The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1885-12-16
THE RISE OF sHE CHESTNUT

toms of the joke have received so little
attention. 1t Is al error of the vulgar
to suppose that PIKE is G literary me-
teor that iaShcs across the intellectual
sky for . moment and then disappears
forever. Even trained observers have
been deceived into expressing much
the same opinions and a celebrated
scientist, whose services to mankind
Justify Us iu conce&ing his name il
connection with the charge, was heard
to declare that 4 joke was IAN instance
of intellectual abeaaticn unworthy of
serious at;ention." Nothing could be
furthcs trom the fets. Leaving aside
anv discussion of tie first cause Of the
joke, which would Involve US in the
obscurities of meta Slysical discussion,
we NAV state boldiythac the joke has
wcll-delined habits and pecuGarities,
and study Of its hEory and develop
ment is well wortha the attention OF
the foremost minds i science.
IS evident to IN. observer that the
joke may be accuraely divided into
races and nasionalitig. No one who
had paid the slishtesE attention to the
subject ccu!d posSioA mistake q Ger
man joke :or Finch joke, or
French joke for Brfsh joke. In fact,
shey are as plainly barked of from
each other as any t breeds OF dogs.
and each undoubted has its different
habits. An adequa discussion of the
subiec. can not eveuJE outlined IL this
column. Ncvcrtl,cle, !, as small con-
tribution to 40 imo.fant subject, we
offer the following ;Spunt Of ! single
member OF the larg' Eand interesting
family known as the. ! Enerican joke:
IL is eight months more since the
chestnut joke frs: s the light. Its
birth is Involved in purity, in spite
OF earnest efforts to Il ee It's ancestry.
In the early days OF ks existence 1t
gave no sign OF comi sgreatness. We
know the S;o:v OF til Ehool at Brlen-
ne, where Bonyienne 2ok the prizes
over Napoleon; BourA inc is now re-
mcmb beted not as g prize boy"
bu, as Nepolcou's sec8ary. In . like
manner the tin-pan j|sor the niger
baby joke of even da&slth the chest
nut seemed surer OF "a. At the time
the chestnut appeare@&he paint-the-
town-rei joke was at B height OF Its
,aue. Its monthly APPEARANCE in JAN
uary was twcnty-siN SpUsand seven
hundred aud forty-six, khicn is sur
passed only by its unprecedented No
Yember record OF thirsySght thousand
nine hundred. due 10 th@local disturb
ing cause OF . DemocratA victory that
month at tae polls. Tr the same
month the chestnut appeFeo in public
but q oecsarly one huuds d and eleven
times. Previous tc that Ate it was so
insignificant as not to sen worthy CT
record. Starting from ii point, we
see the gradual rise OF thschesuut and
the corresponding decliueSf paint-the-
town-red. In February ke chestnut
appeared twelve hundre& and forty
four times. and the paintA Ae-town-red
appeared twenty-five tt&lsand nine
hundred and fourteen ting This does
not necessarily indicate arS falling off
in the popularity Of the laker, for the
effect of hard times was nst severely
felt that month, the total output of
JOKES being six per cent u&er that of
January; but the increase q the chest
nut Joke under such unfaSrable cir
cumstances is truly signiEant. The
following month paint-s&-town
nearly held its own, appearAg twenty
five thousand seven hundre&nd nine
teen times, but the chestnut increased
to thirsy-two hundred. ThEollowing
month it increased by ele7s hundred,
while the paint-the-town-r& declined
by nearly the same numoe8 But in
the month of May the chestIE leaped
at one astonishing bound Il fourteen
thousand seven hundred andE Eghty ap-
pearapces, its only one riV$ coming
down something less than se same
figure.
1t is scarcely necessary to 3 further
into details. The August reSrns give
total OF more than twenty-lSe thous-
and appearances for the cheS Hlt, while
its rival is al but Us extincA Aas Mr..
Crawford's "dado.' The r5prts for
the first half of the present 4 snth in
dicate that the total will fal#ittle If
any below that of August, %though
the return-of-the-summ has
acted IS disturbing eienMt. We
may assume however, fromfgc fore
going figures that the chenSuJ has
reached its full development land is
doomed to a speedy decline. IL IS dam
gcrous to generalize from bt two or
three instances. but from tn obvious
similarity of the careers of t'kkauccess-
full American joke, it IS Amos certain
that their existence is deter sSed by
fixed and immutabie laws. have
not the figures at had to vE this
statement, but we pronouncef IN all
confidence. IA
We may suppose, thereto bat the
chestnut must follow the pat READY
trod6en by paint-the-town-reda and its
predecesscrs. and, after seeinMne rise
Of some ssSeful rival that even
now in the obscure throng, wlWecome
extinct in about eight months. Nts rise
has taken an equal length of he. In
spite of few well-known e2ptions
where joke has been able to lrvive
in q toothless, mumbling conc don tor
two or three years. we maySafely
state that the average life Of sac
cessful American joke is sixtee} at
the most, eighteen months. II sub
iect is one OF much interest.and Aould
attract some young and entNastic
social scientist.
II am a very timid man." tes a
subscriber in Ohio. 81 ,.m nWous.
cons:itutionally timid; 4 very ard.