The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-10-18
THE MORAL VALUE OF LAUGHTER.

There is a sober side to the subject of
laughter, though sober-sides do not
usually observe it. Nor is it without a
positive moral value, as might be pre-
sumed, from the fact that no other nat
ural physical movement of the human
frame is without its assigned purpose.
Laughing is not to be sneezed at any
more than sneezing is to be laughed ut,
as an established function of nature.
We should rather inquire what is their
definite design amid the intricate move
ments of life.
A medical writer of high authority is
publishing, in one of our scientific jour
mails, a series of articles upon ''The
Remedies of Nature. In suggesting
relief for certain diseases, especially
asthma, he declares that 'next to out
door exercise, the best corrective is
conversation, laughing and singing
He adds that laughter is n peptic
stimulant, while silence and brown
study favor dyspepsia, asthma and
sleepleSSness. " IA piece of good news
is worth bushels of asthma-weedS.'
And so saw we. Send on your bushels
of good news. LAS cold waters to
thirsty soul, so is good news from far
country
Now laughter is evidently designed
to wake up things generally, and set
everything to moving lively in that inn
portant region where the main physical
operations of life are going on. There
is evidently a little engineer stationed
somewhere under the fifth rib, on the
right side of the human frame. When
anything striking or funny meets the
eye or starts in the mind the bell-rope
that goes down to him receives Il sudden
jerk from the pilot-hOuse in the brain,
and he turns on the steam. At once the
chest begins to blow its bellows rapidly;
both sides have to join in whether they
want to or not, even until they ache;
the heart receives an impulse and wakes
up throbbing rapidly; the lungs expand
and contract with considerable violence;
the bronchial tubes lose their stringency;
the eyes twinkle; the mouth draws back
and opens; a gurgle and gasp or two
follow; then the air is filled with many
a merry hal ha. and the asthmatic
patient finds his breath again. All the
parts of the human system have been
let out for run, like the boys at re
cess, and after having good romp
and cheerful active exercise, for a few
minutes, come down to regular business
again.
Now we can not see why it is not
everybody : duty to laugh, Just as much
kind ofphysical exercise. Indeed, the
liver, the spleen, and other mysterious
organs, seem to have the function of
laughter appointed for some special use
in their healthful movements, and its
neglect entails disorder and disease
upon them. For laughter oils afresh
the wheels of the body, with its stimu-
lating effect, chases away that terrible
enemy of strength and peace, dyspepsia;
and if physicians are true, dispels sleep
lessneSs, with its painful and dangerous
consequences.
To "laugh and grow fat is an old
proverb that might suggest wisdom &c
us, for we are made TO laugh But
there is a class of morbid Pharisees who
affect a lofty contempt of laughter and
mirth as undignilied and trilling, and
unworthy the character of sober-mindeC
men. Their multiplied sorrows have
deadened the energy of their vital pow
ers; life's burdens have outweighed it,
pleasures, and their organic apparatu:
gravitates toward a suspension of Its
functions. The handspring has lost it;
tension, and they are already half dead
All because they are neglecting
physical exercise appointed for the re
lief of their decaying members anc
faculties.
Let them wake up, take the fresh all
in a rousing walk, join in the merry
laughter of the children, whose bUoyan
spirits display the healthfuI activity o
their bodily system, play with the dog
run and jump as much as their ole
bones will let them, and their morbid
ness win take lasting flight on the merry
wings of laughter.
Or let them take good horseback
ride through the woods and fields, anC
thev viii laugh in spite of themselves.
laughter thus possesses n moral quail
~ For our moods are too often tn,
Collection of our physical conditions
No man can be free, earnest servant
of God, filled with love to his Masto
and Sdn goqk Keep his IS RS 5i1y appa