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Show MAY IRWIN'S JEST. May Irwin, with the aid of her press agent, has proposed to President Wilson Wil-son that he establish a department of laughter and place her in charge. She points out that the monarchs of old found it necessary to have jesters, whose business it was to laugh away from the overgloomed spirits of their masters the cares of kingship. She also calls attention at-tention to the fact that the president is too serious fud that there is much room for laughter in Washington. 1 The good old clays of the royal jesters jest-ers have passed away forever. It is true that there still are jesters in office of-fice and that their personalities and unconscious un-conscious humor offset the deadly seriousness seri-ousness of administration. Whether lecturing lec-turing on the Chautauqua circuit or drinking grape juice with the ever-thirsty diplomats the jesters afford gaiety for the nation and sometimes for the na-tious. na-tious. Then there are real jesters like Sec- retarv Garrison, who know how to tide I themselves through a crisis with a timely time-ly jest. Secretary Garrison, for example, knew that if he was too serious about his rebuke of General Wood and Colonel Roosevelt he would arouse sympathy for the censured. Therefore he gave his action ac-tion a sunny perspective by telling thp delectable story of the man who said he was going down to Bangor to get drunk and who added, "Good Lord, how I dread it." The story did not apply very well to the situation, but it wa-s good enough in itself to dispel the gloom of the occasion. The royal jester lived in the day before be-fore the professional humorist. Now the jester commits -his jests and quips to a book or a newspaper and kings and presidents pres-idents merely resort to the printed page when they desire to be merry. |