ABOUT LAUGHTER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 895, 15 August 1910, Page 8

ABOUT LAUGHTER.

SERIOUS REMARKS.

X v : CONSCIENCE Mfo; COMICALITY. J.QX) ' ':":. :• ;'■"■;.. ,Th6ro-tis no deception in these- headr fifties./ Remarks' about .laughter are' .;/> Jtaturally, serious. You may write ;,'. inglyaboTit political economy, tho birth- //. rate, or the Court of. Appeal, you may //; be screamingly-funny about graves .and ':( worms and . epitaphs,- but not about ;,. -laughter. -If you toll droll .stories by ;:'.-way of illustrating a discourse on the '•/?.,•' comic, those stories take on. ;some of ;." ■■'•the solemnity-,'of 'their.-. environment. :' ! Their points aro,blunted. . If any of my: ; // readers complain', of the heaviness of -'•■:■" this article, they must put. the blame on '; ' : Mr Hugh Ward, Dr. Gibb, and the Hev. ."■■:'. '■ J.J. ; North, for directing my thoughts '."into this sombre avenue...■ - ; The. immense seriousness of .laughter, /'/ when .taken as a subject forMnvestiga- -.- tion,- accounts for the sober and oven '//i melancholy/lives usually led by profes-. ; ,'sional jokers'. The:mind which habitu- .'.. ally reduces.:; ■■•'■-;'•■-. ':'.■■ -.'"Sport that. WTinkled care deride;.-.'• : '•/.;'... i And/laughter holding both his sides" .'■'•to plain-matter of cause.and effect must.; •/;; be a severely, .if not a' morbidly;.logical /:.'' irimd. ■ If it/ does, not fall into hypo- '■■'' chbndria,'it Incomes,- an uncommonly 'A <safe '.'• guide in intellectual difficulties. '.:;.;Tliat is'.; why -.'the..cleverest.. people, in ■'■; some of Shakespeare's plays aro'.the : .-':' clowns ;A' aiid /whit-is, true of Sbakes- '■■■ characters is generally true,of' ':/■ /other folks/- /"/ '■ "■'■ ; -.".'.y •; -. '■"■;• ■■ : '. l ' ,: .- The appreciation of-a-joke, as well , ,ias. tho. making -'of it,, is an intellectual ■ ; 'exercise. .' .'.Humour, \ as,, many makers ~-,,0f definitions/ have' told ,us,.:is. a :per- '•■■ ception. of., Incongruity; and mainly /'of the incongruity- between .the .-'ac-. . '■'' tual, and:: the;ideal.: . I .would ..rather -.'■! say, adapting a passage,from Emerson, /■/-that the imperfections of; human con- :■■ ', duct! ant .character may . be; apprehend- ■// ed by the .'.moral judgment • or, by; the ;.'. jsense;of.sympathy, or by the intellect; ..' ,;in the first case. they, appear evil,.' in :.the.second 'mournful, in .-the.third ■';. :amusing. ; '.:-This'intellectual perception ;; jis-wit; mix it-with sympathy,-and it '■■:' 'becomes ,humour;'. .with moral ,:judg- '';;:■ ment. and it turns to satire. . ..- ...;'■■' '■''Pure wit is only possible, to people ■'-'. "who can.. think without- at the same '/'time ;ifeeling, or exercising '.'the ;con- ., '/science.;/ The/ reason. why ;,womeu. are ;. less, witty and .jess. humorous.!, than. ; 'men is, that they cannot, so readily i withdraw themselves, into one-third /of ...':■ their, minds," and see'life for a while' :>-.;'. only from that, one ; window,, ; This is >;''\ the truth' which accounts; for ;(though '/f'it; does. ; n6t'j-ustify),:_B,agehot's'epigram, i/i .."A. woman's; mere intellect 'is, a, mere ;'V.;-, i hpthing. ,, ';' : : ';' , . : --'- : .:,'".- :: ■ :■■ : ''.'V,'.';■ -.•:: ; ;: ... It .does; not'.follow .that women aro ■v better thaii men. '; May. not the moral • ; : :sense,;.like : 'every, /other..faculty,'., be- ;.'.;.. the; better,- for. an,.occasional: rest? ;;: Clrarles , : Lamb, who was /an, authority' :>} :on.'human-natureVthought that "a';cqn.T; ;,-.' scienco • stimulate<l -by perpetual'/ ap..'must.become dulled and blunt- / "ed.: ■■•■ / The hlameless/Emersopj•■/. after '■//iihsisting: that.:.vices, ;"seenv from.'tho •i V. point where ■:'our..." moral' sympathies ,do / "not; interfere," become ludicrous, .'goes :; ; /on : . to 'declare Mhat the. perception pi c/,,the comic/is "a protection from those :'. peryerse/tendencies'and. gloomy insani- :-' ties in .'which-fine/intellects sometimes //, lose' /themselves." •.■/ If ./the Irish/ are //'/more.moral , ; than;/,the' "English: .or ,'','•; Scotch,, it may, be : partly, becausßj they ■'./. aro 'more/humorous., ;"_';, :: '/'; ■'.Unexpectedness is of the .essence .