The most distinctive feature of a happy man should necessarily be 'zest' which is comparable to people's attitude to their meals. To some a meal is a bore, however excellent the food be because they have always had sumptuous meals and have never known hunger. To others who are the invalids it is a duty because it has been prescribed by the doctor with a view to keeping their strength. Third there are the epicures who are too fastidious to like anything. And last, there are genuinely hungry who relish their meal. People react to life similarly. There is the pessimist who is board with the pleasure of life. There is the ascetic who last just enough because he must. Then there are the fastidious who condemn many of these pleasure as unaesthetic. Finally there is the happy man who accepts life and enjoys all the pleasures. The happy man however, is hated by others because it seems vulgar to them to enjoy life simply because it offers interesting experiences. The writer has no sympathy for these people who being disenchanted themselves look down upon others. Disenchantment is not a virtue. Every person is welcome to his way of thinking. No man is superior simply because he likes a particular things.
Zest has a variety of form. Sherlock Holmes was interested even in the minutest details of life. If he found a hat, he could draw, hundreds of inferences from it. A deep interest in any phase of life increases the zest for it.
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