ery
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 EBook of Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of
the Comic, by Henri Bergson

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LAUGHTER: AN ESSAY ***

***** This file should be named 4352.txt or 4352.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/4/3/5/4352/

Produced by Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team. HTML version by Al Haines.

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTR