Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1909-04-07
THE MAN
BY the Way>ie De- ItH2 cvei
an Index TO His Characte-.
THE POTENCY OF LAUGHTER.
Shown by the Effective Way In Which
Cervantes Smiled Spsin's Vain and
Foolish chivalry Awsy-!den Who

Cervantss Smiled Spsin's Vain and
Foolish chivalry Awsy-!den Who
Never Laughed and Rarely Smiled.
What an index 10 character is mans
laugh, What surer clew can VIC have
TO both his intellect and his temper un-
less IL be that he seldom or never
/ laughs? Nothing" says Goethe. lis
more significant OF mems character
than what they find lsughable." You
know no man." says Tieck. It'll you
have heard him laugh-till you know
when and how he will laugh" The
perception Of the ludicronS. says En-
erson. lis a pledge of sanity rogue
alive TO the ludicrous is still convert
bic. IL that sense is lost his fellow
men can do little for him."
Lavater. the great physiognomist.
lays his great stress on the very IN
equivocal and derisive nature OF a
laugh as an index Of character. III it
be free and hearty and occasion a gen
eral and light movement IN all the
features and dimple the cheek and
chin, Il is an almost infallible evil
dence OF the absence Of any great ma.
terial wickedness OF disposition. Gaze
sar mistrusted Cassius because that
lean and hungry conspirator rarely. IL
ever. INDUCED in laughter. When Hor-
ace Walpole was in Paris i'm 1765 he
found that laughing was out of fash
ion In that gay capital. Good folks"
he writes. they have no time TO laugh
There are God and the king TO be
pulled down first. and men and wom-
en-. one and all. are devoutly employed
in the demolition"
How often man fails 10 betray the
tiger that turks within him until he
laughs. is there nothing significant
In the fact recorded by Plutarch OF
Cato the younger that nothing could
make him laugh, that his countenance
was scarcely softened even by a
smilef Is II not a Characteristic trait
OF the gloomy tyrant, Philip III. of
Spain, that he rarely smiled and that
he laughed but once In his entire life.
and that when he heard of the massa-
ere on ST. Bartholomew day: Is Il
not suggestive fact regarding the
gloomy, taciturn Wallenstein, the ter
TOR OF the people, at the sight OF whom
as he paced through his camp with his
lofty figure enveloped in scarlet
mantle and with a red feather in his
cap strange horror took possession
OF the soldiers, that he was never
seen TO smile? Can we wonder that
the poor little dwarf. Alexander Pope,
the cynical satirist. afflicted with asth-
ma and dropsy. tortured with rheuma-
tism, racked with headaches and
threatened with cataract, should never
have laughed, but only smiledi
IL has been said OF the greatest of
English drains lists, who united with
his intense humor an equally intense,
piercing insight into the darkest and
most fearful depths OF human nature.
that no heart would have been strong
enough TO hold the woe Of Lear and
othello except that which had the un-
quenchable elasticity Of Falstaff and
the Midsummer Nights Dream"
Might not a similar remark be made
OF that pendulum betwixt a smile and
fear" Abraham Lincoln, In whom
sadness and a keen sense OF the comic
were so strikingly combined? How
exuberant was his mirth, sparkling in
Jest, comic story and anecdote, and yet
how often the very next moment those
sad, pathetic. melancholy eyes showed
man familiar with sorrows and ac-
quainted with grief!'
Who can doubt that but for the
merriment In which he indulged-the
contagious laughter which welled I'D
from his soul as naturally as do bub-
bles IN the springs of Saratoga-he
would have sunk under his weary
weight CT care long before he fell by
the pistol OF Booth?
1t Is indeed statesmen. students and
thinkers generally who most need the
relaxation afforded by occasional mer-
riinent. Some centuries ago 1t was the
fashion In Europe for men OF rank to
keep a buffoon, and a banquet was
considered incomplete. where privi-
legged jester was not an attendant
This was perhaps for those DAYS a
wise custom. Ii is surprising how
much a few minutes sleep will refresh
the body and few minutes laughter
the mind. and many a useful life might
be prolonged by the substitution Of
these remedies for "carking care" and
WEAKNESS In place Of the usual treach-
erous tonics and stimulants.
What dismal deduction would be
made from the happiness OF our homes
II they were robbed of their merri-
mentl What pictures OF innocent
mirth has Goldsmith given In the
Vicar OF Wakefield" and how artless
the remark of the good DIR. Primrose.
IF he had little wit we had plenty
or laughter"
What power for good and evil Is
the worlds dread laugh. which scarce
the firm philosopher>can scorni" How
many men have been cowed by IL who
could hare faced without finching n
battery's deadly fire. How many bad |
customs and wicked practices. how |
many quixotic schemes OF philanthropy |
or reform. how many absurd doctrines |
IN politics. theology and sociology. |
which have defied the artillery of argu- !
ment have been laughed or the pub !
lie stage" never to return, DID not
Cervantes smile Spain's vain and
T0nIiCh yh