from a man taking himself too seriously is a thing which irresistibly invites a tweaking of the nose; but a ridicule which beats and splashes on all sides and at all times, fixing its pasquinades nightly on the statues of our national heroes, smirking in the presence of names and thoughts that ought to be shrouded in sacred reverence, is one of the things that no right soul can abide.—Christian Union.
(1759)
LAUGHTER, PROVOKING
The doctor who could not laugh and
make me laugh I should put down for a half-educated
man. It is one of the duties of
the profession to hunt for the material of a
joke on every corner. Most of them have
so esteemed it. Garth, Rabelais, Abernethy,
and a hundred or so more too near to be
named, what genial, liver-shaking, heart-quickening,
wit-waking worthies they were
and are! To the son who loves her best,
nature reveals most her tricks of workmanship.
He knows there is a prize in every
package of commonplace and sadness, and
he can find it—not only the bit of fun shining
to the eye of a connoisseur like an unset
jewel, but the eccentricity, the resemblance,
the revelation, countless signs and tokens of
the evanescent, amusing, pathetic creature
we call the human.—A. B. Ward, Scribner's.
(1760)
LAUGHTER, VALUE OF
To what a dreary, dismal complexion
should we all come at last, were all fun and
cachinnation expunged from our solemn and
scientific planet! Care would soon overwhelm
us; the heart would corrode; the
river of life would be like the lake of the
dismal swamp; we should begin our career
with a sigh, and end it with a groan; while
cadaverous faces and words to the tune of
"The Dead March in Saul," would make up
the whole interlude of our existence. Hume,
the historian, in examining a French manuscript
containing accounts of some private
disbursements of King Edward II of England,
found, among others, one item of a
crown paid to somebody for making the king
laugh. Could one conceive of a wiser investment?
Perhaps by paying one crown
Edward saved another. "The most utterly
lost of all days," says Chamfort, "is that on
which you have not once laughed." Even
that grimmest and most saturnine of men,
who, tho he made others roar with merriment,
was never known to smile, and who
died "in a rage, like a poisoned rat in a hole"—Dean
Swift—has called laughter "the most
innocent of all diuretics." (Text.)—William
Matthews, Home Magazine.
(1761)
LAW AND GRACE
One of the notable figures in the history of the American Navy is that of Admiral Porter. Wise in counsel and daring in execution, he has left his impression very deep upon its development and traditions. At one time he was in command of the Naval Academy at Annapolis when the following incident occurred:
General Grant was on a visit to the Academy.
As he stood watching the evolutions
of the midshipmen, the general had his ever-present
cigar in his mouth. The marine on
duty walked up to the general and said,
"General, I beg pardon, but it is against the
rules to smoke in the academy." "All right,"
replied the general, and, with soldierly
promptness, he proceeded to take the cigar
from his mouth. At that instant Admiral
Porter stept forward and said, "I abrogate
that rule." (Text.)
(1762)
LAW AND LOVE
A boisterous New-year's eve reveler, by the name of Downey, was arrested on a Third Avenue elevated train in New York City:
After listening to the testimony Magistrate
Cornell decided that Downey's New-year's
enthusiasm had been excessive, and that he
must pay ten dollars to the city treasury.
Downey had used all his available cash in
celebrating, and he was about to be led to
the court prison, when his wife, who had
been tearfully listening to the evidence, fell
in a faint. She was lifted up by Callahan,
the policeman who arrested her husband, and
who revived her and then inquired if she
had any money with which to pay the fine.
"Not a penny," she replied, "and poor Jack will have to go to jail. He's such a good husband, too," and the little woman wept.
"I won't let him go to jail," said Callahan, and he drew a ten-dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to the clerk. Thereupon the Downeys fell on his neck and wept for joy.
(1763)
Love is, in the spiritual world, what the powers of attraction, resulting in beautiful harmonies of combination and inter-
