Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-03-09
VOLUME XXVI.
Some Remarks on Laughing.

a COIIcSpOuUcuG VI buc IONluCuCt
Herald writes "a friend tells me tha
| George Washington was never known tx
laugh. Please give me your opinion OF
| the subject"
We have seen (replies a contributor te
the Herald), the letters of many an igno
ramus-letters the authors of which
seemed to be in high rivalry for the medal
of profound nonsense; but none of them
| could, in our view, begin to stand paral
leled with the foregoing. This much fol
the missive itself. Now for the question
propounded. To quote Dombey, the i'm
mortal, friend is "a good thing" pro
vided he be of the right kind; but wher
our correspondent is advised by fiienG
not to laugh, and told that Washington
never laughed, we believe that friend (?)
is not such person-aad, ON the contrary,
that he must be mendacious villain, to
whose vile nonsense no attention should
be given. Our own opinion touching
laughter is briefly expressed.
We think it was Corwin who once re-
marked, "Be solemn and you will be
considered wise" This remark is in a
measure truthful one; but we must not
take it too literally. Some folks are rarely
known to smile, though such are isolated
laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks.
Henry Ward Beecher is passionately fond
o" fun, and Fanny Fern AYERS, over her
own euphoniOus signature, that there is
too much fun in her" No, not always are
the most solemn men the wisest.
Laughing is an art; it is an accomplish
ment with which few persons are natural
ly endowed People talk enthusiastically
of their accomplishments. Piano thump-
ing is one of them; but it vanishes into
nothingness when the subject of "how to
laugh" comes up.
Yes, laughing is an art If / were to go
into the study of my neighbor, the artist,
and, grasping his painting apparatus, set
out to paint picture, what muss I'd
make of it As the story tellers say, the
picture would be-" better imagined than
described"
But when my friend, the natural artist,
takes the palette, all the world is agog to
gaze on his latest gem.
So it is with laughing. The natural
laugher rolls back in his easy chair and
sends forth rich, ringing, melodious laugh
cry tribe at four O'clock in the morning.
But when some great awkward fellow takes
up the strain, oh! what contrast! A
squeak-no softer or more harmonious
than the music of deacon's new boots as
he walks up the church aisle-a short,
faint squeal, then long, thin, piping note
and a hoarse yell, and the grand duet is
over. And are you not glad that it is
over? Who does not see the great con-
trast between the real and unreal-the
natural and the unnatural?
Then there are the little pleasantries
which we call smiles. What volumes have
they uttered! and how unnumbered are
their varieties! One sort of smile rises
upon the face as wave comes rolling to
ward the seashore. And when it is there
it fingers as if unwilling to leave. One is
utterly ignorant of its significance, and is
in quandary touching the intended mean
ing of its author. And so we call it the
incomprehinsible smile. Then there is
your affected smile, made for the occasion,
as cake is made for visitors, and bursts forth
with considerable zest, but is as evanescent
as the cake itself. Then comes that intol-
erable giggling, SO very pleasant among
young girls as to be almost an infection ;
certainly SO disgusting to any one of ordi-
those who indulge in the habit the objects
of deep adherence. =
To sit down in a steam car and endur
the whispering, squalling and giggling, in
terspersed with nauseating sentimentalism
all this from the lips of, one who would
unblushingly apply to herself the much
abused title of "a young lady"-to endure
all this, is to retire to your bed for week g
vacation. Conductors have rights :"
certainly should theirs be the right to pro-
hibit all such uncivilized performances on
the cars. A drunken man is elected with
out comment; but such insulting human
forms should go before him! Nor is this
habit of giggling confined to the steam
car. One sees like exhibitions in his
neighbors' house, at church, yea, at his
own home!
There is time for mirth as well as a
time for sorrow. The sorrowing period is
fully occupied. The people generally are
vastly more prone to laugh than they are
to cry.
Spite of the wisdom of your adviser, we
give you permission to laugh. Laugh,
even though it may bring discord to some
fine ear, SO that it be at the proper time
and place. Let your clergyman, who
would be called "worldly We're he to
ing to make as grave as their own church
yard, and are thus, unconsciously, per-
haps, killing him by inches ''-let him
laugh. even though his voice be, from dis
use, dull and unpleasant to some fastidious
one. Yes, laugh yourself, and let him
Ia Ugh; it will do you both good. AS there
are shrill, discordant voices in every
churcl,' choir, SO there will be in the fra
ternity o, the laugh" Even though one
send forth soul-rippling note, let not the
o.ne break him down; and
if some wild, avn ward wight gets up and
crows forth an uneartlh lhly sound, let not his
neighbor stop him in his effort. But let
every one adopt and ven...y the motto Of
T. B. Aldrich's Bad Boy" on escaping,
from the Bridewell with his comrades :
/" Now. bows. everybody for himself"