The Washington herald., 1907-01-13

The COW jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed % see such sport.
and the dish ran away with the spoon
These lines are intended TO show exag-
geration-a fault too common with most
OF US. A fine example Of exaggeration is
| shown in John Bynom's story Of Three
Black Crows, which is very familiar, and
which teaches most useful lesson.
I shall confne myself 20 the part played
by the little dog who laughed 70 see such
sport, and which was very clever part
Laughter has met with much commcnda-
ton by the poets, as well as other writers.
Pleasant are laughter aud the dance.
The young they laugh. Laughs not the shy!
The winds they laugh as they PASS by,
The SIN, he laughs. and natures face
Beams with d Joyous laughing grace
The varieties Of laughter are numerous
and it must be confessed that some Of
them are neither admirable nor attractive.
The boisterous species known as the
horselaugh Is something Of an afliction.
OF this. Christopher North. himself q man
Of mirth, says: ooh, the attrocious
wickedness Of a great. big. hearty, huge.
hulking horse-laUgh in an assemblaga OF
ladies and gentlemen gathered gracefully
/ together 20 enjoy the courtesles, the
amenities, the urbanitles. and the human
tiles Of cultivated Christian life, The
pagan who perpetrates Il should be burnt
alive-not at slow FIRE. though that
would be jUstice-but at q quick one.
that all remnants OF him and his enOrmity
may be speedily extinguished.'
Old North's code of laughter is. Let
smiles mantle. and that soft sweet. low
sound be heard. the susurrus. let there be
"a many-volced quiet music Ike that Of
the summer moonIiJ sea when the stars
peals Of laughter be lil.e1s 10 breakers
blind breakers on a blind coast, where
no verdure grows except that Of taugle
and whatever is made into that vulgarest
Of all commodities. keIp (seaweedb.'
Ludwig Tieck remarks on the amount
Of character there IS IN a laugh. He af-
firms that you know no man until you
have heard him laugh-tiIl you know how
and when ne VIII laugh. The 0nly apol-
ogy for loud and boistrOus laughing is
its cordially. Even "a grin or smile
when il Is affected or put on is disagree
able. / mean the smile or grin that is
not only hollow iu FORM but usually be-
longs to a shallow nature There IS "a
constrained smile coming from q sad
heart that from aimlable motives would
deny-wOuld Outwardly belle itself as de-
scribed By Mrs. Browning in THE Mask 81"
Grief taught 20 me this smile she
said
In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night We
have an account Of Malvoli0 writhing and
fFfs HF.a H.H ]. H#..
TO say. He does smile his face into
more lines than are iu the new map. with
the augmentation OF the new Indies. You
have not seen such a thing rs It's. r
] can hardly forbear hurting things az
him"
Lady Mary Montague charactcrizes
what she calls the French grin" as ode
signed 20 express compIaisance. but really
showing nothing more than a certain
contortion OF muscles. that must make
stranger laugh really"
Goldsmith says OF his own C0uutrymeu.
when I see an EugHshman laugh I
fancy J rather see him hunting after Joy
than having caught f. 4 laugh
leaves no more traces on their couute-
naEces than a fash Of lightning on the
face Of the heavens"
Madame de Sevigue tells Of how her
visitors were often diving with laughter
She might have shared in q laughing duet
with Prince Hal Of whose weakness iu
this way FalstaT declares. 7 win de-
scribe matter enough out Of this shalIow
70 keep Prince Henry in continual laugh
Ter, and ne shall laugh without interval
lums- Oh, it IS much that q lie with q
slight oath and a jest with q sad brow
viii do with a fellow that never had the
ache in his shoulders. Oh. YOU shall see
him laugh TIL his face be like a wet cloak
FL laid up"
haoelais encourages laughing as an aid
TO lnFalids, and LycuTEus cousecrated q
statue 10 the god Of laughter IN each Of
the public halls erected by him.
] am on the whole inclined TO agree
with Coleridge, who says that Laughter
is always good when lt does not proceed
from scorn. and in the following senti-
ment by Beaumont and Fletcher.
It's msth that ds the veins with blood
More Than wiue 9T sleep NJ food
let each man keep his heart az ease
No man dies of that disease
He ttst would his body keen
From disease must not weep.
But whoever laughs and sings
Never DE his body hriuzs
Into feTUs. E1HIs OF rlcums
Or iiugerinEly his lungs consumes.
Or meets aith aches in his bone
Or estarzh 0r gripping stone.
But c1utented lives for ave.
The more DE laughs the mere De may
On the whole. 90 laugh Is to EXPRESS
merriment, pleasure. or qualification. and
we agree with the song that "'tis better
70 laugh than be signing"