The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-01-07
BITS OF UNCONSCIOUS HuMoR.
ncongruities That Appeal to the Sense
 O. the Ridiculous.

Incongruities That Appeal to the Sense
 oE the Ridiculous.
 Nothing has added more to the mer- riment of the world than the Uninten- tional, unconscious humor of writers, public speakers and, in fact, all classes and conditions of men and women. And there is none so delightful. It far exceeds in mirth provoking quality the cold blooded humor of the prOfes- siOnal people, and we must and will have our jOllity. Some one has said with certain truth: With all our vanity. energy and unrests we are not dull, cheerless people. Sour faced fellows, yellow and dyspeptic, are to be met with in our cars and on our streets, but they are not the type of the American. for he is as ready for laugh as for speculation, as fond of a joke as an office"
 And the joke is all the more enjoy able when it is spontaneous. The greater the stress and strain of life the greater the need and demand for hu- nor, and no one depreciates the value of humor excepting those who have none of this good gift to their DOT tion. Sunset Cox. one of the wittiest men of his day. says in his book, Why We Laugh:" Eliminate from the liter ature and conduct of any one people the amusing and the amused, faculty, and you produce a sterility as dull and uninteresting as the cinders and ashes of the volcanic fields of Icelands. But include the amusing element within the experience and history of mankind, and no description of, luxuriance, with grape, olive, nectarine and orange, such as makes the vale of Portugal per ennial smile, is adequate to emphasize the contrast"
 One could not we'll instance more amusing blunder than that in paint ing of the Blessed Vhgin' in an old church in Spain. In this painting the Virgin is represented as sitting on a red velvet sofa fondling a cat with one hand. while with the other she is pouring coffee from a silver coffee pot. This is amusing as painting in a German church representing the sac rifice of Isaac by Abraham. In this painting Abraham is about to discharge a huge pistol at Isaac, when an an gel descends and pours a pitcher of water on the pan of the pistol, thereby saving Isaac. The writer once saw a crude painting of King Herod with q pair of spectacles painted on his nose. There is very old painting of St. Peter denying the Savior, and several of i,, fl,A hna ground have pipes in their mouths!
 Those who are on the lookout for them will find many amusing blunders ill the daily papers and in periodicals of all kinds. It was only the other day that the writer saw Miss Fanny Crosby referred to in religious paper as the author of so many blind poems" and it was a great metropolitan daily that one morning gave it's read CTS the following information regard ing the wrecking of a ship the night before: 'The captain swan ashore and succeeded in saving the life of his wife. She was insured in the Northern Marine Insurance Company and carried a cargo of cement" Equally amusing as an instance of un- conscious humor was the statement made by another paper regarding the capsizing of a boat at sea. It said that ''only one life was lost, and that was found afterward.' ~@ ..-. .-@
 He must be sadly deficient in hurnor who does not find himself amused by a sign like the following, seen in the window of a shoemaker: Any re- spectable man, woman or child can have a fit in this shop" It was an enterprising furrier who placed card in his window, stating that, for the benefit of the ladies. he would make 'muffs, boas, etc. out of their own skins
 A prolific source of amusement to manuscript readers is the surprising way in which aspirants. for literary honor and glory often fput things" We find one young woman saying of her heronine: "The countess fell back in a deadly swoon. When she revived her spirit had fled"
 Another young writer places her her oine in very perilous situation, and then says of her: Her lips quivered, her cheeks grew pale, her breath came in short pants.
 A third writer gives this amusing description of the appearance of some one she referred to as "the bell of the ball.: "She was clad in some soft, clinging, fleecy, vapory stuff of purest white, that gave the appearance of a bit of detached cloud floating in the sky. She wore no ornament, with the exception of several bits of rare bric- abrac gathered in a foreign clime."
 A charming bit of purely, uncon- scious humor was that noticed by some visitors to a great English coal mine. At the mouth of the great cen- tral shaft, hundred of feet deep, was a placard bearing these words:
 Please do not tumble down the shaft. ."-Detroit Free Press.
 OPAL SUPERSTITIONS.