The Red Cloud chief., 1878-11-01
HnQiisl NV0Wy.

ittDc " pc pthy m important part IN
the construction ~ fnglish humor The
ltslic cases in the printing Office ~ /,
London comic weekly bear the same
proportion Ia tn. Roman a. III. Roman
do to III. I,alic in an American
paper Office about twelve To one. The
p~ar.nthcsi- i. another prominent fcs-
,ure in developing the British pun: and
the compositor has his box II 'parcn.''
In his lower case. Tor greater convent.
encc. In nine eases put II ten, tn.
Joke that N too feeble T., stand without
being supported by itn' les, or has a. be
explained In parenthcsi-. il worthy only
n place In the waste -i,lsket. The ay-
erage Englishman however, may not
possess that same keen instinct in de-
tccting q pun that H. inherent In the
American reader, hcncc. IL i. impcra.
tive that Italics be EN- loved a. finger
boards. and IL the poiot i. It'll u little
Obscure. he wants II pnrcnthica ~ eS.
planned. lie reads something in hi.
comic weekly In the morning, and sew.
crsl hours later IL suddenly occurs to
him that IL was u joke. and he goes on
In a cachi nnatory explosion. Az Amer.
lean would either see the Joke in an in.
slant or never.
We append . few specimens Of the
English method Of building puns CLEAN.
cd from recent nsmbcrs Of a comic
weekly. Here is a sample with the pa.
rcnthesis attachment:
What little flower is produced by
the union OF two agricultural nipple.
mcRtsP A rose bud (harrow spud).
This. u use n John Buliism. IL aw.
fully awful. And here il another, n
little worse, which we find in the same
| number:
III you took your ulster 10 a French
laundress To be- cleaned. what Canadian
province would she probably mention?
Nova Scotia (no wash coats here)."
Talk Of Bulgarian atrocities after
that! II u nan was to submit such u
disbOliral thing To an American editor,
he would he paid for his temerity by
being Juartcrcd into at least six pieces.
and the coroner's jury, upon learning
all the facts ~ the case. would acquit
the editor on the ground of clf.defcnse.
Here is another popular style Of en-
ploying the p%arcnthcsis:
when does u baby farmer prove
more than a mothertO her baby charge?
When she IL its 90 mothcrer."
W. now come Ia the Italic feature,
aud here il a fair sample:
"A public meeting vas held on Mon
day tn settle the question Of tarc ON
hops. AZ the season Is just commenc.
ing il was thought to be u hopportuni.
ty tn decide this Ucighty matter. For
ourselves. We always believe in AN al
lowance for fair wear and tear"
The Italics here are about ~ much
use ~ the third leg On n chicken. And
the same may be said of the following:
"At Hinckley. on Tuesday. three lads
were found guilty Of breaking open six
missionary boxes belonging to the
church. and were sentenced Ia be inn
prisoned and birched. One of these
s~acrilegious young wretches was nam.
ed Arthur Wheat, which cognomen is
strangely suggestive Of Mreshiny. We
hope they boxed the ears Of Wheat, for
that would be urc To- go against the
gram
The th~oughtfulness that suggested
italicising the cereal part of u boys
name takes u firm hold Of our admira-
| ton.
Humorous sketch writing. ~ exhib-
tied in the London comic papers, is not
Of an uproarous character. The ma
jor proportion Of II has a decidedly mild
flavor. We give n sample, purport,ng
to be the diary Of u sportsman:
monday l2.-GloriOus day for the
grouse-or rather for the shooters
rather Il bad day for the grouse | should
S.y. sun strikes through my window
| (which l.. a sort nT A ,r1.ys t.,,, ,, -,
the roof right into my face. wake
with a start. and stretch nv arms
above my head; my knucklcs come in
violent contact with the ceiling; l start
| up with pain, and my head suffers in a
like manner. Confound It! grow
more weary, Sliding sideways out of
bed alight On the floor. and carefully
assume a sitting posture. My head
does not touch the ceiling. l crawl
until ! reach the lOftiest part of my
chamber, and slowly rise to \ perpen-
dicular' | tit. In this condition | at
tempt To perform my morning toilet.
Commissions on the head and abrasiOns
on the elbows. however. soon induce
me to relinquish the attitude and 90
about with my back bent In seeming
decrepitnde which would discrcdit even
my age"
And 50 on. in the same hilarious and
mirth.provoking strain. To the extent Of
Il column or more. Despite the poor
quality of the samples quoted, how
ever. some Of the English journals do
frequently print some very clever hui.
NOR,
But it is stolen from American pa.
pers. - NOrristoWn Herald.
The ''Arabian NiEhts."