The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1909-03-13
THE MAN WHOLAUGHS
BY the Way He Does It He Gives
an index to His Character.
THE POTENCY OF LAUGHTER.

Shown BY the Effective Way In Which
cervantes Smiled epain's Vain and
Foolish chivalry Away-Men Who
Never Laughed and Rarely Smiled.
What an index to character Is mans
laugh! What surer clew can we have
to both his intellect and his temper un-
less 1t be that he seldom or never
laughs? Nothing" says Goethe. sis
more significant Of mems character
than what they find laughable." "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 ludicrous." says En-
erson. lis a pledge of sanity. A rogue
alive to the ludicrous is still convertt-
BILE. II that sense is lost his fellow
men can do little for him."
Lavatcr. the great physiognomist.
lays his great stress on the very un-
equivocal aud derisive nature Of q
laugh as an index Of character. II 1t
be free and hearty and occasion a gen.
eral and light movement in all the
features and dimple the cheek and
chin, 1t Il an almost infaliible evil
dence of the absence of any great ma
terial wickedness of disposition. Cae-
sar mistrusted Cassius because that
lean and hungry conspirator rarely, II
ever, indulged In laughter. When HOf-
ace Walpole was In Paris in 1765 be
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 wohh-
en-, one and all. are devoutly employed
in the demolition"
How often a man fails to 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 q
smile? Is It not a characteristic trait
of the gloomy tyrant, Philip IL. 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's day? Is It
not a suggestive fact regarding the
gloomy, taciturn Wallenstein, the ter
ror Of the people, at the sight Of whom
as he paced through his camp with his
lofty figure enveloped in a scarlet
mantle and with a red feather in his
cap a 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. afilicted with asth.
ma and dropsy. tortured with Fheuma-
tism, racked with headaches and
threatened with cataract, should never
have laughed. but only smiled?
1t has been said Of the greatest of
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 Falsta6 and
the Midsummer Nights Dream"
Might not q similar remark be made
Of that pendulum betwixt 4 smile and
q fear" Abraham Lincoln. in whom
sadness and a keen sense OF the comic
were 90 strikingly combined1 How
exuberant was his mirth. sparkling In
Jest, comic story and aneedote. and yet
how often the very next moment those
sad. pathetic. melancholy eyes showed
man familiar with 'sorrowS and &C
quainted with grief.'
Who can doubt that but for thu
meeriment IN which be indulged-the
contagious laughter which welled up
from his soul ~ naturally a. do bub-
bies In the springs Of Saratoga-he
would have sunk under his weary
weight Of care long before be ten b.
the pistol Of Booth1
L - indeed statesmen, students and
thinkers generally who most need the
relaxation Afforded By oceastonal mse-
riment. Some centuries ago It was the
fasAj0 in EuEupe for men Of Hank to
keep q bu6oou, and q banquet was
considered incomplete where Q privi-
leged 5esase was not IN attendant.
This was perhaps for those days Q
wise custom. It 10 surprising how
much q few minutes' Gleep wfu refresh
the body and few minute1 laughte9
the mind. and nany Q useful HE might
be pgolo0Ued BY ths Substitution o9
these remedies fer -earking care" and
weafiness IN pIaee of the us1al treaeA-
eru0s ton1cD and 0ttDulanta-
What q dismal deductioa would b
nade fron the happiness Of our homes
II they weGU robbed Of their mefFf
nent! What pictures Of innocent
AaA4 An10akA. -QN1A. u -