Huntsville gazette., 1882-03-11
AFRICAN WIT AND HUMOR.

Il
Congressuan Cox on the fun in a
Negroes Character.
A tribute to the colo-ed race---some
laughable anecdotes told to Illus
trate the SUBJECT. An Orato.i-
cali .ea.
"A ls,ge and intelligent audience gather
ed last evering in Lincoll Hal to hear
hon. 8. s. c.. lie ,tu,e upon 'African Wit.
and Humor.' The spe ke-, being intro
duced in felicitous way by the chairman,
Frederick Douglass, replied, il his bappi-
esq ma ,ner, thai DIOR VIZ no test Of intel
lec-al strength, as W sness the early history
OF Egypt, the inhabitants of which had.
achieved degree of enlightenment almost
equal 20 our owl cor1.rymen. While on
his tor: in thai once favored land he wit
messed the d.sentomb;lg of Pharoah, 30
thoroughly r'pe with age that uncn his
mummyships brow fere settled the, Gus.
oe hoasands O. ysars. ''ne Nas he O. .gi-
nal Pbai Dab, too &C Mr. Cox. !';:Qut 1,
refused TO shake he IDS with him out Of re-
spect fos Mr.. Dor sl@-s. simply. becanse he.
ouidn let these people go." ELaughterl
The African race has th t sense Of s1sCep
tibility that at tines is even better then 70
tellect, a.ising from his iimi bile hrmo: 1T
this race There are in this counsrs 5, $685.
ce4 represen at 5es they are the aIders and
abetiers OF our society. They are here in
Amefica 20 stay; they naye been more o.
less connected with al our Efforts n o.,r
striving for naLiooal greatness and have
evea rocfed the cradle OF white children.
They will alwavs 0e part Of tbs American
Government; no power can ever take them
back to A-:ica, being here to stay. tnele are
;.ere for good.
The synonym FOR the Afsiosn is humor
It is derived from a G eek void meanfcg
o. stare or juice. Many o. you lemembet
how old doctc1s have time snd time again
deolared that thee was juice vein in ev-
cry individual which requ -ed but the
touching and the patient would respond In
an instant with lane hter, whether ne want
ed to he humorous or not. In the colorod
DC ,ple this vein is almost abnormai'y pre-
comment. In Others it may he graded and
in manper toned The grave ard poten-
tial Tux would hardly laugh at the OBJECT
that causes the Celt so much meiriment
nor would grown person become hilari-
ous over wnat amuses chilli, and vice Her-
sa. How well do remember, said Mr..
Cox, the days of my youth when it was abb
solutely martyrdom for me at school to en-
dnre The puuishme 1t Of sitting between
two girls Oh. the happy lapse of time!
Laught,r.] In after years we learned to
si. with them without shedding tear
(Laughter)
The humor of the African is easily dis
tineoishasle from wit. Wit s sharpeped
stick; it is caustic, and does more harm
than good. Humor is sympathetic, and in
the African it is 50 10 high d. gree; nearly
alt this humor takes hold of the unseen,
but N doing so it lays no tribute to iinaf-
dry at tie expense of holy things. 1t is
mellowing in lis influence and the happy
possessor of the quality will speak we'll.
.ven of Demo crat. Laughter
The hunor OF tfe African is but the re-
fe. of the origire:ity with which the home
IL spec ;h Of the nations of the continent HI
enriched. To the African h1mot to a9e
its fountain head. From this, it may be
seen that the dark skia is not the sign Of
the negfo's degradation. The proverbs SO
among the colored people would do justice
to Franklin Such sentences as "if you
I've with The cane you will learn to limp, !
''if you pass your time in the kitchen yol
will smell of smoke" bear out their OWL
application go forcibly that further Ian
guage is simply supe-fuous. TIE African
is, like the Kaleidoscope changing. de
has Ii; extremes of joy and sorrow. sin and
penitence. The elements OF his character
have puzzled the best analyt.cal tests. Tnae
ever varying ard brightly scint'Nating-
flashes of his lighter nature ara well calcu.'
lated 70 do this "Bill," said my father.
one day to neg.c, "bere's q dram Of wins
ky for you twenty-five years Old. Look
ing dubiously at the liquor in tie lass
Bill said, eyes masssh, see; but declare
OATS de smallest chiletfur's age Eve eve-
seed" Laughter And here is arother:
Two negroes went, out to the haunt Of a
bear; in the absence Of bruin one of tie
hunters yentured Into the cave to capture
the young ones, leaving his compositions
outside to watch. IN the sunsnine Rnd
stiffness the watcher first began to nod and
then to sleep, waking Up, however, i'll time
to sea the parent bear enter the cave into
which his companion had gone. Grab
bing the animal bv the tail the now awakA
sced African hell back with all the stfength