Omaha daily bee., 1884-06-12
JOSH BILLINGS ON HuMor,rsrs.
Tho Work of the American Wits and
Newspaper Funny Men.
New York Mail and Express.

evening, is Henry NJ. Shaw, or, as he is
known tho world over, Josh Billings.
lie is a peculiar man. The broadcloth
Prince Albert, the long gray hair flowing
over khe ears down the shoulders, the
broad. trimmed SLOUGH hat, the features,
rough .hewn withal and refined, give the
impressions of a clergyman. The closely
trimmed iron-gray beard, the acquiline
nose, and the firm lock of the deep set
eyes deny this impression, however, and
indicate rather the military man. Mr..
Billings was seated on one of tho soft
sofas the other evening when a Mail and
Express reporter approached him. The
conversation turned upon American wit
or humorists.
"America is full of humor." said Mr..
Billings, land yet a great deal of it is
false humor. 1t has no purpose. The
Danbury News man is played out be.
cause he had no purpose at the bottom of
his articles. All humor must have truth
at the bottom. Humor is, in fact, q mix.
ture of truth and pathos. True humor
will never die. Humor in the best sense
is short-lived. The funny articles In
American newspapers are but drollery.
| never write q paragraph, without a pur-
pose. desire to benefit mankind. This
is why my sayings are addressed to men
and about men. 1 can not bear a man
who seeks to tear down. Intidels are
my greatest aversion. | an intensely re-
ligious, though l have no creed. | can
talk to any man except II who believes
nothing. l always take every occasion
to attack infidels. They destroy without
building up. The devil himself did not
deny God, but only rebelled. | have
often said | would rather be an idiot than
an inidel, because if an idiot I'd know
that God made me 30; if al infdel that
| made myself So"
"You have met most of the American
humoristsW
eighteen years ago l sat at the dinner
table with a remarkable set of wits and
humorists. Henry Clapp. George Arm
old, O'Brien. Mortimer Thompson, (Doe-
sticks), Dawson, Shandley, Robert New
ell, Orpheus @. Kerr, and Charles =.
Browne, (Artemus Ward). All died des-
titute, with the exception of Kerr, who
is living. Another set that l dined with
once is Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Lewis,
of the Detroit Free Press, and Burdette
of the Hawkeye. They are all living
and doing we'll"
"What is your opinion of these living
humorists2"
at is a species, though a poor species,
of humor. You read one article and you
know the bad boy. 1t is al exaggeration
and lacks a principal constituent of humor
sense. Nonsense that is not based on
sense soon pals"
"Do you think that the American
newspaper humor possesses the quality of
senseY'
"Not generally. The reason why 30
many funny men spring up and disap-
pear is because of this very lack, A per-
son will laugh at a ridiculous thing and
then be ashamed of himself because he
has laughed, if he finds no truth in the
story. True wit and humor never make
you laugh, at least at first. You see the
truth in it, and then the ridiculous side
strikes you afterward."
"Then you think the outlook for
American humor is not bright2"
at is hard to judge humor, and l
have paid 80 little attention to their
writings. Still, as far as my limited
knowledge goes 1 will answer. Brete
Harte's humor2 Brete made q good
point in his Heather Chinee,' although
the scheme of the two sharpers being
taken in by a third apparently innocent
one is old. l have never read much of
Brete Harte's works, but do not think
him of the highest order of humor-
lists. Nothing ever equaled the
humorists. Nothing ever eqalled the
humor of Mark Twain's descriptions. He
is, in fact, the greatest descriptive
humorist America has produced. Lewis,
of the Detroit Free Press, does not COM
mand my highest admiration. He shows
great tact, and often produces a bit of
praisewortby humor. Burdette, of the
Burlington Hawkeye, / enjoy very much.
He has purpose in his humor, and is very
pathetic. True humor is always allied to
pathos. He might be called the pathetic
humorist of America. Nasty is the great
est political satirist since the days of Jack
Downing"
as Peck's bad boy genuine humor2"
son the contrary, John Phoenix wal
the founder of the American school o.
; drollery, of which Artemus Ward was thu
greatest light. The newspaper humor il
of that school, only the writer's have ex
agerated the exaggeration of the schoo
to a nauseous extent, losing sight of thu
main object of humor, to inculcate u mo
raj or physical truth. Still, once in
r while, / come across a newspaper para
graph that is really humorous"
"Do Mark Twain and kindred humor
q lists display their humor in CONVERSE
tons g.
"By no means. That is a popular mis
take. Humorists are the saddest an
soberest of fellows. Humor is pur
thought. After you have your though
you can twist it in any ridiculous shap
you like. Mark Twain does not kno'
how to laugh, and Nasty never laughe
= in his life"
= docs humorous writing payW
"Not to-day. Before Artemus War
4 no humorist made any money. II
= made some. / followed and have mad
money. But the profitable days {
humor are past. i can remember whe
! I would get 800 a week for writing
J. few paragraphs for one paper. Now
could not get one-third of that. If
:" young man thinks he is going to g,
= rich by becoming a humorist he is mi
= taken"
"How do you rate the German h,
- morists 2"
"Never read them"
"The French humorist T.
70. "Don't know anything about them.
70 "Ihe English humorists
"Only read q few of them. They ha,