Jokes For All Occasions: Selected and Edited by One of America's Foremost Public Speakers
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Jokes For All Occasions - Good Press
Anonymous
Jokes For All Occasions
Selected and Edited by One of America's Foremost Public Speakers
Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4057664121585
Table of Contents
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
STORIES.
JOKES
FOR ALL OCCASIONS
ABSENTMINDEDNESS
ACQUAINTANCE
ACTORS
ADVERTISING
AFFECTION
AGE
ALIBI
AMNESTY
ANATOMY
APPEARANCE
APPETITE
APPRECIATION
ARGUMENT
ART
ATHLETICS
AUTHORS
BABIES
BAIT
BALDNESS
BAPTISM
BAPTISTS
BASEBALL
BATTLE
BEARS
BEER
BEGGARS
BEGINNERS
BETROTHAL
BIGAMY
BIRTH
BLESSING
BLIND
BLINDNESS
BLOCKHEAD
BONE OF CONTENTION
BREAKFAST
BREVITY
BRIBERY
BRUTALITY
BURGLARY
CANDOR
CALMNESS
CARDS
CARELESSNESS
CATERPILLARS
CATS
CHARITY
CHICKEN-STEALING
CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTMAS
CHURCH
CLEANLINESS
COMMUNITY
COMPENSATION
COMPLIMENTS
CONCEALMENT
CONCEIT
CONSCIENCE
CONSTANCY
CONVERSION
COOKERY
COURTESY
COWARDICE
CURIOSITY
DAMAGES
DANGER
DEAD CERTAINTY
DEAD MEN'S SHOES
DEAFNESS
DEFINITION
DEGREES IN DEGRADATION
DELAY
DEVIL
DIET
DIGESTION
DIPLOMACY
DIRT
DISCIPLINE
DISCRETION
DIVORCE
DOCTORS
DOCTRINE
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
DOGS
DOMESTIC QUARRELS
DOUBT
DRAMA
DREAMS
DRESS
DRINK
DRUGGED
DUTY
EASY LIVING
ECONOMY
EFFICIENCY
EGGS
EGOTISM
ELEPHANT
ELOPEMENT
ENOUGH
EPITAPH
EVIDENCE
EXCLUSIVENESS
EXPECTANCY
EXPENSE ACCOUNT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERTS
EXPLICITNESS
EXTRAVAGANCE
FACTS
FASHION
FAVORS
FIGHTING
FINANCE
FINANCIERS
FISHING
FLATTERY
FLEAS
FLIRTATION
FLOOD
FLOWERS
FOG
FOLLIES
FOOD
FOREHANDEDNESS
FORESIGHT
FORGETFULNESS
FORM
FRAUD
FRIENDSHIP
FRENCH
FUSSINESS
GENDER
GENTLEMAN
GEOGRAPHY
GHOSTS
GOD
GOD'S WILL
GOLF
GRACE
GRAMMAR
GRASS
GREED
GRIEF
HABIT
HAIR
HARD TO PLEASE
HASTE
HEARSAY
HEAVEN
HELP
HELPFULNESS
HEN
HEREAFTER
HEREDITY
HIGH PRICES
HINDSIGHT
HINTING
HISTORY
HOGS
HOLDING HIS OWN
HOME BREW
HOMESICKNESS
HONEYMOON
HONORABLE INTENTIONS
HOSPITAL
HOSPITALITY
HUMBUG
HUMIDITY
HUMILITY
HUNGER
HUNTING
IDENTITY
IDIOMS
ILLUSTRATION
IMPATIENCE
IMPUDENCE
INDIRECTION
INHERITANCE
INITIATIVE
INJUSTICE
INNOCENCE
INQUISITIVENESS
INSOMNIA
INSULT
INSURANCE
INTERMISSION
INVENTORS
ITEMS
JOKES
KINSHIP
KISSES
KISSING
LAUGHTER
LAW
LAWYERS
LEGERDEMAIN
LIARS
LIES
LIGHTNING
LISP
LITERAL
LITERALNESS
LOGIC
LOQUACITY
LOVE
