The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-02-05
TWO HUMORISTS
dunno AND AIDE

The Literary Digest i'm reviewing the
latest books by the two men, Mr. Doc
ley's Opinions and Forty Modern
Fables" thus writes of Finley Peter
Dunno and George AIDE.
The forcing-bed of American journa-
lism has produced a crowded crop of
writer's of such luXuriant wit that pre-
eminenCe i'm humOr must hereafter form
principal element i'm arranging the
precedence of our authors. Never had
natural selection a fuller field for her
weeding-Out process. 1t takes a mt
man" to survive. Most of the humOr-
lists who sprang into prominence sud-
denly have died as quickly, because
they had no depth of earth Many
wrote on tolerated because of their
former fame They were better dead"
Finley Peter Dunno and George AIDE
are unQuestionably the greatest of the
later crop of American humorists They
have received their training in the same
school, for both are Chicago newspaper
men. Each has been warned by the
critics, who have pointed to the ending
made by Artemus Ward and Bill Nye.
with the Injunction "Respice!' The
fate of the creator of the immortal
Snowman" who died at the zenith Of
his fame, has been wished for them in
all kindness. rather than the fate of the
editor of The Boomerang whose wit
grew labOred as his life began TO Wane
under the killing contract to supply hu-
NOR to the American nation by the CO.
lumn in weekly installments.
Yet Dunno and AIDE still flourish
Their humor is equal to every eue.-
gency; it expands, like the Constitution,
eX proprio vigore. And the reason is,
that it has depth of earth
The roots of DOoleys philosophy sink
through the paving of the "Ar-rchey
Road" deep into the continental soil
beneath. A son of the city as Mr. Dun
ne is, seeing only the public side of life
as it is presented through the news
papers, he is thoroughly American in his
shrewd wit and simple yet profound
wisdom. Every discussion ends with a
homely epigTam which is worthy of Lin
coin. We quote 3 few from the present
collection:
Il think" said Mr.. Dooley, that if
tn Christyan Scientists had some
science an tn doctors more Christya-
nifty, it wudden't made amy difference
which We called inf we had a good
nurse"
mo matter whether tn Constitution
follows tn flag or not, tn supreme
coort follows tn iliction returns"
Il shud think Schley'd thry an prove
an allybi," Mr.. Hennessey suggested
pleasantly.
He can't" said Mr.. Dooley. His
frind SIMPSONS got that"
"Ye can lade a man up to tn univer-
sity, but We can't make him think
Mr.. AIDES more outrageous if less as
piring humor derives its sap from less
stubborn soil. It's ground has been mel
| lowed by the generations of humOriSts
who have worked it over and over
again with a rotation of various and
generous crops. 1t is provincial life
and manners as opposed to metrOpOli-
tan. His field is the country town
where live the good folk of budding So
cial aspirations who ape the customs
Of the city.
Great American humorists before him
Max Adeler" and the 'Danbury News
Man" and II. c.. Bunner, have "chroni-
Cled the small beer of village life and
decanted it to us without a tang Of un-
kindness. But AIDES tap has the
wholesome bitterness of satire i'm every
drop He is as stanchlv true to the De-
mOcratic ideal as Dunno. and tlummery
and tlunlleyism are punctured by his
pen as effectively as Imperialism and
plutocracy are hammered by pooley.s
bungstarter
He has the same intellectual power Of
epigram with the added artistic ele-
ment Of phraseymaking. What car
tOOniSt could draw a more vivid sketch
in fewer lines than this? Aunt En-
was two kinds of a Widow, Grass and
Sod. She had buried one Husband and
came our i'm Black. She had tied a can
to No and came out i'm Bright ColoTs.
What could be an apter pun than che
had heard that one is permitted a cer-
tain Latitude with Widows, ana he
went i'm for the whole $50 Degrees And
as for insight into human nature, cer-
tainly the contrast between the realities
and localities of life was never more
tersely epitomized than i'm the account
of THE Girl Who Could Compromise
i'm a Pinch:'
The man who wins my carliacal
regard must be TAN and dark, with
raven hair tossed back from q brow of
Alabaster whiteness, she said, as she
reached for another olive. He must be
brave, yet gentle. 1 would have him a
| Chesterfield as to manners, and da
| bright as Winston Churchill in
thought and speech he must be pure and
unsullied, Withal, he is to be strong