THE MAN WHO LAUGHED

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14476, 24 June 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MAN WHO LAUGHED

I A fcSliOitT STORY, .Merlon was dopiv.fcsod. The reviews pf IjjLi jiovels Uuu batir—ouc-ano-i>at bail. 'J ii-ti reviewers bad eunipwinvU tiuib Uuj Ijoolc wa.i out true to iUe. As tiiougn truth oi Iho were .fcii-e sole aim «nu end ol art! 'io bo <i*-'jirebsed by reviews (jf thnt *ort—how u tour ill Aitiiloji . In-xl to .singer ut Juhi.seli fur depre&bcd; tned to .sneer at the review jor tlic j <r pandering to fcUo uiitdueutod. masses. Jio gl'a.nc<j<l viciously at the people who pjuvved hjm—the |>eople"' wbo inspired these reviews. Kooisl lie couid allurd to difiivgard them and their i'olioy. liut Ji.is depression decliuied to bo shaken oil, declined to be deceived by his sneering. ih<3 limits at tho door, of a theatre drew him across the street. Ho would K° i- 11 ajid see tiho Perhaps it would help to distract his attention. He entered and was conducted to a seat. I'ijo CU rtain had just risen. On tbo stage an impossibly meek man wo# interviewing an impossibly ferocious mother-in-law to tlie accompaniment of rather unonthusiastio titters from the auditorium. The piece was a farce—-a terrible, machine-made farce. Merton wjahed he had stayed outside. His depression deepened. So this was what tiie public, who were advised hv their itecary. experts that this book was untrue to life,", this was what tho public enjoyed. Morton bliut his eyas tightly, and at onoe tho silly headline or ti>9 silhest review rose before him mocking. •» • ■ He opened his eyes again to scrutinwe a neighbour who had begun to laugh at the faroo. It would be interesting to see what sort of person could laugh at stuff lileo this. Tho man laughed again. Such a laugh! It was positively a frellow; a bellow of unaffected amusement, tho . volcanic bellow of one who is tickled I" T erv depths of his appreciative faculties. Near by were blase folk who mereiy staggered because they liad paid for tho joke which was being, the footlights at them and' l£lt that to snigger was to obtain, their money's worth. But Merton'. neighbour did not snigger, he bellowed. Sowing W3 ®° at t0 nt 0280 "> «+« - e i mtl Tir' l 'i c ' a talinfi d face, honestly Stupid Merton put him down aa a oolonjal. His vide, steady gaz» proclaimed him an open-air worker; hi. hand?, ono of them encased in an extraordinarily new glove' which had given way at tlie thumb seam, wero muscular but not ' coarse. Undoubtedly li» im oot an inhabitant of tjio rn> • laugh was not a city laugh, un ? re was a £aJn, What a laufihl What a happy laugh! • i Jbe oV. r nor of such a laugjh ever *' n . ' 1 ' e be<jn depressed? Merton tn«d to sneer again, rand know tliat lib roal intention was to smother envy of t<hat laugh; «nvy of the innocence which could make . that laugh possible. 1

. -And the 'fellow laughed at every ioke, not a single joke'.here and there, but at every singly one. He laughed at the stales as at. the most recently invented. Ho bellowed at th© poorest Situations, at the "thinnest "gags." Suddenly t&e colonial'e Igugh enveloped Morton, and' ro&de him laugh. likowTse. Merton began to see with an • tmacoountable clearness, ,a euiriooa tEareasoningness ' that the play was i u y*. & ,s * laugh to btfeaJt forth flinmltfl n'eously with the laugh of the colonial instead of. folkxwincit. All around, people were laughing for , 0 - reason that Merton was laughing because the colonial was laughing. .They started by laughing at the colonial's Jaug'ii; the- bellow wag t-o childlike, .so unconficious. They ended by laughing not at it but with it. It had served 1 to rouse the attention of a Jukowarm audience; now they, saw the jokes for themselves. The actors might have blessed that fellow. Never had the play gono-as it went to-nigjht. > The whole house laughed. Merton with the rest. Ho could not recollect lLaving laughed like that in a theatre before; _ his depression slid l meanly from him, vanished by hie laughter. If the actors blessed the colonial, Merton blessed| him. even more fervently. "Contagion'' - "the winsome contagion of a blithe heart"—• Merton revolved phrases of gratitude , during the entr'acte. I

; Ihe piece ended in a unaaunoiiS chorus of, .laughter,- and the audience, still laughing, dissolved into til's' night 1 , Merton lost sight of the colonial and was sorry. Ho would have liked to speak to his benefactor; would have liked to plumb, if it were possible, this jolly creature's philosophy, and learn his precious recipe. for high soirits. But the streets had engulphed him in an instant, leaving only a rexmniscent echo of tho bellow to rais« a regretful smile. 1 Merton drifted towards the park, whose gates stood open in the lamplight; its quiet wooed' him, t and ho passed from, the pavement to the path seeking a bench. Upon the first to whioli lie came he .saw the colonial. # The possessor of the bellow sat motionless, chin on ihand; lies eyes were his teeth tigjitjy clenched, his brow rigidly furrowed. Misery was writ large on his face —the face that had beamed with laughter at the play. H:s joy had fled before some attacking' army of sorrows as Morton's depression had fled before the invasion of tonic nnrt,h. Merton halted, bowed, and took a place- at the colonial's side-.

"Pardon me, you have lost your high spirits." The colonial awoke and looked at lum. A'nod signified that Mertoa was recognised as his neighbour of tho theatre.

