The Portland daily press., 1872-12-02
Fun for the World.
TELLING THE JOKES OF ALL NATIONS BY
THEIR EAR-MARKs.
From Hearth and Homel

lFrom Hearth and Home.l
mere IL nothing else in the world which
oears the marks ofits nativity so unmistakably
as WI. ana humor do. The speeches of Burke
iiignt nave been delivered by Webster. tbe
poetry OF Wordsworth and Sonthev niobt
nave peen written by Americans. there is
nothing about the German philosonbv which
is so essentially German that II miobt not
have been English; and there are some of tbe
French dramatists who could almost have
initiated even Shakespeare himself. But il is
not so with wit and humor. Give lest and
it needs but little discernment to tell whence
it came. Sheridan's much-quoted remark
concerning Dundas, that he "resorts to his
memory for his wit, and to his imnagnatlon
for his facts" could not possibly have been
made by any but an Englishman, or even by
an Englshman OF any other than Sheridan's
time.
Douglas Jerrold's witticism, '.It is better to
be witty and wise than otherwise was not
only very English, but very Jerroldy, and few
people would need to be told who said it.
And SO it is with the hunor of other peo-
pies. Who would hesitate for a moment to
credit Ireland with the man who, vaunting
the glores OF the past, want to know where
you will lind modern building which has
lasted so long as the ancient ones ?'' Fouallv
evident is Sir Richard Steee's nativity from
his celebrated effort to extend hospitality to a
friend, to whom he said, 'If you should ever
come within mile of my house, hope you
will stop there"
Perhaps the most strongly marked humor,
however, is that ofour own country. 1t is Of
broad gauge sort--a kind of high-pressure
affair-too much like us TO belong to ANYBODY
else. Thackeray's joke about the size Of our
oysters was purely English, of course, and
differed in every way from that of
his American companion, who remarked that
he had seen an oyster 20 large that it ''t Jok
three men to swallow it whole.n Equally
American was the remark of the North Car
Gilman, who, in speaking of the extreme
ieanness OF his neighbor's hogs, said she
had to put overcoats on them to enable them
to make shadow in the sum-" 1t must have
been this North Carolinan's brother who
said an acquaintance was $50 tall that he
never found out when his feet were cold till
they got warm again."
Nobody but an American could have called
Shakespeare a ''boss poet" as Artemus Ward
did.
But the most peculiarly American form of
humor yet developed is that which has lately
| become so popular among editorial paragraph
writers in our Western States 1t Is indes-
cribable, ond we can indicate what it is only
by giving one or two examples.
Mrs. Gwin, of Davenport, assisted the
kitchen fire, one day last week, with the ker-
Osenc can. The heavy rain kept p GOOD
many people from attending the funerals
OnicaSo man ate ten dozens of eggs on
wager last week. Ihe money he won has
peen paid 10 ms WIDOW
"A man out In Kansas said he could drink
quart OF cincinnati whisky, and he did it.
Inc silver mountings on his coffin cost
$13 75.'
| we cannot fail to discover at once the par
entaSe oil ANYTHING OF this sort. 1t is too
osuen"y inuieehous W oe mistaken tor an
| exOtc.
| The jests of other nations are euuaIlv well
| marked Your French bo,, ,oot H.. ~ -
| :.I,, W. ".ot mas an ull'
GlstakaDie shrug OF the shoulders about it.
| German Wit is elaborate and minutelv accu-
rate In all It's details. A Scotch joke must of
necessity DC gimietponted, else it could new
er De oriVeh nome IN the head OF Scotch
man.
we cannot only discover the nationality of
sJest from internal evidences, but we can of
Ten teil the exact region whence it came, and
sometimes even its very authorship is appar-
ent. Wmeii we near man say he 'wrestles
ms hasn at such place, we know very well
tnat that man was raised west of the Allie
ghanies. Inc man who asks you ''what
you've got on your wheei-house" when he
wants TO know what you propose to do, has
no need to tell ANYBODY that he has lived on
the banks OF the Mississippi river. And it
could only nave been college student, and
asophomore at that, who, when asked what
stars never set, replied ''roostors."