Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-03-22
THE comic SIDE OF LIFE.

Laughter u Tic AdLASSuast55C VI AOAAA-
ment-the speech of humor-the elo-
uuenee of fun. Without it wit becomes
cold and pulseless, and social chat loses
its attractiveness and life. 1t infuses a
spirit of cheerfulness into whatever cir
Gle of society it reaches. I" It is endemic,
epidemic, and sporadic, and all are
sure to catch it who come within its
reach" A good laugher is welcome
guest at every gathering, unless it be
funeral; and even at such a gathering
he is not to be excluded, because pathos
and humor are SO closely allied-the lat
ter, it is said, secretes tears. We know
that Hood, the king of humorists, wrote
The Bridge of Sighs," and that the
words of that poem sound like "the
dropping of tears from the caves of the
eyelids." A pleasant wag who laughs
with everybody, and who laughs at ev-
erything which is ridiculous, can be
useful man in his neighborhood. He
will be considered the "caustic surveyor
of events" the critic of society, who
weighs and measures our words and ac-
tions. He laughs at the Grecian bend,
and the echo of his mirth reaches the
ears of those who "stoop to conquer !"
and after his laughter comes the lesson
of bend over the wash-tub and bend
over the cradle" but not upon Broad
way. He recasts, restamps, refurbish-
es, and recirculates the old pieces of wit, "
as men in the mint change Spanish dol
lars and French francs into American
coin.
When you meet such a man in the
arena of discussion it is folly to argue
with him. You can not put down
pun by the use of the most profound
philosophy. Argument viii not answer
a joke. If you open your mouth to rea-
son the case you may find yourself in the
position of Munchausen's lion, which
swallowed the ass and found itself in the
harness dragging the chariot. You must
put him down with the logic of laughter,
or suffer defeat. IF he puns, pun back.
IF he jokes, joke back. IF he dimples
the town with laughter at your expense,
join with the laughersa and show that
you can appreciate good thing. Lord
Chatham asked Henniker to define wit.
&C Wit, ," replied the wag, lis like pen
sion bestowed by your Lordship upon
your humble servant good thing well
applied" When a man becomes angry
at joke circulated at his expense, he Is
like the eagle which stole the meat from
the altar of the G DDS, and burned the
nest with the brand which accompanied
the sacrifice. If he flames out an In
dignant rejoinder his hot thought con-
sumes his selfcontrol, and hewill make
himself contemplate because somebody
else has made him ridiculous. W
When wag flashes his wit in your
face, dip the torch Of your wit into the
/" sun of your genius if you have no
genius, into the light of some other per-
sons sun, and light up the armament of
fun at his cost, or join with the multi
tude In showing teeth without biting"
You must, however, always keep truth
and justice on your side. Truth and
justice have cuirass so impenetrable
that the arrows of wit and humor rattle
about them as harmlessly as hail on the
helmets of the gods. It is impossible to
laugh truth into Lie, or to extinguish
justice by ridicule eliminating In roars
of laughter. DR.. Bethune, the poet and
preacher, and man of weight in every
sense of the word, on being introduced
to a tall, thin minister Of the " Baptist
persuasion" remarked, "Shrunk after
the wetting, I see" This specimen of
genuine humor, with just enough wit in
It to make it "sparkle like salt In fire"
could net fail to provoke smile. Had
it kindled- anger, the shrinking of the
body would have been followed by the
shriyeling of the soul.
i Anew York Bohemian, speaking of
the price Of meat, said that "beef was
never so high since the COW jumped over
the moon" Now this is pure humor,
and the author Of it laughs with every
body; and he laughs at nobody. l shall
not attempt the difficult task of defining
u WIZ anu uuku0I. IldLllJG SAYS LIT.
Fullers remark, that the negro is the
/ image Of God cut in ebony, is hu-
| nor: and that Horace Smiths inver-
sion Of It, t;Iat the task7master is
the image Of the devil cut IN ivory, is
wit" Wit and humor are as closely re-
lated as the Siamese twins, and like that
couple they go together, and it requires
a sharp blade to separate them. un is
a fine art, and he who is master Of it will
know how to stop short Of that line which
separates it from the absurd and ndridiculous.
4 Wit is crank, scornful, analytical. It
makes inVdious contrasts, tosses analoges
IN your teeth, spoils no guod stories for
relations sake. 1t shoots feathered
shaft before you can lift shield, and is
sure to hit a tender spot. If a man were
as invulnerable as Achilles, whose soft
spot was in his heel, it would be sure to
wound him unless he wore thick boots,
which, unlike his lips, should be water
proof. Americans do not laugh enough.
M ,,,;.,e ~ Ia &c Isl,