The Brookhaven leader., 1884-01-17
THE KINDLY JEST.

There appear to be two great divis-
ions of humorous wit the rcpartee and
the practical Joke. Both these have an
AGGRESSIVE character. To begin with
the repartee-it is usually slap in the
face.
A few years ago, the country pos
scssed a great master of repartee, Mr.
Douglas Jerrold. Specimens of his
style still survive in the memory of his
cotemporaries.
A mediocre writer, employed on the
same subject as himself, says: ''You
know, Jcrrold, you and | are rowing in
the same boat.
Yes" replied the wit, "but not with
the same sculls."
Another inferior artist is eating soup
at the Ga rick Club. He praises 1t 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 a friend
of Mr.. Edmund Burke. Another friend
went to console him, and, like Job
comforters, told him 1t was ali his own
fault. "ilow could you be so unfeel-
ing?o asked Mr. Burke, when he heard
of it.
"Unfceling, sir" SAYS the other
"Why, wentto 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 Voltaire rcceded with ad-
mirable deXterity from good nature into
wit. He permitted himself to praise
some gentleman rather warmly. His
hearer sad "This is very good of you,
for he doesn't speak of YOU with any re-
spect; quite the reverse"
"Ahh said Voltaire, "hYnanUm est
errare;" probably we are both of US
mistaken"
An observer of witty men and their
sayings summed the matter up as fol
lows: DtSeUr dc 6On-mOtS, maUrGjS car
&c ere.
Even where the wit is without per-
sonality, it does not always lose its ag
gressive character. See how the per-
sonages in the "Schdol for Scandal"
explain why wit and good-nature are so
seldom united. 1t is not bitter, but still
it is biting.
Now 90 from tbs to the practical
joke, which is always an attempt at hu-
NOR. Dissect the pract cal joke. Egot-
i'm and a poverty of real wit tempt
sor dull fellow to infiict moderate
pain upon another. keep ne well out of
il himself; and his being out of it, and
the other be ng in it, makes him feel
humorous; and this really favors the
narrow the ry of Hobbies of Malmesbury
that daughter arises from a-glorying in
ourselves at some superiority over our
neighbours" The dull humorist in this
style chips bristles and strews them in
is called an apple-pie bed-a wonderful
corrupt on of cap-a-pie. Meantime lbs
bed is all right and his heart reioices.
One of these humorists put skeleton
into a young lady's bed, down in
Somersetshire, then retired softly and
awaited the result, with the idotic
chuckle of a dull dog who has strayed
into humor. The result was that the
lady fell screaming to the floor; was
taken up insane, and ended her days in
mad-house. Another such humoriSt
buttoned down the matches of a small
trad:ng-vessel in the Thames. Smoke
was created somehow in the hold Q for
get by what ause); the crew, cons ST.
ing of four poor wretches, tried in vain
to escape. Their very cries were stifed
and the next day their smoking corpses
were recovered, grim monuments of a
stupid fellows humor.
Solomon has observed that Nature
contains tremendous animals. Az the
head of the list he places couple, viz. ::
bear robbed of her whelps and an IT,
ritated fool. Leaving these two terrible
creatures to figure check by iOwl in the
sacred page, beg the third place for a
dull man or woman trying to be WITTY.
Now all this is not absolutely neces-
sary. 1t is more difficult to say witty
and kindly things than W tty and H.
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 10 blossom
beautifully, ''but," she said, 1--WE have
never been able to bring it to perfec-
ton" "Then," said the ndly wit,
"let me bring Perfection to the pea, !"
and so led her by the hand to a closer
inspection of the flower.
Coulon, famous mimic of Louis
XV.'s time, took off the King as well as
his subjects. The King heard of it, and
Insisted on seeing the imitation. He
was not offended at it, and gave Coulon
hne diamond pin. Coulon looks at
t. min and saws. ssCominr IN ma this
ought to be paste; but coming from
Your Majesty, it is naturally a dia-
mond. is the element of wit extin-
guished here by the good nature? l
trow not.
Frederick the Great disbeieved in
physicians, and said that invalids die
oitener of their remedies than of their
maladies; and, as the lancet WIS rife in
MS day, probably he was not very far
wrong. However, he fell sick, and the