THE DECLINE OF LAUGHTER.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11484, 17 January 1903, Page 6

THE DECLINE OF LAUGHTER.

A host of aphorisme remind us of th« ijtfT tue and the power of laughter. It gWf ■ dens the heart and soothes the vwfltyt brain. It breaks down the barriw* «i reserve which eociety has art 'bwixfc iat& and man, ->It promotes and brings into our social interoourso th*f, touch of nature which makes the *&&' world kin. A laugh, says "Elia," is wot^ , a hundred groans in any market j tlMp happily for mankind, <we laugh more than We weep. But do we laugh >L often and as heartily as did the world Wβ days gone by? Life is a. serious ness irowadays, and the rush and the of this twentieth oe#tury» etruggle for /iateance, the greed! of gold, the strivings for social distinction or eial |K)wer —these things are not condntiVf}': to the -whole-hearted abandonment to ttk£ joys of honest, open laughter. Heooe »|, does mot oome as a surpriee to find it. ously asserted that popular mirth — \m&v ter loud and long—is declining at tbt£ jn-esent day. In an able dissertation epw, laughter which has just been published, tk*| author, Professor Sully, propounds view. He sees in the decline of nujtfc.£ moreover, the traces of a greater cbOjflGs which is exercising a deleterious eflWjJ upon the whole social. foody. Thii Sf-i "the gradual disappearance of the "of play, of a full self-abandonment to &f\ - mood of light enjoyment. We a»f,.***J, " this," he continues, "not only in " rather forced gaiety supplied by th* •**!& "geous, up-to-date pantomime and <|*W|i r , "ehowH. It is illustrated" in the " that hae come over our out-of-door epoife* "Where ix the fun, -where is the g*ietf»jp| ( " the football and the cricket matchef *|| "to-day? Could anything be hea ' 'amusement' than a match at " save when for a moment an "team, forgetful of its surroondsag«fi" "bounds into tue field?" It iiiu* be •I^ , mitted that there is a good deal of in what the Professor says. Aβ the bueiness of life has grown more comjd*fc ; ; so has its lighter side, and the of to-day is more and more to make a n«js of sport, to "upecialise"' its buum*%{| and to train its devotees, not to •■•flg themselves, but to provide excitement Ufathe multitude. So, too, in eociety U*J| rules which govern laughter are itri«**t> than of yore, and the laugfh Trhkli "something <if a eigh of wearinesa biliii%| it" is far commoner thao to ehouW As the Professor observee, it is as men had no time to laugh. "Sven *w| "a social entertainment you- will "tuen and women who met 70W I^f^nj

'rfiallenge only with a niggardly giggle, 'which they instantly suppress ; poor, distracted souls, unable for a moment to ."free themselves from the chaos of social f claims which haunts them."' This, of course, is purely artificial restraint of laughter, ar.d even though the fashion set in "eociety" be copied by the jiiddle classes, it does not necessarily argue % decline i» the capacity for mirth. So, too, Jf people are more difficult to please nowadays in the matter of entertainments, it does not follow that their sense of humour Jjae been dulled by more or less strict adherence to society's code of proprieties. Jf the dress circle does not laugh so loudly te the prt, it is not because the appreciation of the coniiu is lefis keen. Uertainly the rage for mimical comedies and burletques among the theatre-going public of to-day does not suggest, any decline in the pow,r of uproarious mirth and frank "tomfoolery" to tickle the ears of all and sundry. But if we his&afe to follow Professor Sully to tiie full length, of hia conclusion, we may be grateful for his timely anu eloquent reminder of the beneficent effect cf einc*re and hearty laughter. There is eound philosophy in the old adage "laugh and grow I'a.t"; thu latest text-books ot physiology bear testimony to the salutary physical effect of "laughter holding both its •ideal." The moral qualities of laughter ere ev«u more to be priaed. We have only U> picture a world without it to realise -'te mijfhty power for good. Society does well ta put a curb on all unworthy and unbecoming laughter, but there k always the danger that excessive restraint will lead to a decline of mirthfulness. "Some hearts ,"of many chords," eaya the Proteeeor, j waxing eloquent, "hearts resonant to all :" the notes of life's nviwic, might break but J* for the timely comings of the laughterl*fay with her transforming wand." Let lie hope the Professor's warning will not Ibe neglected until it is too late to eumijnon the genius of laughter back to a grey land cheerless world.