306 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



is rather that which a delicate palate would 

 prefer, and a well-regulated mind and healthy 

 body keenly appreciate. 



No sottish drinks mingle with his cham- 

 pagne ; his beverages are light and cheerful 

 ones; and if there be one bad thing he 

 detests more than another, it is intemperance. 

 Fun, frolic, and amusement, are his elements ; 

 and he instinctively opposes all that would 

 detract from their harmless simplicity. This 

 beautiful trait in his character makes him 

 the beloved of everybody, for it constitutes 

 him a promoter of sobriety ; and few are so 

 enamored of its bestial opponent as to 

 begrudge it the praise it merits. To see 

 him at a dinner-table, is a sight the most surly 

 would covet. His round, gleeful face 

 sparkles with such exquisite good-humor 

 that the dainties on the table look richer ; 

 and the faces of those assembled wear such 

 a happy, contented expression, that the most 

 obdurate are melted into sympathetic appro- 

 bation of the feelings that animate the genial 

 throng. 



Woundless jests are as abundant as black- 

 berries at the close of autumn ; and there are 

 such peals of laughter direct from every heart, 

 that the sound flies out of the house, and 

 rings in the ears of careworn passers-by 

 like the music from bells mellowed by 

 distance. There is a sincerity about the 

 cachinnation,a depth whichproves its genuine- 

 ness, and goes far to establish the truth of 

 the theory contended for by that profound 

 suggestive writer, Carlyle. It will not be 

 irrelevant to quote a few passages from his 

 brilliant "Sartor Resart us" on the subject of 

 laughter. "No man," says he, "who has 

 once heartily and wholly laughed can be 

 altogether irreclaimably bad. 



" How much lies in laughter : the cypher 

 key wherewith we decypher the whole man ! 

 Some men wear an everlasting barren 

 simper; in the smile of others, lies a cold 

 glitter as of ice. The fewest are able to 

 laugh what can be ' called ' laughing, but 

 only sniff and titter, and sniggle from the 

 throat upwards ; or at best produce some 

 whiffling husky cachinnation, as if they were 

 laughing through wool. Of none such, comes 

 good. The man who cannot laugh is not only 

 jit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils, but his 

 whole life is already a treason and a stratagem." 



So says Thomas Carlyle, and we cordially 

 agree with him, for we have ever found your 

 bad laugher to be a questionable character ; 

 there is no sniggling, or whiffling, or huski- 

 ness, about the laughter which the Merry 

 Heart creates. All is open, full-mouthed, and 

 undisguised ; the deep bass of the organ- 

 lunged, the trumpet notes of the tenor, and 

 the loud shrilling of the treble, mingling in 

 glorious and joyous concert. But it is not 

 at the rich man's table, or in his ball-room, 



that the Merry Heart is exclusively to be 

 found ; he loves all classes alike, and forgets 

 not to brighten the poor man's cottage with 

 his exhilarating 



" Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles, 

 Nods and becks, and wreathed smiles." 



He drives dull care from faded cheeks, 

 startles the poverty-fiends from their hovels ; 

 and, sweetening the sad morsel of adversity, 

 lends to the most wretched existence a 

 fleeting but right exquisite charm. 



See the poor man seated, after his week's 

 toil, at his Sunday dinner ; surrounded by 

 his rosy children and tidy wife — is he not 

 happy? Why, he feels that he really belongs 

 to the human family ; and in that moment of 

 transitory happiness, forgets his struggles 

 with the hard-faced world. His heart opens 

 to the influences of the inbred love of his 

 nature ; and he thinks lightly, or not at all, of 

 the morrow. His six days of winter melt 

 into one of rosy summer ; and when his Lap- 

 land days come again, he consoles himself 

 with the thought of the recurring day of sun- 

 shine. The Merry Heart inspires him with 

 patience and fortitude in the fulfilment of his 

 daily duties ; and, when he is uncorrupted by 

 debasing habits, instils into his mind the 

 high moral lessons of perseverance, hope, and 

 faith in the future. 



Our hero is indeed the friend of all ; and, 

 in the conventional acceptation of that word, 

 is the best and truest in the wide world. He 

 has no reservations, no suspicions, no luke- 

 warmness ; but is full of candor and con- 

 fidence. With him, no ungenerous thought 

 darkens the sentiment which, as twin-bro- 

 ther to Love, draws the human family into 

 closer copartnership, and chases away the 

 sombre hues that darken the social horizon. 

 He is a true Roman in friendship — one of 

 the real participes curarum — and abhors the 

 base Brummagem feeling which too often 

 passes current under that term. 



Excelling as a friend, he triumphs as a 

 lover ; for no cant or insincerity mingles 

 with his passion. He never wishes "that 

 women had but one rosy mouth, that he 

 might kiss them all from north to south." 

 Such selfishness never enters into the love 

 he feels for woman — the extravagance is too 

 absurd and wicked for his kind disposition. 

 All he desires is, that "one" pretty form, 

 with a gentle heart, should ever be near him ; 

 and he will sing the song that pleaseth her, 

 and be a merry and loving spouse all the 

 days of his life. 



But it must be observed that, as a lover, 

 he is not one of the sighing and groaning 

 brood ; his temperament, so lively and bound- 

 ing, spurns such weakness. He rather 

 belongs to that daring band of gallants who 

 take a girl's heart by storm, or coax her to 

 part with it with such merry and seductive 



