The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-03-02
TIE WORLD JOKES IN IRELAND,
Irish Humor From the Viewpoint of
Traveller.


Ina Ireland the whole WORLD Jokes and
the responsiveness is delicious, writes
Katharine lyman i'm the New YORK.
sun. IN England you have learned a
sober demeanor. AS soon as the first
velvet breath of irish air blows on your
face you begin to rollick
launching at a Dublin restaurant a
friend of ours Of an impassivelv dry
demeanor tried a joke ca the waiter
When the bill was brought he placed on
II a bright new farthing aud went on
talking to US, apparently unconscious of
his mistake. The waiter stood by pa
uently TIL there was pause in The
conversation.
Il beg your pardon, sir" he said.
but have you no smaller changeq'' >
The IriShman's wit is humor as we'll
as wit, and humor is own sister to wis
dom. No true Irishman' is ever guilty.
of punning, that dreariest of all forms
of fun.
The Irish humor is rich humor. 1t
is found at its best in the Irish-Amer-
lean MIR. Doo!ey." Mr. Dooley is at
least as great philosopher as he is a
wit. and in both capacities I salute him
as one of the immOrtals
1t is this quality Of humor that makes
the Irish life so gay, so varied so be-
wilderingly pleasant. 1t is this. quality
which makes material pleasures count
for very little in the ordinary Irish life
An Irishman will not think of his
dinner so long as he is hearing good
stories. He may be buttonholed i'm the
street on his way to dinner and forget
all about the meal They live by enjoy
ment as well as by food over there:
and an Irishman does not care when
he dimes.
< 10 &c 8
ter of the public restaurant: when. the
dinner is ready, if he is at home. 1
have been asked to dine at Dublin
house. and have arrived at the door
with the materials for the dinner: and
] have been punctual for lunch at 80.
according to the card and have been
received by half a dozen dogs who sat
around in chairs and entertained me.
while a maid. looking as though I had
come with the milk in the morning
came in to light the fire and informed
me that the mistress was living down
with the toothache. The next guest ar
rived at PAS, and lunch was on the ia
BILE at 3.
What matter? One grows accustomed
10 the want of punctuality in time:
and the meal is worth having when it
comes, for it is seasoned with gayety.
They may or may not make big for
tunes over there, but life is worth liv-
ing. 1t is true that they are no stu
dents. no lovers of books in these lat
ter days. They claim for themselves
that they are connoisseurs Of all the
arts: but l doubt it,
What do they want with books: see
ing how delightful is the page of life?
They are not restful enough for quiet
contemplation of the arts Every man
is his own and his fellows book and
picture. 1t is the slower. more con-
templative races that are in the right !
sense of the word, amateurs Of the arts. |
They viii not even write their hun,o,- /
down. If they did, what a library of
humor they might make, It is some |
thing too instant, too evanescent. too |
much of the time and the occasion for |
cold writing down.
Everywhere men congregate in Ire |
land is a center of wit and humor. 1t |
invades the learned professions and
those whom age might have stalled to t
laughter. The Four Courts library n
Dublin is one of the places whence the
good stories emanate. The wits of
Dublin, within my memory. have been
Baron Dowse, Judge: lord Morris of
Spidal, also Judge; Father Healy. a
priest; DR.. Medley, a SURGEON.
All these are gone Most hanpilv.
Richard Adams, county court Judge.
yet remains And. to be sure. the va
cant places have been filled Even
politics has not made the Irish sad;
and there is no tax on laughter.
When you set out to tell good stories
from Ireland they jostle each other Sc
in your memory that you hardly know