New-York tribune., 1867-06-12
" Bllthe and merry we's be a..
Bli,he and merry. blithc and merry,
Blithe and merry wc's be a,
And tnalf' "a cheerful uuOrum.'

And max a cheerful quorum
This il conceived in the very spirit of Martin
I.uthcr and might have been written by HIM
for family fcte. Charles Weslcy's rctort,
when demonstrated with Oh the livelineSs OF
the Methodist singing. is well known. He did
not sec why the devil should have all the good
tunes.
May H. or would be, if the latitudes and
longitudcs did not get strangely mixed and
twisted. a merry month and tl,e May ami
versarics here, in Boston, and elsewhere, have
always been affected by the cheerful contagion
of the season, which has broken out in the
shape Of tea parties, fancy fairs, floral festl-
walls. and musical conventions; and. from al
these, from the social converse. the innocent
rclaxations, and the glad meeting OF friends
long separated, we have never been informed
that any harm has happened. We think none
the less respectfully OF clergymen because we.
have been told and do verify believe
that in private they are fond of little fun,
and indulge in amicabe attacks and rcjonders.
We have sometimes thought that if they would
disport themselves little oftcner in this mild
way, the number of voyages to Europe IN
search of brains, stomachs, lungs, and hvers
might DC considerably diminished 1t is hardly
fair to snub the poor men when in public they
kick and crow little in their sable swaddng-
clothes The Doctor at Chicago objected to
puns. Now, pun, we know. is of very dubious
reputation in the classification of wit but then
some puns are good enough to be witty, and
some are bad enough to be good aud we might
urge that anniversary puns are usually OF the
latter variety. IL would be hard if a visiting
l.s Inn nd
pun during railway journey of perhaps a
thousand miles, should be cut off from mod
cstly airing it in the Assembly Such severity,
we affirm would be needlessly cruel: and to
receive the explosion of the cherished JeH despuf
in q silence thermometrically ten degrees below
Zero would argue prevalent GOODNESS OF heart
if not rcprehensibe envy. If only the good
Jokes are to be laughed at in this world, we
have u melancholy prospect before us, for they
are. according to our observation, usually in
the minority. Who has not, in his time, ehari-
tably gigglcd at a thousand bad ones and gone
into commissions Of mcrriment over the most
deplorable failures
1t may not be Presbyterian "to perpetrate
"iokes," as the Doctor at Chicago solemnly
affirmed but neither is it Presbyterian to eat
ones breakfast or to pull on ones coat. man
might be a good Presbyterian, yet never once
in his lifetime attend the Annual Reunion.
There is no scrptuial law cDjoinng the
observance of these pilgrimages; and those
who 90 with peas in their boots may innocently
boil those glObular tormcnts before starting
There are two ways of accepting life, and both
of them are reasonable. This is vile, wicked
world, and therefore we should be sad. 1t is
also a beautiful world, and therefore we should
be merry. We should be sorry to have our
anniversary meetings sink into straight-laced
sypods and so we have, although we are secu-
lar, ventured to say word for the tea-partles,
the funny speeches, and even the puns.