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LAUGH AND LIVE
CHAPTER I
"WHISTLE AND HOE—SING AS WE GO"
There is one thing in this good old world that
is positively sure—happiness is for all who strive
to be happy—and those who laugh are happy.
Everybody is eligible—you—me—the other
fellow.
Happiness is fundamentally a state of mind—
not a state of body.
And mind controls.
Indeed it is possible to stand with one foot on
the inevitable "banana peel" of life with both eyes
peering into the Great Beyond, and still be
happy, comfortable, and serene—if we will even
so much as smile.
It's all a state of mind, I tell you—and I'm
sure of what I say. That's why I have taken
up my fountain pen. I want to talk to my friends [10]
—you hosts of people who have written to me
for my recipe. In moving pictures all I can do
is act my part and grin for you. What I say is
a matter of your own inference, but with my pen
I have a means of getting around the "silent
drama" which prevents us from organizing a
"close-up" with one another.
In starting I'm going to ask you "foolish
question number 1."—
Do you ever laugh?
I mean do you ever laugh right out—spontan-
eously—just as if the police weren't listening
with drawn clubs and a finger on the button
connecting with the "hurry-up" wagon? Well,
if you don't, you should. Start off the morning
with a laugh and you needn't worry about the rest
of the day.
I like to laugh. It is a tonic. It braces me
up—makes me feel fine!—and keeps me in prime
mental condition. Laughter is a physiological
necessity. The nerve system requires it. The
deep, forceful chest movement in itself sets the
blood to racing thereby livening up the circu- [11]
lation—which is good for us. Perhaps you hadn't
thought of that? Perhaps you didn't realize that
laughing automatically re-oxygenates the blood
—your blood—and keeps it red? It does all of
that, and besides, it relieves the tension from your
brain.
Laughter is more or less a habit. To some
it comes only with practice. But what's to hin-
der practising? Laugh and live long—if you
had a thought of dying—laugh and grow well—
if you're sick and despondent—laugh and grow
fat—if your tendency is towards the lean and
cadaverous—laugh and succeed—if you're glum
and "unlucky"—laugh and nothing can faze you
—not even the Grim Reaper—for the man who
has laughed his way through life has nothing to
fear of the future. His conscience is clear.
Wherein lies this magic of laughter? For magic
it is—a something that manufactures a state of
felicity out of any condition. We've got to admit
its charm; automatically and inevitably a laugh
cheers us up. If we are bored—nothing to do—
just laugh—that's something to do, for laughter [12]
is synonymous with action, and action dispels
gloom, care, trouble, worry and all else of the
same ilk.
Real laughter is spontaneous. Like water
from the spring it bubbles forth a creation of
mingled action and spontaneity—two magic po-
tions in themselves—the very essence of laughter
—the unrestrained emotion within us!
So, for me, it is to laugh! Why not stick
along? The experiment won't hurt you. All
we need is will power, and that is a personal mat-
ter for each individual to seek and acquire for
himself. Many of us already possess it, but many
of us do not.
Take the average man on the street for exam-
ple. Watch him go plodding along—no spring,
no elasticity, no vim. He is in check-rein—how
can he laugh when his pep is all gone and the
sand in his craw isn't there any more? What
he needs is spirit! Energy—the power to force
himself into action! For him there is no hope
unless he will take up physical training in some
form that will put him in normal physical condi- [13]
tion—after that everything simplifies itself. The
brain responds to the new blood in circulation and
thus the mental processes are ready to make a
fight against the inertia of stagnation which has
held them in bondage.
And, mind you, physical training doesn't neces-
sarily mean going to an expert for advice. One
doesn't have to make a mountain out of a mole-
hill. Get out in the fresh air and walk briskly—
and don't forget to wear a smile while you're at
it. Don't over-do. Take it easy at first and build
on your effort day by day. A little this morning
—a little more tonight. The first chance you have,
when you're sure of your wind and heart, get out
upon the country road, or cross-country hill and
dale. Then run, run, run, until you drop ex-
hausted upon some grassy bank. Then laugh,
loud and long, for you're on the road to happi-
ness.
