The Washington bee., 1910-11-19
THE MAN ,.'.rIOLAUGHS
Ey the Way He Does 1t He Gives
an Index to His Character.
THE POTENCY OF LAUGHTER.
Shown by the Effective Way In Which
Cervantes Smiled Spain's Vain and
Foolish ChivaIry Away-Men Who
Never Laughed end Rarely Smiled.

laugh! What surer clew can we have
to both his intellect and his temper un-
less it be that be seldom or never
laughs? Nothing" say Goethe. sis
more significant OF mems character
than what they find Iaughable." You
know no man." says Tieck. ''till you
have heard him laugh-till you know
when and how he will laugh" The
perception OF the ludicrOus," says EN-
ersOn, ''is d pledge Of sanity. A rogue
alive to the ludicrous Is still convert
bic. II that sense Is lost his fellow
men can do little for him"
Lavater, the great physiognomist.
lays his great stress on the very un-
laugh as an index OF character. II II
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 evi-
dence Of the absence Of any great ma
terial wickedness Of disposition. Cae-
sar mistrusted Cassius because that
lean and hungry conspirator rarely, If
ever, INDUCED in laughter. When Hor-
ace Walpole was in Paris In 1765 be
found that laughing was out Of fash
ion in that gay capital. "Good folks"
be writes, ''they have no time to laugh.
There are God and the king to be
pulled down first, and men and WON
en-, one and all, are devoutIy employed
In the demolition"
How often a man fails to betray the
tiger that turks within him until he
laughs! Is there nothing significant
n the fact recorded by Plutarch Of
Cato the younger that nothing could
make him laugh, that his cOuntenance
was scarcely sOftened even by a
smile? Is it not a characteristic trait
Of the gloomy tyrant, Philip II. 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 dayf Is II
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 bis
cap 4 strange horror took possession
OF the soldiers, that he was never
seen to smf1ef Can we wonder that
the poor little dwarf, Alexander Pope.
the cynical sattrist, affiicted with Gsth-
ma and dropsy, tortured with rheuma-
ttsm. racked with headaches and
threatened with cataract, should never
have laughed. but only smiled!
1t has been said OF the greatest Of
English dramatists. who united with
ais 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 10 hold the woe OF Lear and
othello except that which hsd the IN
Quenchsble elasticity OF FalstaI 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 q keen sense OF the comic
were 20 strikingly combined? How
sxubsrant was his mirth, sparkling In
jest, comic story and anecdots. and yet
how oftsu the very next moment those
sad, pathetic, melancholy eyes showed
q man familiar with "sOrrows and as-
QBafntsd with grief"
Who caz doubt that but co< tAs
msrrimsnt In which he indulged-ths
contagious laughter which wellsd up
from his sOul as naturally a. DO bub-
blSs In the springs Of S--stogs-bs
would have sank under his weary
weight Of care long before he fan hy
ths pistol sf Booth!
Il s indssd statesmen. students and
thiAksza es0Seally who most need tha
FeiaxstSea afforded By eeeAsioAai nsE-
F4msHt. sorss centuries ago It Wa the
SzshIOn IN Europe for men Of rank b
keep 9 b0HOoa, and . banqBst wAs
eOnstdsre6 incomplete where q pEsvk
legged jester was not as sttsndaak
This wss perhaps for thoss dAyu q
wiss sesesSa. Il A surprising ASw
muSA q few miARtss' sissp WIN refresh
the body A0d q fow minutes Iaaghes1
ths @iBd. and nasnJ . useful NE might
Be prolO1ged By ths Substitution eS
thsss remedies SoE ''eaKking cars" and
wsartness in place Of the usual tzsAeA-
sEous tonic& and sttmulantz
What q dismal deduction woul6 BE
saads from the happiness of our homes
IL thsy were robbed Of thear uSsTt-
meat! What pictures sf innoesat
mirtk has Goldsmith given II tAs
-vscsr sf Wakefield" and how aFSissz
the remark Of the good Dr.. Prsmzoss.
''If be had little VII we had pIsoky
Of laughter
What a power fog good and svn b
the worlds -dread laugh, which scarce
the arm philosopher can scornF How
many men have been cowed By It who
could have faced without ninching q
battery's deadly FIRE! Low 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 defisd the artillery OF argu-
meut have been laughed of the pub
lie STAGE never 10 retuTni DIG not
Cervantes smile Spain's vain and
foolish ehivalry awsyY-William Ma