The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-03-04

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seems a contradiction TO add that 1t
/ goes because the majority of people can
not remember a humorous remark more
than a few days, and the dear old joke,
with its long, messy whlskers, seems
new to most of them.
One may hear today upon the variety
stage the same old gags" that our IA
theirs roared at 80 years ago, and IN the
comic papers Of this week read the jokes
that broke up homes IL Aryan noun
tain regions before the dawn OF letters
and caused the prophet to ask the CO.
nundrum: go grave, where is thy VIC
tory? o death, where is thy sting"'
There are styles in humor. To one
VINO has studied the subject distinct
geological eras mark the growth OF fun-
; ny sayings From the dwarfed court
! jester of the dark ages, with his cap,
bells and bladder, to the funny man Of
the comic press is seemingly long
step, but the interval has been filled by
the coffee house wit, the stage comedl-
an, the circus clown, the minstrel end
man, the lecture bureau entertainer, the
travelling drummer and the comic art
list. To US in this enlightened age it
seems funny of itself that at one remote
period men and women laughed at CO.
nundrums. That was all they had to be
hilarious with.
Then came the age of puns. Once a
punster was the equal of kings and
popes. He had free passes on the stage
coach and TO the theaters. People stop
ped conversing upon religious or politi-
cal topics and held their breaths when
he was about to emit a pun, and his
clever sayings were repeated all over
town, generally as original with the re-
peater. He led conversations and led
them up to his puns, and he was not
shot or even indicted.
England today is the last refuge and
stronghold of the pun. There it still
yields a feeble sway along with other
effete institutions, like imprisonment for
debt, Dunraven, ETC., but elsewhere 1t
has been stamped out and branded as a
crime or mlsdemeanor.
Samples of English Humor.
There are, however, in England sew
eral humorists who are of a more adj
vanced type. whose productions have
something of the hveliness of the Amer
lean spirit. w. s. Gilbert and Jerome
K. Jerome often have spasms of fun
that seem to be spontaneous and uDaf-
fected. Even Punch of late has flashed
a spark or two of sedate merriment.
The following sample serves to illus
trate the assertion. An obsequious Gu
rate is pictured as breakfasting with his
bishop, who remarks:
"Why, my dear Mr.. Stiggs; l really
think you have bad egg thereW
"Oh, no." the curate replies; "parts
of it are very good, assure youp
Now, that's not bad for Punch, you
know.
But I digress The punning period
was followed by that of humorous VIII
tings like "Sam Slick" the "Biglow
Papers," Zone Hoss Shay" Darius
Green" ETC., true humor which took
all hearts by storm. l am now speaking
of American humor, of course. This
was, properly considered, the beginning
of the present era. II was the period be
gun by John Phoenix, continued By Ar
temus Ward, Bret Harte, Mark Twain,
Bailey, the Danbury News Man; Bob
Burdette, NJ. Quad, Eugene Field, Bill
/ Nye and host of others, each in turn
/ taking the popular fancy.
J The essential quality of these various
writers cannot be strictly and distinctly
specified, one cannot lay his finger ON
the particular distinguishing feature of
each, but while these authors are dis
tinct in themselves there is generic air
that marks them, as of a family, the
product of American soil and environ
ment. With but few exceptions their
work is humor pure and simple, satire
being lacking until the bloom of their
youth had passed and they had entered
into other literary fields or had heard
their own stories told as original by
several thousand other humorists. Each
had his own distinct era, being for a
time as popular as new puzzle or a
patent cough mixture until another came
who by fresher combination of words
and circumstances eclipsed the glory Of
his predecessor and made his methods
seem stale.
Such work as was essentially good or
truly novel, such as the 'Squibob Pa
pers" Of John Phoenix, Harte's Con