LOVE ME, LOVE ME NOT
LUCK
LUNACY
LUXURY
LYING
MAIDENS
MAIDEN SPEECH
MANNERS
MARKSMANSHIP
MARRIAGE
MERIT
MILITARY DISCIPLINE
MISCELLANY
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
MISMATED
MIXED METAPHORS
MODESTY
MONEY TALKS
MONEY VALUE
MONOGAMY
MONOTONY
MORALITY
MOSQUITOES
MOTTO
MUSIC
NEATNESS
NEIGHBORS
NERVES
NIGHTMARE
NOMENCLATURE
OBSTINACY
OMEN
OPTICAL ILLUSION
OPTIMISM
ORIENTATION
OUTWORN
PARADOX
PASTORAL
PATRIOTISM
PEACE
PENSION
PESSIMISM
PHILANTHROPY
PHONETICS
PHYSIOLOGY
PLAIN SPEAKING
PLAYING POSSUM
PLUMBER
POETRY
POINT OF VIEW
POKER
POLITENESS
POLITICS
POPULATION
POSTAL
PRAISE
PRAYER
PREACHER
PRECAUTION
PRECOCITY
PREMATURENESS
PREPAREDNESS
PRIDE
PRECOCIOUSNESS
PRISON REFORM
PRIVILEGE
PROCRASTINATION
PROFANITY
PROFITEERS
PROGRESS
PROHIBITION
PROLIFIC
PRONUNCIATION
PROOF
PROPERTY
PROVIDENCE
PRUDENCE
PUNISHMENT
PUNS
PUZZLE
QUARRELSOME
QUESTIONS
RAILROAD
RECOGNITION
REFORM
RELIABILITY
REPENTANCE
REPETITION
RESIGNATION
REVOLUTION
REWARD OF MERIT
REWARD OF VIRTUE
RULING PASSION
SAFETY FIRST
SANITY
SARCASM
SAVING
SCHEDULE
SEASICKNESS
SECTARIAN
SELF-BETRAYAL
SERMON
SCAPEGOAT
SHEEP AND GOATS
SHIFTLESSNESS
SHIPWRECK
SLANDER
SLAVERY
SMELLS
SOCIAL UPLIFT
SPANKING
SPEED
SPELLING
SPINSTERHOOD
SPITE
SPORTSMANSHIP
SPRING
STAMMERING
STYLE
SUNDAY SCHOOL
SUPERMAN
SUPERSTITION
SUSPENSE
SUSPICION
SYMPATHY
TACT
TALKING MACHINE
TAR AND FEATHERS
TASTE
TEARS
TENDER MEMORIES
TERMINOLOGY
TESTIMONY
THREAT
THRIFT
TIME FLIES
TIT FOR TAT
TOBACCO
TOILETTE DETAILS
TONGUE
TREACHERY
TREASURE TROVE
TRIAL
TRIPLETS
TRUTH-TELLERS
TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR
VALUES
VANITY
VICTORY
WAR
WEATHER
WHALES
WHISKERS
WIDOW
WIDOWHOOD
WIFE
WILD WOMEN
WISDOM
WOMAN
WOMAN SUFFRAGE
The following pages have been selected and edited by Life's
famous contributor
+ A. C.
HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL
A CONSOLING THOUGHT
LIFE'S DIFFICULTIES
THE SERVANT PROBLEM
TROUBLES OF THE NEW-POOR
THE NEW APPRECIATION
OUR MODERN INFANT
A SUBTLE DISTINCTION
BLUE BLOOD
THE OBSTACLE
CHANGING THE SUBJECT
A CHANCE LOST
DURING THE QUARREL
CONDITIONAL
JUST IGNORANCE
ALL IN ONE BREATH
A YOUNG PHILOSOPHER
FEMININITY
GETTING EVEN
A SOOTHING EFFECT
IN THAT CASE
A QUALIFIED STATEMENT
HIS SPHERE
A LOVERS' QUARREL
A DREADFUL POSSIBILITY
GETTING RECKLESS
RETROACTIVE
APOLOGIZING
DENIED THE PRIVILEGE
A GOOD PLAN
ENFRANCHISEMENT OF WOMAN
FAMILIARITY, ETC.
REASSURING
HOW IT HAPPENED
A LINGUIST
THE DIFFERENCE
THE ROAD TO——, ETC.
