The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-05-16
Fashions in Wit.
lFrom an English Magazine ]

From an English Magazine.l
Eastern nations are not wanting in wit al
though it is usually of rather different char
acter from ours. The Chinese possess collec-
tions of iests, in which are many that have
strong likeness to those in the various "Joe
Millers." We think the following is an old
acquaintance: ga man undergoing the pun
ishment of q thief's collar was asked by an ac-
quaintance how he got into such an awkward
scrape. Why, says the man, was walking
along the road and saw an old hay-band rope
on the ground. 1 thought it was no use to any
one, so foolishly brought it home." His friends
asked why his punishment was so severe. "I
don't know, except that there was little OK
tied at the end of the rope" Here, however,
is story that discovers its local parentage. A
covetous man was travelling one day with his
son, when tiger sprang at them, and carried
off the father. The son seizes his bow, and
levels shaft full at the tigers side. The IA
ther twisting back out of the tigers mouth,
and already at a distance, bawls out, "Sonl
son! use capt arrow. Don't make hole in
his skin-who will buy it if you do?"
Among the Arabs braggadociois is treated with
greater contempt than cowardice, and they ex-
have proverb: "If thou sayest, that the lion
is an ass, go and put halter on him." In
Europe, however, the boosters have created
special branch of wit in their own honor. The
Spaniards and the Gascons have been the great
est practicers of the art of hyperbole. In the
18th century little book was published with
the title "All-man-sir; or, Rhodomontades of
the most Horrible, Terrible, and Invincible
Capt. Sir Frederick Fight-alI." This contains
many of the gasconades quoted in more mod
ern jest-books. Here is one of these that has
undergone various alterations: "If l come to
thee with my foot will kick thee so high into
the air that hadst thou ten cart-loads of bread
thou shouldst be in greater fear of starving than
of falling" Another is an elaborate descrip-
ton of the vaporer's furniture: 'My bedstead
is made of the ribs of giants, the ticking of my
bed is filled with the mustaches of the masters
of the camp to the Grand Turk" and so on.
| The more modern versions of these stories gain
much in form, as in the following instances:
| Gascon, while skating, was pushed down by
an acquaintance; he got up and said in a rage,
TITS very lucky for you, sir, that 1 don't dis
| like falling" An officer hearing some one eel
ebrating the exploits of prince who in two
| assaults upon town, had killed six men with
| his own hand, cried out, "Bah L would have
| you to know that the very mattresses sleep
on are stuffed with nothing but the whiskers
| of those whom l have sent to slumber in the
| other world" Another Gascon, in proof of his
nobility, asserted that Sin his fathers castle
they used no other fire-wood than the batons
| of the different marshals of France of his fam
| ily'' A soldier said che had been in so many
| battles, and had been so battered with bullets,
| that he swore he had mine of lead in his in
side."" Some of the hyperbolieal stories are
| more poetic than theses as when a Spanish
| officer ON the morning of battle addressed a
| company of dragons thus: "The flat on which
we now are shall soon be changed to mountain
| of dead bodies, and the sun, seeing q hight
where he had been accustomed to see a plain,
| will think he has lost his way" The Greeks
were great inventors of these sayings On Die
neces, the Spartan, being told the number of
| XerXes's army was so great that when they
shot forth their arrows the sun would be dark
ened by their multitude, he answered, "f the
Medes darken the sun, we shall have our tight
| in the shade" American humor partakeS
| slightly of this same character and extrava-
gance, but it is nevertheless, the growth OF the
| soil. The vastness of the country, which is
said to be bounded on the East by the Atlantic
ocean, ON the North by the aurora borealis, on
the West by the setting sun, and on the South
| bv the day of Judgment, and the peculiar Cir
cumstances in which the people are placed,
| can be traced in most of these stories. The
| hyperboical or tall species of American
humor, was much i'll vogue some years ago,
| and such stories as the following were once
very common: "a man was so tall that he
| had to go up a ladder to shave himself;"
| "another was so strong that his sneeze would
| kill buffalo across the Mississippi riyer;' "a
| Massachusetts, pig was so lean that il was nee
essary to tie q knot in its tail to prevent it
getting through the chinks of the paling;" ian