARE you grinning at?’ ‘Oh, well, Abiram, everything’s so bright and pleasant, I’ve just got to smile.’
“Not long after there came a time when everything went wrong—the crop failed and their best cow died, and Mrs. Davidson had rheumatism; and finally Mr. Davidson fell and broke his leg. But still Mrs. Davidson smiled. ‘What in the dickens are you grinning about now, old lady?’ he demanded. ‘Oh, well, Abiram,’ she said, ‘everything is so dark and unpleasant I’ve just got to smile.’ ‘Well,’ said the old man crossly, ‘I think you might give your face a rest sometimes.’”
“I shall not talk gossip,” wrote Sara Ray with a satisfied air.
“Oh, don’t you think that’s a little TOO strict?” asked Cecily anxiously. “Of course, it’s not right to talk MEAN gossip, but the harmless kind doesn’t hurt. If I say to you that Emmy MacPhail is going to get a new fur collar this winter, THAT is harmless gossip, but if I say I don’t see how Emmy MacPhail can afford a new fur collar when her father can’t pay my father for the oats he got from him, that would be MEAN gossip. If I were you, Sara, I’d put MEAN gossip.”