, 1876-11-24
The Benefit of Laughing.

The saving Of an oil school teacher
that. when children are laughing,
their miuds are expanding. Is forcihly
called tu mimi ~ reading the following
excellent comments on laughing. 10y
pr Greene. in ,his Problem Of
Health"
There il not the rrmotc,t corner or
li;;l" inl t Of ,Le minute blood vessels
ul the human body that does not feel
some wavelet from the convulsion occa-
stoned 10y good. hearty laughter. The
life principle. or the central man. is
shaken to its innermost depths, sending
new tides Of life AMI strength to the
surface. thus materially tending to in
sure good health to the persons who in
dulge therein. The blood moves more
rapidly, and CONVEYS a different impress
sion to all the organs Of the body, as it
visits them on that particular mystic
journey when the man is laughing
from what it does at other times. For
this reason, every good, hearty laugh in
which a person indulges, tends to
lengthen his life, conveying, as it does,
new and distinct stimulus to the vital
forces. Doubtless the time will come
when physicians, conceding more i'm
portance than they now do to the infiu-
ence of the mind upon the vital forces
of the body, will make their prescrip-
tions more with reference to the mind
and less to drugs for the body; and will,
in so doing, find the best and most eff,
feetive method of producing the re-
quired effect upon the patient.
Our advice to all is, indulge in good,
hearty, soulful laughter when the op-
portunity offers, and you will derive
material beneSt therefrom. A merry
heart, a cheerful spirit, from which
laughter wells up as naturally as bub-
bles the springs of Saratoga, are worth
all the money-bags, stocks and mort
cages OF Wall street. The man who
laughs is doctor, with q diploma en-
dorsed by the school of Nature; his face
does more good in sick-room than a
pound of powders or a gallon of bitter
draughts. If things go right, he laughs,
because he is pleased; if they 20 wrong,
he laughs, because it is better and
cheaper than crying. People are always
glad to see him; their hands instinct
lively go half way out to meet his grasp,
while they turn involuntarily from the
clammy touch of the dyspeptic. who
speaks on the groaning key. He laughs
you out Of your faults, while you never
dream of being offended with him; it
seems as if sunshine came into the room
with him, and you never know what a
pleasant world you are living in until
he points out the sunny streaks OH its
pathway.
A good humored laugh is the key to
all hearts. Satire. says keen observer,
Is the most useful of all forms of writ
ing;. sentiment is literally wasted on
nineteen readers out of twenty. The
truth is, that people like to be laughed
at in general sort of way. If you
are making yourself ridiculous, you
want to be told of it in a pleasant man
ner, not sneered at. And it is astonish-
ing how frankly the laughing popula-
tion can talk, without treading on the
sensitive toes of their neighbors. Why
will people put on long faces, when it is
60 much easier and more comfortable to
laugh Tears come to us unsought and
unbidden. The wisest art in life is to
cultivate smiles; to find the flowers
where others shrink away, for fear of
thorns. Surely, it is not the best the
ology that teaches that He who has
given such fulness of joy to beasts and
birds, delights in the misery of men; or
that, having filed our hearts with glad
ness, we ought to give the lie to Hi
goodness by wearing faces clouded with
woe, and furrowed with unhappiness.