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Show ' BEING TOOJUNNY I Ovcrsupply of Humor Not a Thing jo Be Desired. 1 According to Writer, If One Would Succeed In Life, Cultivate Dear-Ing Dear-Ing of Solemnity. Never make people luiigb. K you would succeed In life you must 1m solemn, soli-nm as an osfl. rimt an vice to it young and ambitious member of parliament Is quoted In Knlnh Ne-llh Ne-llh "Alnyfnlr and Moutmortre, Michael Dane writes In the continental edition of tlni London Mali. It Is nil-vice nil-vice which every young mint wno .Minis ti make himself n great llgure In the world must take to heart, ami act upon. , When I read tlint Instruction I thought nt once of n man whom I Wan privileged to know n few years ngi He was a member of 'parliament. Although Al-though few realized the fact, theie weie In the heart of him miiiic Hum ing enthusiasms, some determination-" to right wrongs, nnd to make for the following generations a belter world tliun his own pampered youth had known. He was a man who might have made this world n bettor, saner, nnd cleaner place to live In but coin-pmatlvdy coin-pmatlvdy early In life he had made the mistake of displaying himself ns n funny man. That man wus the late Spencer Leigh Hughes. There will always live In my mind the memory of ono talk 1 had with him when, putting aside the ap and bells of the Jester, he spoke of the things which lay near his heait. and 1 realized the nature of the man who was usually so thoroughly disguised. dis-guised. He had vision nnd which Is still more rare ho bad tho constructive construc-tive mind. Hut ho had shown him-Folf him-Folf to tho world ns n Jester, and the world, which will never forgive a Jester who turns from his Jesting to erloiw affairs, compelled him to t main 11 Jester to the end. The world has so deep, so Insatiable u need for luughter that It believes It cannot spare any ot its clowns. It Is compassed about with serious people, and It bus a cranky belief that serious, people lire alone to be trusted with Its serious work. Hut once a man bus revealed his possession of n trace of tho spirit of the clown It will not allow him thenceforward to appear as anything else. You have only to look round the life of today to sec how violently true this Is. Thcro Is W. W. Jacobs, He began to write funny stories, and the world will take none but funny stories from him. In the "Monkey's I'nw" be showed that he could equal If not surpass IMgar Allan I'oe In grimly trnglc writing, but the world does not want him to write yarns about fat sallormcn and Impossible villagers. Then there Is tho ense of the late It. 0. ICnowles. The world which wants to Inugh knew him ns mi admirable music hall comedian. Only a few were nwnre that he was an explorer of note, nnd that he only went on the stage to earn money enough to nuance the expeditions which earned him the fellowship fel-lowship of the Itoyal Geographical society. If you nro born thnt wuy the world will quite possibly pay you n lot or money for being funny. Hut It Is perfectly per-fectly certain that It will forbid you to follow any other trade than that of the clown, and will forbid you nnj enduring fume. Shakespeare Is veil ernled for his tragedies, not for his comedies. Hogarth Is honored ns an nrtlst nnd not as a humorist. John Sebnstlan Hnch, funniest of nil musicians, musi-cians, is praised mainly because In odd moments bo wrote solemn music. Tho funny mnn may cam money at the moment. Ho never earns anything else. |
