The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-09-07
HOW THEY LAUGH.
President Taft's Booming Type-Differing Degrees
 Among Cabinet Members

depends upon a mans laugh, or his lack of laughter as has been asserted 1 by distinguished French scientist, President Taft, who is himself the | father of a particular brand of up roarious mirth-sound, has an odd as- | sortment of men whom he has placed
 in office to run the affairs of the
 Executive end of the government. When the President was Secretary l of War, the heavy mahogany doors | of the War Department were not suf- | fcient to shut out the sound that is-
 sued forth despite these barriers
 when he saw something that struck
 him as funny. And he saw many things in this humorous light He | laughed more then than he has since
 tn ere still issues forth now and then l the echo of a great and sonorous | laugh, a big-man kind of laugh, be-
 speaking good digestion and good
 It is doubtful whether President
 Taft has selected a single man who
 can duplicate his laugh or even come
 anywhere near it.
 When Roosevelt was President he l was no mean second in the matter
 of laughter to his Secretary of War.
 It wasn't the sonorous, easy, going, 1 complacent sort such as President
 Taft's. but 1t had rare qualities. It
 who heard 1t laugh too, or at least
 smile. It ex uboranto. choppy, if you like; irregular, boy1Sh at times,
 rising to a treble if its creator
 was having the time of his life at
 the moment of it's utterance. Many
 is the time that secretaries passing | his door stopped to smile at this med
 ley of merriment and 1t issued forth
 most often just at the time when one l thought that the Colonel was in his | tightest corner, held at bay by his l enemies. Former Governor Guild of Massa-
 chusettss took occasion the other day
 before leaving for Mexico with the
 American delegation which is to att
 tend the Centennial Celebration at
 Winthrop, Assistant Secretary of the
 Navy. The result was a perfect flow 1 of laughter. Guild has the mellow, l club-fellow laugh. It is all of good
 humor, comfort, enjoyment of the
 moment. Winthrop's laugh is an ut
 terly wild, unrestrained sort hat rip ] vivor of the tennis cabinet didn't care a rap for anything and proposed to
 amuse himself he chose. Winth-
 rop has aA hard time carrying on the 1 traditions of the former administra- l ton.
 Secretary Knox, President Taft's
 premier, likes a laugh now and then but mostly then. The lips of the
 Secretary of State seldom emit a Yip-
 pie except when the moment is 9
 most stimulating one More fre- quently he sits and smiles, and his eyes do not laugh at all. They fix themselves on whomsoever is nearest l as though the levity of the occasion were merely a bait to draw out the l other person while the eyes scrutin- ized whatever secrets of countenance
 might be unveiled by the flash of
 merriment.
 Secretary of War Dickinson has a
 raucouse sort of laugh although 1t is not especially distinctive. It is much the same as that of any big man who
 can take pleasure in funny story but l it does not always indicate mirtK1- full temperament
 Secretary of the Navy Meyer is not
 man of mirth. His laugh is a quiet one such as would not cause
 any head to turn in the best ordered ! drawing-room, but he has the power
 of emitting it at the proper moment. He can lean back in his chair from the knottiest problem unwrinkIe his forehead and give a m1rthful, ami able, velvety little ripple which quite Uncle Jim Wilson, Secretary of Az
 riculture, and ''grandfather of the
 western western Iowa @ 1augn es when % the uennsa. id@a
 teristic sort of unsuphonious utter circumstance, is not very loud and
 depends entirely upon the Secretary's inward state of being. He laughs when he pleases. Attorney General Wickersham is
 far different from Bonaparte, his pre- decessor, who often chuckled to him pened to be lambastfng him. It was a quiet, confidential sort of chuckle apparently not meant for other ears. Wickersham never laughs without
 conforming to the usages of the American Bar Association and well defined rules of propriety and eti- however, and laughs robustly on oc- casion.
 Postmaster General Hitchcock has
 useful smile but laughing is not one of his prominent characteristics. Abandonment to n1irth is not in his
 makeup: He would never think of letting himself go to the extent of giving an ungraceful and reverberat- Secretary of the Treasury Mac Veagh has keen sense of humor and enjoys telling stories as we'll as hearing the anecdotes of others. He 1ndulges in pleasing little chuck1es that indicate his pleasure in the point that has been made in the story but refrains, as rule, from unrestrained hilartty. -
 Secretary Nag1e of the Department of Commerce and Labor, has a purr- ing laugh which much of the time is non-comnitta1 and neutral. It is
 good evidence of cheerfulness but often leaves his hearers in doubt as to the depth of his n1rth. Secretary Ballinger of the Depart low laugh that is well known in the circles of his friends. It has been
 classed by some a, political laugh
 and at times has stood him in good stead, but it is never uproarious
 Taken as a whole the laughter of
 the present cabinet is more or less
 restrained and the President has bI1t
 little competition when he gives way
 to mirth at a meeting of his execu-
 tive council.
 RHEUMATISM CURED IN A DAv
 pr. Detchon's Relief for Rheumat-
 ism and Neuralgia radically cures in I to 3 days. Its action upon the sys-
 tenn is remarkable and mysterious It removes at once the cause and fba