Smyrna times., 1866-10-31
Jokes.
The following embodies some precious truth,

1he following emD0dleS some precious truths
expressed in very pleasant language:
| The printing of iest-books began i'll England
three hundred and odd years ago, and is going
on still Yet, if the whole national stock OF
original wit were to be gathered in and put into
book all by itself, such modest-looking
pamphlet would come of it as would be WON
derful to most beholders.
One HierOcles, in the early Christian days,
spent much Of his time in researches into this
highly mOmentOus subject, being the first au-
thor upon it. He left behind, as the harvest
Of his labOrs tt0eHty-Oae jokes, which we may
securely believe were all that, to his knowledge,
existed up and down the world after as many
as five hundred years Of its Christian life were
| spent, In addition, as many people are aware,
Ofa previous four thousand Twenty-onc jokes
in four thousand five hundred years! Which
is as much as to say that the Old World made
a joke once in about two hundred and fifty
years, and then took breath.
What a STALE worn, thrGadbarc thing that
| first joke must have been when the second joke
was made! The stock OF fun was comparative
| ~ rich then; there was glimpse Of fertility.
| What an extraordinary run there must have
been upon the little strangcr
So we see that for forty-fve centuries the
world was in the habit of preparing its jokes
with stupendous degree of deiberatiOn and
tOrethought; and the inhabitants Ofthe universe
(whO lived, however snugly, In little corner
OF it, maintained themselves respectfully and
comfortably during that period on twenty-One
taceti9. But a marvellous revolution was I'M
pending. The world was meditating speaking
jOcularly) gigantic and astounding SPRING
From twenty one jokes, the HierOcean legacy,
to twenty-One millions, was like one step ac-
complished in moment; or, in ordinary Ian
guage, i'll about thirteen hundred years. Every
thing is comparative. Those first forty five
centuries iOked 50 slowly that we get somehow
into the way Of looking at them as if they had
been mere chronological atoms Adding thir-
teen new centuries to the old forty five, brings
us nearly down to the age in which we live
for arguments sake, say quite to it. We stanC
at twenty-One million jokes. Are we content
May twenty one million jokes be regarded a,
| hlgh-Water mark? The greatest nation in the
world ought to rest and be thankful with Sucl
an enormous fortune.
These jokes have landed in England from al
parts of the world, and have been examined on
Decentralization by competent scholars. They
have been taught our language, and have haC
their clothes changed, so that no one shOulC
have the slightest suspicion Of their being borI
out OF the country.
There is such thing, we take it, as nation
being too greedy-wanting more jokes
satisfied even with twenty-one millions, ant
saying: Take our twenty-one million Jokes
if you please. We are little sick of them
and give US new joke or two." 1t would no
regard any hOnOrS as too high for the author
of new joke, and people will do we'll to con
slider the proper steps to be taken if the maj
should appear, as one fine day, he may. w,
anticipate that he will be received with accla
nations as one OF the great minds of the par
ticular generation it may please him to honor
The year in which he manifests himself vii
enjoy celebrity far beyond that of any comet
How warily he would have to reconnoitre hi
ground What cruelty hard work he woul(
have of it, cye-deep in jokes for years, to as
certain beyond the possibility of doubt tha
there was no little mistake to the extent of
mares nest Probably his claim would be re
terred to an international congress Of aged wits
representing every joke producing country un
der the sun.
: 1t would be Of service to a gentleman desir
Gus of being the hero of this proud and inter
esting situation to know w'exactly what a joke is
Joke, Latin, 1OcuS is piece of pleasantly,
sally, ajest-which, to be perfect in all its parts
} shall have point, Latino punctltS, as a nous
has tail or a bee a sting. 1t happens tina
some mice have no tails, some bees no stingS
and it happens that some jokes have no points
: If the statistics of the twenty y-one million eX
tant Jokes could be accurately tabulated, it ha
been roughly estimated that a small percentag
would have to be discounted for jokes in thi
predicament About one emerald in five hun
dred bears the test of the microscope, abou
one joke in fifty thousand stands the crucial test
There are subtle ikenesscs in things appal
; emily unlike. AS an expert in precious stone
says to man, handing him back in perfect col
blnnI his hnnntitIIl ,liamnnd - That &c fho bne
t paste ever saw" so an assayer Of moder
tacetie returns your joke, with Clever, bu
in Lucian;' or, g Hierocles was before you !;
or, very we'll put; but how capitally Erasmu
= brings that in, in such and such place" Ii
will get you in a corner somewhere. lie ha
) the whole matter at his fingers ends. Ii
knows every joke that was ever made, VIII
made it, why he made it, and how many ha
made it since.