The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-02-12

suo VSucr way. Every IlmD StArO. or
on to own hook. He gyrates. HI
gesticulates. He expostulaies. He 70
tates. His right foot strikes out fol
heaven, his LETT for the far West, while
bis hat gambols gayiy over tho curb
stone. With resolution, emphasis and
resonance, he sits down hastily on Z
sharp piece Of ice-to reflect, the last
vss.ige oi dignity and pie,y gone. And
yet this thing goes on from day TO day,
and will 10 the last syllable OF recorded
time. Ordinances TO enforce the clean.
Ing oi pavements are dead letters. They
prove, like many other laws, that stat.
stes In advance Of public sentiment
amount to nothing. They sre silently
ignored BY common consent, Mer.
chants, who would seem directly inter.
ested In making pavcmcnts safe and
pleasant before their own doors, quietly
allow their customers n slip and slide
alongto the peril Of life and limb, and
oil for the want OF an hours labor and a
buckettul Of ashes or sawdust. There
In = reason for this deep down in the
American heart. 1t ID found in our ir.
repressible love of the ridiculous. Any
American tradesman in tho land
would rather lose the sale Of a
bin Of goods than miss seeing his
best customer make an involuntary
spresd.eagle Of himself on an icy pave.
ment. There Is something in II that
pays him better, and he holds his sides
and gssps In ecstacy Of mirth behind the
door at the recollection Of Jones trying
to execute . double s0mersault, without
q handspring, on the crowded pavement
Of frosty morning. He tries to tell you
where JOnes's hat went, and how he
appeared at that awful moment when he
looked around to see who witnessed his
astonishing exploits, but he suAfocates
and goes off uttering sounds diabOlic.
Ho sympathizes with the boy that rOared
in glee at JOnes's discontinue, and he
could hug the unfeeling brute oyer the
wsy'whO Is laughing stentoriously yet.
Let smiths new silk hat I've blown off
his head by the winds and sec how the
crowd will stop to witness tho race be-
tween the, hat and its. disguised owner.
Nobody stops the hat, yet everybody
cheers SiiYfth with wlioop and yell and
words ofenoonr1gement. Now he ha4
It. now away it goes again. through mud
and slush as Smith tears madly after.
The crowd IS evidently betting on the
hat, though it never fails to whoop up
Smith: Nobody IS in such hurry as
not to be able to stop and see that race
out, and contribute to the general joy
with uproarious shouts and pcals Of
laughter There is "a general disap-
poiptment when the battered bat is cap
tured and the fun is over. It's mean,
but We do 1.-THE politest and the rudest.
II We hold In until Smith, utterly de.
mora6zed, has retreated up stairway,
we explode Immediately aiterwavd per-
6diOusly and 60 cachinuating home in
conyulsions to tell the story to delighted
auditors. "''',' W" p"
On that slippery day in New York
VIXEN |" one-sixthiof the people were in
tho act. of constantly falling down or
picking themselves up,p the other five
sixths "might have been seen BEND
Ing too and fro in agonies OF merriment
and laughter. What apandemonium Of
noise went up from hundreds of miles OF
streets, yOnessixth groans and curses,
tiye.six,hs yslls Of derision and peals OF
Joy! Then and there was exhibited q
marked trait Of our national character
We laugh And grow lean. "
We really feel very sorry for Brown,
who has nearly ruined bis spinal column
by bio sudden determination to sit down
on a slick, fiat rock, but We have no
Idea OF restraining our joy at the pictur-
esque and bizarre attitude he assumes.
A man slipped up recently in Canaan.
daigua and unjointed his spinal column.
The accident elected shouts Of laughter
from the street, and then everybody
wanted to help carry, him home before
he died. There is no malice or mischief
H. the American sense of the ludicrous,
which EFFORTS titteripg from the girls
and khoops from the boys, old and
yduhg but an irrepressible desire to en-.
Joy the too few opportunities to shoe,
telly - it Mes and laugh whom We may.
Hence our .pavemsnb are seldom
cleaned. Hence our city ordinances are
dead letters. Hence we slip and slide
and laugh awsy, willing to take GU.
chances in the hope that our pudgy
neighbor, not we, may be induced Ia
perform actobatic 'feats, with . tin
bucket on his arann and o bottle in bis
pocket, the next time hei goes down
tewn. "Ths man who laughs. is o.
American t''la EllhrdiaN ap9|is yoar.na| ,,