Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-05

1t Isn't Every One who Laughs who
Sees the Point OF a Witticism.


Sees the Point OF Witticism.
The recent and present delightful
weather reminds one of the weather of
IS when Savannah was ON its greatest
boom. People were flocking here from all
parts Of the world. The Northerner saw
millions in the future development of the
South, and backed his Judgment
on the result by his money. GreenDacks
were worth a considerable less than gold,
but there were plenty of them. The pros
pectOrs had not discounted the col
Ored brother, and but lew
supposed that he would be handl-
capped upon the South for decade or two
TO come. This has nothing to do with the
story, except to show the eXuberance Of
the feelings of our business men.
The weather was always pleasant
to them. as it generally is to
prosperous people. When one merchant
met another he grasped his hand and
"hOwdydOed' with him, and asked him into
''Joe's' to take something. Very near
everybody ''toOk something" then, though
drinks were - cents each, with another %
cents added if the 'best brandy" was called
for. There was no Cotton Exchange"
then and no BOARD of Trade" Every
merchant went on his Gown hook" as it
were. They held on to the tree boxes
and fixed the price of cotton. 1t was
straight stretch then, and the man of
brains and pluck made the money. lie
paid no duty, as it were, on luXuries.
Those piping times of peace
and prosperity were before the days of the
Railroad Commission, when the people of
this city received the benefit of their en-
terprise in building railroads. The men
who built the railroads controlled them.
Those were days long ago when you
look back 10 them, but when you
count them on your fingers the digits
will not 90 around twice. There
were quite a number of enterprising Ger
mans who had come to Savannah to buy
cotton. They were not as well posted in
the Vernacular as they are now. 1t was
before the French war, and the Germans
had not as much confidence in themselves
as they had after they visited
Paris. They spoke better Eng
fish. however, than the average Savan-
nathan could speak German. 1t was just
such weather as we are haying-delight-
fully pleasant in the shade-when mer-
chant accosted one of our German
marked: "Captain, this is splendid
weather for the races" "What Taces?"
asked our German friend. "The human
races" replied the merchant. Both
laughed heartily over the joke. Capt.
W thought it too good to keep, and
rushed off to tell it to a fellow German.
He didn't go far TO meet him, and
after they had shaken hands, Capt.
W said to his compatriot: "Say, R., this
is a fine day for the trot." YES" replied
r., ''but where is the trOt?' "Why the
human trot," and burst forth in a hearty
laugh at the alleged joke. By RS face w.
saw that the point OF the joke
had been rubbed off in handling.
The joke on the joke was the funny
thing to tell on Bay street for a
long time afterwards. There may be
few venerable merchants still amongst us
who remember the parties.
The above story is very similar to one
of the witticisms of Mr.. Henriques-pop-
ularly known as Billy-a we'll known
Wall street broker, as told by the New
York Herald.
One day, several weeks ago, when it had
been particularly dull on Change, Mr..
Henriques was observed leaving the long
room, with faded and disguised air.
"Made anything to-day, BillyW asked
friend.
sMade anything?" echoed the broker,
with sarcastic emphasis; "made any
thing? l should say not. Why, do you
know that if a skunk was to break loose
in the Stock Exchange he wouldn't make
a Is )centD
1t unfortunately happened that this
melancholy joke was overheard by bro
ker who has the knack of uncOnsciously
torturng the life out of a humorous con-
ceit. Boys" he exclaimed shortly after
in DelmonicO's, ''did you hear of the joke
Billy Henriques got off just nowW
"NO!' "Why, he said things were so
dull on 'Cbange that if a skunk got loose
in the board room he wouldn't make a dol
lar.r