Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-05-30
WHOLE NO. 1916
Philosophy of Laughter.

A laugh is worth hundred groans
in any market-and the old maxim of
"laugh and grow fat would be equal
ly proper if it read laugh and grow
good. A genuine, hearty laugh can
never come from a man whose soul is
corrupt, and whose brain is filled with
evil and wicked principles.
Even the astute and cynical Carlyle
has said: "No man who has once
heartily and wholly laughed, can be
altogether irreclaimably depraved."
The widest Imagination cannot con-
ceiye of Casslus as being jolly, Or OF
Br1tus as funny man. Shakespeare
speaks Of Cassius as being clean and
hungry :" Of course he never laughed
but was as solemn as an owl. People
cannot live upon tasteleSs mental food
any more than they can be satisfied
with bodily nourishment which is un-
seasoned. Genuine and innocent wit
is TIE flavor OF the mind, and hearty
laughter is the expression of its diges-
ton. The lugubrious parsonage who
trowns at pleasantly, who cant take
u joke on any terms, is either nor
tally stupid character, or the most
likely man on earth to sheathe pon-
lard in your body Of dark night,
either for purposes ofrobbery OF of It
venge. Is not the moral an obvious
one
Extremes are reactionary. Though
all philosophy teaches us that laugh
ter Is aproperty of reason and wisdom,
still its excess is a mark of folly
"For my own part" says the Rev. DR..
Bellows, Il say it in all solemnity. l
have lived to become sincerely suspic.
ious Of the rlety Of those who do not
love pleasure in any form. l cannot
trust the man that never laughs; that
is always sedate that has no appar-
ent outlets for those natural springs OF
sportiyencss and gayety that are pc
rennial in the human soul. l know
that Nature takes her revenge on such
violence. Innocent pleasures and
popular amusements are worthy Of all
encouragement. Anything is better
than the dark, dead, unhappy social
lite-a prey to ennm and morbid en-
citement-which results from unmiti.
gated Puritanism, and which is apt to
lead to license and infamous folly.
''lle who laughs, said the mother of
Goethe, ''can commit no deadly sim
Il am persuaded" said Sterne, "that
every time a man smiles-but much
more so when he laughs-it adds
something to his fragment Of life"
Douglas Jerrold, the prince of modern
wits, eXclaimS, LET materialists bias
phelne as gingerly and acutely as they
will, they must find confusion in
laughter" And yet laughter is akin
to weeping. for true humor is closely
allied 10 pity, paradoxical as it may
seem.
Heaven has especially made us the
merriest Of the creaton-angels are
supposed to be more serious, and we
know that although animals can weep
they cannot laugh. Mirth has been
SAID to be Gods medicine; everybody
ought to bathe in it. 1t will lubricate
the joints of the body, and radiate
sunshine in the BRAN. A certain dl-
vine once said, praying can no more
be made substitute for smiling than
smiling can for praying" a truth well
worth remembering. Bolingbroke,
the brilliant English orator, politician
and author, says: II have observed
that in comedy the best actors play
the part Of the droll, while some scrub
rogue is made the hero, or fine gentle
man. So in this farce of life, wise
men pass their time in mirth, while
fools onl y are serious Cheertulness
is just as natural to i man In sound
health as color is TO his cheek, and
bears the same friendly rels ton to the
mind as to the body, and as nothing
will supply the want Of sunshine to
flowers and fiuit, 50 nothing can take
the place of mirtbfulness in the ripen-
ing and nourishment of the human
heart. God is glorifed-not by our
sroans, but-by our thanksgiving.
"A merry heart doeth good like
medicine" says the sacred volume.
N Y. Weekly.