Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-11-23
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|JNO moo SIOi1g 'i1sHol EbfToIf ad,
Con nc n.ccelr2ning Laughter.

ed us all into q scandalous, unreasonable,
remorseless gayety!H Afler'i along absence
from cheerful thoughts there are tewi 0cca--
siofls, so sad and solemn as to render this i'm
perfume revolt Impossible, unless where
grief absorbs the whole soul and'lOwers the
system to uniformity of sadn essr q n)fact,
no'solemnity can be safe from ipcongruities:
Such occasions are not seldom the especial
scene of these exposures-ot explosions OF
a wild, perverse hilarity, takinG.the culpfit
unawaresLand this even while he is aghast
at his fiagrant insensibility TO the demand
Of the houri This Is the laughter oascribed
to satanic influences. loIsu son -lriurrf, ~
| The nerves cannot forego the wonted
stimulus and are Indignantly on the watch
as It were TO betrayl the higher faculties in-
to this unseemly indulgence. Thus John
and Charles Wesley, in the early, days of
their public career, set forth one particular
day to sing hymns together in the feldsj
but on uplifting the first stave, one of them
was suddenly struck with O sense of ,some-
thing lndicIous in their errand, and the
other caught the infection and both fell in
to cohvulsions' Of laughter, renewed ON
every attempt to carry out their first de-
sign, till they were fain to give up and own
themselves for that time ,conqpred by the
devil. ...i,, ...,,,-a '''f i''l noiD
There is story Of Dr.. johnson much to
the same purpose. Naturally melancholy,
he was yet great laugher, and thus was
an especial victim to the passion we speak
of for no one laughs In depression who has
not learnt to laugh in mirth. He was din
ing with his friend Chambers In the Temple,
and at first betrayed so much physical suf-
fering and mental detection that his com
panion could not help boring him with
remedies By degrees heirallled, and with
the rally came the need Of general re-
action. AT this point Chambers happened
to say that common friend had been with
him that morning making his will. john
son-or rather his nervous system--seiZed
upon this as the required subject. He rails
ed aludicrous picture of the ''testator" GO
ing about boasting of the fact of his will
making to anybody that would listen, down
to the inn keeper Of the road. ~ f-.-..
Roaring with laughter, he trusted that
Chambers had had the conscience not to
describe the testator as Of strong mind
! hoped there was legacy TO himself, and
| concluded with saying that he would have
| the will set to verse and a ballad made out
of 1t. Mr.. Chambers not at all relishing
this pleasantly, got rid Of his guest as soon
as he could. But not so did. Johnsongetri rid
of his merriment; he rolled in convulsions
till he got out of Temple Gate, and then,
supporting himself against a post, sent
forth peals as loud as. in the silence of the
night, to be heard from Temple Bar 10 Fleet
Ditch. We hear of stomach coughs; this
was stomach, or ganglionic laugh.
The mistimed laughter Of children has
often some such course as this, though the
spirit that possesses them has rarely the
gnome-iike essence. A healthy boy, after
a certain length'of constraint, is sometimes
- no,l ii Ian 4, ,k.r a
hypochondriac, Nrs. Beecher Stowe, in
describing, and even defending Puritani-
cal strictness of Sabbath observance, recalls
the long family expositions and sermons
which alternated in her youth with proliX
meeting services, at all of which the young
/ er members of the household were required
| to assist in profound stiffness Of attention.
| On one of these occasions. on q hot summer
afternoon, a needless grasshopper of enor-
| nous dimensions leapt on the sleeve of one
| of the boys. The tempting diversion was
not to be'resisted; he slyly secured the an
imal, and imprisoned hind leg between
his firmly compressed lips.ug =, '....5,i
One by, one the youthful congregation
became alive to the awkward contortiohs
and struggles of The lohg-legged captive;
they knew that to laugh was TO be fiogged,
| but after so many sermons the need was
! Imperative, and they laughed, and were
tlogged accordingly. Different from all
these types is the grand, frank laugh that
finds its placeyin history and biography,
and belongs to master minds. Political and
party feelings may raise, In stirring times,
any amount Of animosity, even In good ma
ttred men; but once bring about. a laugh
between them, and an answering chord is
struck, q tie is established, not easily broken.
Something Of the old rancoris gone forever.
There Is d story of Canning and Brough-
am, after hating and spiting one another
through a session, finding themselves sud-
denly face to face in some remote district
in Cumberland, with only a turnpike gate
| between them. The situation reused their
magnaniniity; simultaneously they broke
into a laughter, and passed each other on
his separate way, better friends from that
time forth. 1i'ig Dna giisEui.5 ri nj
e. No neutrality-suspicious. anything about
bis own laughter, which is fortunate, as it
is apt to be the most grotesque part Ofja
man, especially II he Is anything of an
original Character, Oddity, humor all eX-
| patiate in it, and the features and the voice
have,tO accommodate themselves to the oc-
| casion as they can. There is Prince Halls
I laugh, "till his face is like a wet cloak i'll
laid up;" there is the laugh we see in Dutch
pictures, where every wrinkle in the old
i face appears to be, in motion; there is the
convulsive laugh, in which legs and arms
| Join; there Is the swhinny, the ventral
laugh, DR.. Johnson's laugh like q rhinoce-
ros, Dominic Sampson's! laugh lapsing
| without any intermediate stage into dead
gravity, and the ideal, social laugh-the de-
| lighted and delighting chucble which ush-
ers in joke, and the cordial and triumph
/ ant laugh which sounds its praises. We