Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-05
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

Another group of the unhappy com
prises those serious gentlemen who
are lured into taking up kidding" in
self-defense.
This is but another instance of men
being untrue to themselves, for If one
Is by nature serious. he by no means
or under any circumstances ought to
allow himself to be frivolous.
Rather he should be himself. But
what is the truth? In many cases
more through the sheer weight of
social factors than because of any real
reason, men permit themselves to be-
! come jokers.
They, too, although it goes ire.
mendously against the grain, use
Kidding" sometimes called spool
ing" to counteract the hurtful effects
of the same brand of false humor used
against themselves.
After all, the thing resolves itself
into an attack.
War is not confined solely to huge
groups of men, marching and counter
marching against each other, but be-
gins when one man meets another.
The nasty something in humanity
which makes men. in the midst of a
world filled with wonders, do their best
tat almost stated intervals) to put a
certain other number of their fellows
out of their misery"-this nasty some
thing has its abiding place in the in
dividual.
If you would know the causes of
wars. seek not for them in printed
documents, or social conditions, emo.
nomic factors or the like, but look
deep into the heart of man, and there
you will see, If you look far enough
and are honest with yourself, enough
reasons to account for all the con.
fiicts that ever have been and ever
will be.
Just why the everyday intercourse
of human beings should be blurred in
it's outlines and soured in it's depth by
intermittent kidding" and insane jok
ing is something that the serious soul
finds it hard to understand.
Perhaps such "A person puts too much
stress on a disagreeable feature? No
Two men are hardly able to get to-
gethcr but what one of them launches
into variety of joking against the
other.
1t is an American habit.
The man who tells you he does not
mind Kidding is liar by the clock
or else not a man-you can take your
choice.
Even the born spoilers do not
like to have the joke turned on them
perhaps that is the reason why they
carry the attack so persistently to
others, having unconsciously learned
that first principle of war, to be on
the offensive rather than on the de-
fensive.
Since our life is a warfare. as some
one has said, il follows that all OF
humanity is engaged in Il battle, al
though by the various artitices OF
society and civilized life in general we
have managed to conceal the fact
from each other.
Yet each person, when he is alone
with himself, knows the truth in this
matter. Some, therefore, resolve TO
make il a war 10 the knife. Others
with more humanity, determine 10
fight fair.
So we may account, in a rude way
for the various brands of humanity
we meet every day. There is no per.
son, however we'll protected by money
etc. but finds himself at the mercy
now and then, of one who does not
observe the rules
What does the fellow know of the
rules, anyway?
SO all of us, almost every day, are
face to face with the "kidder," the
blithesome gentleman who is violating
our rules of conduct, who does not
give a hang for our regulations, who
takes real delight although 1t may be
malicious) in poking fun at us.
Now the point Is simply this:
If the festive fellow really were
funny, we could put up with him If
! he actually found some absolutely