The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-12-28
Dorothy Dix Talks

The Sense of Humor-f.

The Sense of Humor-1.
If I were a Fairy Godmother who
could kiss a girl baby and therefore
bestow upon her the supreme gifts of
life, would not put a purse of gold
into the tiny hands, nor would I
change her into a future xamp;
neither would I endow her with what
old fashioned novelists used to call
the fatal gift of beauty.
would bestow upon her sense of
humor I would give her an enlarged
funny bone that was easily tickled. L
would give her a laugh hung on a
hair trigger, that the very contrari-
ness and ironies of existence would .ex-
plode at the first touch.
For a sense or humor is the magic
that takes the bitterness out of the cup
of gall andN NORWOOD that all of us
must drink at times. 1t contains the
secret of how to be happy tho miser-
able 1t is the silver lining to every
cloud of misfortune. 1t is better medi-
cine than any doctors little black bag
contains. 1t is the courage that gives
US the strength to endure, and the
philosophy to hear without breaking.
1t is a lamp to our feet, and a shield
and buckler to our souls. 1t is more
efficacious than all of the ten com
mandments in keeping us in the
straight and narrow road, and it does
more than any other one thing to keep
hus from making fools of ourselves
For the only way to keep people from
laughing at our folIies is to be able to
laugh at them ourselves. And do ii
| first
of course, it is highly desirable that
| both men and women should have a
sense of humor, but it is more nee
essary that women should have it than
men because there are so many things
F., in woman's life over which she must
| happier herself, and SO much more
/ agreeable to live with, if she can
! chuckle instead of weep.
There are millions of trifles that
! happen to a woman that are tragedies
| or comedies, according to the way she
| sees them.
Generations of brides have gone into
| Mysteries over burnt pies, yet Mr.
| Charlie Chaplin has accumulated the
riches of Croesus by demonstrating
| that a custard pie is a source of hu-
NOR instead of tears. Uncounte(
! numbers of women are at this very
moment dissolved in brine over the
servant problem, and are sobbing ou
! the story of how their Hildas, oil
! Noras, or Dinahs put sugar instead o
salt in the soup, and burnt tbs
roast, and balled up the dinner wher
they mad company, and were trying
I to act as if they had buffers and par
Tor maids. instead of just one maid O.
| all work.
Yet our most hilarious farces arr
built around just such domestic mis-
adventures, and if women only had {
sense of humor that enabled them tC
see the fun of the situation at the
| time; as they often do see it in retro
| spect, what a lot of worry and poke
| handkerchiefs could be saved.
Most wives pray for the patience
OF Job, and the. wisdom of Solomon II
| dealing with their husbands. VIVA
they should petition heaven to gran
them is sense of humor, for the trou
Bile with most wives is that they TAKE
| their husbands too seriously. The!
magnify foibles into faults. They SCI
deep, dark designs in chance words Of
| acts; they brood over imagined Sights
| and lose sleep fearing they have los
! the love of a man who sticks to hi!
| fireside like a house cat. when it is al
to laugh. instead of weep.