McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1884-02-21
The Folly Of Being Funny.
New York Hour.

New York Hour.
The inclination to be funny should
be repressed. Ridicule and humor
are easy and natural to many people,
but if any one hopes to have high
career he must so conduct himself 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 in
private life. People who are funny
are not those whom we generally respect
most. We come to think of them with
contempt. They are likely to be sought
for as diners-out or to make after-din-
ner 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 of the Hour think over
the list of after-dinner speakers who
generally talk at all the public banquets.
Some of the same men are alwsys on
the list. That is because they do the
s.funny business and set the table in a
roar. There are always, or almost
always, speeches at these banquets
which make lasting impression.
Actual contribution sare even sometimes
made to the fund of thought or general
information by addresses delivered on
state occasions; but the accepted fun
ny man never makes one of these. He
never says anything worth remember
ing. The list of jokes soon grow stale
and tiresome. Yorick will never be
forgotten; yet that will not be due to
any of the good things he said, but what
Hamlet said.
The truth is real and earnest, and he
will succeed best in it who recognizes
this fact. Men of intelligence and
right sentiment appreciate 1t.
The great minds of the world have
never been in the heads of the worlds
testers. There is enough in life to
make any one serious.
There is the problem of making an
honest living, of maintaining a. good
reputation, of establishing pure char
acter and of leading a respectable life.
Jests do not help us on in any of these
things. 1t is serious thoughts which
aid us and so gain our admiration, love
and esteem. There are times when any
thing amusing CRATES upon our nerves,
and then the perpetrator of joke is
hateful unto US. But even in our gayest
moods we do not score a thought or
sentiment of real worth, although we
may not heed it Its utterance, at least,
never excites our scorn.
The moral Of it is-do not cultivate
any fatal facility of jesting which you
may have. Strike out in life with
serious. purpose and make serious
business of pursuing it. This does not
mean sanctimonious facial expression;
bun it does mean intense earnestness,
and where that exists there will be little
temptation to be funny. A young
man who has the gift of speaking
should be particularly careful. Many
times when he rises to talk his impulse
will be to make his auditors laugh.
1t would be easy, and he would instant
ly catch their attention. But he should
be careful not to do it too often. Let
him say something worth saying, or let
him keep quiet. 1t Is better to be
respected as stupid grave man even
than to be laughed at as clown. The
jesting lawyer, the punning Judge; the
fun making clergyman; the writer of
humorous books or para9raphs-who
ever has any high regard for them?
Herein lies one of the drawbacks which
actors 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
extraordinary 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 a high
value on people who only entertain
US! But life is not a circus; and
clowns and testers will not succeed.