The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-11-30
MEN wHO SEVER LAUGHED.

From the London Illustrated News.
1t was thought strange discovery
when. somewhere in northern Asia. a
tribe OF woodland men was found who
never laughed; never laughed, not be-
cause they were too proud, as certain
tribes among ourselves are. but be-
cause they had never known how So
the travellers convinced themselves
who employed a train of these laugh
terless people as guides through the
forests they were found in. All sorts
of tricks Were tried to move them TO
mirth. and all failed. They. gazed up
on the most screa ming practical Jokes
in silence and with unaltered counte-
nances. Their mirth. If they were reused
to any, was an interior tickle quite.
For laughter they seemed entirely
without the wherewithal. much TO the
travellers Amusement and more 10 their
pity.
| wonder whether the commiseration
was mutual. Not TO be able to laugh
seems a dreadful thing TO those who
make the noise, but to men incapa be
of making the noise how sad il must
seem and how strangely resembling
their fellow creatures TO the beasts Of
the field! To be sure we who laugh
are proud of the gilt because we fancy
it one of the half divine things which
the beasts have not. But this is the
fancy Of people who do laugh, and who,
nine thousand nine Hundred and ninety
nine times in ten thousand have never
listened to the sound of laughter as so
much noise, mere noise. ASSOCIATED
from all idea and preconception. But
that is how this outlandish folk did
listen when the travellers were explod-
ing over their own so-well-got-up
practical jokes. 1t would be entirely
unphilosophical to assume that the for
est people could not see she fun of those
humorous contrivances of the western
world. For if one sort OF savage
tribes can educate themselves to suffer
the most excruciatihg pain without
moving muscle, why should not an
other sort be brought up to enjoy the
most extraordinary jokes with the same
dignity? Surely they might, if con-
scious of the same motive-the red In
dams disdain of uttering unseemly
cries and making ugly faces.
Well. then, if that were the case these
secluded woodlanders, while they saw
the fun just as the red Indian feels ths
pain, heard laughter for the first time.
And If so, how should il sound to them.
this noise? Like something half divine.
as we fondly imagine its equality? The
voice or something that no mammal
save man can express. Something
which the brutes have no throat for?
BY no means. What they heard was
an animal voice, pure and simple. and
since forest folk has finer ears for
such voices than other men we NAV
well believe that laughterless tribe was
more grave than ever while the Euro
pean larks were going on, and that
they parted from the travellers pitying
them as much as they themselves were
pitied.
But Is there, then, no such thing as
musical aughter-pleasant laughter?
To that question how unexpected and
unkind an answer NO" would be-
Perhaps, also, impossible except from
the mouth Of philosopher Of the
laughterless tribe. When you hear
some unknown voice laughing with. (
out tat night for preference)-only the
laugh audible and the utterer of il un.
seen-listen for the next peal with a
mind discharged Of everything but At.
tention TO the mere quality Of the
sound. That it is the utterance of any
human feeling is TO be cast out of con.
seriousness; that 1t comes from a hu. /
man throat IS to be excluded from
presumption. Do this and what Won
viii hear viii be clattcr Of
sound like many things more than
the expression Of a human voice. n
may even sound mechanical. as if pro-
ceeding from some wood fashioned ma.
chine More proba bly,. however. i viii .
strike the ear as q succession 81 bar
barous persuasive notes, either re-
sembling the cry of some known ami. /.
mal-a quacking animal. barking. or
a braying animal-Or suggestive 81
some forest creature whose voice YOU
are hearing for the first time. And vet,
however rudelv 4 man may shout or
scream shouting and screaming being
so much less divine than laughter. the
human quality remains let JOY l.
JOY. and laughter i the voice az Il. and
little else j. left Of the worship of the
old earth gods