The Washington herald., 1918-06-07

! It is often pointed out that one OF
the chief differences between man
and the lower animals is that he
has a sense Of humor. He laughs.
Now without doubt a sense Of hu-
NOR Is a great and benefcent thing.
It is a gift Of the gods. 1t turns
ira gedy into comedy 1t gives strength
to the hand, courage to the heart.
! an endurance to the soul. There
il no other such protection against
the sling and arrows of outrageous
fortune, for the jabs of fate fall
away harmlessly from those who are
armored in laughter.
Nor is there any weapon so keen,
strong and effective as ridicule. 1t
il said that Cervantes laughed Spain s
! chivalry away, and there is no per-
sonage. cause or fad that cannot
be killed by being made ridiculous.
| The pencil Of the cartoonist Is more
powerful than the voice Of the preach
| er, and the funny paragraph OF the
newspaper has done more to pune
ture the bubbles OF pretence and
folly, and to keep people sane and
reasonable. than all the teaching Of
the moralist.
Laughter, then. being so powerful,
, 1t is important that we laugh right.
and one wonders II those two most
powerful educators Of our day. the
| press and the theater, are not doing
an incalculable harm in teaching US
to laugh at the wrong things.
Take, for instance, the humorous
supplement of any paper you like.
where the chief fun-maker Is some
child who is depicted in the side
splitting occupation of making life
miserable for all about him.
The little imp Is represented as
destroying somebody's property, or
| inficting pain upon somebody, or
mocking and making sport Of age,
or telling some monstrous Vie. These
acts are not depicted as rcprehensi-
Bile. but as deliciously amusing, and
one can but speculate upon the effect
that it Is bound to have on the mil
lions of children who devour these
pictures with avidity. and forthwith
begin initiating the crimes that the
comic papers teach them call not
for a parental spanking, but the glad
hand from the public.
| Perhaps the hoodlumism that is so
universal among children nowadays
is to be traced directly to the tacit
encouragement that we give to lack
OF manners, lack of consideration for
other reople's property. and lack OF
respect and reverence for old people,
by our laughing at these pictures OF
i'll bred little demons who are funny
in print but uncomfortable in real life.
What do we laugh at at the the
ater? Any habitual playgoer knows
that one thing that never fails to
bring a round Of applause is when
a man Is kicked and goes down to
the thud OF the bass drum fiat and
llifeless. Also the word damn" spe-
cially when used by a woman char
acter on the stage, is universally held
to be killingly humorous. Another
thing that tickles the disability of ar
audience. and that II 10 always will
ing TO pay out good money to see IL
a representation OF q drunken man
reeling and staggering across the
stage, although God knows there 4,
no sadder sight in all the world than
such q spectacle.
The horse play OF the stage, how
ever, ministers only to Its vulgarity
and so perhaps does no great harm
but very serious phase of the sub.
ject is thrust upon our notice by the
fact that almost every farce and com
edy we 60 to see teaches US to laugh
and applaud. instead of condemn
marital infidelity.
There is no other thing on earth
really quite so grotesciciy humorous
las that when we want to go TO SCI
play that ID light and bright aps