The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-02-19
AmFRICAN HTMnR
Bret EIartess Leisure The HunorIst Tn
changed, the Conditions New.

changed, the Conditions New.
From the New York Tribune.
Bret Harte delivered his new lecture
on American rHumor-its Rise and
Progress - Mt Association hall, to large
audience. Assuming at the very outset
that it was doubtful if there were real
ly any such thing as American humor,
as a national, distinct, intellectual quail
ity, he nevertheless expressed his inten-
ton of borrowing so much of that
which has been recognized of late years
as q certain form ct national humor to
say that it reminded him of ga little
story" whith he forthwith told, some
what as follows
Some. years ago, when riding on the
box of a California stage coach. with q
friend and the driver, the conversation
between him and his friend chaneed to
fall on S )me of the early English hui
morists, and, after the latter had left
the coach, the driver, who had taken no
part, turned to him and asked what
they had been talking about. Know
ing the driver to be celebrated as a man
of grim and peculiar humor, he eagerly
responded that he had been speaking of
some of the early English humorists
"Oh 70 said the driver, ''excuse me; but
from the way you laughed I thought
you had been talking of some funny
people" As the driver was one of
those western humorists who, in his
most genial moments, had a way of
leaning forward in his seat to make
room for his revolver, he didn't care to
tell him he (the driver) had simply
been echoing the sayings of some of the
writers he had satirized. The driver
believed he was original, and that was
enough. The lecturer added that it
was probable that his friend, the driver,
occupied the position cf a good many
Americans, and even English readers,
who are inclined to accept that modern
extravaganza, which is sufficiently char
teristie to our people to be called ma
tional, as the true recognized humor.
At the risk of being called unpatri-
otto he should essay to prove that our
later American humorists are not so
much purely American as they are mod
ern; that they stand in legitimate sue
cession to their early English brethren;
that, in fact, there is nothing new in
their humor except the form that
Richard Steele, had he lived in Dan
bury, might have edited the Danbury
N ews, and that our young friend Bal
ley, had he lived in Temple Bar days,
might have written as amusingiy of the
the average Connecticut householders.
It is only the conditions that are new
The humOrist remains unchanged. He
is simply an observer and it is be-
cause he is Old-fashioned, because, even
in a republican country, he is the most
tremendous conservative and aristocrat
that we know of, carrying his calm,
even-tempered blood, without change
or progress. that he is an observer.
Alb, my friends, added the speaker, the
fashion of true humOr never changes.
Here the lecturer, to make his mean
ing still clearer, gave his hearers an
idea of the genesis of that peculiar lit
erature which Englishmen were the
first to recognize as American humor,
glaneing rapidly at the characteristics
of the earlier American writer's, who at
best only introduce English humor, and
at the most laudable specimens of their
humor, which was musty and had the
horrible creak of the snuff-box in it. 1t
was not a Yankee or an American citi-
zen who first invented Yankee humor
and gave it place in American litera-
ture, but an Englishman. Judge Hal
iburton, of her majesty's colonies, first
detected how much shrewd sagaCity and
dry humor-and even poetry-were hid
den under the grOtesque exterior of
Sam Slick. It was about this time that
the Yankee peddler stepped to the front
with a speech and action that were at
once recognized as characteristics
Later, James Russell Lowell saw his
capacity and quietly adopted him to
voice his own wit, and may be said to
have reoast him in the refining crucible
of his own fancy. Howbeit, he is now
almost forgotten, while it was only a
few days ago that his sayings were quo
ted by every one.
Mr.. Harte gave the south and west
the honor of creating and expressing
that humor that is most characteristic |
of the life and habits of the American
people. Among conditionsof servitude, |
and in the habits of an inferior race, |
there sprung up a humor as distinct, |
original, perfect and rare as any that |
ever lowered under the most benefcent |
circumstances of race and culture; and |
though it was a humor having for its |
expression the most ephemeral form, |
oral rather than written, yet 1t had |
abided since the birth of the nation,
and will abide when past and present |
conditions shall have passed away. |
Sketching briefly the history of that
earliest humor which had, singularly
enough, no place In enduring American
literature, glancing for a moment at the
era of practical joking, the lecturer
paused to examine these forces which
for the last twenty years had been slow
Iy shaping the humorous literature OF
the land, showing the entire and radical
change which they had undergone, call
ing, to bear witness, the altered deport-
ment and pretensions Of the press, mem
tioning q few of the names more promi-
nent as shaping the humor of the ma
tiOn, and, finally, coming down rapidly
to the familiar humorists of present and
late years with the announcement that
American humor blossOmed with Arte-
mus Ward. He never led, hut was
always in the line of popular sentiment
or satire. Much of his methods of joe
ularity were the half-humorous slang of
the people. He contributed no single
figure to American literature bat his
own character as Snowman, snd 1t was
even doubtful If that figure, Irresistible
as it was, bore any resemblance, save in
a kin / of business shrewdness, to any
American type. The civil war, which
found him at the summit Of his popu-
larity, never touched his sympathy, and
it'olos ed his career of fame. Bis success in
England was a surprise even to his warm
friends. He wrote to me, said the lee
turer, that the first night of his appear
ancc it was a toss-up whether he would
be arrested after the lecture, or be in
vited to dinner. He added, with that
delicious, because half unconscious, sat
ire: ssHeads won :" Baughter.)
But the war brought to the front two
satirists of singular Orpheus @.
Kerr and Petroleum Y. Nasty. There
was truth, but no nationality, in The
Mackerel Brigsde" of Kerr, and in this
instance we find something still want
ing, for we see his writings passing into
Oblivion. NasbY was more fortunate in
his selection Of character, and, later yet,
we meet the pleasing philosophy of that
humorous Poor Riehard-Jtsh Billings
and to the Danbury News MAI, and
also Mark Twain, who, as the most orig
inal kumorist America has ever pro-
dueed, stands alone. (Applanse.) Per
haps, concluded the lecturer, our hu-
morist is still to come. Laughter is
apt to make us dOubly serious afterWard.
We do not care to have our humorists
always turning up, Ike q prize-fghter
after each round, still smiling; but the