San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-10-05
GOOD HUMOR.
Ii Has a Social Value Which is MOI
Easily Oyerestimated

Ii Has Social Value Which is Not
Easily Oyerestimated.
Harper's Bazaar.
A great deal has been said of the
charms of the old French salons,
those delightful reunions where the
brightest spirits of sparkling era
met in free ard familiar converse,
each showing his own best and
drawing out the best of others. The
peculiar grace of the old salons has
passed away with the days of the
old regime Even in France the salon
of this century is not that of the last.
"Other people, other ways" The
society which composed the salons of
the eighteenth century was like a
brilliant growth of peoples and corn
flowers. nodding IN the breeze upon
the roof of matched cottage. Beau
titul in itself, this growth is but q
token of the age of the rottipg thatch
and that of the ruined dwelling be-.
meath 1t. at needed but the tap
of a child's hammer upon the totter-
ing lintels and almost in breath
there was nothing left but heaps of
debris, and here and there an aston
ished flower left living and wonder
ing in the midst of the des truction.
What were some of the influences
which fostered the gay flowers of the
old salon? First of all was the freedom
that comes from assured position and
social equality. Bowling TO the mon
arch as the one supreme, and ignoring
the great masses below them with
an unconscious sel6shness incOmpre.
henslble today, the men and women
who composed the salons were on a
social plane that admitted buc slight
Inequalities. They understood each
other. If there were chickering's and
Jealodsies, they were-like the differ
ences of a well disciplined family
kept beneath the surface. Every
member of circle was known to all
the others, not specifically, but
thoroughly; not only each in bis own
person, but each historically, that is,
in the history Of his ancestors. This
sort of acquaintance is essential to the
freest exchange Of thought and cpl
gram No slightest 'alIusiOn or turn
of a phrase is lost The brightest
sallies of wit, the keenest flashes OF
wisdom, are those which are uttered
in a strictly family circle, where ali
ed, aud though often widely dIfferIn Q
are yet united by an electric touch,
of sympathy.
This sympathetic freedom was the
ozone of the French salon. It's sun.
shine. soft and genial, if not penetrat.
ing, was good humOr.
The society of men and women who
look at all things in the pleasantest
light, who never take uDmeant af
fronts, whose presence is always
Oil upon the troubled waters. must
of necessity be agreeable. The French
nave always appreciated this, and
have cultivated goad humor "a 3
polite accomplishment.
BY other nations this has some
times been deemed a token of insin
certify. Not so. To be always gooC
humored is simply to ignore offences
wherever this is possible; to bear nj
grudge; to utter no harsh criticisms
to respect the pet foibles of ones as
soclates;tO tolerate all aimabie weak
hesses; 10 not zee, or sealing, to ignor,
all the attempts OF the Tu'"lv nurtureC
TO slight or to snuh tho .. N,ru the,
care not TO favor: and pvnJ. % sub
init To any enduTabIe amount Of i'm
position rather than to disturb tn
general peace-in short, to think NOR
of the general good will and hauni
ness than of ones own individua
tastes, prejudices, desires, or eve
rights that are not essential to one
own moral and physical well bein.
or to that of other persons.