Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-12-02
LAUGH, OR NOT TO LAUGH.
BY Lue F. Vernon.

i|'lC, blSidcli rtiildtkS, Is
comedy to him who thinks; tragedy
to him who feels. If that is So
and | am of opinion that there is
more truth in the epigram than is
common to that form of concen trat-
ed cleverneSs then. it seems 10 me,
the men who feel are vastly in the
majority. For life certainly is not a
comedy to most of us. if we are to be-
lieve a highly dumpsCme article
which | encountered recently. The
writer, it should DE said at once, is
not a pessimist. On the contrary,
as Disraeli would say, he thinks.
Life is comedy to him because he is
able to see that it is a tragedy to
most folk, and he is inspired, not
with an unholy desire to s:ifle laugh
ter, but merely with a laudable am
bition to induce US to laugh.
We don't laugh enough or often
enough. We are too lugubrious for
Laugh, and the world
laughs with you. Weep, and you
weep alone" very wise poet sang
long ago. Well. this cachiunatory
crusader thinks otherwise. He
would. in fact, reverse the aphorism
If you laugh. you are the
exception. The world has got the
dumps. 1t is a long-faced world. A
g ,od sincere smile. he says, is rare,
a laughing face is scarce, a good
laugh is hardly ever heard
l wonder if the charge is true
Fhat laughter is good there can, OF
course, be no possible doubt; and l
am in entire agreement with this
writer when he declares that half our
ills are due to the fact that many of
US have forgotten how to laugh. But
modern life is certainly not laugh
ing matter, and the ordinary har-
assed householder, who lives labori-
Gus days in more or less successful
endeavor to solve the eternal bread
and butter problem, can hardly be
blamed if he fails to appreciate the
exquisitely extravagant humor of it
all. If it be true that we are forget
ting how to laugh, it seems to me
that the cause is to be found in the
fact that there are so few
things to laugh at.
After all, when you come to think
of it, opportunities for laughter are
remarkably few. True, it is wildly
mirth-provoking to see staid and
gentleman chasing his hat in
a dusty street. And there is always
a certain laugh in the spectacle of
perspiring and objurgative mortals
pushing and hauling futile automo-
bile over a dusty country road to the
nearest farm house. But these are
rare happenings. They are merely
infrequent, grin-raising Oases in the
desert of the world, and
they occur so seldom that they do
not really affect the worlds output of
hilarity. For the rest, we common
folk are doomed to do the same thing
over and over again. The thing.
probably. wasn't excruciatingly fun
ny to begin with, and its hilarious
possibilities tend to decrease, rather
than otherwise, as time goes on. So
that we seem to have come to this:
If we are to cease to be serious, we
must laugh on principle. Since
there is practically nothing to laugh
at, we must carefully and systemat-
ically train ourselves to laugh at
Though even this plan, I
much fear, will lead to trouble. For
it is obvious that if q man succeeds
completely. he will get into the habit
of suddenly bursting into stentorian
roars of laughter at unseemly and
moments s-as, for ex-
ample, in the middle OF the sermon,
or when he is bidding a reluctant
farewell to his wife's mother on the
of her keenly appreciated
visit.
Obviously. laughter at such su-
premely solemn moments would be
out of place, and would have to be
sternly discouraged. 1t might even
lead to the laughter attracting the
of a ponderous and non-hi-
larious policeman, which of course,
would be serious. The problem, as
[ think you will admit, is q difficult
and a complex one.
On the one hand, there is real
Danger that we may actually forget
how to laugh at all, on the other,
The peril of acquiring the habit of
out of season. and thereby
adding to the gloom rather than the
yaiety Of an already too worried
world. I regret that / am not at
the moment prepared with solution.
You must wrestle with it yourself,
and under the circumstances, per-
naps the best thing you can do is
merely to laugh at it.
l notice, however, one brief but
decidedly meaty" item of news this
week which is worth notice and
which may even help you to the bet
Ter appreciation of the comedy of
things. if, as I believe, you belong to
the minority who think. 1t relates
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