Page:Life of Isaiah V Williamson.djvu/173

Rh near to him are emphatic on this point. It is true that in later years Williamson, finding that two meals a day agreed better with his health, ate usually two or three graham wafers or a sandwich at noon. Thousands of middle-aged and elderly men today do the same thing regularly, not primarily for economy but for physical and mental vigor. That is what Williamson thought He had studied the laws of health in general and of his own health in particular; and he used to say what is now being so much emphasized by scientists, physicians and the people's newspapers: "People eat too much!"

As to the reply to the barber about having his hair cut, even if he ever said it, it is quite conceivable that he was having his little joke. All through life ran that vein of gentle, quiet humor, one of the sure signs of a nature full of feeling, and without which it is very doubtful if any man can be truly great, least of all a philanthropist. Humor lies next to pathos, and the one who can appreciate the humorous element in life is the one that most quickly responds to its pathetic side.

It was this sense of humor that made him