THE LAW OF LAUGHTER
The Mortons were sitting on their porch on a warm evening waving fans and
trying to think that the coming night promised comfortable sleep. The
Ethels sat on the upper step, Roger was stretched on the floor at one
side, Helen sat beside her mother's hammock which she kept in gentle
motion by an occasional movement of her hand, and Dicky was dozing in a
large chair. In a near-by tree an insect insisted that "Katy did," and in
the grass a cricket chirruped its shrill call.
"I do feel that Aunt Louise's being able to build this pretty house after
all her years of wandering is about the nicest thing that ever happened
out of a fairy story," murmured Helen softly to her mother, but loudly
enough for the others to hear.
"There are people who talk about the law of compensation," smiled Mrs.
Morton in the darkness. "They think that if one good is lacking in our
lives other goods take its place."
"Do you believe that?"
"I believe that everything that happens to us comes because we have
obeyed or disobeyed God's laws. Sometimes we are quite unconscious of
disobeying them, but the law has to work out just as if we knew all about
it."
"For instance?" came a deep voice from the floor, indicating that Roger
had awakened.
"Do you remember the time you walked off the end of the porch one day?"
"I should say I did! My nose aches at the mere thought of it."
"You didn't know anything about the law of gravitation, but the law
worked in your case just as if you had known all about it."
"I'm bound to state that it did," confirmed Roger, still gently rubbing
his nose as he lay in the shadow.
"It seems as if it might have held up for a little boy who didn't know
what he was going to get by disobeying it," said Ethel Blue
sympathetically.
"But it didn't and it never does," returned Mrs. Morton. "That's one
reason why we ought to try to learn what God's laws are just as fast and
as thoroughly as we can; not only the laws of nature like the law of
gravitation, but laws of morality and justice and right thinking and
unselfishness and kindness toward others."
"Sometimes mighty mean people seem to prosper," said Ethel Brown, with a
hint of rebellion in her voice.
"That's because those people obey to the letter the law that controls
prosperity of a material kind. A man may be cruel to his wife and unkind
to his children, but he may have a genius for making money. Some people
call it the law of compensation. I call it merely an understanding of the
financial law and a lack of understanding of the law of kindness."
"I don't see what law dear Aunt Louise could have broken to have made her
have such a hard time," wondered Ethel Blue. "Her husband being killed
and her having to wander about without a home for so many years--that
seems like a hard punishment."
"Men have decided that 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'!" said her
aunt, "and the same thing is true of laws that are not man-made."
"That seems awfully hard," objected Helen; "it doesn't seem fair to
punish a person for what he doesn't know."
"If a cannibal should come to Rosemont and should kill some one and have
a barbecue, we should think that he ought to be deprived of his liberty
because he was a dangerous person to have about, even if we felt sure
that he did not know that he was doing an act forbidden by New Jersey
law. The position is that although a person may be ignorant of the law it
is his business to know it. That seems to be the way with the higher
laws; we may break them in our ignorance--but we ought not to be
ignorant. We ought to try just as hard as we know how all the time to do
everything as well as we can and to be as good as we can. If we never let
ourselves do a mean act or think a mean thought we're bound to come to an
understanding of the great laws sooner than if we just jog along not
thinking anything about them. I believe one reason why your Aunt Louise
was so slow in reaching the end of her troubles after Uncle Leonard died
was because she was unable to control her sorrow. She has told me that
she was completely crushed by his death and the condition of poverty in
which she found herself with a little child--Dorothy--to take care of."
"I don't blame her," murmured Ethel Blue.
"She blames herself, because she has learned that giving way to grief
paralyzes all the powers that God has given us to carry on the work of
life with. If our minds are filled with gloom our bodies don't behave as
they ought to--I dare say even you children know that."
"I know," agreed Ethel Blue, who was sensitive and imaginative and
suffered unnecessarily over many things.
"Your mind doesn't go, either," Roger added. "I know when I got in the
dumps last spring about graduating I couldn't do a thing. My work went
worse than ever. It was only when Mr. Wheeler"--referring to the
principal of the high school--"jollied me up and told me I was getting on
as well as the rest of the fellows that I took a brace; and you know I
did come out all right."
"I should say you did, dear," acknowledged his mother proudly. "Instances
like that make you understand how necessary it is to be brave and to be
filled with joy because life is going on as well as it is. It is our duty
to make the most of everything that is given us--our bodies, our minds,
our spirits--and if courage will help or joy will help then we must
cultivate courage and joy."
"Did Aunt Louise see that after a while?"
"Not for a long time, she says. After the shock of Uncle Leonard's sudden
death had worn away somewhat she began naturally to have a little more
courage--not to be so completely crushed as she was at first. Then she
saw that when she was feeling brave she could accomplish more, and
succeed better in new undertakings. If she went to ask for work somewhere
and had no hope that she would receive it she usually did not receive it;
but if she went feeling that this day was to be one of success for her it
usually was."
