Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1868-04-17
OLD NEW JOKES.

uted to tho -1rgosy by d.. Doran, from
which wo extract few passages:
~There is nothing new under the
sun," and that wcll-uscd rcmarlk was
probably, itself without novelty when
it became part Of tho chronicle from
which we derive il. There is notE-
ing new under tho sun, not even our
jokes, nor our fairy stories, nor our
legends. They a!l como to us: moro
or less, from the East.
"Wo asc:ibo to Theodore Hook
the merit Of m:scaievou; originality
in the sBcrncrs street Hoax where.
by hc Brought y thousand or two OF
people, besides horses and carriages,
iuto olc street, and making toward.
ono house, at one and The sano mo-
mcnt. Now, the honor OK originality
in this matter belongs to ono Ciph!s-
odorus, who advertised for thousands
Of day laborcrs to repair to o certain
street in Egypt, at q certain hour.
This waS onjoycd from q SECURE hi
ding-placo all the fun ho expected
from witnessing the confusion in u
narrow street caused by crowds Of
disappointed men fighting their way
out against crowds of hopeful mon
fighting their way in.
aThcro is scarcely u modern illus
tration of witty or humorous Irish
simplicity which is not, at least, as
old as the Piantonlc philosopher Of
Alexandria, Uicroclcs, who lived five
centuries before tho Christian era.
At that carly period men laughed
at The simp'etcu who resolved never
20 go in tho water till he had learn cd
70 swim or at him who wished him
solf as spccchlcss as tho sick man from
whom he could obtain no reply, in Or
der that he might return tho invalids
inciyility; or at tho other who at
tempted 70 Keep his horse a!ivo with
out food, and who failed just at tho
moment Of succes by tho obstinate
brute dying. Greeks laughed, long
bcfnro Irishnien, at their respectively
alleged fo!low-countryman who car
ricd Il brick about rs u sample Of the
house he had 70 sell. Tifc Hibernial
who shut his eyes before q looking
glass, that he might see how hc look
cd when he was asleep; who
bought a crow, to test tho truth
OF his assertion that tho bird lived 4
couple of centuries; who in SLIP
wreck, c:uny to al anchor, to save
himself from drowning; and who re-
marked 10 u friend who reasonably
denied tho asserted fact of his repor.
ted death, that tho fact had beer
vouched for by ono who was mor'
worthy Of credit than ho who dcnic.
it-that Ilibcrnian is IN old Greek il
modern guisc, and tho Greek, as il
tho story Of Ampaitryon; is bcliovc'
into bo dcbtcd TO llindoo predcccS
str, who may, probably, turn AM
'CAin, Chi" " to or'g'nai inventor Q
the story III Pekin.
"Thcro would really seem TO b
nothing now; tramwayj are tJuDd il
Tnebcs and Momphis the balloo
} lies in idea through many a c.assici
| story the telegraph under ano:he
: form, flushed intelligence from on
r district TO another Of tho ahcior
t world; and even our choicest classi
!. cal traditions have various homes
When Europeans first arrived anon
q Now Zealanders, they found Hero all
t Lcandcr local Legend, with I'll
), slight difference that it was the lad
- who dashed through tho flood 10 mc'
IS the dussy lover, who quietly held I'll
y lamp 10 guido her to tho trusti':
place.
j. "There is something very singul
'i in tho way in which errors still spril
n. up, like weeds, on the spot where u
original seed was sown. Not man
% months ago, tho Times corresponds
ss in Paris communicated to that pap
tho translation Of letter which b
H. just appeared in y French provinc
journal, as an illustration of the 81
r. plicity Of tho modcrd Gaul. L
sample was afforded by a letter allie
tv cdly written by a soldier in hospital
his colonel, who had cent tho ne
h. of his fathers death. The 'soidi
epistle was to this effect Colonel ;
tn thank you for tho death Of MY faith
Tvs on incident, like any other.
", US hope, however,, that it will have
bad consequences. Il have j
So, brokon my leg, with which l hi
tho honor to be your very obcdi
cd servant Now, this sample Of m
or. srn French simplicity, and bumor
n as old as tho oldest French jss,::bo
and that will give it an ago Of, sevt
er centuries"