Oct, 19.
"One of the most serviceable of all the aids to good health is fa sense of humour," writes the medical correspondent of "The Times Trade & Engineering Supplement," and most people vill be ready to agree with his um, "Life is real, life is earnest" sang the poet, but if all our time were spent amidst realities, and all our days given over to unmitigated earnestness, we should indeed become poor specimens, There is a vision in a sense of humour, which leads us away from the morbid introspection that is the source of so many modern ailments. We are told on good authority that fat least half of all the cases of -uyspepsia which vex our age jate cases of nervous dyspepsia, and that the cause lies, not in the stomach, but in the nervous system. If we allow ourselves to become morbid, to feel selves isolated. despised property, which amount, to date, to Tls. 17,640. Much, it is only fair to recognize, has been done by Dr. L. N. Chang, Chinese Director of the District, in getting soldiers moved out of properties. they. were holding recently; and our Hankow correspondent has also paid "a tribute to the readiness of the Garrison Commander to pat down disorder and clear out communists. But there is evi-constant anticipation of Jess dangers, we are putting our brains to.a wrongful use thus laying up the seeds of ill-health.
The above-mentioned writer thinks that the day may come when it will be possible to deal with a dull sense -of humour Just as it is possible to-day to deal with a dull sense of hearing. Ian McLaren made one of his Scottish characters, a wise dently a point-beyond which the Jsoldiers: must be regarded as inviolable, British: residente in old lady, say that the theological colleges ought -to.introduce 'a course. in how to instill, a sense lof humour into those who were to become "meenisters." Why should not all schools do the like for their pupils? There are 20 many young folk who take things in general and themselves in particular far too seriously. The people who regard. themselves as above the..common herd miss the best things in life, and, best of the best, its Jaughter. To gain a real sense of humour, a person must learn to know that his personal importance is very small, that he is only important to the community in so far as he is useful. He must learn to mix with his fellow men, to feel himself one of them. In short, a sense.of humour is only to be found in [those whose hearts are humble.
If the foreigner living in China, especially in the more remote parts of the country, is preserve not only bodily health, but even sanity, he must possess this sense of humour. In the midst of the turmoil and strife and the petty annoyances 0 frequently inflicted on the foreigner nowadays there is much that can cause a smile and even a hearty Iaugh, Far be it from us to under-rate the sufferings, above all the mental strain inflicted on foreigners who live far from the comforts and the protection of a Treaty Port. Often, only heroes and heroines could carry such circumstances. But are there not some who would be all the better and, hold on to their posts all the longer, if they allowed their countenances to relax occasionally? As a writer remarks, "At the sound of Iaughter fears and phobies' flee away, Tragedy doubtless will come, But if we have humour, we shall not anticipate its coming. If we have humour, we shall live great ly, and work hard to enjoy all the health with which Nature has endowed us." Here we have the kernel of the matter. Tt is not the tragedy itself that impairs our health but the anticipation of its coming, Here is where the sense of humour comes so effectively to our aid, especially if we allow it to have full play and do not, as some are apt to do, endeavour to crush though it were something to be ashamed of, out of keeping with our position or profession.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.