Try it now—don't wait. Today is the day to
begin. Or, if it is night when you run across
these lines, drop this book and trot yourself
around the block a few times. Then come back [14]
and you'll enjoy it more than you would other-
wise. Activity makes for happiness as nothing
else will and once you stir your blood into little
bubbles of energy you will begin to think of
other means of keeping your bodily house in or-
der. Unless you make a first effort the chances
are you will do very little real thinking of any
kind—we need pep to think.
Think what an opportunity we miss when
stripped at night if we fail to give our bodies a
round of exercise. It is so simple, so easy, and
has so much to do with our sleep each night and
our work next day that to neglect to do so is
a crime against nature. And laugh! Man alive,
if you are not in the habit of laughing, get the
habit. Never miss a chance to laugh aloud. Smil-
ing is better than nothing, and a chuckle is better
still—but out and out laughter is the real thing.
Try it now if you dare! And when you've done
it, analyze your feelings.
I make this prediction—if you once start the
habit of exercise, and couple with it the habit
of laughter, even if only for one short week— [15]
you'll keep it up ever afterwards.
And, by the way, Friend Reader,—don't be
alarmed. The personal pronouns "I" and "you"
give place in succeeding chapters to the more con-
genial editorial "we." I couldn't resist the temp-
tation to enjoy one brief spell of intimacy just
for the sake of good acquaintance, Have a laugh
on me.
CHAPTER II
TAKING STOCK OF OURSELVES
Experience is the real teacher, but the matter
of how we are going to succeed in life should not
be left to ordinary chance while we are waiting
for things to happen. Our first duty is to pre-
pare ourselves against untoward experiences, and
that is best done by taking stock of our mental
and physical assets at the very outset of our jour-
ney. What weaknesses we possess are excess
baggage to be thrown away and that is our reason
for taking stock so early. It is likely to save us
from riding to a fall.
There is one thing we don't want along—fear.
We will never get anywhere with that, nor with
any of its uncles, aunts or cousins—Envy, Malice
and Greed. In justice to our own best interests
we should search every crook and cranny of our
hearts and minds lest we venture forth with any
such impedimenta. There is no excuse, and we [17]
have no one to blame if we allow any of them to
journey along with us. We know whether they
are there or not just as we would know Courage,
Trust and Honor were they perched behind us
on the saddle.
It is idle to squeal if through association with
the former we find ourselves ditched before we
are well under way—for it is coming to us, sooner
or later. We might go far, as some have done,
through the lanes and alleys of ill-gotten gains
and luxurious self-indulgence, but we would pay
in the end. So, why not charge them up to
"profit and loss" at the start and kick them off
into the gutter where they belong? They are not
for us on our eventful journey through life, and
the time to get rid of them once and for all is
when we are young, and mentally and physically
vigorous. Later on when the fires burn low and
we still have them with us they will be hard to
push aside.
"To thine own self be true," says the great
Shakespeare and how can we be true to our own
selves if we train with inferiors? We are known [18]
by our companionships. We will be rated ac-
cording to association—good or bad. The two
will not mix for long and we will be one sort of
a fellow or the other. We can't be both.
There was a time, long years ago, in the days
of our grandfathers, when men went to the "bow-
wows" and, later on, "came back" as it were, by
making a partial success in life—measured
largely by the money they succeeded in accumu-
lating. That was before the "check-up" system
was invented. Today things are different.
Questions are asked—"Where were you last?"—
"Why did you leave there ?"—"Have you creden-
tials?"—and when we shake our weary head and
walk away, we fondly wish we had "taken stock"
back there when the "taking" was good.
"To thine own self be true; and it must follow
as the night the day, thou canst not then be
false to any man."
When we can analyze ourselves and find that
we are living up to the quoted lines above we may
safely lift the limit from our aspirations. Right [19]
here it is well to say that success is not to be com-
puted in dollars and cents, nor that the will to
achieve a successful life is to be predicated upon
the mere accumulation of wealth. First of all,
good health and good minds—then we may laugh
loud and long—we're safe on "first."
