{"id":"01KG8AK8N60KZBH9FMAFF3JMQJ","cid":"bafkreie4amuhacxojwvhzqfqe5x5qwdubtthqjjc53zveq4tx76j427qgy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7319,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.725Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":7251,"text":"security, he answers, 'And do you think I don't know that? But security\r\nwithout society I hold a bore; and society, even of the spurious sort,\r\nhas its price, which I am willing to pay.'\"\r\n\r\n\"A most singular theory,\" said the stranger with a slight fidget, eying\r\nhis companion with some inquisitiveness, \"indeed, Frank, a most\r\nslanderous thought,\" he exclaimed in sudden heat and with an involuntary\r\nlook almost of being personally aggrieved.\r\n\r\n\"In one sense it merits all you say, and more,\" rejoined the other with\r\nwonted mildness, \"but, for a kind of drollery in it, charity might,\r\nperhaps, overlook something of the wickedness. Humor is, in fact, so\r\nblessed a thing, that even in the least virtuous product of the human\r\nmind, if there can be found but nine good jokes, some philosophers are\r\nclement enough to affirm that those nine good jokes should redeem all\r\nthe wicked thoughts, though plenty as the populace of Sodom. At any\r\nrate, this same humor has something, there is no telling what, of\r\nbeneficence in it, it is such a catholicon and charm--nearly all men\r\nagreeing in relishing it, though they may agree in little else--and in\r\nits way it undeniably does such a deal of familiar good in the world,\r\nthat no wonder it is almost a proverb, that a man of humor, a man\r\ncapable of a good loud laugh--seem how he may in other things--can\r\nhardly be a heartless scamp.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ha, ha, ha!\" laughed the other, pointing to the figure of a pale\r\npauper-boy on the deck below, whose pitiableness was touched, as it\r\nwere, with ludicrousness by a pair of monstrous boots, apparently some\r\nmason's discarded ones, cracked with drouth, half eaten by lime, and\r\ncurled up about the toe like a bassoon. \"Look--ha, ha, ha!\"\r\n\r\n\"I see,\" said the other, with what seemed quiet appreciation, but of a\r\nkind expressing an eye to the grotesque, without blindness to what in\r\nthis case accompanied it, \"I see; and the way in which it moves you,\r\nCharlie, comes in very apropos to point the proverb I was speaking of.\r\nIndeed, had you intended this effect, it could not have been more so.\r\nFor who that heard that laugh, but would as naturally argue from it a\r\nsound heart as sound lungs? True, it is said that a man may smile, and\r\nsmile, and smile, and be a villain; but it is not said that a man may\r\nlaugh, and laugh, and laugh, and be one, is it, Charlie?\"\r\n\r\n\"Ha, ha, ha!--no no, no no.\"\r\n\r\n\"Why Charlie, your explosions illustrate my remarks almost as aptly as\r\nthe chemist's imitation volcano did his lectures. But even if experience\r\ndid not sanction the proverb, that a good laugher cannot be a bad man, I\r\nshould yet feel bound in confidence to believe it, since it is a saying\r\ncurrent among the people, and I doubt not originated among them, and\r\nhence _must_ be true; for the voice of the people is the voice of truth.\r\nDon't you think so?\"\r\n\r\n\"Of course I do. If Truth don't speak through the people, it never\r\nspeaks at all; so I heard one say.\"\r\n\r\n\"A true saying. But we stray. The popular notion of humor, considered as\r\nindex to the heart, would seem curiously confirmed by Aristotle--I\r\nthink, in his 'Politics,' (a work, by-the-by, which, however it may be\r\nviewed upon the whole, yet, from the tenor of certain sections, should\r\nnot, without precaution, be placed in the hands of youth)--who remarks\r\nthat the least lovable men in history seem to have had for humor not\r\nonly a disrelish, but a hatred; and this, in some cases, along with an\r\nextraordinary dry taste for practical punning. I remember it is related\r\nof Phalaris, the capricious tyrant of Sicily, that he once caused a poor\r\nfellow to be beheaded on a horse-block, for no other cause than having a\r\nhorse-laugh.\"\r\n\r\n\"Funny Phalaris!\"\r\n\r\n\"Cruel Phalaris!\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMVDVBGMNVX6KTEX6BBC","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK8NCJMMS14ZG882HTQP4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK8NCQBTGWQ4TAC9H9GEQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:58.630Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.293Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}