The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-11-23
WHY 90 WOMEN LACK "HuMoRr
1t l. ''snubbed" Out of Many Women
in Early Life.

OF sense OF humOr IN women. Sne
speaks Of this sense as generally mo-
nopoly Of men-nOtably Of newspaper
men. While | admit that men laugh /
and joke more than women DO as a
class, do not believe that they have
more natural wit or a quicker sense Of
the ludiCrous. The seriousness and
gravity Of most women are primarily
the result Of early snuDbins; seconda-
rily, Of the lonely lives which most Of
them live after marriage.
As 70 the first cause: wonder if there
IS a girl in the world with the least sense
of fun. the least love Of rational laugh
ter and merriment, who does not con
tinually hear What a rattlebrain! Is
anything sacred from your funmaking:
or. How can YOU find so much 10 laugh |
at: You laugh just like boy or, i do /
believe you'd see something funny IN |
funeral!" or, worst of all, Those who /
laugh while they are young must cry |
when they are oldr'
never noticed any unusual gravity /
in girl babies, or that they gurgle and /
laugh less than boys. Indeed the two
very merriest, jolliest, most rolIlcklng
babies | ever knew were girls. But
quite possibly they grew up TO be two
OF the "slow" wives whom their hus-
bands find so dull company. The con-
fined and restrained lives which are laid
out for most girls are Of themselves sad
dening. An occasional walk, ball or
party, in all of which there is more or
| less restraint, does not have the inspirit-
ing, enlivening effect of the everyday
| freedom which the boy enjoys.
! If a girl is born IL poor family her
constant need of drudging indoors is
enough TO kill her funmaking- proclivi-
| ties; if she is born to money the artl-
fatalities and formalities of her life soon
| destroy all her spOntaneity. The so
called "best society" which regards q
hearty laugh as a vulgarity and the
natural expression Of any emotion as a
sign of i'll breeding, cannot be supposed
q very hotbed for the propagation of
original wit and humor; and it may
safely be said that if society women are
not famous for flashing wit and brilliant
repartee. neither are the rank and file of
society men famous for the sparkle and
irresistibility of their original humor.
Nv merriest schoOlmate q had boy
schoolmates, toO) was q girl; not sim
ply n laughing girl, laughing as all
young creatures rejoice until cured by
time or training, but a born humorist-
witty herself and the cause of wit in
others In her inspiring presence the
dull and grave awoke to vivacity and
liveliness and the brilliant became daZ-
zling. | have known some men humor-
lists. and | admired and appreciated
them, but not one of them was quicker
to see a droll possibility, more ingenious
in turning funny sentence, more mex
haustible in resource, more constantly
a-bubble with wit than that girl whom
nobody ever heard of, excepting hel
, schoolmates mot six of whom knew how
to admire herr and the grown up friend;
, who were continually wet blanketin@
her.
Unfortunately hers was q rich family
l and she was early put into the crimpin&
= and futing machine of good breeding
and etiquette, trained for that sort o
"society" which looks on all originate,
as eccentricity, land eccentricity is sue
l bad form, you know" Years after
b, met her again. What was she? a ma
Y chine with the springs taken out; a bobc
$ link taught to sing fashionable music;
: beautiful, hfeless creature to put fin
clothes on, to take to the opera, to b
o possibly betrayed into well bred smile
e The snaffiebit and checlrein of ''socit
! ty" had done their work.
l. And how is it with the poorer girl?
II she lives at home she must manage an
II contrive and help her overworke
&c mother; the very labor of living is d
e. pressing. If she supports herself an
others, her life is fight; her only ass
ID ciates are girls as poor and dreadfully
or earnest as herself; there is small chan'
Of for the cropping ont of fun in a workir
Of girls humdrum existence. If she ma
c. ries poor man there Is the same o
a grind, with added responsibilities, pr
V occupying and depressing. For yea
Il she is either alone all day for six da
a out of seven, or she has only the COZ
in panionship of small children, who, hoy
ever merry they may be, do not call o
much rivalry of wit and repartee. S
may have the wittiest husband in t
~ world. but she sees him only III t
eI morning, when he is hurTying to 8
III away to his work, or at night, when
comes home tired and subdued
the work of the day-at Meth
-, of which times is even wit
"" man apt to scintillate to a,
a great extent He may be one Of tho
very newspaper men who are
- good comrades in the office; if so,
w has been for the most of the day, ey
though hard at work at his desk, III
atmosphere of mental electricity, if o
may say so; ne has had that impet
t1e and incentive which is so provocative
ex- wit and sprightly thought, the attriti
all of kindred minds; quips, quirks, pu-
Md bright sayings and apt retorts have be
is passing under his eyes and exploding
ION his ears all day, continually suggest
others, and keeping him constantly
md his metal. But even newspaper II
the are sometimes tired at night, and il
for- doubtful if even the veriest clowr
arv very funny i'll the bosom of his fami
no. Probably the wife of funny man he
less of his fun than any other Of his
Quaintances.
\ very old book inquiries, How {
TO one be warm alone?' But it is easier
be warm alone than to be witty alo
Wit is eminently social instinct;
TINS funniest man mopes if shut up al,
nS' where no one hears his fun. And il
TAT more than probable that his sense