THE PLEASURES OF LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 277, 24 November 1890, Page 2

THE PLEASURES OF LIFE.

Laughter is, according to the dictionary, the "expression of mirth in sound." There ie a want of completeness about this definition. Wβ could nob probably our_ seves supply a better, but wo aro consc£ou 8 that laughter is something more than this. What, we should probably find ifc difficult to express. That laughter is as necessary a parb of our lives as eating or drinking, fey/ will deny. Wβ could not exisb without it. Somo certainly have to go on remarkably short commons of ifc, as thoy do on food, clothing and various other neosesibiee, but if the supply is altogether cub off of one or tho other collape ensues. So necessary have we found laughter that from the earliest ages those who have been able to aSord it have paid men to make bhein laugh. Ab one time it was a luxury only afforded by rich nobles. Tho jester was a favourite and hiehly-paid servant in private families, and the outside people rarely got a glimpse of him, Now we subscribe publicly—that ia to say, we each pay according to our wants men and women to keep us in laughter. At fir3t sight, the lifo of a man paid by the public to make them laugh doos nob seem a very noble one. It does not seem to fill one's ideas of what life should be, and yefc, on peering deeper, one sees that such vocations are not only useful and necessary, but may also fulfil the purpose of life in the fullest and best manner. To amuse, and amuse innocently, a great public, to cauee laughter withoutanalloying bitterness, to charm away care and anxiety for an hour or co from multitudinous mortals, and to make them smile, perhaps apainsfc their wills, is perhaps as noble and wholesome as terrifying them with pictures of wrath to come or the amassing of wealth by floating doubtful speculations, or any other method of life and livelihood.

The advent o£ one who bears the name— not in advertisement only—of being the leading comedian of his day, leads to several reflections of this and kindred sorts. For nearly forty years Mr John Lawrence Toole has been on the boards as a comedian. Never once during that time has even the most virulent anti-stage fanatio found a word to launch either at the comedian himself or the pieces he has played. There are a few places in London where the most proper of Londoners take their innocenb country cousins when they come to town. One is MadameToussaud's, another Corney Grain's, and the third and greatest, Toole'e Theatre when the comedian himself is at home. But we did not start thia article with an intention of puffing Mr Toole. Hβ has made his fame, and, unlike most of the great vocalists who find their way out here, he visits us when in the zenibh of his power. Royalty calls him friend, and bo gathering of the clans of art or literature is considered com-

plete without him. Yet, it is more than likely that many people will declaro thoy are "disappointed with the man. People who go expecting to sib down and straight way go into convulsions of laughter at they don't know exactly what, certainly will nob be denied. His irresistible fun will make them laugh themselves tired, bub those who go saying, " Now lot us 3ee this man who is so wondorfal," may probably only smile. Laughter is such a very uncertain matter. A thing that will seom exceedingly humorous to ono man would not arouse the flicker of a smile on the face of another. The spectacle of a man chaeing ahab on a windy day will cause some people to suffocate with laughter ; the miseries of a seasick person provoke mirth in many who could watch, yhall we say, a play like tha " Private Secretary " without smiling. We English do nob laugh as muck as the people of some other nations, and for this reason an observant) Frenchman, with a talent for emarb sayings, said, "The English take their pleaaures eadly." He was hardly correct. The remark was due to superficial observance. Ib would have been a pood deal truer had he said thab many English men and women take their pleasure in sadness. The business element so firmly implanted in the nature of Britishers makes them seb about enjoying things in a somewhat solomn and business-like manner,which might easily be mistaken for sadness.

But there is very little doubt that our countrymen get as much pleasure out of lifo as the volatile and ever-laughing Gaul: But, aa wo have said.it is a question of what is called pleasure. Tho pleasure derived from tho hoarding of wealth is not understandable to niany'of us. Yet ib must be keen, else it would not have so many votaries. Tho gratification of getting not merry, but stupidly and blindly drunk, appears to ap peal to a fairly largo eection of tho community. The constant reiteration of tho phrase and, presumably, tho belief that fciiey are miserable sinners would seem to delight, a number of persons. The joys of finsb love are, paradoxical as it may sound, largely mado up of its miseries ; or is it that wo think so on looking back ? The uncertainties, tho deferred hopes, tremulous fears, they wore not perhaps pleasure, in fact we seemed pretty miserable, bub thoro was an underlying hnppineas i" it all.

So in the later things of lifo, wo take our pleasures ditierenfcly. Jerome points oat that when a woman takes out the br.by shoos, rolica of n dead child, and muses over them continually with softly falling tears, tho pain has become so softened that the gentle wcejini'.r ii no longer pm-e gviof, but a pleasure of sorrow. Laughter is a pleasure of life to some of us, wespinjj ro others. l'»nfc to the i.eopie who luugh and those who _ make us laugh a. debt of gratitude is due. The comedian who comes to make us do so next wool: has not had a laughing life. Hβ has lost his son, liih wifo and daughter within 18 months almost, but wtill pluclcily Btuck to his business of amusing the world. Whatever may bo tho opinion of an Auckland public as to his funnimente, tho man, m a man, desorvos tho respect lie hue won and maintained for so Jong a period.