Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-10-04

much time to the study Of ping pong"
1t is not divulging a trade secret to
say that the ping pong jokes are large
iy worked over golf and tennis pleas
antries.
Many definitions of wit and humor
are attempted, and each one defining
them seems 10 find it difficult to draw
an exact line of demarcation. Humor,
| 1t is usually conceded, exists. 1t has
an entity. Wit is, let us say; the same
thing in speech. 1t is an absurdity of
reasoning. while humor is an absurdity
of fact. AS DR.. Edward Hamilton, in
his The Moral Law" says:
Wit. without any intention to deceive,
but in mere wantonness, constructs
conceptions and statements which have
the appearance of being rational, but
are really sophistical and foolish.
In latter-day jokes and humor are
sometimes combined so seriously as to
make us think, although we smile.
Thus:
A certain man, having read some
where that Opportunity knocks only
once at each ones. door, concluded to
sit up all night for fear he would miss
the call. So, while he was sitting near
the door, there came a heavy knock
thereon.
When he opened the door a stranger
seized him and beat him and took his
money and garments, and chided him
for being so easy.
But" said the man, thinking to ex-
cuse himself, Il thought it was OPP
porlunity who knocked"
$50 it was" responded the other,
but it was my Opportunity"
Moral: 1t is better to carry your op-
portunity with you.
And. again. there is a good combina
ton of seemingly unconscious wit and
humor in the rustic joke which runs:
There goes or Bill Jones. He looks
purity well run down.
Yep. / tell you, ST, Bill amt the
man he used to be-"
mo, by gol, an he never was
Slang, vulgarity and profanity have
run their course in printed humor
They have no place. and find none. in
the really good work of this day. 1t is
not meant by slang to reflect upon
the strikingly amusing Fables of Mr.
George AIDE, nor to intimate that
colloquialsms and apt expressions that
have made themselves a part of semi
polite conversation are beyond the pale.
But the pert, cheap, fiashy slang words
and phrases and the broader argot of
the street no longer obtain in the bet
ter efforts of present writers. How
ever, modern humor is not so Slapped OF
rampant exaggeration as to have lost
any of it's virility. The jokesmith has
enlarged upon almost every one of the
multitude of cults and beliefs of these
latter days. The mental healing sys-
tenn has suggested many efforts on
this order:
Nonsense" said the faith healer,
lyon have not been snake-bitten. you
only think you have been"
Well" said the sufferer, reaching
again for the whisky, that may be all
right. but the snake thought he was 60
ing to bite me, and I can't think as
quick as a snake cam
There are times, too, when an idea
Is funnier in rhyme thap in prose.
Often it may not be funny at all with
out the jingle. The calling in of the
dignified muse has a tendency TO
heighten the absurdity of a thought
II we should say "the blacksmith was
kicked by a mule" we might reflect
that mules were addicted to kicking,
and that it was all in the days work
for the blacksmith. But the result is
different when we add the mule to the
Village Blacksmith"
There is nothing improbable IN a