CLASSIFIED
A SOLUTION
ENCOURAGING
AN ALIAS
CHANGING PLACES
ECONOMY
QUALIFIED
CLAIMING ACQUAINTANCE
FROM THE HEART
AN ARGUMENT
THE SECRET
WANTS HER RIGHTS
GETTING BACK
DURING VACATION
NOT UNIQUE
A NOBLE AIM
ONCE TOO OFTEN
CAUSE AND EFFECT
SYMPATHY
SLIGHTED
GOING FURTHER
GETTING ON
LITERALLY
AN EXTENSIVE LOVE
CAUSE AND EFFECT
NO DISSENSION
IN KEEPING
HE KNEW
ARRANGED TO FIT
PROBABLY
SURE SIGNS
SUCH A WASTE
TOO ONE-SIDED
DISCRETION
BETTER UNSAID
LETTING HIM KNOW
WHY, INDEED
ONLY THEIR WAY
INADVERTENT
MAKING SURE
MORE DESPERATE STILL
SYMPATHY
POPULAR OPINION
MORE OPPORTUNITY
NOT WHAT SHE MEANT
JUSTIFICATION
HIS REPUTATION
NOT UP-TO-DATE
NOT RESTRICTED
A GREAT ATHLETE
NOTHING NEW TO HIM
KNOWLEDGE
A HUMBLING SIGHT
TROUBLESOME CUSTOMER
REMEMBERED
NATURAL DEDUCTION
TOO GOOD
AN ERROR IN JUDGMENT
TEACHING THE YOUNG IDEA
HE TAKES YOUR TIME
THE FLOOR HELD
HIS DIFFICULTY
THE REAL JOB
OFF LIKE A SHOT
ANSWERED
TO BE SURE
A CLOSE CALL
READY AND WILLING
SARCASM
NONE AT ALL
ART AND NATURE
MISUNDERSTOOD
ALL BRAINS
THIRTEEN TO ONE
A GOOD ACTOR
TOO SAD FOR THAT
REALISED
NEVER MISS ONE
A BAD NIGHT
TRIPPED
THE GLOOMY GUEST
NOT IN THE BUSINESS
HER VIEWS
A GOOD MATCH
LIFE'S BIGGEST PROBLEM
FISHY RECORD
PERFECT AGREEMENT
BOTTLED COURAGE
IT WORKED
FILM FEVER
THE DRUGGIST'S TURN
WRONG BROTHER
GUILTY
TOO ENTHUSIASTIC
BAD BOTH WAYS
HIS LITTLE MISTAKE
TOUGH ON THE SENATOR
REDEEMING TRAIT
OFF
NOT A FATHER
WEDDING DECLARED OFF
PERHAPS!
NO DOUBT
THE ALLEGED HUMORISTS
NO KICK COMING
NO NONSENSE ABOUT IT
TOO TRUE
CONSERVATIVE
HE HAD HEARD OF THEM
WHAT DID HE MEAN?
TRUE TO LIFE
WHAT HE PREFERRED
BLOOD RELATIONS
SCOTCHED!
THE BRUTE!
THE WHOLE TRUTH
THE CONSUMER INFLAMED
HOW HE DID IT
REALITY
PURE CARELESSNESS
A LEVEL-HEADED CAR
SUSPICIOUS
A WONDER!
IN A FIX
SUCKED!
HALF AND HALF
REVENGE IS SWEET
NO EFFECT
A FUTURE FINANCIER
A BAD CASE
BLACK SUPERSTITION
HALF A DUCK DEEP
COULDN'T RESIST IT
A QUESTION OF LOCALITY
HER SOFT ANSWER
HE WAS WRONG
OPENING FATHER'S EYES
NICE
NOT NEEDED
SHE COULD USE HIM
DECLINED WITH THANKS
MANAGING THE MANAGERS
A GREAT LIGHT
SANDY SCORED
WITH A RESERVATION
TOO SMART
OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT
NATIVE BORN
THE JONAH
THE SUBSTITUTE
MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE
GOOD OR BAD TURN?
