The Portland daily press., 1898-06-01

+ba suppose saIIs 81 however, that if one has not
If he can - ro 4fumor it is great blessing
make Jokes IRAN from the attempt to
o4 man attempts to be funny. in which the
aseenpss are ludicrous and the finn ia
iudicro,1o y 1t is the perception of some
~ 1891 t1lng which ACTUALLY exists in
20 not or IN human actions or ideas. 1t
Ind icro Omo attempted manufacture Of the
Now iat which does not exist.
particnisr,,,n e call to your notice a little
uses of tha Few of the more evident
thai non one sense of humor First, hold
t +ha none can tell how much ii iiehtens
stand SI ~ ~ OF life. How can a man
ara 5a ~ w 60 through lifn and see the sad
thr,, eetepresslng things that are constantly
see aIeo upon his attention, unless he can
How c. sumo Of the amusing things?
human n ne keep his patience with
naonio aug snams and make-believes that
san1a -, anect, unless he can see at the
800, time line how ridiculous people thus
rn,,H themselves? How can you preserve
nn1asa aaltn III the progress of mankind
indic Sn YOU can perceive how subliInely
ti cs o,,s are all the vagaries of the fana-
'Ia anu the crack brainsP
,aalS Um many boys would have escaped
i roo ~ spankings and prodtless jaw
thmgs IL tnelr mothers could only have seen
d anW iunny they looked, instead OF how
W NOT more than a year ago I made
,,, o,aii Al family whose most interesting
tuiIMper Is little child, smart, active,
d T,su9i9ai,wake Her parents are evidently
Tx su,ipiinarians after the old school.
wi amice during my short stay was the child
a,aao seu from the room for discipline
oll H was she taken vigorously upon the
r niiaC9rnal iapI thrice were her little arms
f Fowl 81; admonishingly, and not less than
aolOy 6imes was she epjoined in the most
mplatlc manner to desist from what she
m.ss 9olng, though If she had been al
.oweu 20 DO what she wanted to she could
| Mot possibly have done anything wrong.
mourning could have prevented my going
away from that house and being sad all
one AFTERNOON at the thought of the disoi.
pune which awaits that little chick dur
ing Gne next few years. Nothing except
1he thought Of how ridiculously funny it
was to see two great, big, grown people
uevotlng all their talents and energies to
Cae vain attempt to keep in order piece
u humanity which God evidently de-
signed to jump and kick.
Inc sense of humor, in the second place
enapies one to sse things in their true pro
poIoion. Indeed, If am not mistaken,
Onls 10 What the sense of humor is Things
are made to fit together in certain order
| anu proportion; and it Is where this order
OF proportion is disturbed, and two things
geg together which don't belong together,
I %N we nave the feeling of the ludicrous.
LOT example, why should it seem funny
| SnaI MRS. harrington should try to keep
the means which she is using is SO out of
| proportion to the end she wishes to &C.
| compiish. Why is it funny when man
| iaiiS through one of our vestry chairs
mere, IN the midst of meeting? Because
9nat ISM what chairs are for, and the
last place where one would expect to be
SUING on the floor is in church vestry
Wniie 1ne service is going on. Anything
ludlorous implies something out of place.
some dlsJointing of the regular and proper
connections between things. The keener
ones sense OF humor, therefore, the keen
er his perception of the true proportion
OF things. | have never known a man
whose sense OF the ridiculous was keen to
chase rainbow, or try to catch the
moon, or go off into those religious or
social vagaries which stand on the same
level. Little things look little to him.
big things look big; and it Is because
they do look to him as they are, that
when other people mistake big things for
little and little for big, it is funny to
him.
The sense of humor preserves mani
sanity. Practically all cranks are people
who can't see the lr1dicrous side OF a
thing. What do we mean by crank.
anyway? suppose we mean man who
gets hold of some idea, distorts 1t out of
all proportion to all other ideas, and fol-
lows it all the time like boy chasing a
butterfly. And it is simply his inability
to see the righteousness of his own posi-
ton that makes it possible for anyone to
be crank. There may be some such,
but have never known q fanatic who
had well developed sense of humor.
| l name still third advantage of a
sense of humor-that it helps man to
keep his temper. Just think what a
world this would be, good people, if none
ever got niad-if none ever sassed back,
or said the uncharitable word before he
| thought, or cursed, or struck, or quar-
relledl Why, If we weren't any Of us
| any better than we are now in any other
respect, but should all of us keep our tenn
pers perfectly serene for-say five or ten
years--wel shouldn't recognize this old
| world, it would be SO greatly improved.
can not guarantee that the man who
| has sense of humor Will never get mad.
| but think he will get mad less frequent.
| ly in just such proportion as his sense of
| humor is most lkeenly developed, For If
happens, fnot always indeed, bnt usually,
| that those things which are most exas-
perating sre exactly those things which
are most ridiculous, If you can only sac
| the ridiculous instead of the exasperatina
| comes to you and tells you how to run
your business, who can't run his own.
Or here is a man who accuses ssyou of be
ing an ignoramus, who doesn t know any
thing. Or here is man who can't tell
the truth If he tries to, calls you liar.
These things, and thousands of others,
are altogether too ridiculous to get mad
at-they ought to amuse you, that's all.
But of course if you can't see the ludi-
crous side of the situation all you can do
is to get mad and raise trouble. I don't
believe that a man who has keen sense
of humor, often broods on his wrongs,
plans for revenge, lays up grudge, or
turns out in any way to be villain.
| And now l should be untrue to the &C.
casion and to the topic. if I did not add
one or two of the more evident reasons
why the sense of humor is desirable in a
minister of the gospel.
| In the first place, I hold with Sidney
Smith-if he was the man who said it
that in preaching, the sin against the
Holy Ghost Ia dullness. 1t seems..toysme
too, that no preacher who has keen sense
of humor ever need .be dull. But you
may ask me, "Should minister put
| humor into his sermons?" Not inten-