Mr. And Mrs. Lewis, walking home, encounter an acquaintance at whom Mr. Lewis smiles. Mrs. Lewis, on impulse, tells him to "take [the smile] home with him" telling him he has too few smiles for the family. She immediately regrets her words, fearing that, as he is very sensitive to criticism, that he will be offended. He is struck by her words, considering them gravely. At home he tries the experiment, greeting his three children with smiles and kindly words. The result is immediate. The children are happi er and he and his wife, after several years of drifting apart, are once again in accord.
"And was not Mr. Lewis a better and happier man? Of course he was. And so would all men be, if they would take home with them the smiling aspect they so often exhibit, as they meet their fellow-men in business intercourse. . .Take your smiles and cheerful words home with you, husbands, fathers, and brothers. Your hearths are cold and dark without them."