"I suppose she went in with a sort 'Of course you'll give it to me' air
that made the men she was asking think of 'of course' they would," smiled
Roger.
"I don't doubt it. Then she says that she found out that there was real
value in laughter."
"In laughter!" repeated Ethel Brown. "Why laughter is just foolishness."
"No, indeed; laughter is the outward expression of delight."
"Lord Chesterfield told his son he hoped he'd never hear him laugh in all
his life," offered Roger.
"Lord Chesterfield hated noisy laughter as much as I do. There's nothing
more annoying than empty, silly giggling and laughter; but the laughter
that means real delight over something worth being delighted at--that's
quite another matter. Lord Chesterfield and I are agreed in being opposed
to a vulgar _manner_ of laughing, but we are also agreed in believing
that delight needs expression. Isn't it in that same letter that he says
he hopes he will often see his son smile?"
"Same place," responded Roger briefly.
"Aunt Louise says she found that even if she wasn't feeling really gay
she could raise her spirits by doing her best to laugh at something. If
you hunt hard enough there is almost always something funny enough to
laugh at within reach of you."
"Like Dicky here snoozing away as soundly as if he were in bed."
"Poor little man. You needn't carry him up yet, though. He's not
uncomfortable there."
"There's one thing I think is perfectly wonderful about Aunt Louise,"
said Ethel Blue; "she takes so much pleasure out of little things. She's
interested in everything the U. S. C. does, and she wants to help on
anything the town undertakes--you know how nice she was about the school
gardens--and sometimes when a day comes that seems just stupid with
nothing to do at all, if you go over to Aunt Louise's she'll tell you
something she's seen or heard that day that you never would have noticed
for yourself and that really is interesting."
"She gets their full value out of everything that passes before her eyes.
It's the wisest thing to do. The big things of life are more absorbing
but very few of us encounter the big things of life. Most of us meet the
small matters, the everyday happenings, and nothing else."
"Isn't life full of a mess of 'em!" ejaculated Roger. "Getting up and
dressing and brushing your hair and eating three meals a day have to be
done three hundred sixty-five times a year; whereas you hear some
splendid music or come across a fine new poem or find yourself in a
position where you can do a real kindness about once in a cat's age.
Queer, isn't it?"
"That's just why it's a good plan to see the opportunities in the little
things. If we see with clear eyes we may be able to do some small
kindnesses oftener than 'once in a cat's age.' It's certainly true that
the everyday troubles, the trifling annoyances, are really harder to bear
than the big troubles."
"O-o-o!" disclaimed Helen.
"The big troubles give you a bigger shock, but then you pull yourself
together and summon your strength, and strength to endure them comes. But
the small matters--they come so often and they seem such pin pricks that
it seems not worth while to call upon your powers of endurance."
"Yet if you don't you're as cross as two sticks all the time," finished
Helen. "I know how it is. It's like having a serious wound or a mosquito
bite."
They all laughed, for Roger, as if to illustrate her remarks, gave a slap
at a buzzing enemy at just the appropriate moment.
"Another thing that helps to make Aunt Louise a happy woman now is that
she is at peace not only with everybody on earth but also with herself.
If she makes a mistake she doesn't fret about it; she does her best to
remedy it, and she does her best not to repeat it. 'Once may be excusable
ignorance,' she says, 'but twice is stupidity,' and then she tells the
tale of the boy who was walking across a field and fell into a dry well
which he knew nothing about. He roared loudly and after a time a farmer
heard him and pulled him out. The next day he was walking across the same
field and he fell again into the same well."
"He set up the same roar, I suppose."
"A perfect imitation of the previous one. The same farmer came. When he
looked down the well and saw the same boy he said disgustedly, 'Yesterday
I thought ye were a poor, unknowin' lad; to-day I know ye're a sad
fool.'"
Again they all laughed.
"She's always cheerful and always affectionate and she's as dear as she
can be and I'm glad she's going to have this lovely house and I wish we
had one just like it," cried Helen in a burst.
"We have a good house."
"But it doesn't belong to us."
"We Army and Navy people can't expect to own houses, my child. You don't
need to have that told you at this late day."
"I know that. If Father weren't so keen on having us all together while
we're being educated we wouldn't have been in Rosemont as long as we
have; but I sometimes envy the people who have a home of their own that
they are sure to stay in for ever so many years."
"When you feel that way you must think of the many advantages of the Army
and Navy children. If your father had not been on the Pacific station
when you were the Ethels' age you wouldn't have had a chance to see
California when you were old enough to enjoy it and remember it."
"I know, Mother. I didn't mean to growl. I just thought that Father had
as much money as Aunt Louise from his father, and he had his salary
besides, and yet we haven't a house of our own."
"We've had a good many of Uncle Sam's houses, which is more than your
Aunt Louise has had. But you must remember that her inheritance from your
Grandfather Morton was accumulating for many years while her family
didn't know where she was, while your father and Ethel Blue's father have
been spending the income of theirs all along."
