Dedicated to
BESSIE.
"Just By Laughing" (1902)
Words
ANONYMOUS
[by HArriet Axtell Johnstone?]
Music by
Carrie Jacobs-Bond, 1861-1946

Chicago: The Bond Shop, Fine Arts Building
[Source: LL-SDV-040023@UoInd]

[NOTE: last page of source includes
first page reductions for
"After Vacation"
"The Lure"
"Morning and Evening"
"The Free Concert"
from a new booklet entitled
"Nine Songs"
by Carrie Jacobs-Bond]

1. Now it’s curious what a sight o’ good a little thing ’ll do,
An’ how you kin stop the fiercest storm when it begins to brew,
An’ take the sting from what commenced to rankle when ’twas spoke
By just keepin’ still an’ treatin’ it as if it was a joke.
You’ll find that you kin fill a place with smiles instead o’ tears,
An’ keep the sunshine gleamin’ thro’ the shadows of the years
Just by laughing, just by laughing.

2. An’ folks sometimes fail to see the possibilities that lie
In the way your mouth is curvin’ an’ the twinkle in you eye.
It ain’t so much what’s said that hurts as what you think lies hid,
An’ it ain’t so much the doin’ as the way the think is did.
An’ many a home’s kept happy an’ contented day by day,
An’ like as not a kingdom has been rescued from decay
Just by laughing, just by laughing.