The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-08-11
The just Appreciation of Humor.
[COrnhiIl Magazins.l


Humor is essentially the expression of a
personal idiosyncrssy, and man is hu-
morist lust because the tragic and the comic
elements of life present themselves to his
mind in new and unexpected combinations.
The objects of other mems reverence strike
him from the ludicrous point of view, and
he sees something attractive in the things
which they affect to despise. 1t is his func-
ten to strip off the commonplace by which
we have tacitly agreed to cover our doubts
and misgivings, and to explode empty pre-
lenses by the touch of vigorous originality.
And therefore it is that the great mass of
mankind are apt to look upon humor of the
stronger flavor with suspicion. They sus-
pect the humorist-not without reason-of
laughing at their boards. There is no say
ing where he may not explode next. They
can enjoy the mere buffoonery which comes
from high spirits combined with thoughtless-
ness. And they can fairly appreciate the
gentle humor of Addison, or Goldsmith, or
Charles Lamb, where the kindness of the
intention is so obvious that the irony is felt
to be harmless. 1t represents only the tinge
of melancholy which every good man must
feel at the sight of human folly, and is used
rather to light up, by it's gentle irradiation,
the amiable aspects of weakness than to I'M
mask solemn afectation and successful n.y.
pocrIsy AS soon as the humorist begins to
be more pungent, and the laughter to be
edged with scorn9 and indignation, good
quiet people who do not like to be shocked,
begin to draw back. They are half
ashamed when Cervantes or Montaigne,
Rsbelais or a Swift, takes them into his
confidence, and proposes in the true humor-
lists spirit to but show them the ugly re-
alities of the world or of his own mind They
shrink from the exposure which follows of
the absurdity of heroes, the follies of the
wise, the cruelty and injustice of the vir-
tuous. In their hearts they take this daring
| frankness for sheer cynicism, and reject his
profered intimacy. They would rather over
| look the hollowless of established conven-
tions than have them ruthlessly exposed by
the sudden audacity of these daring rebels.
To the man, on the contrary, who is predis-
posed to sympathy by sore affinity of char
acter, the sudden fash of genuine feeling is
| infinitely refreshing. He rejoices TO see the
cries confronted with facts, solemn conven-
tions turned inside out, and to have the air
cleared by sudden burst of laughter, though
| it may occasionally have something rather
savage in it. He welcomes the discovery
that another man has dared to laugh at the
Il lQOlc DclOIc We dAO al ouPPOoOo W
bow in solemn reverence. We love the hu-
| NOR, in short, so far as we shall the chsrsc-
| ter from which it flows. Everybody can
love the spirit which shows itself in the
| Essays on Ella" but you can hardly love
| the 'Tale of Tub" or ''Gulliver," unless
you have sympathy with the genuine
Swift which overpowers your occasional dis
gust at his misanthropy. But to this general
rula tbora ie ono markad aYcantion in 0llr
literature 1t is impossible for any one with
the remotest taste for literary excellence to
read ''Tristram Shandy"or the Sentimental
Journey without a sense of wondering ad-
miration. One can hardly read the familiar
passages without admitting that Sterne was,
perhaps, the greatest artist in the language.
No one at least shows more inimitable felic-
ity in producing a pungent effect by few
touches of exquisite precision. He gives the
impression that the thing has been done
once for all; he has hit the bull's-sye round
which inspiring marksmen go on laundering
indefinitely without any satisfying success.