The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-11-12
: ssdP;1s ch;9sa To l our Laugh
By L. S. BRADY

A- Dy 6s Ohb<AD4 A UTOMATICALLY, the gratest diff A ference between man and the go.
 rilla consists in the mobility of
 the great toe. But have you ever
 stopped to consider that man is the
 only animal that laughs?
 In children smiles have been noted
 as early as the fifth day, and laugh ter in the course of few weeks-quite commonly at the end of three months. As the child becomes more conscious of himself as a self, the possibilities of humor pass from the purely physio- logical to the almost unbounded limits of the psychical.
 But why should you teach your child to laugh? Won'tshe learn that naturally, without any help?
 It may interest you to know that one of the most effective ways to re- lieve the tension of your child when he is threatening to break into a storm of anger, or rage, or sobbing, is to do or say something funny, so as to make him laugh.
 In this way, the accumulated energy of the other emotion is released by the explosive movements of the muscles en- plOyeu III lduSutCE uAku tA0 RcySh eeA- sion is correspondingly reduced.
 In the days of the Roman Empire it was considered highly amusing to put human beings up on crosses, smear them with oil and use them much as we do a display of fireworks; this is a good illustration of the fact that laughter and the sense of humor can be attached to various situations, de- pending on the environments conditions and the training.
 . So you will use good deal of care in just what you teach the child is funny. Pain of animals and serious hurt to human beings are of course ruled out from the start; but some- times you are going to have. to teach the youngster to laugh at his own mis- takes, and sometimes it will be best to become so angry at his failures that he will fight his way to victory.
 In general, when anger will be of no use-when there just isn't anything that can be done to improve the situa- tions-you had best teach the child to shrug his shoulders and smile. But when a just and righteous anger will furnish the necessary impetus to further effort, it would be entirely wrong to allow him to smile and say T can't be bothered-let's play today and work tomorrow"
 The development of a sense of hu- nor is one of the major problems of education. Carritt says ito appreciate the comic aspect of real life implies that '. we have in some sense reflected on our brute experience" And Hegel, the great philosopher writes: Comedy, then, is the triumph over ones own con- tradictions and over the ruin of ones own purposes"
 As your child grows up and leaves you to take his place in the world, the chances are that he or she will be one of the many to whom come misfortunes and tragedy. In his early training, the child can be handled in such a manner that he will meet such trials with corrosive bitterness, or with a courag- eous smile.
 True, it takes a parent who is will ing to take the time to show her little | girl or boy just wherein lies the humor of life, and who is willing to analyze the universe, and patiently expose the absurd pretense and pompous vanity of | this animal which talks; but the time | is well spent. For when trouble comes your boy and your girl an~see humor in the very inconsistency of your life. |
 Plato has it that the sense of humor is our response to, our triumph over | hostile, either real or in the play of our imagination. Hence, when you teach your son or daughter to see the funny side of life, you are in effect them how best to live.
 To instruct your child that the vicis- situdes of life are not placed in his path by some evil spirit, but that they the kind of distribution we would expect from the workings of the laws of chance, will be to permit him to laugh at fate, and to play the game of life knowing that he who laughs last, laughs best.