Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-12-26
THE KINDLY JEST.
BY CHARLES READE:

There appear to be two great divis
ions of humorous wit the reparte
and the practical joke Both thes
have an aggressive character. 10 be
gin with the repartee-it is usually I
slap in the face
A few years ago, the country pos
sessed a great master of repartee Mr.
Douglas Jerrold. Specimens of hi:
style still survive in the memory of hi:
contemporaries.
A mediocre writer, employed on the
same subject as himself, says "You
know, Jerrold, you and | are rowing in
the same boat"
"Yes," replies the wit, "but not with
the same sculls."
Another inferior artist is eating soup
at the Garrick Club. He praises it to
JerrOld, and tells him it was calf-tail
soup. aye" says Jerrold; "eXtremes
meet"
These are strong specimens, but take
milder ones; still the aggressive char
acter is there.
Pecuniary calamity overlook friend
of Mr.. Edmund Burke. Another friend
went to console him, and, like Jobs
cOmforters, told him it was all his own
fault. "How could you be so unfeel-
ing?" said Mr.. Burke, when he heard
of it.
"Unfeeling, sir" says the other.
"Why, | went to him directly, and
poured oil into his wounds
"Oil of vitriol,' says the statesman.
OF course | need not say that thou
sand examples of the kind are to be
found in literature.
The witty Noltaire receded with ad-
mlrable deXterity from good nature
into wit. He permitted himself to
praise some gentleman rather warmly.
His hearer said, "Ihis is very good of
you, for he doesn't speak of you with
any respect; quite the reverse
"Ah," said Voltair9, "humanun1 est
errare; probably both of lis are mis-
taken"
Even where the wit is without per-
sonality, it does not always lose its az
gressive character See how the per-
sonages in the "School for Scandal"
explain why wit and good-nature are so
seldom united. 1t is not bitter, but still
it is biting
Now 60 from this to the practical
joke, which is always an attempt at
humOr. Dissect the practical joke.
Egotism and poverty of real wit
tempt some dull fellow to inhict mod
crate pain upon another, keeping well
out of it himself; and his being out of
it, and the other being in it, makes
him feel humorous; and this really ia
vors the narrow theory of Hobbies of
Malmesbury that daughter arises from
a-glorying in ourselves at some superb
ority over our neighbors.' The dull
humorist in this style chips bristles
and strews them in his friends bed, or
makes him up what is called an apple
pie bed-a wonderful corruption of
cap-a-pie. Meantime his bed is all
right; and his heart rejoices.
One of these humorists put skel-
eton into young lady's bed, down in
Somersetshire, then retirel softly and
awaited the result, with the idiotic
chuckle of dull dog who has strayed :
into humor The result was that the
lady fell screaming on the floor; was
taken up insane, and ended her days in
a mad-hOuse. Another such humorist !
battened down the matches of small |
trading vessel in the Thames. Smoke
was created somehow in the hold II |
forgot by what cause); the crew, con-
sisting of four poor wretches, tried in
vain to esr ape. Their very cries were
stihed, and the next day their smoking
corpses were recovered, grim MONT
ments of stupid fellows humor.
Solomon has observed that Nature
contains tremendous animals. At the
head of the list he places a couple, viz:
a bear robbed of her whelps and an ir-
ritated fool Leaving these two ter
rible creatures to figure cheek by iOwl
in the sacred page, l beg the third
place for dull man or woman trying
to be witty.
Now all this is not absolutely nee
essary. 1t is more difficult to say witty
and kindly things, than witty and i'll
natured things. Yet it is within the
power of the human understanding.
A young lady walking in her garden
with Sydney Smith, pointed out to him
an everlasting pea, reported to blossom
beautifully, "but," she said, "we have
never been able to bring it to perfec-
ton" "Then,' said the kindly wit,
"let me bring Perfection to the pea,'
and so led her by the hand to closer
inspection OF the flower.
Coulon, a famous mimic of Louis
XV.'s time, took off the king as well
as his subjects. The king heard