Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-01

THERE was one thing in the
31v whcn the professional jester
J ar fool used to have to be on duty
III ready with his most mirth-pro-
ca-gvo ways. il was at meal time.
,.s: only did kings and great mobiles
.t~.r these paid laugh makers in the
aad old days Of yore. but other men
- wealth enough 10 afford to keep uo
, 7f74e establishment made n point
i. having at least one retainer who
-9as skilled at turning good Joke or
fi,ervisc making other folk laugh.
md long before modern psycholo-
.:s+s and phvsiologists pointed out
ne fact that the mental mood has an
5r.uortaut role to play IN the matter
~ digestion and that the man who
IFS in gloom is twice as likely 10
awe indigestion as the man who
miles through his dinner, men
.cemed to feel the appropriateness of
maintaining a cheerful mood at meal
lime.
We sometimes seem to think that
the professional Jester was a creature
Of less civilized era than our own,
and that there was something rather
crude about the men of old who sup
ported retainers for the mere pur-
nose of cracking jokes. But the
cabaret performance at dinner Is
based on the same idea, and hotel
and restaurant proprietors would tell
lou that diners are far less likely 70
show themselves i'll humorcd and
Hisgruntled and to complain over the
quality of the cooking or the service
If there is some sort of divertinG en-
tertainment going on, even u II IS
merely the rendering OF pleasant
music For there are. you know
men and women in this aEe ot ours
who really need professional JcSi'TS.
at meal time. and left TO their own
devices they lapse into gloom ana
hence unfit themselves and those
around them for the task Of diSes-
tion.
There are some families whore, un-
less there are outside guests, q laugh
is as unheard Of at meal time as
would be at a funeral Children are
taught. like Puritan New England
clildren Of old. that they must ear
in silence and any childish pr3ttlc
flat might cause a smile Is quickly
-aaelched There is an air of cIlllcal
tveaection Of tho vi3ads on the part
If 10 man Of the family that GER
faly cannot be cheering 70 the
.sevifs who had hand in the
-K5ng Or ordering If them. Ana
.ry disc croeahle business az family
nature that has tc rs discussed Is
eyad till me-I time. Mother tells
father that l.rI johnny was kept IN
Ii school ana father frowns, ana
.aaEbe Johnny sulks. It is also re-
marked that Nellic's report showed
hor loss studious than she should
to4e been. and father reminds mother
hat the gas bill vas higher las1
aanth than the corresponding month
81 year and mother cheers every
81 along by telling them Just ho"
alarmingly high all food prices have
cared.
This sort Of thing gets to be
h1bituaI in some families. IheTe
ssn't any open quarTelling. but there
IS 4 spirit of depression. Really they
know that it is in very bad form.
Because when company comes-and
YOU can always tell what people thlnk
10 be good manners by the way they
CT when there is company-the
1loom vanishes. Father saves MS
best Joke and tells 1t killingly. and
mother ripples with appreciauve
laughter. And II the fve-year-old
member of the family is therefore
emboIdaned TO make some witty re
mark of his own that seems TO amuse
or entertain the company. all the
family laugh about It
Try acting as il there was com
nany at your board every day. Carry
cheerful smile and good joke 10
He table.