KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



305 



THE MAN FOR ME ! 



" Laugh and grow fat ! " Viletta. 



To look at him, I must confess, 

 Makes my eyes water. More merry tears 

 The passion of loud laughter never shed. 



SJIAKSPEARE. 



ERE I COMPELLED TO 

 MAKE CHOICE OF A MAN 

 FOR MY COMPANION, I 



should most assuredly 

 choose the owner of a 

 merry heart. There may 

 be — and are — but few of 

 these delectable individuals 

 in society ; but there are undoubtedly some, 

 and to be in their company is a treat. 



When the man with a merry heart comes 

 amongst us, his presence is like sunshine upon 

 a drooping bed of flowers, or Spring bursting 

 on a cold March morning. Everything in 

 his vicinity, 



Breathes like a bright-eyed face that laughs out 

 openly. 



There is a charm about him, which 

 the dullest acknowledge with relaxed 

 features and softened austerity. He is a do- 

 mestic luminary, scattering light and laughter 

 all around him. He is the autocrat of enjoy- 

 ment — the imperial Caesar of fun and frolic. 

 His empire is boundless ; for, wherever his 

 provoking glance falls, there he commands 

 obedience. All the cardinal sins submit to 

 his authority ; even those three terrible ras- 

 cals, Envy, Anger, and Hatred, think him a 

 very prince of a good fellow, and become as 

 mellow as ripe peaches at one touch of his 

 magical wand. As to the other four, they 

 absolutely adore him ; and fancy themselves 

 in a kind of penitential paradise, after he 

 has with his silken strings strangled the de- 

 mons tugging at their heartstrings. 



He rules with gentle sway amongst all ranks 

 and all ages ; the young, the old, the beau- 

 tiful, the plain, the cross, the peevish, the bad 

 and the good — all own his influence ; none 

 can resist his winning smile or alluring mouth, 

 glittering with ever-exposed pearls, and clos- 

 ing over a purling stream of good -humor. 

 In fact, he is universally acknowledged to be 

 the presiding genius over the golden time of 

 life — the lord of the domain where 



Along the crisped shades and bowers, 



Revels the spruce and jocund Spring, — 

 The Graces, and the rosy-bo6omed Hours. 



Wherever he puts his foot, existence becomes 

 a summer — a luscious June; and he plants 

 such bewitching roses on the highways and 

 byways of man's pilgrimage, that the thorns 

 scamper out of the neighborhood, and hide 

 their heads in gloomy nooks, ashamed and 

 frightened. He is the friend of man, the be- 

 loved of woman, and the darling of every- 



body ; for even the sinister eyes of a cat have 

 been known to open, in broad daylight, into 

 a round bright stare at his exhilarating coun- 

 tenance. 



To be more minute in our details, his quali- 

 ties, habits, and propensities, all tend to make 

 the world as merry and happy as prevailing 

 circumstances will permit. He loveth neither 

 grief nor sadness ; but when obliged to con- 

 dole with sorrow, he preacheth the philosophy 

 which says — 



Even the saddest thoughts 

 Mix with some sweet sensations, like harsh tunes 

 Played deftly on a soft-toned instrument. 



But in these moments of restraint he is never 

 heard to twaddle about bright flowers of hope 

 being killed in the bud ; or to affect any of 

 that ornamental and superficial sympathy 

 with distress, which prevails amongst that 

 class of skin-deep sentimentalists with whom 

 he is at open war. With himself personally, 



The tear, slowly travelling on its way, 

 Fills up the wrinkle of a silent laugh ; 



And— 



In that sweet mood of sad and humorous thought, 



he sees the rainbow of hope spanning the arch 

 of the future, and hears a gentle voice, in 

 honeyed accents, bidding him trust in Provi- 

 dence, and never despair. 



But away with melancholy — his path is 

 the primrose one, and he will tread it as 

 lightly as Camilla did the the waving corn. 

 He obeyeth the command " Cor ne edito ;" 

 and agreeing with the sage, that " faces are 

 but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tink- 

 ling symbol, where there is no love," strives 

 to make the world better by making it merrier. 

 This charming propensity is the ether in 

 which he moves — the essence of his delight- 

 ful individuality — and the mention of that 

 term brings him more prominently before us. 

 And first of all we must observe, that he is 

 the pet of the earth — a kind of fireside divi- 

 nity, and a mighty favorite with the ladies. 

 He is the chief guest at weddings, christenings, 

 and birthday parties ; and with a love of 

 quaint, harmless mischief, plays pranks at 

 sly love-meetings. 



Yet, it is at festivals, dinners, and merry- 

 makings, that he mostly shines. He revel- 

 leth at Christmas, laugheth out the old year, 

 and welcometh the new, with such gusto that 

 all declare a merrier man could not be met 

 with. The power which Glendower vaunted 

 he possessed belongs to him, for he calls 

 " spirits from the vast deep ;" and when they 

 come at his potent bidding, he requests those 

 around him to be merry and wise ; for, in the 

 deep recesses of his nature, there runs a vein 

 of seriousness which enables him to avoid 

 excesses himself, and to dislike them in 

 others. The enjoyment, over which he 

 rules, is neither boisterous nor licentious — it 



Vol. V.— 20. 



