THE DECAY OF LAUGHTER.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1871, 17 February 1892, Page 5

THE DECAY OF LAUGHTER.

It has been said of more than one great and sudden sorrow that it has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and the expression would argue a supposition that nations were, as a rule, naturally mirthful. It is (says the ' Spectator ') a comforting delusion —if it happens to be a delusion — and one that we should not wiah to dissipate. Nevertheless we cannot but express our doubt of its reality ; for, should it ever have been true of the past, we should be driven to the most melancholy belief that the world is growing sadder as it is growing wiser, and that gaiety and laughter are gradually decaying and departing from among us. " Laughter holding both his sides " is well-nigh dead among us, so rarely is it heard ; and the reason for its death, most people will say, is not because such laughter is vulgar and unseemly to the civilised man, but because there is really to-day nothing to laugh at. We seem but rarely in a mirthful mood to-day, and the sudden intrusion of solemnity comes upon us with no sense of incongruity or surprise. We are generally in a solemn mood j but even so, the intrusion of what is ludicious doeß not move us to laughter ; we are more often moved to stone it than to laugh at it. We want to laugh ;we long for something that may surprise us into laughter ; but for Borne reason or other the ludicrous and ridiculous seem rather to excite our anger than our sense of amusement. The incongruous has ceased to be humorous ; we have grown to be so terribly in earnest that we can no longer see the comic side of men and things. It is said that one may travel from one side to the other of the United States and never in all that weary journey hear the sound of laughter. If that be really true, we know not; but if it is, we hare heard ro more serious indictment against a democratic people. It is true that there is nearly always, even in the best and finest instances of American humor, a certain hardness and cruelty of Intention, a certain bitterness and want of light-hearted and spontaneous gaiety ; and it may well be that the national character which produces it is incapable of purely gay and mirthful laughter. How long will it be before we, too, are nationally incapable of laughter? The laboring class, especially the agricultural, laughs but little. We would gladly believe that it is a fear of vulgarity that restrains that expression of emotion ; but we cannot but think it is rather the absence of the emotion itself than a wish to repress it that is responsible for the silence that seems to have fallen upon us. If civilisation really stifles the merriment of nations, the want of it has certain merits which have not yet been properly taken into account. Our gain in that direction is but a sorry consolation for the loss of our mirth and of the healthy exercise of laughter.