So, with these two weapons we may dig down
into our aspirations, and, keeping in view that our
policy is that of honesty to ourselves and toward
our fellow man, all we need to do is to go about
the program of life cheerfully and stout of heart
—for now we are in a state of preparedness.
We are at the point where vision starts. Along
with this vision must come the courage of convic-
tions in order that we may feel that our ideas
are important, and because we have such
thoughts, we shall surely succeed. It has often
been noticed that when we have had a large con-
ception and have with force, character, and
strength of will carried it into effect, immediately
thereafter a host of people have been able to say:
"I thought of that myself!" Most of us have
had the same experience after reading of a great [20]
discovery that we had thrown overboard because
it must not have been "worth while" or someone
else would already have thought of it.
The man who puts life into an idea is acclaimed
a genius, because he does the right thing at the
right time. Therein lies the difference between
the genius and a commonplace man.
We all have ambitions, but only the few
achieve. A man thinks of a good thing and says:
"Now if I only had the money I'd put that
through." The word "if" was a dent in his cour-
age. With character fully established, his plan
well thought out, he had only to go to those in
command of capital and it would have been forth-
coming. He had something that capital would
cheerfully get behind if he had the courage to
back up his claims. To fail was nothing less than
moral cowardice. The will to do had not been
efficient. There was a flaw in the character, after
all.
Going back, therefore, to the prescription, we
find that a sound body, a good mind, an honest [21]
purpose, and a lack of fear are the essential ele-
ments of success. So, when we have conceived
something for the good of the world and have
allowed it to go by default we have dropped the
monkey-wrench into the machinery of our pre-
paredness. We must look about us for a reason.
Have we fallen by the wayside of carelessness?
Have we allowed ourselves to be discouraged by
cowardly "ifs"? Did we lack the sand? Exactly
so; we didn't have the courage of our convic-
tions.
Life is the one great experience, and those who
fail to win, if sound of body, can safely lay the
blame to their lack of mental equipment. What
does it matter if disappointments follow one after
the other if we can laugh and try again? Fail-
ures must come to all of us in some degree, but
we may rise from our failures and win back our
losses if we are only shrewd enough to realize that
good health, sound mind, and a cheerful spirit
are necessary adjuncts. As Tennyson says:
"I held it truth, with him who sings [22]
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things."
All truly great men have been healthy—other-
wise they would have fallen short of the mark.
Prisons are filled with nervous, diseased crea-
tures. There is no doubt but that most of these
who, through ignorance, sifted through to the bot-
tomless pits could have saved themselves had they
realized the truth and "taken stock" of them-
selves, in time—of course, allowing for those, who
are victims of circumstantial evidence.
The prime necessity of life is health. With
this, for mankind, nothing is impossible. But if
we do not make use of this good health it will
waste itself away and never come back. It often
disappears entirely for lack of interest on the part
of its thoughtless owner. A little energy would
have saved the day. A little "pep"—and we
laugh and live. Laughter clings to good health
as naturally as the needle clings to the magnet.
It is the outward expression of an unburdened [23]
soul. It bubbles forth as a fountain, always re-
freshing, always wholesome and sweet.
In taking stock of ourselves we should not for-
get that fear plays a large part in the drama of
failure. That is the first thing to be dropped.
Fear is a mental deficiency susceptible of cor-
rection, if taken in hand before it gains an ascen-
dency over us. Fear comes with the thought of
failure. Everything we think about should have
the possibility of success in it if we are going
to build up courage. We should get into the
habit of reading inspirational books, looking at
inspirational pictures, hearing inspirational
music, associating with inspirational friends and
above all, we should cultivate the habit of mind
of thinking clean, and of doing, wholesome things.
"Guard thyself!" That is the slogan. Let us
"take stock" often and see where we stand. We
will not be afraid of the weak points. We will
get after them and get hold of ourselves at the
same time. Some book might give us help—a fine
play, or some form of athletics will start us to
thinking. Self-analysis teaches us to see our- [24]
selves in a true light without embellishments or
undue optimism. We can gauge our chances in
no better way. If we grope in the darkness we
haven't much of a chance. "Taking stock"
throws a searchlight on the dark spots and points
the way out of the danger zone.
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