The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-04
HIS SENSE OF EuMoR.

1t is a much-abused quantity, this
phrase "a sense Of humor"
THE trouble with most people, .
said the young man with wide, wavy
ears and a voice like a lawn rnower,
lis that they haven't faculty fer ses-
ing the amusing side of life. They've
got to have something labeled this is
funny before they will understand
that it's time to laugh. They miss lots
of chances to enjoy themselves simply
because of their own carglessness and
stupidity"
Then he gave a loud, discordant
"haw, haw," which made everybody in
the vicinity dislike him.
Don't you think there are
occasions on which our sym
pathies are so strongly APP
pealed to that hilarity Is impossible?'
inquired the quiet, elderly man.
Not if you have the gift of seeing
the funny side Of things. There's no
excuse for giving in to dull care and
melancholy. / saw an incident the
other day which goes to prove what
say. There was a young man sitting
in front of me on the car. A lady sat
next him, and l could see by her I'D
getty manner that anybody with sense
Of humor would be able to get some
thing worth laughing at if he would
Keep MS eyes open. IN q rev minutes
she slid along the seat next close be-
side him and said Are you familiar
with the names Of the hotels in this
city?' I felt sorry for that young fell
low. He didn't have any sense Of
humor at ALL He simply said that he
knew most Of the hotels, and then she
told him all about the case. She had
come from somewhere up in New York
state. Her son had enlisted against
h frf 7
had some rather hard words before he
left home to be a soldier. But just
the same, she kept on sending him
boxes full of all sorts of things to re-
lieve. the monotony of soldier fare,
most Of which, for some reason, he
never got. I could hardly keep from
snickering when l saw how surprised
and annoyed she was because her son
didn't get the provisions. But the
young fellow she was talking to didn't
seem to see the joke. He listened with
the gravest face imaginable as she told
how, when she heard the boy had ta-
ken typhoid fever, she had left home to
come and see him. The nurse asked
him that morning whom he would
rather see than any one else in the
world, and he had answered, You.
Isn't there any one you would rather
see more than me?' she asked, and he
SelAub 4NDt nv OnS tIl5C IIer6 IS any
hope OF seeing and then turned his
head over Oh his pillow as if he was
tired of being questioned. But
the nurse said, Wouldn't you
ike to see your nother?'
and he turned. And when he turned
to look at her his eyes were full os
tears, and in a minute more his mo-
Their was hugging him and he was feel
ing happier and stronger than he had
felt in weeks. And I'm bles. if the
excitement of it all didn't make her
plum forget what hotel she was stop.
ping at And that young fellow didn
appreciate it at all. He sat there and
named all the hotels he could think of
over, because she said she thought she
would remember the name ( she heard
1t. The idea of her coming to a strange
town and forgetting what hotel she
lived at didn't strike him the way it
did me the minute realized what had
happened. He didn't have any sense
of humor whatever Washington
Star.