the sea, whilst profound peace reigns in the depths below.  The
billows clash and collide with each other, as they strive to find
their level.  A fringe of snow-white foam, feathery and frolicsome,
follows their changing outlines.  From time to time, the receding
wave leaves behind a remnant of foam on the sandy beach.  The child,
who plays hard by, picks up a handful, and, the next moment, is
astonished to find that nothing remains in his grasp but a few drops
of water, water that is far more brackish, far more bitter than that
of the wave which brought it.  Laughter comes into being in the self-
same fashion.  It indicates a slight revolt on the surface of social
life.  It instantly adopts the changing forms of the disturbance.  It,
also, is afroth with a saline base.  Like froth, it sparkles.  It is
gaiety itself.  But the philosopher who gathers a handful to taste
may find that the substance is scanty, and the after-taste bitter. 

[THE END] 

End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic
by Henri Bergson