TALKING SENSE
A MAGIC HEALER
SHE TOOK THEM
BUT HE'S ON HIS WAY
HER MATCH
SCIENTIFIC PROOF
A NATURAL PICTURE
NOTHING TO SMILE AT
DREW BLANK
A FRIEND IN NEED
WHAT HE PREFERRED
READY TO JOIN
HELPFUL PA!
HE KNEW
THEY WILT
NOT STRONG ENOUGH
WHY HE PICKED PICTISH
PLAYED THEM BOTH UP
JUSTICE AT LAST
IN ORDER TO BE FILLED
CAUSTIC
NOT WORTH MUCH
NOTHING TO FEAR
MISLED
PREFACE
Table of Contents
The ways of telling a story are as many as the tellers themselves. It is impossible to lay down precise rules by which any one may perfect himself in the art, but it is possible to offer suggestions by which to guide practise in narration toward a gratifying success.
Broadly distinguished, there are two methods of telling a story. One uses the extreme of brevity, and makes its chief reliance on the point. The other devotes itself in great part to preliminary elaboration in the narrative, making this as amusing as possible, so that the point itself serves to cap a climax. In the public telling of an anecdote the tyro would be well advised to follow the first method. That is, he should put his reliance on the point of the story, and on this alone. He should scrupulously limit himself to such statements as are absolutely essential to clear understanding of the point. He should make a careful examination of the story with two objects in mind: the first, to determine just what is required in the way of explanation; the second, an exact understanding of the point itself. Then, when it comes to the relating of the story, he must simply give the information required by the hearers in order to appreciate the point. As to the point itself, he must guard against any carelessness. Omission of an essential detail is fatal. It may be well for him, at the outset, to memorize the conclusion of the story. No matter how falteringly the story is told, it will succeed if the point itself be made clear, and this is insured for even the most embarrassed speaker by memorizing it.
The art of making the whole narration entertaining and amusing is to be attained only by intelligent practise. It is commonly believed that story-sellers are born, not made. As a matter of fact, however, the skilled raconteurs owe their skill in great measure to the fact that they are unwearying in practise. It is, therefore, recommended to any one having ambition in this direction that he cultivate his ability by exercising it. He should practise short and simple stories according to his opportunities, with the object of making the narration smooth and easy. An audience of one or two familiar friends is sufficient in the earlier efforts. Afterward, the practise may be extended before a larger number of listeners on social occasions. When facility has been attained in the simplest form, attempts to extend the preliminary narrative should be made. The preparation should include an effort to invest the characters of the story; or its setting, with qualities amusing in themselves, quite apart from any relation to the point. Precise instruction cannot be given, but concentration along this line will of itself develop the humorous perception of the story-teller, so that, though the task may appear too difficult in prospect, it will not prove so in actual experience. But, in every instance, care must be exercised to keep the point of the story clearly in view, and to omit nothing essential in the preparation for it.
In the selection of stories to be retailed, it is the part of wisdom to choose the old, rather than the new. This is because the new story, so called, travels with frightful velocity under modern social conditions, and, in any particular case, the latest story, when told by you to a friend, has just been heard by him from some other victim of it. But the memory of most persons for stories is very short. Practically never does it last for years. So, it is uniformly safe to present as novelties at the present day the humor of past decades. Moreover, the exercise of some slight degree of ingenuity will serve to give those touches in the way of change by which the story may be brought up to date. Indeed, by such adaptation, the story is made really one's own—as the professional humorists thankfully admit!
INTRODUCTION
Table of Contents
Wit and humor, and the distinction between them, defy precise definition. Luckily, they need none. To one asking what is beauty, a wit replied: That is the question of a blind man.
Similarly, none requires a definition of wit and humor unless he himself be lacking in all appreciation of them, and, if he be so lacking, no amount of explanation will avail to give him understanding. Borrow, in one of his sermons, declared concerning wit: It is, indeed, a thing so versatile, multiform, appearing in so many shapes and garbs, so variously apprehended of several eyes and judgments, that it seemeth no less hard to settle a clear and certain notion thereof than to make a portrait of Proteus, or to define the figure of the fleeting wind.
