169
Why Moles Have Hands Anne Virginia Culbertson 202
Wouter Van Twiller Washington Irving 109
Yankee Dude'll Do, The S.E. Kiser 136

COMPLETE INDEX AT END OF VOLUME X.

FOREWORD

EMBODYING A FEW REMARKS ON THE GENTLE ART OF LAUGH-MAKING.

BY MARSHALL P. WILDER.

Happiness and laughter are two of the most beautiful things in the
world, for they are of the few that are purely unselfish. Laughter is
not for yourself, but for others. When people are happy they present a
cheerful spirit, which finds its reflection in every one they meet, for
happiness is as contagious as a yawn. Of all the emotions, laughter is
the most versatile, for it plays equally well the role of either parent
or child to happiness.

Then can we say too much in praise of the men who make us laugh? God
never gave a man a greater gift than the power to make others laugh,
unless it is the privilege of laughing himself. We honor, revere, admire
our great soldiers, statesmen, and men of letters, but we love the man
who makes us laugh.

No other man to-day enjoys to such an extent the close personal
affection, individual yet national, that is given to Mr. Samuel L.
Clemens. He is ours, he is one of us, we have a personal pride in
him--dear "Mark Twain," the beloved child of the American nation. And
it was through our laughter that he won our love.

He is the exponent of the typically American style of fun-making, the
humorous story. I asked Mr. Clemens one day if he could remember the
first money he ever earned. With his inimitable drawl he said:

"Yes, Marsh, it was at school. All boys had the habit of going to school
in those days, and they hadn't any more respect for the desks than they
had for the teachers. There was a rule in our school that any boy
marring his desk, either with pencil or knife, would be chastised
publicly before the whole school, or pay a fine of five dollars. Besides
the rule, there was a ruler; I knew it because I had felt it; it was a
darned hard one, too. One day I had to tell my father that I had broken
the rule, and had to pay a fine or take a public whipping; and he said:

"'Sam, it would be too bad to have the name of Clemens disgraced before
the whole school, so I'll pay the fine. But I don't want you to lose
anything, so come upstairs.'

"I went upstairs with father, and he was for-_giving_ me. I came
downstai