Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1872-12-19
THE EAR-MARKS OF WIT.

There 10 nothing else In the world which
bears the marks Of It's nativity 50 uuniis-
tpkabiy as Wit and humor. The speeches
Of Burke might have been delivered BY
Webster /; the poetry Of Wordsworth and
Southey might have been written BY Amer.
leans; there is nuihIng abou. the German
philosophy which 10 so essentially German
that il might not have been English and
there are some Of the French dramatists
who conld almost have initiated even
Shakespeare himself. But It is not so with
vi. and humor. Gisen- . jest. and it
needs but LITTLE disrernmept to ,ell whence
1t came. Sheridan's much quoted remark
concerning Dundas. that he resorts to
his memory for his wit and to his imagi-
nation for his facts" could not possibly
have been made by any but nn English.
insn. or even BY an Engiishman Of any
other than Sheridsh's time.
Douglas Jcrrold's witticism, 1T is bet
ter to be witty aud wise than witty and
otherwise. was not only very English, bu,
very Jerroldy. and few people wo6lj need
to be told who said it,
And SO il is with the humor Of other
peoples. Who would hesitate for a mo-
ment to credit ireland with the man WHO.
yaunting the glories Of the past, wanted
10 know where you will find 4 modern
building which has lasted as long as the
ancient onesT Equally evident is Sir
Richard Stecle's nativity. from his cclc-
bra,cd effort to extend hospitality to n
friend, to whom he said. If you should
ever come within n mile Of my house,
hope you will stop there And there can
he no question that it was an Irish editor
who announced that a prominent gentle
man Of the country had died suddenly
after lingering illness"
Perhaps the most strongly marked hu-
snnr. however. is tha, OF our own country
1tis Of broad guugc sort--a kind Of
high ,prcssutc aifiir-too much like US 20
belong to any body else Thackeray'sjukc
about the size Of our oysters was purely
English. of course. and differed in every
xay from that Of his American compan-
ion, who remarked that he had seen an
oyster 80 large that il took three men to
swallow it whole Equally American was
the rcpark Of the North Carolinian. who.
in Speaking Of tho extreme loanness Of his
ncighbors hogs. said that he had TO put
ovcreoats on them TO enable them TO m ake
shadow IN the sun 1t Epust have been
this Nofth Carolinian's brother who said
IN scquaintance was so tall that he never
found cut W hen his feet we're cold till they
had got warm again
Nobody bu, an American could have
called Shakespeare "a boss poet. as Artc-
mus Ward did
But the most peculiarly American form
Of lumor yet desclcrcd Is that which has
lately become SO popular among editorial
raragrsrh-wri,er in our Western States.
1t is Undesirable. and we can Indicate
wha, it is only by giving one or two ex-
amplcsi
----.Mr.. Gwin. Of Davenport. assisted the
kitchen FIRE, one day last week. with the
Kerosene saa.i The heavy rain KEEP. a
good many people from attending tho fu-
hcral.' .-.....
4 Chicago man ate ten dozen eggs on
wager last week. The money he won
has beca paid to his widow
A man out in Kansas said he could
daink quart Of Cincinnati whiskey. and
he did it. The silver nounsins on hi,
coffin cost $l3,15.'
We canhos fail 10 discover at once the
parentage Of anything of this sort. l. is
300 evidently indigenous to be mistaken
for an exotic.
The jests Of other nations are equally
well marked. Your French hon-n,os has
nm unmistslsble shrag Of the shoulders
ahoht n. Germah wit is elaborate and
infinitely accurate ii all ito details. A
Scotch joke must Of necessity be gimle..
pointed. else il could never be driven
home in the heads Of Scotchmea.
I We casnes oply discover tho ns.ionali.
ty Of jest from internal evidences. but
we can often tell the exact rcgios whence
!, came. aud sometimes even its eery au.
thorship is apparent. When We hear ,
man say that be 'wrest'es his hash at such
u place. nc know very we'll that that man
Was raised wess Of the Allcghanies =
The man who asks you what you've goi
.-.ew-ysss -sAssl- -heass, .shsa- hs santa -iG
knew what you propose to do. has no need
TO tell any ybsjy that he lives on the bank.
Of the Mississippi river. And Ii ecald
only have been . college student. and q
sophomore At that, who. when asked What
stsss never set. replied. 'roosars.'
There are some jests as VIC have alrcad !;
remarked. whose very authorship Is ap-
parent; eetably some Of Hoods aud near
" all Of Charles Lambs. SAKE has close.
ly initiated bis Easssf IN the matter ol