Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-12
THE ART OF LAUGHING.
SOMETHING WHICH CONSISTS OF
UNCOMeLY FACIAL CONTORTION.

John ID. Coughs Best tt ing-How n
Dog Laughs-The Jolly Family Doctor.
Lincoln and the Laughing Spot-wash-
ingtOn-Our Humorists.
/ Why is it people don't like to be laughed at ;
What is laughter anyway! Apparently
very innocent affair; muscular cOntnrtion-
rarely IA comrly twist Of the features. Could
yOu imagine anything more laughable than to
nave Charles Sumner and Tom COrwin
brought into social contact for an hour,
Sumner always felt of joke as he would the
handles Of battery, and the result was a
shock. He hated joker. Corwin was cor
Iuscating with wit and fun in spite Of himself
He was the greatest statesman and wit COM
bIned the country has ever produced. He died
at last As You have seen a vast discharge of
rockets flashing and Illuminating, and then
/ suddenly all was darkness forever Lincoln
however was more grim. He was not so
royalty a laugher "A, Corwin. But what
would you give To 80 the span in Paradise!
ART OF MAKING LAUGHTER.
John h. Coughs best hing was to tell an
audience that he intended very soon to make
them lauEh-laugh Mt something silly He
gave them preparatory notice that what he
was going Ia say amounted Ia nothing: was
not worth laughing at vet they would all
laugh themselves tired. Then he went on
coolly Ia do it, And they always did laugh:
and then looked at each other to see what
they w"rr laughing at. No one ever found
out, and John said to them: Il told YOU 50.
He had the art Of maxim; laughter He was
not himself good lauSher by any measure
In private he 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-
prnach to it. only none of thein have as good
laughing muscles as We have 1t is partly a
matter of cheeks. But what a jolly affair a
dog is when his master comes home, He
splits up roaring laugh between his heal
and tail Between the two his whole body is
contorted into grins that finally work off 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. laugh once
saved gly life. 1t never il ~ useful a. by
way of mcdicament. Ny doctor tells u good
story and has a genuine smile. Smiles are
generally not genuine. They are mostly
grinS half Smothered When your doctor
looks cheerful and hopeful, you catch it OF
him. Lincoln, bearing the cOuntry on his
heart i'll ho-rs Of disaster, fortunately could
laugh. zen. ". Julian tells Us that when
Lincoln approached the laughing spot, in Il
good story, he would lift his left foot to his
right knee, and clinching his foot with both
hands and bending forward, his whole franc
convulsed with his sensations of delight
WHEN WASHINGTON LAUGHED
Washington is never known to have laughed
but once. 1t was at Valley Forge. He had
ordered that whoever officer or private, got
drunk should be cOmpelI-d to cut u stump in
pieces. Where the camp was formed these
stumps were OveraburSaut One 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, We'll. good fellow, you have found
the last stump Yes, sir" growled the
man, and now when an officer gets drunk
there won't he 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" Sartnr 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 a 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 rs much a matter of style rs
language. There is all eastern laugh, slightly
conservative, ard curved up at the ends,
with culture. There is a western laugh, that
is broad, full, uHreserved. open and hilarious.
The EngliShman's laugh is self-conscious and
more or less incOnsiderate The Frenchman's
laugh is consideratc and courteous. Dickens
laughter is wholly unlike Thackeray's You
can never quite avoid feeling that Thack-
eray's laugh is personal; be laughs at you
OF all the daughters alive there is none equal
in good fellowship to DR.. Holmes There
should be a bit of pathos in a sound laugh
Bret Harte has it. OF all the humoriSts by
profession only NJ. Quad has it.-Cor. Globe
Democrat