The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-04-19
Are Women Destitute of
A Sense Of HumOr Z

A Sense of Humor Z
At regular recurring intervals this ques-
ton, 'Have Women a Sense of Humor.
is thrust upon the public by disputatieusiy
inclined men. They argue with an earnest
ness, nothing worthy of mightier cause
that the average woman Is devoid of every
form of humor; that she cannot tell
simple Joke satisfactorily and has no ca
pacity for diffentiating between the sub
tie shades of meaning, which go to make
up the absurd ludicrous side of life.
Unfortunately ambitious women have
been known to attempt to refute this argu-
ment by the telling of solemn jokes, the
points of which remained silently impeodeu
in their own brains. But Notwithstanding
such blunders, every unbiased person must
admit that humor has been very evenly
distributed by a generous Providence, be-
tween the two sexes. Many southern wo-
men have written short stories trimming
over with wit and genuine fun, and 1t Is
not difficult matter to recall number
of bright women, whose sense OF humor Is
delicious and contagious.
Still with these uncontrovertibe facts,
staring one In the face, recent writer mas
challenged attention by such prejudiced
manufactured utterances as the following
He says, among other things:
OF course 1t is easy enough to discover
here and there woman who has glimm' y
ings of humor, and here and there perhaps
there exists one in whom this gift is per-
fectly developed; precisely as 1t is not real
ly difficult to find lady who has a beard;
but the typical woman surely is not beard
ed and perhaps little thought will make
1t seem no less improbable that the typi-
cal woman is able to regard the incidents
of life through the mellow light which moth
ing but sense of humor ever throws upon
them.
The capacity for seeing everything In
it's real relation to every other thing, that
makes the small thing seem really small
and the great thing really great, that de-
tects an incongruity where the unenlight-
ened mind sees only harmony and fitness,
that recognizes the real unimportance of
what the unenightened mind regards as
vital, the faculty that weighs and balances
and judges truly-out of thfs-arises the
remarkable quality which is usually styled
sense of humor. 1t gives to Its pos
SCISSOR a certain poise and reasonableness
that enable him to view with real SYM
pathy and insight a host of circumstances
and occurrences which to the mind of 9TH
ers are entirely misunderstood. The sense
of humor sees all things in their true rela-
iton, and thus 1t derives amusement in a
subtle fashion from the juxtapoSition of
certain ideas which are specifically unre-
lated; and 1t is conducive to calmness and
quiet enjoyment rather than to hilarty and
noise. Because IL springs from a sense of
proportion its possessor can feel the in
tense absurdity of certain facts even when
they rebound to his own disadvantages: he
can enjoy a laugh, as the saying goes,
against himself, for he can see that his
own personality is of no particular import
ance, and can look upon it as though from
the standpoint of another Individual A
sense of humor is, indeed, akin to sense of
justice, and it's origin lies in the same
qualities of mind. 1t Is co-existent also
with sense of the pathetic for pathos,
like humor, depends on an unerring in
sight into life as 1t actually is, and not as
the casual mind imagines 1t to be.
Now, the woman who is at all Typical
member of her sex has no sense of huraor
as she has no sense of justice, because heI
mental makeup wholly lacks the quality
of proportion. She is intense impulsive
and governed by whole bundle of impress
sions and instincts and emotions. She feels
keenly, she forms opinions hastily, she
takes everything very seriously, especially
everything that affects herself. She may
have infinite wit, and she may flash out
brilliant sayings that are marvelousy apt
and pointed, but there Is nothing balanced,
nothing genial, nothing liberal and large
and comprehensive in her estimate of life.
She is herself always the center of her
own world, and she neither understands the
essential unimportance of her own relation
to the universal scheme nor the greatness
of anything that lies beyond her own imme-
date observation. Hence, her view of life,
ana Oh the ldclS VI ille, lS q uiSlOl leu OhC,
narrow one, really unsympathetic one
unjust and bigoted, and personal, and,
In consequence, untrue Such mind as
hers can never see the humor in existing
things any more than it can see the abstract
right and wrong.
Perhaps the strongest proof that woman
lacks a sense of humor Is to be found in the
almost universal abstention from any at
tempt at humor upon the part of those
women who are known in literature Lit
erature is the one art in which women have
sought distinction from the times of Sap
pho to our own. They have essayed nearly
every form of writing, both in poetry and
In prose-the lyric, the drama, the novel
the romance, the essay, historical compost
ton, philosophy and even theological dis
cussion, but somehow or other with very
significant unanimity they have never
sought to win applause by trying to be
humorous Who can mention great hui
morist among all the women who have
contributed to English literature? For my
part can think of only one-George Eliot
who, In Middlemarch and The Mill on the
Floss, has given us some richly humorous
passages and scenes. But she is really the
exception that goes to prove the rule; fol
In the first place she stands out in an isola
ton so unique as only to emphasize the
absence of other women humorists, and II
the second place her humor was only ont
ofmany masculine attributes that she pos
sessed.