In the line, "Such laughter is worse than the crackling of thorns under a pot, for it denotes not merely the vacant mind, but th
e heart in which high emotions have been choked before they could grow to fruition," the word "but" shows an opposite relationshlp between a vacant mind and high emotions, so we can conclude that high emotions are
In this excerpt, we can see that the author builds an opposite relationship between a vacant mind and high emotions. In other words, people who have a vacant mind cannot have high emotions. A vacant mind is an undesirable trait, as it means that the person does not have very complex and worthy thoughts. Therefore, the opposite of this, which are high emotions, is a desirable trait. So we can conclude that high emotions are admirable.