The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-08-30
THE WAYS WE LAUGH
THEY DIFFER AS MUCH AS DO OUR
VOICES OR OUR FACES.

While Men Commonly Use the ~ N0o
O style, Women Usually Indulge In
the f. and I Brnnd-A Laugh That
Won Napoleon a Battle.
Since the days Of Adam, who is said
to have invented laughter when he
awokc and saw Eve by his side, no
two people have laughed alike. The
laugh is as distinct as the voice.
Women laugh differently from men,
children from women; indeed, even
the laugh Of full bearded man is diff
fcrent from that which he laughs when
he has shaved.
The Able Damasceni thought he had
discovered in the various enunciations
Of laughter sure guide to the tenn
peraments of the laughers. Thus he
said "Ha. la! haw belonged to a
choleric person; "He! he! he" to q
pblegmatic one, and "E[o! ho! ho! to
the sanguine. And it is q scientific
fact that, while men commonly laugh
in a and o, women usually laugh in
e and /.
Those who practice laughing to any
extent have been divided wittily into
dlmplers-and to know how charming
they can be one has only to so back to
Charles Reade's "Simpleton With q
Dimple"-smilers. grinners, horse
laughers and sneerers. This is to lay
down a science Of laughing, for which
there might have. been need had our
generals in the late war taken up the
idea Of old Bulow, who proposed to
form troops, in face Of the enemy, in
line Of battle and order them to ad-
vance with their arms at a shoulder
and salute the foe with ringing bursts
Of laughter.
"Be sure" said Bulow, that your
opponents. surprised and dismayed at
this astonishing salute. would turn
about and run of"
Perhaps this scheme would notewor
now, while the present long range ar
tillery is used; but, as matter Of fact,
it is related that the Mamelukes once
turned tail from an assault upon the
French In Egypt ol hearing tho roar
of laughter with which Napoleon's
veterans greeted the command, Form
in squares, asses and men Of science
In the center"
Great men often have fancied it
part of greatness to refrain from hilar-
ity. Philip Nv Of Spain is said to have
laughed only once in his life. That
was when his bride, Anne of Austria,
wept at hearing that the queens Of
Spain had no feet. She took with Ger
man literalness an old piece Of Spanish
courtesy. AS she was journeying to-
ward Spain some German nuns met
her and desired to present some stock
ingS Of their own knitting. The worthy
princess was about to accept the gift
when Spanish grandee Of her suit in
terfered with the remark that it would
be against etiquette, as the queens Of
Spain were not supposed to have any
use for stockings, whereat the princess
began to weep, understanding, poor
woman, that on her arrival in Spain
her feet would be cut of.
Lord Chesterfield said, Nobody has
seen me laugh since have come to my
reason" and Congreve makes his Lord
Froth In the Double Dealer say,
when I laugh, always laugh alone"
Young people and fools laugh easily.
says nm old proverb, which often has
proved true.
Nevertheless the singer Robert gave
lessons in laughter in Paris and in Lon
don in 1906, and, so far at least as
filling his own purse went, with sue.
cess. He held that men and women
could not laugh "decently and sys-
tematically" without proper training
and said that person who could laugh
only in one tone seemed to him like
one who could say only oui and non,
but that q trained laughter should ex-
press many things.
It is curious fact that it is only
among the French and among the an
clients that we read Of people laughing
Themselves to death. We, in our days,
must have either more jokes or dull.
er appreciation Of wit. Zeu1is Is said
to have died Of laughing at q painting
Of an old woman, his own handiwork.
Philemon expired laughing at donkey
who ate so contentedly the philoso-
piers figs that, with his last articulate
breath, he sent out his last glass Of
wine to the beast, who drank it with
equal enjoyment and thus proved him
self, it ,r;,ould seem, not such donkey
after al!C
1t remains true, however, that laugh
ter is good for the health. Laugh and
grow fat" is the old proverb. Syden-
ham maintained that the arrival Of q
clown in village was as wholesome
as that Of 20 donkeys laden with drugs.
Tissot, the famous French physician.
cured consumption and liver CON-
plants by causing his patients to
laugh, and Erasmus, through immoder-
ate laughter at the rude Latin Of Hut
tens Letters of Obscure Men," broke
an internal abscess which had long
plagued him.
"When man smiles, and much more
when he laughs, it adds something to
his fragment Of life," said Sterne, who
wished laughter enumerated in the ma
terra medica, holding 1t as curative
Of the same kind as coughing, sneez-
ing and perhaps vomiting, only much
pleasanter than any Of these.