The Magic Wand of the Universe

From the flash of lightning and the crash of thunder, from the murmur of waters and the singing of birds, in the rising of the sun and in man's clear gaze.

A smile is the love of God; it is the magic wand that turns lifeless matter into life and mortality into immortality; it is a gushing spring that never runs dry, carrying with every one of its drops and in every gleam of its rays happiness and delight. That, Madam, is your magic wand, and this is your scepter.

Language, with all its expressions and similes, cannot convey what the smile discloses; it is a language whose secrets and all of whose rules and derivations none understands but woman, the possessor of this mighty weapon. Our smile translates our instincts and our natures and reflects our virtues; it is the deepest expression of the mystery and the void within us; it is the tongue of the heart and the wire that joins eye to eye, mouth to mouth, and heart to heart. So keep your face radiant, and smile at the world and it will smile at you. How beautiful is that wonderful poem which says:

Laugh, and the world laughs with you,
And weep, and you weep alone.
The world is full of sorrows, so do not return to it your sorrows. It has need of cheer, and it has trouble enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills answer you;
Sigh, and your sigh is lost in the air.
The echo is bound to the joyful voice
And shrinks back from the one who is choked with sorrows.
Feast, and your halls overflow with visitors;
Refrain, and the whole world turns its face away from you.
Succeed and give, that it may help you to live,
But no man can help you to die.

And is there any happier than a mother or a sister holding upon her knees an innocent child who smiles at life — a pure smile brimming with true happiness and peaceful serenity? Smile at life and its effect will flow through you, and you will live contented under the influence of a deep magic power. And if, Madam, your means do not allow you the readiness to help those who are in need of kindness and aid, then do not begrudge them your cheerful face. If they receive from you no coin, let them at least receive from you a look of kindness, a smile of encouragement and reassurance; this costs you nothing — rather it profits you greatly, for it makes you look upon the world with a bright, blazing, steadfast gaze. Life is taking and giving, harvest and consumption, a tear and a smile; and if we were not so, we would never have prized joy nor known the power of this magic wand. So let us try, as far as we can, to lessen tears and sorrows and to replace them with radiance and smiles.

Look with me at a light butterfly, graceful and beautiful, flitting among the flowers and the sweet herbs. Have you ever once seen it alight upon a withered, scowling flower? Learn from the flower how to give; smile in spite of all the sorrows and pains that befall you and all the turmoil and anxiety that cut at your heart, so that you may remain a flower in your home, a flower in your society, a flower in your life and in the lives of others, and a flower for all humanity — lightening its woes and adorning its pages, even as it hides its trace with its magic chisel, whose lines time cannot efface however long it lasts, nor the storms however strong and fierce they grow.