be grateful music to our ears when we are in one mood, and excruciatingly
discordant noise when we are in another. What appeals to us as a good practical
joke one day, may seem a piece of unwarranted impertinence on another. A
proposition which looks entirely plausible under the sanguine mood induced by
a persuasive orator, may appear wholly untenable a few hours later. Decisions
which seemed warranted when we were in an angry mood, often appear unwise
or unjust when we have become more calm. Motives which easily impel us to
action when the world looks bright, fail to move us when the mood is somber.
The feelings of impending peril and calamity which are an inevitable
accompaniment of the "blues," are speedily dissipated when the sun breaks
through the clouds and we are ourselves again.
Mood Influences Effort.—A bright and hopeful mood quickens every power
and enhances every effort, while a hopeless mood limits power and cripples
effort. The football team which goes into the game discouraged never plays to
the limit. The student who attacks his lesson under the conviction of defeat can
hardly hope to succeed, while the one who enters upon his work confident of his
power to master it has the battle already half won. The world's best work is done
not by those who live in the shadow of discouragement and doubt, but by those
in whose breast hope springs eternal. The optimist is a benefactor of the race if
for no other reason than the sheer contagion of his hopeful spirit; the pessimist
contributes neither to the world's welfare nor its happiness. Youth's proverbial
enthusiasm and dauntless energy rest upon the supreme hopefulness which
characterizes the mood of the young. For these reasons, if for no other, the mood
of the schoolroom should be one of happiness and good cheer.
Disposition a Resultant of Moods.—The sum total of our moods gives us our
disposition. Whether these are pleasant or unpleasant, cheerful or gloomy, will
depend on the predominating character of the moods which enter into them. As
well expect to gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles, as to secure a desirable
disposition out of undesirable moods. A sunny disposition never comes from
gloomy moods, nor a hopeful one out of the "blues." And it is our disposition,
more than the power of our reason, which, after all, determines our desirability
as friends and companions.
The person of surly disposition can hardly make a desirable companion, no
matter what his intellectual qualities may be. We may live very happily with one
who cannot follow the reasoning of a Newton, but it is hard to live with a person
chronically subject to "black moods." Nor can we put the responsibility for our
disposition off on our ancestors. It is not an inheritance, but a growth. Slowly,