“It is easy enough to be pleasant
When life flows along like a song;
But the man worth while is the man who will smile
When everything goes wrong.
“For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile which is worth the praise of the earth
Is the smile that comes through the tears.”
They tell us that laughter is dying out among men. If so, it is a pity. The Wise Man says there is a time to laugh, that is, a time when laughter is right, when it is a duty, and when it would be wrong not to laugh. Perhaps we have not been accustomed to think of laughter in this way. We regard it as an agreeable exercise, but are not apt to class it among duties, like honesty, or kindness.
It would be a sad thing, however, if laughter should be altogether crowded out of life. There are other exercises which we could much better afford to lose. Think of a world of human beings with no laughter, men and women wearing everywhere and always grave, serious, solemn faces, with no relaxing of the sternness on any occasion. Think of the laughter of childhood departing from the world, and the laughter of youth, – how dull and dreary life would be!
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