The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-15

81 suppose l am fool to enjoy these things"
he said to man who with him.
You see, he apologzed for his enjoyment. As
ii enjoyment were a thing to be apologizcd for.
| don't think that man fool. | don't be-
licvc he really thought either. He was for the
moment just little ashamed at being caught en-
joyng simple and perfectly harmless pleasure.
Moreover, he giving expression to one OF the
most precious OF all human gifts, appreciation OF
the comic. In his complete abandonment to mirth
it made him forget all about himself
The incident made the to very
lkable | believe that if his relish of comic pic
lures were known to the public 1t would increase
his already wide popularity.
There is something peculiarly lkablc in the
enjoyment Of the comic. And yet many of us
lack this gift, perhaps large number OF those
of us who think VIC have sense of humor
| have noticed that many highly cultivated
people blessed with humor OF their and with
the capacity of seeing hunor all about them, have
no sense whatever OF the comic. They OCCASION
ally look the comic section OF the newspaper
with a mild and puzzled interest Often they ex-
press wonder that others en- oy such pictures.
And in this wonder it is easy to detect quality
not unlike dissatisfaction.
So often we pride ourselves on incapaci-
ties.
/ know a lawyer, who at college was pitcher
on the varsity baseball team. Naturally, his sue
cess as an athlete made him leader He now
looks back those days with some amusement.
But they have contributed to his life one delight
full interest a passion for baseball. Whenever
he finds chance he steals away from his Office
and goes to a ball game. There he completely
forgets work and he forgcts himself He even
forgcts his dignity. He may be at times
l,,. fhn ,,I cho lie 4
schoolboy.
Those periods of absolute forgetfulness give
him some of the most delightful and the most
wholesome hours of his life. They relieve him
of the strain OF his work. They his youth.
They send him back to duty a stronger and, l
believe. better man.
There is man OF national reputation, a re-
former of great ability and breadth Of mind, who
has one habit that amuses his friends He loves
sensational novels. One after another he reads
them with avidty At night when he goes to
bed he is usually too excited to fall asleep So
he has formed the habit of reading for couple
of hours. | think that he must be OF the
greatest living authorities detective stories.
odd Sleuth' he regards as a friend solace in
trouble.
In speaking Of this fondness once in my pres
ence he apologized to me, as literary man. tor
what he called his bad taste" and weakness"
1t seemed to me. however, that in the habit there
was neither weakness nor bad taste. On the
contrary, l cnvied him. He enjoyed giving free
rein to his imagination. He completely lost him
SELF During those periods of absorption he un-
doubtedly rested that part of his mind which
had been assduously working all day. More
over, his fondncss for sensational literature did
not keep him from enjoying the kind of imagina-
tive writing that the rest Of us considered good.
He simply had broader taste than most OF us.
especially those of US that wrote ourselves and
built up all kinds of prejudiees in favor of the
kind OF writing we called the best writing