The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1903-03-26
EVOLUTION OF HUMOR.
JAMES L. FORD BELIEVES SATIRE
WILL SOON BECOME POPULAR,

| oee'h9 somebody Get the Worst of 1t
Underlies All Funny Happenings the
World Around--AII True Wit Must
Have Foundation in Sincerity.
philosophers who look upon passing
events through the rose.colored
glasses OF optimism may find cause for
rejoicing by comparing our national
humor OF toaay with that of the So
called newspaper SCHOOL, that flour
ished from quarter to third of q
century ago.
1t was at time when the entire
| American nation seemed to DO liter
| ally hungering after something funny
that "rhe Danbury News Man." "Tho
| Detroit Free Press Man." THE Bur
| lington IIawkeyc Man, and score
| Of others of their class sprang into
a sudden local renown which, in many
cases, grew into national fame. Their
humor was, as general thing, Of what
Is known professionally as the aero:
batic" school. That is to say, it was
founded on human catastrophes of the
sort incident to the treacherOus ba-
mana peel, the putting up of the stove
pipe. the return from the lodge, the
deprcdations of the goat and the per-
versitics of tho yellow dog. In the
humor of this school, inebriety, in it's
many droll phases, played part
whose Importance it would be hard to
ovcrcStimate.
We have outgrown this school at
the present day, but let us not sneer
at it, for, after all, it was true, stcr-
ling humor, founded on the same
deafness principle of seeing some.
body get the worst Of it underlieS all
funny happenings the world around
the same principle that forms the
backbone alike OF Thackery's satire
and the early English jokes of the
pulling-a -achairfrom-undcr variety.
Moreover, it was clean, honest hui
NOR which served the double purpose
Of educating the popular taste and de-
vcloping a few writer's, like Mark
Twain and Eugene Field, who are now
source of national pride.
For my own part, look back with
feelings to tender regret to the days
when humorist could not only write
1000 words upon opening a bottle of
kumySS or 1900 about losing a collar
button under the bureau, but also fear
lessly offer it in the marts Of litera-
ture. Those were days when a humOr-
iSt could set up his workshop in some
pleasant country place, and with no
stock in trade save such familiar
properties as the mOtherin.law, the
goat the Stovcpipe. the banana peel
and the lodge grind out a living that
az least gave him contcntmcnt and
good health. Once or twice a month
he would visit the city, bringing with
him basket of his wares. Most Of
the publications in those days dealt
exclusively in acrObatic humor, with
the exception perhaps Of one which
had what was called "a refined fam
lly circulatiOn,' and was, therefore,
made the victim OF stories about "Our
little four-ycar-old" or Our friendly
w., who lives in X and is quite a
wag in his way" No acrobatic Jokes
could be sold 10 the editor of that
periodical. except those from which
the curse had been craftily removed
by crediting them to Captain X. Of
the Forty seventh Massachusetts reg
iment.
In the early sos the growing popu-
lariry of "Puck," life" and Judge"
led to the establishment of pages or
columns OF original humorous matter
in vast number Of periodicals, Great
ing demand for hrmOr great enough
to OvCrtaX tho capacity Of the regular
, ly accredited members OF the craft It
was this extraordinary and unlocked
! FOR call for humorous matter that lea
vast number of men and women to
| abandon such SCeious pursuits as the
| cultivation of the soil. the cleansing
! OF household linen. tho mcnding Of
, tinwarc and the picking Of hucklcbcr-
! rics in order that they might become
American humOri5tS. But in spite OF
| tho competition of this cheap un-
! skilled labor. the professionals profitcd
greatly by this active market and the
art of nursing a joke and causing it
| to crystalline into a dozen or more
distinct mark ctablc forms, not one of
which could be detected as a plagar-
ism OF any of tho others. was corried
to a higher degree of perfection dur
ing this period than ever before in tho
history Of American letters.
The best Of tho humorists, however,
sought wider field for their efforts in
the pages of the magazines, the ac-
CCDlanCO OIL OIC dTtlCle Vi StOly DSlnS
deemed sufficient to change them from
mere funny writers to literary men,"
and adding materially to the value Of
their signature.
At last the public began to tire Of
humorous pages made up Of para
graphs verses and two-line dialogues
--"short stuff" as it was called-and
displayed marked preference for the
Sunday humorous article signed by
some well-known name. 1t was on
this wave Of pupular taste that Bill
Nye, who had made his first reputa
tion on a western newspaper, came
into great popularity as the pioneer Of
the syndicated weekly article, which
at the time Of his death, brought him
an income of 5000 a week and rem
dcred him prosperous to degree that
the humorists OF an elder day never
dreamed Of.
| Bill Nye was the last leader Of the