"Uncle Roger has had a lot of children to spend his on, but Father hasn't
had any one but me," said Ethel Blue, whose life had been entirely spent
with her cousins because her mother had died when she was a tiny baby.
Never before had she thought whether her father, who was a captain in the
Army, had any money or not. Now she saw that he must be better provided
with it than his brother, her Uncle Roger, the father of Ethel Brown and
Helen and Roger and Dicky, who was a Lieutenant in the Navy.
"Your father is always generous with his money, but I dare say he is
saving it for some time when he will want it," suggested Mrs. Morton.
"I don't know when he'll want it any more than he does now," said Ethel
Blue.
"Perhaps he'll want to have a house of his own at whatever post he is
when he has a grown-up daughter," smiled Helen. "You'd better learn to
keep house right off."
The idea thrilled Ethel. Never before had she happened to think of the
possibility of joining her father after her school days were over. Never
having known any home except with Ethel Brown and her other cousins she
had always seen the future as shared with them. The notion of leaving
them was painful, but the chance of being always with her father, of
being his housekeeper, of seeing him every day, of making him
comfortable, was one that filled her with delight. Her blue eyes filled
with tenderness as she dreamed over the possibility.
"I have lots to learn yet before I should know enough," she murmured,
staring almost unseeingly at her cousin, "but it's wonderful to think I
could do it."
The new idea would not leave her mind, though, indeed, she made no effort
to drive it out. That the future might hold for her a change so complete
was something she wanted to let her thoughts linger on. She hardly
noticed that Roger was gathering Dicky up into his arms to carry him
upstairs to bed, or that there was a general stir on the veranda,
betokening a move indoors.
"Miss Graham was at Dorothy's this afternoon," Ethel Brown said as she
rose and picked up the straw cushion on which she had been sitting.
"Was she?" inquired Helen interestedly. "I wish I had seen her. I never
have yet, you know."
"Neither has Ethel Blue. She and Aunt Louise and Dorothy and I went over
to the new house and looked at the attic. She says she'll come over next
week and help us about the bedroom floor. That will be ready then for us
to talk about the decorating."
"Be sure and let me know when she is coming. What did she say about the
attic?"
"She liked it especially because it had been sheathed, following all the
ins and outs. She thought the irregularity was pretty. She suggested a
closet for furs over the kitchen. It won't cost much to bring the
refrigerating pipes up there, she says."
"That's bully. Aunt Louise may take care of my fur gloves for me next
summer if the moths don't eat them up this year," promised Roger who had
stopped in the doorway to hear Ethel Brown's report, and stood with the
still sleeping Dicky over his shoulder.
"She suggested a raised ledge about fourteen inches high to stand trunks
on."
"Then you don't break your back bending over them when you're hunting for
something," exclaimed Helen. "That's splendid. She seems to have
practical ideas as well as ornamental ones."
"She thought there ought to be a fire bucket closet up there, too. You
know Aunt Louise has had them put in on all the other floors, but she
didn't think of it there."
"What is it?" asked Mrs. Morton.
"Just a narrow closet with four shelves. On each of the lower three are
fire buckets to be kept full of water all the time and on the top shelf
are some of those hand grenade things and chemical squirt guns. They
don't look very well when they're right out in sight. This way covers
them up but makes them just as convenient. There is to be no lock on the
door of the closet and FIRE is to be painted outside so every one will
know where it is even if he gets rattled when the fire really happens."
"Are the maids' rooms to be on the attic floor?" asked Mrs. Morton.
"Two little beauties, and a bath-room between them. One room is to be
pink and the other blue and they're going to have ivory paint and fluffy
curtains just like Dorothy's."
"Did you think to say anything to Miss Graham about the Club's using the
attic in winter for weekly meetings?"
"Dorothy did. She thought a movable platform would be a great scheme; one
wide enough for us to use for a little stage when we wanted to have
singing or recitations up there. She picked out a good place for the
phonograph, where the shape of the ceiling wouldn't make the sound queer,
and she thought rattan furniture stained brown would be pretty, and scrim
curtains--not dead white ones, but a sort of goldeny cream that would
harmonize with the wood. There are lovely big cotton rugs in dull blues,
that aren't expensive, she says; and if we don't want to see the row of
trunks and chests against the wall we can arrange screens that will shut
them out of sight and will also take the place of the pictures that you
can't hang on a wall that slopes the wrong way."
"I don't see, then, but Aunt Louise will have an attic and we'll have a
club room and both parties to the transaction will be pleased," beamed
Helen, who, as president of the Club was always careful that the members
should be comfortable when they gathered for their weekly talking and
planning and working.
"Doesn't Miss Graham come from Washington?" asked Ethel Blue dreamily,
half awakening to the conversation.
"Yes, you know she does."
"Fort Myer is just across the river; I wonder if she knows Father."
"Ask her when you see her," recommended Ethel Brown, and they all went in
to bed as a clap of thunder gave promise of a cooling shower.