Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1886-12-22
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THE ART OF LAUGHING.
SOMETHING WHICH CONSISTS OF
uNCOMELY FACIAL CONTORTION.

John b. Coughs Best Thing-How a
Dog Laughs-The Jolly Family Doctor.
Lincoln and the Laughing Spot-Wash-
inSton-Our Humorists.
Why is it people don't like to be laughed at!
What is laughter anyway? Apparently a
very innocent affair; q muscular contortiOn-
rarely a coinely twist of the features Could
you imagine anything more laughable than to
have Charles Sumner and Tom Corwin
brought into social contact for an hourf
Sumner always felt of joke as he would the
handles of a battery, and the result was q
shock. He hated a joker. Corwin was cor
ruscating with wit and fun in spite of himself.
be was the greatest statesman and wit COM
bined the country has ever produced. He died
at last as you have seen vast discharge or
rockets flashing and Illuminating, and then
suddenly all was darkness forever. Lincoln,
however, was moro grim He was not so
royalty a Laughter rs Corwin. But what
would you give to see the span in Paradisel
ART OF MAKING LAUGHTER
John B. Coughs best hing was to tell on
audience that he intended very soon to make
them laugh-laugh at something silly. He
gave them preparatory notice that what he
was going TO say amounted to nothing; was
not worth laughing at; yet they would all
laugh themselves tired. Then he went on
coolly to do it. And they always did laugh
and then looked at each other to see what
they were laughing at. No one ever found
out, and John said to them: Il told you so. u
He had the art of making laughter. He was
not himself good Laughter by any measure
In private be was decidedly & sober, matter
of-fact man.
There is not an animal that | know of that
does not try to laugh, and make some ap-
proach to it, only none Of them have as good
laughing muscles as we have. Ii is partly a
matter of checks. But what a jolly affair a
dog is when his master comes home! He
splits up a roaring laugh between his head
and tail Between the two his whole body is
contortcd into grins that finally work OF as
barks. They say wild dogs do not bark. 1t
is because they do not laugh
You should always have for a family doc
tor a man who can laugh 4 laugh once
saved my life. 1t never Is so useful as by
way of medicament. My doctor tells good
story and has a genuine smile. Smiles are
generally not genuine. They are mostly
grins half smothercd. When your doctor
looks cheerful and hopeful, you catch it of
him. Lincoln, bearing the country on his
heart in no rs of disaster, fortunately could
laugh. Gen. W. Julian tells us that when
Lincoln approached the laughing spot, in
good story, he would lift his left foot to his
right knee, and clinching his foot with both
hands and bending forward, his whole frame
convulsed with his sensations of delight.
WHEN WASHINGTON LAUGHED.
Washington is never known to have laughed
but once. It was at Valley Forge He had
ordered that whoever, officer or private, got
drunk should be compelled to cut stump in
pieces. Where the camp was formed these
stumpS were overabundant Ono morning
while making his tour of observation he came
upon a soldier who was chopping out the very
last stump Washington called to him pleas
antly, well, good fellow, you have found
the last stump" Eyes, sir" growled the
man, "and now when an officer gets drunk
there won't be stump left for him" The
general laughed heartily and looked at his of
ficers as if there were some Of them entitled
to feel relief
Carlyle, in''Sartor Resartus, tells of laugh
ter that takes in the whole man from head to
heels. There are as many styles of laughter
as there are laugherS. One begins slowly, the
fun gently creepS out along the risible mus
cles; then the hands fly up, the feet fly out
and the mouth flies open. This man becomes
the victim of joke, for it is very difficult to
stop when he gets to a reasonable maximum.
Tom Jones-that is not his name, but that
makes no difference here-never laughs with
out such a rush of blood to his head that am
afraid for his life
Laughter is as much matter of style as
language. There is an eastern laugh slightly
conservative, and curved up at the ends,
with culture There is a western laugh, that
is broad, full, unreserved, open and hilarious.
The Enslishman's laugh is self-conscious and
more or less Inconsistencies The Frenchman's
laugh is considerate and courteous. Dickens
laughter is wholly unlike Thackerays. You
can never quite avoid feeling that Thack-
eray's laugh is personal; he laughs at you |
OF all the daughters alive there is none equal
in good fellowship to DR.. Holmes. There
should be bit of patho5 in sound laugh. |
Bret IIarte has it. OF all the humorists by
profession only NJ. Quad has it.-Cor. Globe
Democrat.