Nor is it fitting to attempt exact distinctions between wit and humor, which are essentially two aspects of one thing. It is enough to realize that humor is the product of nature rather than of art, while wit is the expression of an intellectual art. Humor exerts an emotional appeal, produces smiles or laughter; wit may be amusing, or it may not, according to the circumstances, but it always provokes an intellectual appreciation. Thus, Nero made a pun on the name of Seneca, when the philosopher was brought before him for sentence. In speaking the decree that the old man should kill himself, the emperor used merely the two Latin words: Se neca.
We admit the ghastly cleverness of the jest, but we do not chuckle over it.
The element of surprise is common to both wit and humor, and it is often a sufficient cause for laughter in itself, irrespective of any essentially amusing quality in the cause of the surprise. The unfamiliar, for this reason, often has a ludicrous appeal to primitive peoples. An African tribe, on being told by the missionary that the world is round, roared with laughter for hours; it is told of a Mikado that he burst a blood-vessel and died in a fit of merriment induced by hearing that the American people ruled themselves. In like fashion, the average person grins or guffaws at sight of a stranger in an outlandish costume, although, as a matter of fact, the dress may be in every respect superior to his own. Simply, its oddity somehow tickles the risibilities. Such surprise is occasioned by contrasting circumstances. When a pompous gentleman, marching magnificently, suddenly steps on a banana peel, pirouettes, somersaults, and sits with extreme violence, we laugh before asking if he broke a leg.
The fundamentals of wit and humor are the same throughout all the various tribes of earth, throughout all the various ages of history. The causes of amusement are essentially the same everywhere and always, and only the setting changes according to time and place. But racial characteristics establish preferences for certain aspects of fun-making, and such preferences serve to some extent in differentiating the written humor of the world along the lines of nationality. Nevertheless, it is a fact that the really amusing story has an almost universal appeal. I have seen in an American country newspaper a town correspondent's humorous effort in which he gave Si Perkins's explanation of being in jail. And that explanation ran on all fours with a Chinese story ages and ages old. The local correspondent did not plagiarize from the Chinaman: merely, the humorous bent of the two was identical. In the ancient Oriental tale, a man who wore the thief's collar as a punishment was questioned by an acquaintance concerning the cause of his plight.
Why, it was just nothing at all,
the convict explained easily. I was strolling along the edge of the canal, when I happened to catch sight of a bit of old rope. Of course, I knew that old piece of rope was of no use to anyone, and so I just picked it up, and took it home with me.
But I don't understand,
the acquaintance exclaimed. Why should they punish you so severely for a little thing like that? I don't understand it.
I don't understand it, either,
the convict declared, unless, maybe, it was because there was an ox at the other end of the rope.
The universality of humor is excellently illustrated in Greek literature, where is to be found many a joke at which we are laughing to-day, as others have laughed through the centuries. Half a thousand years before the Christian era, a platonic philosopher at Alexandria, by name Hierocles, grouped twenty-one jests in a volume under the title, Asteia.
Some of them are still current with us as typical Irish bulls. Among these were accounts of the Safety-first
enthusiast who determined never to enter the water until he had learned to swim; of the horse-owner, training his nag to live without eating, who was successful in reducing the feed to a straw a day, and was about to cut this off when the animal spoiled the test by dying untimely; of the fellow who posed before a looking glass with his eyes closed, to learn how he looked when asleep; of the inquisitive person who held a crow captive in order to test for himself whether it would live two centuries; of the man who demanded to know from an acquaintance met in the street whether it was he or his twin brother who had just been buried. Another Greek jest that has enjoyed a vogue throughout the world at large, and will doubtless survive even prohibition, was the utterance of Diogenes, when he was asked as to what sort of wine he preferred. His reply was: That of other people.
Again, we may find numerous duplicates of contemporary stories of our own in the collection over which generations of Turks have laughed, the tales of Nasir Eddin. In reference to these, it may be noted that Turkish wit and humor are usually distinguished by a moralizing quality. When a man came to Nasir Eddin for the loan of a rope, the request was refused with the excuse that Nasir's only piece had been used to tie up flour. But it is impossible to tie up flour with a rope,
was the protest. Nasir Eddin answered: I can tie up anything with a rope when I do not wish to lend it.
When another would have borrowed his ass, Nasir replied that he had already loaned the animal. Thereupon, the honest creature brayed from the stable. But the ass is there,
the visitor cried indignantly. I hear it!
