My Laughing Philosopher Author:Eden Phillpotts Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. The clown of the solar circus—Nature no humorist— —A grand joke forgotten—The riddle—A confession —Wonders in heaven—Inquiry touching the foul fi... more »end. The next night I moved my Laugher, and placed his bracket on the right-hand side of my armchair. Then, on the stroke of midnight, I lighted my pipe, and proceeded with our conversation as though no interval had broken it. " What has God got to laugh at ? " I said. And the bronze answered immediately— " At the gloriously comic spectacle of this particular atom of His universe. There may be funnier worlds than this—viewed from the outside—but I should say not many. Earth is the clown of the solar circus. God laughs at mankind, like the genial parent of all that He is, just as you laugh at your frolicking children, or as they laugh at the kitten playing. Believe me, nobody sees a jest quicker than the Everlasting; and it has pleased Him toAbout Laughter. 17 let this little earth-brood share the sense of humour." " Nature is no humorist," said I. " True. She is a methodical, law-abiding lady, with serious and purely practical ambitions. She is therefore herself an extremely comical spectacle at times. You men, alone of beasts, possess the power of intelligent laughter. It makes you all equal; it puts king and peasant on the same level; it takes you out of yourselves into a new sphere, into a new atmosphere. Honest laughter keeps the wide world sweet. God sends it to dry the baby's tears, to burst like sunshine over the little griefs of the child, to brighten man's few and evil days. The crow of the infant, the hearty laugh of the adult, the cracked chuckle of the aged—all are good and beautiful. As for you, if you would deserve well of your kind, preach a Gospel of Fun; show those who may read you that t...« less