The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-08-20
Jokes out Of Date.

Suppose from all the good sayings
which pass current in society, 70 say
nothing of those which are written in
books, we were to remove three classes
of wittlcism-those, namely, which
SAVIOR of profanity, those which are
more or less indecent, and those which
are sharp personalities-and how much
would be left ? asks the Saturday Re
view. Rogers was spiteful himself and
the causee of spite in others. His we'll
known remark abont the fortunate man
whom every body had been praising for
MS good looks, his wealth, and his rank,
Thank God, he has got bad teeth p
was frank expression of the malice
which animates most of his witticisms.
When Hook advised Rogers in his turn
not to attend Byron's iunerai for fear
the undertaken would claim him as a
corpse inferred six months before, the
facetiOusneas covered q brutal remark
upon a personal peculiarity. Taliey.s
rand's sayings are still more offensive.
The answer '' Already" to the man who
said he was feeling the torments of
hell, and the remark to the man who
said that his mother had been a beauty.
p" O'etait done, monsieur, Votre pere
Jul n'etat pas 81 bein? strike us ow-
ing nearly all the merit to their inciy-
ihty. The last saying quoted, for ex-
ample, is not one which could have
occurred to anybody else, but simply
one which nobody else would have ven
tured to utter. Talleyrand and Rogers,
OF course, have a name for cynieism
but we do not find that men of greater
guok nature are always much more
agreeable. An aid-de-camp we are
told asked Whately, pretty much in
his own style, What is the differences
between Roman Catholic bishop and
iackass2 % the answer being, that 50 One
wears a cross upon. his back, and the
other upon his breast" What is the
differences" retorted Whatsly, between
an -aid-de-camp and q donkey % 81
don't know" replied the aid-ue-camp, |
interrOgRtively. q Nor / either" said |
Whately. After all, there is nothing |
very funny in calling a man a donkey to
his face, and the particular turn given |
to the remark is one which we suspect |
to have been hit upon by some hun /
dFeds of schOOlboys before it occurred /
to the archbishop. Lamb was one of |
the kindiest of men, and his humor /
has the smallest possible infusion |
for i'll feeling, and yet even Lamb /
must have sacrificed friend to joke /
pretty often. When he replied to |
Celeridge's question. ''Did you ever |
hear me preach % "I never heard you |
do anything else, we may be pretty |
sure the remark did not strike Cole /
ridge as altogether pleasant. It is |
quite possible, IN short, to be a good !
Christian and professed wit. And, /
if wit passes into cruelty on one side, /
does 1t not constantly descend to buf- |
foonery on the ether? Alas these |
stories of departed fun are about as
cheerful IS the sight of q dinner table
after the guests have gone, and left
nothing but half empty glasses aud
cigar ashes. And yet we can derive
some kind of consolation even from
reading the best sayings of departed |
humorists. A wittioism has q kind of |
immortality independent of the origina-
tor. The really good sayings we find /
have never been first invented by any /
body. They are handed down from one |
generation to another, and are much /
improved in the process. Then, again, /
we compare actual reports of conversa-
ton with the written records of thought, |
we are struck be the obvious fact that !
what man writes is generally much /
better than what he says. Even the /
greatest of wits is happier in his study, /
where he can polish his own good things /
and introduce them in their due place, |
than In the random flashes of fun which |
owe half their merit TO their temporary |
surroundings.