Bisbee daily review., 1905-03-12
THE MESSAGE AND
 MINISTRY OF FUN,

At the regular meeting of the Bis
 bee Woman's Club, on Friday after
 noon. Mrs. High read a paper, "The Message and Ministry of Fun The
 Review this week prints part of the paper. which will be concluded on this page next week:
 This subject
 It must be taken up tenderly,
 And handled with care,
 Or you1l make fun of me,
 Which would not be fair
 My friends, can you imagine how my hair bristled and how l put on my armor. when someone said to me the other day, "The Message and Min istry of Fun" that is a funny sub ject for a Philanthropic Department paper" and I rreplied with fire in my eyer am glad you think it so funny; we need all the fun we can get in our department. l assure you" Per. haps, therefore, l should explain that being appointed one of the Program committee. as in duty bound, I handed in my list of subjects, and this was one of them; whereupon retribution followed swiftly, for the committee decided that no one would wish to write on that subject and I must do it myself.
 Thus, I am here to stand in the breach and fight for the rights of this department to have fun; to make fun and to be funny if so the mood takes it, in spite of the fact that one of our brightest poets writes:
 The sky is an inkstand upside down
 Watering the world with gloom; The earth is full of mouldering bones
 And life is a wobbling tomb" But Emerson says: Things are in the saddle and ride mankind" But the charming testimony on the other side is just as strong: Get on top of circumstances. and don't let cir cumstances get on top of you"
 Now, l contend with Mark Tapley that there is a great deal of credit in being jolly under certain circum. stances, and I insist that it is a pity the habit of enjoyment is not one of the moral inculcations and part of the daily training given to the young.
 A boys idea of fun is a pillow fight or a rough and tumble melee of snow. balls. The fun enjoyed by college l later in life is mostly in. | cluded under the head of 'hazing," or | in turning the college upside down | SO that the hair of the professor l hon hA Nf discipline shall stand aghast.
 I remember one Fourth of July night at West Point hearing the Tong oil" beat, and the sentinels discharge heir muskets at the cry of Fire, Fire!" Rushing to the window, l saw every window in Cadets Barracks" flaming with fire-an awful sight. But the boys had only soaked their orooms with kerosene and set them 1n fire.
 Nevertheless. the three Misses Thompson, living nearby-maiden ladies of 60 years, or more, or less were 50 frightened that they tainted away. They had 21 cats, patriotic ally named, George Washington, Lay. fayette. Bunker Hill, sc, &c. l think some of the cats died too, and had | tombstones in the back yard-at any | rate I saw the tombstones the year after the fire.
 But I never liked practical jokes. They contain an element of shock and | surprise. that may be fun to those | VI ho make, but not to those who take They are often unkind and brutal.
 None of these is the fun I mean, not even the broken noses and toes Of football. but it is the joyous bub ling over of wit and ight-heartedness a laugh to the sad hearted, and a sunny atmosphere to break in On the dark places of human life, among the sick and the poor and the needy. A smile, good laugh, a joke