The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-06-19
A VILLAIN NEVER LAUGHS.
Carlisle Says That Man WhO,Laughs
Cannot BE Altogether Bad.

Carlisle Says That a Man Who,Laughs
Cannot BE Altogether Bad.
One Sunday morning a visitor to the
Founding chapel, London, was shocked to
hear ripple Of laughter, and he wrote
Mortified letter to the preacher, the famous
Prof. MOmerie. The next Sunday Prof.
Momerie discOursed on 1.-The Uses of Laugh
ter" Il admit, of course, that there are
occasions in life when laughter would be
out of place, and, therefore, unseemly.
But the same is true of tears. Tears may
sometimes be an insult. Tears are OCCASION
ally the signs of madness, says Frank Les
lies Monthly. 1 admit, of course, it is
scarcely necessary to say, that laughter may
sometimes be silly, that merriment may
sometimes be profane. There is a laugh
ter, there is merriment, unworthy of the
name. just as there is poisonous food and
adulterated wine. The true merriment NAV
be distinguished from the false by the fact
that 1t bears reflections: we can think of it
with pleasure next day and next week. 1t
is joy forever. The doctrine [ wish to
condemn is the doctrine that all merriment
even the best, is worthless, OF compare
lively worthless; that laughter is always in
ferior to tears; as Lewis Morris puts it,
"Tears are divine, but mirth is of the earth.
say it is false doctrine, and. like all false
doctrines, mischievOus. 1t is gratuitous
assumption, for which there is not parti-
Gle OF evidence. There is overwhelming ev-
ldence against it. Tears mean that some
thing is wrong with us; laughter means
that we are happy. Surely, if you come to
think of it, you will see it is nothing short
of blasphemy to assert that the only gift we
receive from God is wretchedness. More
over, tears are but temporary accident at
tending the earlier and imperfect stages of
evolution. There will come time, the BIZ
ole tells us, when there shall be no more
tears. That is never said of laughter.
Again, laughter is one of the criteria of
goodness. A villain never laughs. What
SHAKESPEARE said of music is just as true of
laughter:
The man that hath no laughter in himself
Is tit for treasons, stratagems and spoils
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus
Let no such man be trusted.
On the other hand, as Carlyle says, no one
who has once heartily laughed can be ir.
reclaimabIy bad.' You may always trust
the man whose laughter has genuine ring
about it. These facts would alone suffice
W SHOW ClidG IaugnCor cannot De an evil, not
even silly thing.
Further and specially, laughter merri-
ment. cheerfulness and everything that con-
duces to cheerfulness, are absolutely essen
tial to enable us to live our best. Life is so
serious, you may say. that the man who is
in earnest will have no time for laughter.
tell you. it is just because life is so serious
that we need all the laughter we can get to
help us through with it. You may think
too much of the seriousness of life. You
may brood over the tragic side OF human
experience till you find yourself in a mad
house. And what would be the good of
that? A mans first business. say the Puri-
tans, is to battle with his temptations, and
with these temptations, therefore. his
thoughts should be wholly engrOssed. l
tell you he will best battle with his tempta-
lions by drawing his thoughts away from
them. And here laughter and merriment,
no less than healthy occupation. have their
part to play. Cheerful amusements have
saved many soul from DEATH"
1t is this cheerful and healthful view of
life that makes Prof. Momerie's sermons
the inspiration that his crowded cOngrega-
tions invariably find them. The man who
can persuade people in these pessimistic
days that God meant them to laugh and en-
joy the life He has given them, and yet be
in the truest sense of the word religious, is
doing service to the age which it greatly
needs.