this
story in his inimitable style, a man came to the platform and explained
to him that he had a friend who seemed to lack a sense of humor and
wondered if he might not prevail upon Mr. Gough to tell him this
particular story in the hope that it would cause him to laugh. In a
spirit of adventure Mr. Gough consented, and at the time appointed told
the story to the old gentleman in his own best style. The old gentleman
seemed to be deeply interested, but at the conclusion of the story,
instead of laughing heartily as his friend had hoped, he solemnly asked,
"What did he tell him to holler fur?"

=The man who lacks a sense of humor.=--There was no answer to this
question, or, rather, he himself was the answer. Such a man is obviously
outside the pale, without hope of redemption. If such a story, told by
such a _raconteur_, could not touch him, he is hopeless. In his
spiritual landscape there are no undulations, but it reveals itself as a
monotonous dead-level without stream or verdure. He eats, and sleeps,
and walks about, but he walks in a spiritual daze. To him life must seem
a somber, drab affair. If he were a teacher in a traditional school, he
would chill and depress, but he might be tolerated because a sense of
humor is not one of the qualifications of the teacher. But, in the
vitalized school, he would be intolerable. If children should go to such
a teacher for spiritual refreshment, they would return thirsty. He has
nothing to give them, no bubbling water of life, no geniality, no such
graces of the spirit as appeal to buoyant childhood. He lacks a sense of
humor, and that lack makes arid the exuberant sources of life. He may
solve problems in arithmetic, but he cannot compass the solution of the
problem of life. The children pity him, and no greater calamity can
befall a teacher than to deserve and receive the pity of a child. He
might, in a way, teach anatomy, but not physiology. He might be able to
deal with the analytic. He might succeed as curator in a museum of
mummies, but he will fail as a teacher of children.

=Story of a boy.=--A seven-year-old boy who was lying on his back on the
floor asked his father the question, "How long since the world was
born?" The father replied, "Oh, about four thousand years." In a few
moments the child said in a tone of finality, "That isn't very long."
Then after another interval, he asked, "What was there before the world
was born?" To this the father replied, "Nothing."