Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1886-02-04

u SAVAGE I"'turf
The third lecture in tho Ellsworth lecture
course wa. by the Rev, Mnot J. savage Of
Boston, on Laughter in Earnest" II Wa one
Of those lectures from which one zoe, away
with feeling Of gladness which will make the
world look brighter and better for 4 whole
week. The speaker commenced by saving that
he had seen a man who hal rral the Pickwiek
Papers all through without the faintr-t token
of 4 smile. Laughter and tear. are exclusive
Is human. and should be used noble gift.
II a man csu relapse into hearty. -idesplttin-
laughter. though h. may have many faults,
there j, good sid, TO him after ALL II one
accused of crime. could be found laughing
heartily all by himself, over something funny,
the fact ought To 20 4 long WAY towards csiab-
fishing HI innocence.
Laughter j. the dancing brook which forms
the boundary line between the human and the
brute. some people. however, can never
laugh. because they never see anything TO laugh
at. They are born with defect; they are de
heient in a useful attribute. much so, a. If
they had been born coor-blind II ! had Il
brother who could read the Pickwick Paper,
without bubbling over with merry laughter. /
would strive To cover up the fact. as | would
any other family misfortune
Laughter should be the natural spontaneous.
language Of the human heart, A. music j. of
the bird. But some have nothing humorous
in their composition. They could not perceive
Joke even if they had "a pair o. patent double
million magnifyin' gas microscopes OF hextra
power a sam Weller would say on the
E 4
the broad grim. In all they say and do they
are clowns who look upon every one gri-t
to be tossed into the hopper OF their joke mill.
Such man may earn the reputation Of being
funny. but he always lowers himself and does
not command the respect Of his fellowmen.
when men are wanted for the noble, earnest
work OF life. some one else is chosen. We
must remember that this is an earnest world
which is ruled by an earnest God. and that
! there is AN earnest heaven above us.
/ There are those who never laugh for whom
1 have the tenderest sympathy. The speaker
/ pictured bright home filled with music and
4 pictures and laughter home OF love and
4 happiness and domestic felicity, into which
| death enters and bears away loved child. To
| the mother the light of home has gone out and
/ she cannot smile. There are sides Of life on
4 which if one fixed his gazed, we may well eN-
/ pect he would never smile. There are those
! who have such realizing sense of the dark
sides of life that they see no room for laugh
I ter. and become pessfmists. but the mere
+ fact that society exists is proof positive that
the good outweighs the evil in the world.
/ Home without laughter is like diamond
without ustre, tree without green leaves. a
I flower without fragrance. II you would lift
men you must first get hold of them. Men
like Nasty and Josh Billings have presented
truth in manner so peculiar that careless
/ men would accept it with laughter. Some
people are beneath argument; you might as
well take artillery to fight mosquitoes with.
wrong will stand just so long as it can re-
tain its responsibility. If you wish to kill it
you must first make 1t absurd and there is no
quicker way to do that than by ridiculng it,
The best and truest men have not hesitated
to use wit in the service Of truth
In Father Taylor's bethel. one Sunday. Bos-
ton divine refused seat in the pulpit because
Unitarian clergyman, in answer to a previous
invitation, had taken a seat therein. Father
Taylor, jealous Methodist, knelt down and
prayed in substance as follows: so Lord, we
have two crying evils in Boston-one is Boston
rum, and the other religious intolerance
Thou, Lord, knowest which is the worst;
don'tr' Emerson was a great favorte of Fa-
ther Taylor, and when one asked il he thought