The San Francisco call., 1895-11-17
Wit and FANCY In THE WORLD OF
LETTERS.
BY DIR. J. DENNIS ARNOLD.

BY DIR. J. DENNIS ARNOLD.
have lately read in German treatise upon
the "Power of Observation and Reasoning in
Politics." that the appreciation OF wit and
humor must be classed with insanity and in
temperance as distinctive characteristic of
the human race. The writer goes on to say
animals have no sense of the ridiculous and
never laugh. They have no games, no toys,
no pastimes, no amusements, though their
young sometimes play and gambol. Ii, there
fore. we cannot with the orthodox psycholo-
gists deny the possession OF some solid reason
ing power by brutes, it is still comforting to
reflect in these days OF Darwinlsm that man is
clearly distinguished from the rest OF the ami
mated SERIES not only by more perfect de-
velopment OF the glutei muscles, but also by
being in one sense of the word at least, an
eminently ludicrous creature.
l think we must applaud the wisdom of a
mysterious Providence which has ordained
that the only being fully conscious OF the mis-
cries of life should also be the only one capa-
BILE of laughing at them-that man, solemnly
placed between two eternities, mindful of his
moral responsibilities, should yet be fitted by
his nature to give way to unbridled mirth and
indulge in unbounded facetiousness Misfor-
tune loses half its bitterness when its victim
can smile upon it, and though the mercy OF
heaven has not Invariably restrained it from
shearlng the lamb somewhat too closely, it has
induced it often thus to temper the wind. In the
is OF considerable Importance 1t has, at times in
deed sufficient strength to overcome all these
feelings which we are in the habit OF deeming
the most pow werful in our nature. For good or
for evil the cap and bells are the emblem of an
authority just as sure as the crown or mitre,
the sword or the gown. To become martyr
for the truths sake has been the ambition of
many noble minds, but we never hear OF any
one voluntarily becoming laughing stock in
order to testify the sincerity of his opinions.
Most men would rather be thought villains
to be hated than despised. Contempt is harder
to bear than persecution, and Voltaire merely
expressed the general sentiment when he said
he would rather be abused than forgotten.
The sense of the ridiculous like all the other
faculties of our minds, has its own appropriate
sphere of action, the bounds OF which, how
ever, it continually oversteps It's legitimate
province is to soften the discomforts of our
lives, to obliterste the effects of everyday
troubles, and 10 punish the neglect or the too
pedantic observance of the decencies or con-
ventionalities of polished society. 1t expands
caution; it relaxes dignity; it thaws coldness
it teaches age and care to smile again; 1T re-
calls the half-forgotten CLEAN OF happiness to
the face of melancholy; and when we are casu-
ally thrown together with our fellowmen 1t
often proves to be the "one touch of nature
that makes the whole world KIN" 1t is the
guardian of what may be called the minor
morals. 1t lays the basis OF decorum and pro-
priety of conduct. 1t curbs the sallies OF the
foolish and the impertinent. 1t Is the cor
rector of obtrusiveness. The very proper and
TO its attacks and IL is the champion OF common
sense and right reason in the ordinary affairs OF
life. But to laugh or join in laugh implies
superiority gratifying to self-esteem that 1t
is difficult for this sense OF the ridiculous to be
kept within due limits. TO many minds 1t Is
pleasing to gain even transitory and merely
apparent ascendency over that which is better
and wiser than themselves by the simple pro-
cess OF poking fun at It; and there is wide
tendency to deride things with which it is not
safe TO cope with more serious criticism.
n han hat IL
cant of mems character and culture thnn what
they find laughable The last thing III which
the cultivated man can have community with
the vulgar is their jocular1ty. Ihat any hlgh
orde- of wit is exceedingly complex and de-
mands ripe and strong mental development
has one evidence in the fact that we do not
find it in children at all in proportion to their
manifestation of other powers. Clever boys
generally aspire to the heroic and poetic rather
than the comic, and the crudest OF all their
efforts are their Jokes.
Is it not strange that wit and humor, which
are so universally admired, should be so little
understood? Materials for illustration abound
but in the way OF true dehnltloa or satisiyIng IN
explanation very little ofvalue can be had: The
| learned Barrow, who was both witty ana pro-
| found, confesses at the very outset OF his
| famous account hls inability TO denne IL: lie
SAYS: 'It may be demanded what the thing
| we speak OF is and what this facetiousness
| doth import Towhich question might re ply
| as Democritus did to him that asked the dehnl,
tion of a man. That which we all see and
| KNOW and one better apprehends what it is by
| acquaintance than l can inform him by de-
| scription"
| In the same mood Cowley has conceived the
! ode beginning:
| Tell me. oh, tell-what kind of thing Is wit,
Thou who master art of it.
| For the first matter loves variety, less
| Less women low it-ether In love or dress
| y thousand different shapes it bears,
| Comely in thousand shapes appears.
| Yonder we il plain and here 'tlS now
| Like spirits in place. we know not how.
at is, indeed continues Barrow, ga thing sc
| versatile and multiform, appearing in SO many
shapes and garbs, SO variously apprehended by
several eyes and judgments, that 1t seems nc
less hard to settle clear and certain notion
| thereof than to make q portrait OF PToteus OF
| to define the figure of the f1eeting wind"
Humor is of an earlier growth than wit, and
1t is in accordance with this earlier growth that
it has more affinity with the poetic tenden.
| cies. While wit is more nearly allied to the
ratiocirative intellect, humor draws Its
materials from situations and character
istics. Wit seizes on unexpected and
complex relations; humor is chiefly represen.
| tative and descriptive; it is diffuse and flows
| along without any other law than its own fan
taSt1c will; evasive as w1ll-o -the-w1sp full oi
| whimsical transitions Wits brief and sud-
| den-sharply defined as crystal; it does
but it detects an .unsuspected analogy
or suggests startling inference. The
relationship of wit to the logical faculty is the
more pronounced in its higher species. Some
| OF Johnsons most admirable witticisms con-
| sist in the suggestion of an analogy which i'm
| or proposition, and it is only their inge-
| nuity, condensation and instantaneOusness
| which lift them from reasoning into wit.
| They are reasoning raised to higher
| power. On the other hand, humor in
| its higher forms. and in proportion as