St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-01-31
The Folly Of BEING Funny.

The inclination to be funny should
be carefully repressed. Ridicule and
humor are easy and natural to many
people, but if any one hopes to have a
high career, he must so conduct him
self that the idea of seeing him in an
elevated position will not make people
laugh. A man had better be dishonest
than funny, so far as the attainment
of high position is concerned. 1t is
the same i'll private life. People who
are funny are not those whom we gen
orally respect the most. We come to
think of them with kind of contempt.
They are likely to be sought for as
diners-Out or to make after-dinner
speeches. When they appear, or when
their names are mentioned, people are
wont to grin. Now grins never signify
any great esteem or admiration. Let
every reader think over the list of
after-dinncr speakers who generally
talk at all Onr public banquets. Some
of the same men are always on the list
That is because they do the "funny"
business, and set the table in a roar.
There are always, or almost always,
speeches at these banquets which
make ii lasting impression. Actual
contributions are even sometimes
made to the fund of thought or general
information by addresses delivered on
state occasions, but the accepted funny
man never makes one of these. He
never says anything worth remember
ing. The list of jokes sOOn grow stale
and tiresOmc. Iorick will never be
| forgotten. vet that will not be due to
any of the good things he said, but to
what Hamlet said.
The truth is, life is real and earnest,
and he will succeed best in it who
recognizes this fact. Men of intelli-
gence aud right sentiment appreciate
| it The great minds of the world have
never been in the heads of the worlds
testers. There is enough i'll life to
make any one serious. There are
the problems of making an honest liv-
! ing, of maintaining il good reputation,
of establishing "A pure character, and
of leading respectable life. Jests do
not help us on i'll any of these things.
| Ii is serious thoughts which aid us and
so gain our admiration, love and es-
TEEN. There are times when anything
amusing CRATES upon our nerves, and
then the pcrpetratOr of Il joke Is hate
fuI to us. But even in our gaYest
moods we do not scOrn II thought or
sentiment of real worth, although we
may not heed it. Its utteraucc, ut
least. never eXcites our scOrn.
The moral of it all is do not Guilt
vate any fatal facility of testing which
YOU NAV have. Strike out i'll life with
"A serious purpose and make a serious
business of pursuing it. This does not
mean sanctimoniOus facial expression,
but it does mean intense earnestness,
and where that exists there will he
little temptation to be funny. A
/ Young man who has the gift of speak
ing should be particularly careful.
Many times when he rises to talk his
impulse will be to make his auditors
laugh. 1t would he easy, and he
would instantly catch their attention.
But he should he careful not to do IT
too often. Let him say something
worth saying, or let him keep quiet.
1t is better to be respected, us a stupid
grave man even, than to lie laughed at
as a clown. The testing lawyer, the
punning Judge, the fun making clergy
man, the writer of humorous books OF
paragraphs s-whn ever enteTtains any
hlgh regard 1ot theIll herein hcH
one of the drawbacks which actorz
have to contend with, and one of the
reasons why they so generally occupy
inferior social positions. Their main
object is to amuse and entertain. Any
one of their number, therefore, who
hopes to be recognized as a man OF
worth and prominence, must have ex-
traOrdinary talents which will induce
men to respect him and give him a
place in their esteem, despite the fact
that merely to amuse is his business.
SO hard is it for us to place ii high
value on people who only entertain
u.s. But life is not Il circus, and
clowns and testers will not succeed.
New York Hour.