A TOAST TO HAPPINESS

To happiness I raise my glass,

The goal of every human,

The hope of every clan and class

And every man and woman.

The daydreams of the urchin there,

The sweet theme of the maiden's prayer,

The strong man's one ambition,

The sacred prize of mothers sweet,

The tramp of soldiers on the street

Have all the selfsame mission.

Life here is nothing more or less

Than just a quest for happiness.

Some seek it on the mountain top,

And some within a mine;

The widow in her notion shop

Expects its sun to shine.

The tramp that seeks new roads to fare,

Is one with king and millionaire

In this that each is groping

On different roads, in different ways,

To come to glad, contented days,

And shares the common hoping.

The sound of martial fife and drum

Is born of happiness to come.

Yet happiness is always here

Had we the eyes to see it;

No breast but holds a fund of cheer

Had man the will to free it.

‘ Tis there upon the mountain top,

Or in the widow's notion shop,

‘ Tis found in homes of sorrow;

‘ Tis woven in the memories

Of happier, brighter days than these,

The gift, not of to-morrow

But of to-day, and in our tears

Some touch of happiness appears.

‘ Tis not a joy that's born of wealth:

The poor man may possess it.

‘ Tis not alone the prize of health:

No sickness can repress it.

‘ Tis not the end of mortal strife,

The sunset of the day of life,

Or but the old should find it;

It is the bond twixt God and man,

The touch divine in all we plan,

And has the soul behind it.

And so this toast to happiness,

The seed of which we all possess.