"•You soem " Merton searched for words at once friendly and sympathetic --"you seein down on your luck a bit. o,h y"

Tha colonial replied in level tones as ime moved. to recite a formula which is burning his brain. "My wdfi© died two days ago, I buried her this aftej> noon."

Merton's delicacy was staggered. ."Good God! your wife newly dead-—you attended a .theatre tliia evening after burying—yoii .laughed !" .The reminiscent echo of the bellow raiifi through -His inward <var and made ii:m nmver. Laughter?. It \vn<> u shriek. Au-d it had stimulated' -liini to laugh—that hom;r of a. bellow "You went to a farce afterV 3 Mertion reiterated his accusation. ; l She'd .iutve liked it," sa id tho colonial. Morton. /razed.

j i have liked it/' the colonial repeated. "I've no book-learning, but there 3 some tilings a man knows. ' 1 IjU) paused, staring straight in front of Jum one© moro with a dogged vacuntness.

"Tell mo," began Morton, "tell 1 me." He stumblc-d, wondering whether he had anj'- right to ask this strango soul iorrts secret. Ho would nut havqhesitated to ask for the secret of the mirth. hut to ask for the secret of that mirth's tragic justification was another tuni'j; altogether. Tho colonial accented his unspoken invitation.

' "Yes, I'll tell you if you like." ho said. "It does a m;m good sometimes to chuck a yarn oft' his chest, and 1 don't know a soul in this blamed citv—not one. There ain't much of a yarn to t»U. though—l moan it ain't much of a yarn to you mayb?, though it's meant a deal to me. My name's Drake— Ted Drnlce. I was a low-down sort of chap when I met my wife, and 'broke' into tho bargain. ' My wifo she look hold and made me;'she got me to stoD drinking; B h e me

work; bllq got mo to bo deoont—»auy» way tho took hold and liuulo iao* £ can't finy niuro, My wlfo—" JUs hjjuocli ivavcroa, then fltewliod itcell' Hgain.

• J was given a l>orth on tbo Gold Coast/. They cull tho Gold Const tbo While jlluu'm Grave. You can take it i'rom nic, it's .boil. bhe would ooiiio too. Maylxi aho wu* afruid A'd go wrong if shu didn't come, but sh* was mistaken there. No irioro going wrong for ine with a wife liko my Mu> juc. Minnie—"

'i'lio current of hi» lmrrivtivo waver<.'(l utyiin on tho word. "Tim Gold. 1 Coaat is hell," he said alowly. "Hell. But eha wan gay. No native woman waa fio fifty aa my Jliimiu, and w« aJwaya talked of how we'd oorno hoiao again and ceo tlna thoatiios atid havo larks nmud town, and we saved ervery cent we oould so*, to havo a real hot tiiao for a month.

"I'm a chap with a bis pufiawj I dure say you ve noticed it. And .Minnie would say I'll bo happy when I 'hear that laugh of yours in a theatre back homo, T«d/ and " The oolonial turned to Merton—hi. voice did not drop—ho fipoke simply t "X made her happy to-night." Merton shivered. "Wo lived in that hell's climate and naved and saved"—Drake went quietly on with his »tory, picking it up at tho point where ho had momentarily Jet it fall —"wo saved and saved for tho spree we'd promised ourselves back home in town. And at last we were rich enough, and we took our passage from tlvo Coast, and—and —tho fovcr was on her. 11l at Gold Coaut l'ever. "She diod the day wo lauded, died in an hotel. 'Most the last thing sho said was 'Have you booked a seat for a theatre yet, 'led P' And I said' X hadn't; and then she said, ' Promise mo you'll go to the thoatfe., Ted, even if I'm not able to go too, though X'Jl bo there all the same.' Those were her words. 'l'lt bo disappointed) if you don't laugh, Ted. It won't please mo, Ted, if you don't get in as much fun as you oaji before the month's up and you've got to carry away as many r9» membra nces of good times as you CRU, Ted, to chuckle over and l tell the boy* about, or you'll be dull till' your noxfc furlough.' That was 'roost the last thing she eaid. did my Minnie. She was a real sport was my Minnie." I Drake's eyes turned and met those of his listener. ",You think me a beast'r"' he questioned quickly, suspiciously. . "The only thing X can't understand! is how you ore able to • forgot and lough," muttored Merton. . Drpie'a face cleared 'fFprgeit? I laugh bec-atieo I don't forget. I laugh with my Minnie, she laughs with me. You aro thinking that way madness liee'—oh, yes, X can, spout quotation from Shakespeare. You're on. tho v wrong tack, tlion. Madness fojr a chap like me would lie in fighting shy of duty. I see my S'uty clear; which is, to extract every ounce of fun from my month in town which I'd have had if Minnie'd lived. That's what she does want. I thought it would! be difficult. It's quite cosy. It'll be easier still now I've told same' one. It's queer, but you've, helped me. 1 was beginning to be not so sure I'd got tJm>ugh. ana wondering—a chap gets doubtful sometimes, you know. Ho hesitated. '1 mifcpose you haven't been "to tho Gold Ooastf Noror mind, you've helped and I wiU tell you straight I'm obliged to you, for sitting down and speaking to a Granger.'' Merton interposed. "You helped mo too, my friend. Do you know you helped me--3)elpod otnera—to laugh P vVo'r© to yon; though honestly/' Morton confessed, "honestly I don't think I oould laugh with you now/' '

" No?" Drake amilod. "M&yfee not. I .don't find it difficult to laugh. Minnie's happy, you see, when I lough. To-morrow I'm going to the raees; dinner at a swell restaurant and' t/he circus afterwnrds. I love circuses. So did—Ra (.Vow—Mimrio."

Merton went homo lo plan another novel.—The "Sphera."