The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-02-04
Ritttntoni Dispshh.
prrnay FEBRUARY 4, 1870.
From tho Mobile Register.
y,sux.af TssyninsN hook.

If ignorance liz the mother of devotion,
it is the. mother of humor as we'll. To
know too Much is to lose the sense of life
ana sririt, and to regard oil we see as the
mere dead results Of the machinery of the
universe. Add to this the knowledge OF
self. and VIC have a philosophers calm
contemplation Of all these things from the
station that has fallen to his lot; station
which. be sees is, with Its occupant, am'e
as insignificant rs all around him. Take
away self-knowledge, and we have o wit
a shriil asserter Of his own supereminence
to all the insigni6cance created for the ex-
press purpose of listening to him. The
world is crowded with both these classes; 1t
is mistake to suppose that they are lew
every village has it's icwclier ana ITS NIL
liner, its tailor and its cook; and 1t mas us
wit and its philosopher as wei, though
they are not oil Voltaires or Bacons. 1t Is
the fashion to call them coxconbs and
bores, but those are ungenerous, terms, to
soy the least.
But there are other men with the gra-
v:ty or the vivacity of those two classes,
but possessed, more or less consciously, of o
considerable fund Of ignorance, which is n
consequence, generally speaking, of cir
cumstances, not on inherent fault of their
nature, or at the worst result of Incidence,
who are not ashamed to edify the world
with their observations upon men and
things: the lack of self-knowledge leaves
these simply fools, the possession of it con-
stitutes them humorists. These last are
nearer akin to philosophers than to wits.
What they know standing out in such mark
ell contrast with the vastly greater amount
which they are we'll aware they do not know,
supplies their minds with vast variety of
whimsical contrasts, in the contemplation
and depicting of which they find and i'm
part much enjoyment.
This element of ignorance-the igno-
rance Of shrewd, not stolid nature
will be found to be en- essential ingredient
of humor, and to the isolation of our Anne
rican people from the old, wise world and
lis ways is due in the main the origin Of
the American school of humorists. Take
them all, from Jack Downing to Artemus
Ward and Mark Twain, and we shall find
that it is to what they do not know that the
world is chiefly indebted for the rich vein
of amusement which they have so success
fully explored. Some of them have diff
IDENTIFY masked their ignorance under pre-
tence of reticence, but the American spirit
Of self-assertion will now and then display
itself, and we often find them honestly
avowiug their ignorance, yet rarely making
the defiant boast of this blissful posses
sion which is made by the author OF
The Neu Pilgrims Progress. 1t was
certainly an original idea, for an adven-
turer panopled in the double armor of un-
acquaintance with things sacred and pro-
fame, Of the common life usages and the
aesthetic ideas of the Old World, to 60 forth
as IN explorer of the seats of ancient
civilization, of the birth places of religion
and of art, and publish to the world his
impressions thereon, stripped of all con-
vent;onalities. Mr.. Clemens has done this
successfully so successfully, indeed, that
defying all precedent, he has also FORE
stalled all imitation. His book is unique |
in its conception, and unique in its result.
It is the end as we'll as the beginning of
travelled ignorance-we mean ignorance
sclf-avowed-fur the readers of the work
land il will be read everywhere will know
all. Indeed, the author himself could not
do it again, and ten years hence he will
smile at some Of his best hits, which he
never would have vcntured had he read the
Bible or the Classical Dictionary little
more attentively.
After all, this funny book has grave
purpose, which, duly considered, will, we
think, rindicate our classification Of the
humorist as akin to the philosopher. 1t is
to strip the humbug from the asinine herd
Of bcok-makiug travellers. Whether Mark
Twain will have succeeded in extermina-
ting this tribe remains to be seen. We do
not believe that desirable result will be
fully accomplished, certainly not ct once;
but their next spawn of books, we appre-
bend, will be so dull of sale that publish
crs will be very cautious Of neddling with
them in the future.