Learning How to be Happy

I HAVE selected the title of this book with some misgiving. First, because I have heard that such a title may appear flippant and thus out of harmony with the mood of our times; and second, that learning how to be happy may suggest an egotism that would rush in where humility would fear to tread. However, I have decided to risk the title, assuring the reader in these early lines that the problem is approached in no spirit of levity, but with a full realization of the colossal burdens which rest upon the hearts of our distressed people.

I am writing for fathers and mothers whose sons are in the thick of battle in the various theaters of this present global war. Many of these sons will not return. I write for girls, the absence of whose sweethearts and the uncertainty of their return fill their hearts with fear and anxiety. It is my hope that these stricken fathers and these mothers, and all who are distressed may find in the following chapters some balm to heal the broken spirit and some courage to brace the faltering heart.

The general thesis of the book is that, written deep in the heart of the universe is the purpose of God that his children, irrespective of circumstances, shall live victorious and happy lives.