SAFED THE SAGE SAITH.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

SAFED THE SAGE SAITH.

While nothing is much worse than a Sense of Humour that is not Ballasted by Sound Common Sense, yet on the other hand there is no man who hath so good a right to a little spice of Nonsense as he who is Habitually and Consistently a Sensible Man. There once came to see me a Woman with a Problem, and I listened to her Tale of Woe and smiled. And she said, Thou dost not sufficiently regard my problem as Serious. And I said, It is not Serious. All that thou needest is a Passing Smile and Something Else to think about. And she 1 “was grieved, and went her way, but after- 1 wards she considered and thanked me with great heartiness. 1 Life is Serious enough, beloved, and he ’ is a fool whose Incurable Laughter at all that doth occur in life is like unto the Crackling of Thorns under a Pot, as my ’ friend Solomon was accustomed to observe. * Life hath its concerns that are not only Serious but Tragic, and they must be faced ‘ in their Stark Reality. But there is no com- 1 mand in Holy Scripture for«to Increase and £ Multiply our Tragedies and Discourage the 8 Earth. Wherefore hath God imparted unto us something that He must count Very 1 Precious in his own Character, even a Sense of Humour, a I have no present intention of adding s any to the Ten Commandments, but if I decide to supplement the work of my friend Moses I shall consider this one: n Thou shalt not take thyself too seriously*