Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-10-04
DAILY KENNEBEc JoITIsNAI1 SATURDAY. OCTOBER 1902

joke. Not long since, when Maroon
ANNOUNCED that he had received wire
Hess message from England, joke was
4 written. in which n .magnate" threat.
|. ened an inventor with dire results il he
. did not leave the '.magnate's" air alone
, And two days after the joke appeared
Narconi was enjoined from conducting
any further experiments in Newfound-
, land.
Last year Mr.. Il. L. Taylor. of the
Chicago Tribune. conducted fabulous
air-ship expedition to the North Pole
!, Last Saturday (April 12), survivor
of the Greedy expedition was quoted
!. as saying that he had made prepare
tons to go to the pole by ar ship in
. company with the inventor of the
isame. The expedition is merely wait
ing until the air ship is in working or
der.
Missionary Stone was no sooner re-
leased by the bandits than one of the
comic papers had a paragraph telling
how a released captive called feebly
for the latest fashion papers, saying
THAT she had not seen one for six
months.
The making of jokes on current
affairs is simple enough. The difficulty
arises in selecting the proper topic and
| the right time of its existence as such.
1t is only necessary to suppose instances
or situations which, properly arranged,
are essentially amusing. Really, there
is very little wit nowadays made OF
whole cloth that is, purely 1magina-
tive. Take as an instance the spring.
lbonnet-and- dress item. To the clear
| eyed observer of events ana Things
there is a rare field of fun y: the rush
| of women to the bargain counter. the
abnormal prices, the constantly chang
ing fashions. Yet when we view 1t
| from the standpoint of the woman who
finds that her purchase has gone out OF
style while she carried it home, or OF
| the man who must pay the bills, we see
the joke.
| The pun, as a joke, has had its day.
1t reaches the waste basket nine times
out of ten, unless it is unusually good,
utterly unexpected or well concealed.
1t might be of interest to the gentle
| reader who signs for the unctuouS wit
| OF the famous bon vivantS of the good
old days to compare their preserved
bumor with the present product. 1t
also would be a surprise to them. The
| regulations of the old-time wits and
| rsconteurs were bulded upon puns OF
Sc feeble IA nature that they would be
hooted down in derision now.
| In the humorous field, as in many
others the hand of woman is now ap-
parent. 1t is painful, and perhaps un-
gallant, to say, but it must be SAID.
| that about one woman in a thousand
can write humor, and even then 1t VIII
have traces of a chewed lead pencil I'D
| if. But the woman who is truly funny
6 ems to attain a rapier-like quality OF
| Wit that few men achieve. 1t may be-
after woman has become thoroughly
| "euualiZed" that she will produce fewer
Jokes on love, tea-partles ana
| "mot;,er's Coffee There are en-
couraging symptoms in much OF the
feminine output at present.
| No one who seeks or is thrust into
| publicity may hope to escape the 1un-
makers. Ideas are too scarce. Let
| oolitician become fiamboyantly eio-
ouent today. and tomorrow his name Is
| in half the funny columns IN tne
country. The erratic Kansas laoy
who devastated the saloons was an IN
spiration for hundreds OF amazingly
funny things in verse and prose. Inc
SAMPSON chley controversy crept mo
humor almost before the smoke al
Santiago had cleared away. ms one
is still going the rounds:
ret her turn as she likes" mused
Noah as he leaned against the star
hoard rail and watched the erratic
y,al,e of the ark. Let her turn as she
likes. When we get through with TINS
trim no one is going to rise up ana ask
bar about her tactical diameter.
Illustrated humor, too, has gone Tor
u.rd Not only are there jokes in the
nictures. but there are no more eA-
nIanations needed. such as once APP
re,red in brackets beneath the Illus
tration. and read:
pat (who is coming down the iad-
der1r or "(who is falling DOWN.
xv;th oil The wealth of joyousness that
3; ha;ng mined daily. the ancient ana non
nrable Specimens will crop out occaN,onf Cor
r. is hard to ascribe reason IoI
,,ttis Nh Lew Dockstader. one OF tns
l t,. If the old school of minstreisy' You
| the writer on one occasion ina. s ne "a 70
encountered audiences which antertain
~. ps rrap Nth new fun. But when he told
the real old jokes they laughed. ne sus
eested that this no DOUBT was M ,,,a1s
the audience knew ina. .tie - 9'r this oninion
thn Fact that their fathers and grand
liners before them had honored the an
| niant snecimens with their approval
while the new ones were untried innova
tians and consequently to be treated Win
looming hauteur. There may be some
tii Tbs one old Joke that seems endowed
Nth nerpetual life. and which meets tne
we most frequently, was hrst put IN
ngyinted form in THE Hundred Merry
tales which was published anou. ,oIo
I'D is mentioned in Shakespearels Mucn
sAdo About Nothing" The story; winch
viii he readily recognized, goes thus:
VIA certavne merchaunt and couItear.
heinp ,Inon a tyne together az dyner
ba,,ing a hote custerd. the courtear, De.
ing somewhat lonely of maner. toke
narte of il and put it in hys mou,ne .
Which was so hote that it made MIN sneu
teares The merchant. Joking on nym;
hv,n whv he wept. The courtear an
Swared and said sir, quod he, hao a
brother whych dyd certayn onenss
wherefor he was hangyd. and chaunclng
70 thyi,k move uponn hys deth, 1t makes
i''T Tb ~ story contip les telling of the sur
nrise If the ..merchaunt" upon also TAX
nc lite of the "hoto custcrd, ana now
he vent too. Whcreupon the courier