St. Paul daily globe., 1885-11-28
WME SIXTH SENSE.
Humor ;aasi Wit Considered i'm that
Relation.

London Standard.
The sense of humor has rightly been de-
scrbed as the sixth sense. Life is jest"
to most of us dubious one-but, oh, ''the
humor of it," He who di, covers not where
the laugh comes in is as much to be pitled
as an unhappy wight in a garden of fragrant
flowers with a cold in his head. 1t is sad
fact that there are as many who may be
likened to such an afflicted being. The
sense of humOr, like many other good
things, is the possession OF the minority.
Yet there is no faculty the ordinary mortal
prides himself so much upon as his sense
Of humOr. The possession of the five other
senses he is conscious does not atone for the
absence of the sixth. If he is blind, he
does not blink the fact, and wears spectacles
blue ones, if necessary. If he is deaf, he
presents an ear trumpet at his friends with
out the slightest conjunction, but II he
feels that the laughter of life is to him but
dumb show he is desperately careful to con-
ceal his infirmty. To this end he laughs
Justify and upr0arionsly often when the
true humOrists are glum and silent. He
will go into Mysteries over the modern far
cial comedy. The idea of a drunken hus-
band hoodwinl1ing, by a series of ingenious
lies, the wife he has deceived is rapturously
funny to the moral cripple with only five
senses. With the morbid self consciousness
of many sufferers under physical or moral
defect, he strives to conceal his infirmity by
airing it on every possible occasion. He
continually buttonholes his friends with
some ''deuced good story" which, it need
hardly be said, turns out in recital to be
more ''deuced" than good" The primary
object, however, is gained. The world
never discovers that its bOiSterOuS humOriSt
is only playing part. On the contrary,
with its usual gullibility, it laughs and
votes the ''deuced good story teller an Sin
fernally amusing fellow" 1t is easy, but
needlessly cruel to "show up the sin
fernally amusing fellow" He can be
'foored" in trice by volume of Happy
Thoughts, or Alice in Wonderland. with
out recourse to the heavier tones of Thack-
cray or Dickens. But, after all, the im-
position is harmless one. If he bores the
minority he pleases the majority, and the
best thing the humorous minority can do, if
it cannot laugh at him, is to laugh at him.
The influence of this sense on the enjoy
ment of life is immense. Even poverty is
enriched when its humor is discovered. The
sense of humOr not only supplies what has
been called the ''wine of life," but is also
responsible for much of its harmony, to use
the word in its widest sense.
AS in marriage, so in friendship and the
other relations of life. The sense of humor
knits diverse natures together which other
wise would remain as far asunder as the
poles. There is one more advantage, if
such it can be called, attendant upon the
possession and cultivation of the sixth
sense. The sense of humor is always ac-
companed by an equal perception of pathos.
1t is needless to multiply instances of this
truth. With little Paul Dombey and Col.
Newcomb staring us in the face, so to speak,
such proceeding would be slight on the
memory of the two greatest humorists Of
modern DAYS.