-.'of. /; wit;/:Hobbei truly .observed■:that .'all ./;: men .-reason..,, naturally-r-that is,-: un- ■/ cohsciously-T-and well. . But w,hen'.; the' '.reasonably .exacted does .not follow-- ;:;' when the .apparently serious ', story.-or. ■/./argument suddenly turns aside into'tho' : /merest-semblance- .of logical^.brder^—we':/,have one of ! that most: . thoroughly', in-, ,;/ tellectual class ■ of'. jokes the/commonest ■ ;'. ;form of :which is the pun. ■;/ ■;.•'.'•':■;■■'"Dulce estdesipere ih .loco," ran tho //motto;of -the morry Mayors. of .Barton in Gloucester, but., to -.. 'what, locality shall --we : --:co'nfine:.this. ../dulcet dissipation of jesting?, Considered i.v: absolutely,.it may be.; ih place wherever /.humans err, biit'in practice thero aro /■/■ severe.limitation's.. Every joke demands, : . /to bo shared. Alark Twain's tale of a / man who '.-died;, of ' bottling /up an. . i/anecdoto is ari 'exaggeration..' with, a .'•/'.truth- in/it; -,- I. suppose it"'.is'' no '/un- - , icommon experieiice to think of. a joke // and 'carry'it about for half a day, pam- /' fully withholding. it: from "people who :;.;; couldn't-be expected, to see,'it,. prV.who '/■'/ might ;be hurt by .it, and. delivering it ■-~/at last-(with 'what gladness of relief!)' ;;■;■' to one of those'blessed friends who do/ // :not/misiindenstand.. Nobody can ;laugh ,:':.- at a.thing.that nobody elsd will consent; //to': laugh;atr';Hence;the/ fashions in' //jokes; puns are popular at /one time, ';:';. stories, about mothers-in-law have .their i~ day',, and the alleged Irish .character: is /■'.repeatedly played upon..;. : : / ;•;' /from ,the. saine, cause',' w-it//though. ■■ •" :purely/ an/, intellectual"'function',. makes'..its'.possessor morally a' better .man! ../Needihg friends to laugh with, ho'must :/ehow himself.,: friendly./■' Desiring /to .// avoid tho chill'that would .punish him /: /for -jestiiig but _of :tinie ; 'and/place,, he, -;,studies, the- feelings of; .other . people.' ■ /The practice/of the Golden- Rule '■■'■be-' j : 'comes,'to. him, a "habit. -Portraits.of •-'■"Maik Twain at different ages show, a ;/face/ growing always . handsomer and ';/,more„.lovable. At forty, it..is the' face ,/;'. of a 'fighter; at seventy, of a saint;'a ■/hero; and a-sage.'-' ... -.*■'.■* ■:-■:. Those also whose comic faculty is of :,/: the appreciative rather, than the crea-tive-order, may sometimes find right '-- conduct made easier, not only by satire .'with/its moral intent, and humour with "'/ its'sense of fellow-feeling, but also by ,/ the' wit.-whrch knows: neither sympathy •'-' nor conscience. - This coines about, not /; only through the-resting of those pa-rts ~;-. of.qur nature which are■ directly con■/./'cerned..with the motives of;action, but ../ also, through/,the' power of laughter ■;' to banish fear. ' Delinquencies that have ■;: /been' made laiighingstocks lost much of / ; ;their, fascination. . Mark Twain's in- : - .'numerable' jokes about telling lies have. ', -made his readers; more truthful. When /the mirth has. passed off,, leaving '] us as : well aware as ever that lying is wrong, .tho thing/that has tickled-us iias-lost ' some of its power to tempt'us.-■■:■:■■• How. "the iwculiar explosions of laughter";(it is Emerson's phrase) re- ; Bult from the perception of the comic, and. how. they -. cause ea-sy digestion, . sweet sleep, and steady nerves are mysteries and miracles, .but there is-no doubt that those bodily blessings di- , mmish the irritability which is the par-' -. ent of so many faults. . _Nobody can say where tho moral effect .of the comic is to cud. War will bo abandoned (so Thomas Hardy is rcport- / ed to have said) when tlm nations real- ; isc its absurdity. It is pleasant to .- - hope that, at some future time, the '-nations that have refused to see that ■ thoy wore cruel, treacherous, and waste- ;-,-: ful, will .wake up to discover that they .'"... are silly, i Byron did not state a fact/ when he'said "Cervantes smiled Spain's ;.-'; chivalry;awayi".but-he expressed a possibility. 'It is not unthinkable that a greater-humourist may..some day.laugh Europe's, artillery away. But it will be a long'timo yet before the.people will be ready to. see/tho joke.. : .-