Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1891-04-17
HuMoR AND HuMoRIsTs.
Men Who Could BE Funny While Suffering
Bodily Pain.

Men Who Could BE Funny While Suffering
Bodily Pain.
Even in the old times of chivalry and
romance, the knightly days whose
legends still stir our blood, the merry
jingle of the testers bells, the poets
song, the priests homily and the wise
mans philosophy were, in turn, each
given a welcome in court and camp.
The King might not be able to read and
write. He might be inclined to repress
love of learning if he felt it, as an
impulse that would throw doubt upon
his entire devotion to those martial ac-
complishments which were then con-
sidered the nobler objects Of ambition.
Still the royal mind craved variety and
sought the refreshment or balm best
suited to its changing moods. II the
play of feeling was in the minor key,
the troubadour was in request with
his sad, sweet ministrations, breath
ing thoughts of love, sobbmg
the woes of exile and prisons, chanting
the triumphant ecstasy of holy vows
accomplished, or in stirring measures
singing of battles and tourney. II the
royal purpose ran high, or the royal
fortunes were low, the priest and sage
were called to the front; but In times
of prosperity and festivity motley was
the only wear.
Human nature remains about the
same. It's needs and desires follow the
old lines; so the jester still remains
prominent figure in our civilization,
| though he has changed his methods to
new conditions. The element of humor
is no longer an incident of newspaper
and magazine contents, employed SIM
ply as BALLAST it has become an indls-
peusable feature. The testers services
are no longer confined to the high cir
cles of rank and authority, for through
improved methods of diffusion the en-
tire populace has the benefit of them.
Humor has become a staple of the
literary market. There are various de-
grees of value according to quality; but
it is agreed that humor, of some kind,
is no longer an occasional luxury, but
an everyday necessity, and humorists
have ceased TO be beacon lights, glitter
ing in lonely splendor upon the heights;
but honest argands, or tapers, or rush
lights, as the case may be, carrying
their cheer into the humblest corners of
the land. Once the humorist, like the
poet, was born, not made; now demand
has demonstrated the fact that quite
creditable products can be evolved from
apparently very uncompromising ma
i % ctt
count for considerable; but the born
humorist no longer enjoys the monopo-
" that once was his.
| 1t is interesting to trace the varying
relations between the workers in this
| field and their works. The humor
of some men is creation, of others
an emanation; the product of one
mind is simply mental, of another
| temperamental as well. One of the
princes of pantomime, when torn by
| dyspepsia and driven almost wild by in
somnia, sought relief from a physician.
"Ah," said the learned doctor, you
| must have cheerful surroundings; go
and see Grimaldi." "Alas," said the suf
! fer, Il am Grimaldi." Tom Hood did
some of his best work when tormented
by bodily pain. Much of Mark Twain's
success as reader is due to ludicrous
contrast between the superlative ugli-
ness and solemnity of his personal APP
pearance and the irresistible drollery of
his conccits.
The humor or wit of the late John G..
| Sake. while it was a source of keen en-
joyment to others, shot no backward
ray to cheer the heart of its author, and
! during his closing years he lived sadly
and hopelessly among the deepest shad-
ows. He was the prey of settled melan-
choly. The best of his life had long left
him. The fruits Of his Twins. and labor
were Dead Sea apples. One strong
| contrast with this sombre pictura was
that which showed the late Is. p. Shil-
| laber drawing near the sunset of life.
! The genial glow of his nature was con.
! slant amid suffering and trial. For
years a prisoner in his room, chained
back from enjoyment of fraternal con.
tact with his fellowmen by painful
physical troubles, his cheerfulness and
kindly philosophy never forsooll him,
! and a chat and smoke in his sick-room
were always genuinely pleasurable to
the visitor. He fought the battle of his
life bravely, and, in the better sense,
successfully, for he extracted bright
ness from even the most unpromising
! circumstances.
Whatever may be the reflex action of
humor upon humorists, they are, as
rule, an honest body of workers, work.
/ ing for honest ends. Certainly to-day
less than at any previous time in the
worlds history, could we do without
| them.-Boston Globe.