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Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 45, 16 November 1907, Page 13

beyond history or fablo or scientific record, when nature, too, was young and lighthearted ? The sorrows of' the world are at presont not like the sorrows of age, but the sorrows of maturity. 'J'licre is no decropitudo in tho world: its heart is restless, vivid, hopeful yet; its melancholy is as tho melancholy of youth—a melancholy deeply tinged with beauty; it is full of boundless visions and eager dreams; thongh it is thwarted, it believes in its ultimate triumph; and the growth of humour in tho world may be just the shadow of hard fact falling upon tnc generous vision, for that is where humour resides.

Women Less Humorous than Men. "Humour resides in the perception of limitation, in discerning how often the conventional principle is belied'by, the actual practice Perhaps, indeed, it may bo said that to bo a real humorist there must bo a touch of hardness somewhere, a bony carapaco, because we seldom seo one of very strong and ardent emotions who is a true humorist; and this is, I suppose, the reason why women, as a rule, are so far less humorous than men. We havo to pay a price for our good qualities; and though 1 had rather bo strong, affectionate, loyal, noble-minded, trhan be the best humorist in the world, yeh if a gift of humour bo added to these graces, you have a combination that is absolutely irresistible, because you have a perfect sense of proportion that never allows emotion to degenerate into gush, or virtuo into rigidity; and thus I say that humour is a kind of divine and crowning grace in a character, because it means an artistic sonso of proportion, a true and vital toloranco, a power of infinite forgiveness."