Nasir Eddin retorted indignantly: What! Would you take the word of an ass instead of mine?
In considering the racial characteristics of humor, we should pay tribute to the Spanish in the person of Cervantes, for Don Quixote is a mine of drollery. But the bulk of the humor among all the Latin races is of a sort that our more prudish standards cannot approve. On the other hand, German humor often displays a characteristic spirit of investigation. Thus, the little boy watching the pupils of a girls' school promenading two by two, graded according to age, with the youngest first and the oldest last, inquired of his mother: Mama, why is it that the girls' legs grow shorter as they grow older?
In the way of wit, an excellent illustration is afforded by Heine, who on receiving a book from its author wrote in acknowledgment of the gift: I shall lose no time in reading it.
The French are admirable in both wit and humor, and the humor is usually kindly, though the shafts of wit are often barbed. I remember a humorous picture of a big man shaking a huge trombone in the face of a tiny canary in its cage, while he roars in anger: That's it! Just as I was about, with the velvety tones of my instrument, to imitate the twittering of little birds in the forest, you have to interrupt with your infernal din!
The caustic quality of French wit is illustrated plenteously by Voltaire. There is food for meditation in his utterance: Nothing is so disagreeable as to be obscurely hanged.
He it was, too, who sneered at England for having sixty religions and only one gravy. To an adversary in argument who quoted the minor prophet Habakkuk, he retorted contemptuously: A person with a name like that is capable of saying anything.
But French wit is by no means always of the cutting sort. Its more amiable aspect is shown by the declaration of Brillat Savarin to the effect that a dinner without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye. Often the wit is merely the measure of absurdity, as when a courtier in speaking of a fat friend said: I found him sitting all around the table by himself.
And there is a ridiculous story of the impecunious and notorious Marquis de Favières who visited a Parisian named Barnard, and announced himself as follows:
Monsieur, I am about to astonish you greatly. I am the Marquis de Favières. I do not know you, but I come to you to borrow five-hundred luis.
Barnard answered with equal explicitness:
Monsieur, I am going to astonish you much more. I know you, and I am going to lend them to you.
The amiable malice, to use a paradoxical phrase, which is often characteristic of French tales, is capitally displayed in the following:
The wife of a villager in Poitou became ill, and presently fell into a trance, which deceived even the physician, so that she was pronounced dead, and duly prepared for burial. Following the local usage, the body was wrapped in a sheet, to be borne to the burial place on the shoulders of four men chosen from the neighborhood. The procession followed a narrow path leading across the fields to the cemetery. At a turning, a thorn tree stood so close that one of the thorns tore through the sheet and lacerated the woman's flesh. The blood flowed from the wound, and she suddenly aroused to consciousness. Fourteen years elapsed before the good wife actually came to her deathbed. On this occasion, the ceremonial was repeated. And now, as the bearers of the body approached the turn of the path, the husband called to them:
Look out for the thorn tree, friends!
The written humor of the Dutch does not usually make a very strong appeal to us. They are inclined to be ponderous even in their play, and lack in great measure the sarcasm and satire and the lighter subtlety in fun-making. History records a controversy between Holland and Zealand, which was argued pro and con during a period of years with great earnestness. The subject for debate that so fascinated the Dutchmen was: Does the cod take the hook, or does the hook take the cod?
Because British wit and humor often present themselves under aspects somewhat different from those preferred by us, we belittle their efforts unjustly. As a matter of fact, the British attainments in this direction are the best in the world, next to our own. Moreover, in the British colonies is to be found a spirit of humor that exactly parallels our own in many distinctive features. Thus, there is a Canadian story that might just as well have originated below the line, of an Irish girl, recently imported, who visited her clergyman and inquired his fee for marrying. He informed her that his charge was two dollars. A month later, the girl visited the clergyman for the second time, and at once handed him two dollars, with the crisp direction, Go ahead and marry me.
Where is the bridegroom?
the clergyman asked.
What!
exclaimed the girl, dismayed. Don't you furnish him for the two dollars?
It would seem that humor is rather more enjoyable to the British taste than wit, though there is, indeed, no lack of the latter. But the people delight most in absurd situations that appeal to the risibilities without any injury to the feelings of others. For example, Dickens relates an anecdote concerning