The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-03-16

American humor differs form that of
every other nation, and its ingredients
defy analysis; but | think that it owes
a great deal to the liberal infusion of
Irish blood during the last century
or more AT least there is nothing at
all resembling it in the literature or
tradition of the early days, before
and Immediately after the Revolution.
The whimsical extravaganza of
statement, the sudden inversion Of
ideas, and the grave reduction of
serious proposition to a delicious alb
! surdity-all these traits of what we
! call American humOr are distinCtively
! Irish also, but Irish qualified by a GER
! tain mock gravity that is purely ma
! tive to the America nsOil. An Irish
man from the Old Country notices at
once the great difference in speech
and manner between his people at
home and those transplanted to the
| United States, especially the children
of the immigrants The humor of the
American side is more tinged with
satire 1t has less of cheerful irres-
ponsible grotesqueness. 1t prOvokes
smile, where the original raises a
! laugh.
There is no history written of Irish
humor. Similarly, although very fun
ny things have been said and done in
prison, there is no volume of Jail joco-
stiles. The people most concerned
| have had other things of a more Sc.
rious nature to occupy their minds.
But even the gravest narratives of
early days occasionally contain a few
bright passages, lighting up the pages
of grim tragedy. The first on record
is that of the short and spicy cores
pOndence which passed between Brian
Borohma (Boru), the Ardrigh or High
King, of all Ireland, and his refrac
tory vassal, the King Of Leinster. Here
| it is in full:
King Brian wrote, Pay me my tri-
butte or, if you don't"
| The King of Leinster answered, 81
owe you no tribute, and if | did"
The Irish, Not the Scotch.
The cleverness Of the Irish has been
proverbial throughout their history
The Roman writer who referred to
the "Perfervidum ingenium Scoto-
rum meant the brilliance Of the
Irish, and not, as Oliver Wendell
Holmes supposed, of the Scots. The
! Irish were the Scott of classic times.
Nobody at any period ever said Of
the Irish, as the early French writer
did of the English, that they take
their pleasures sadly There is an
old stoTy-so old that it may have
been founded on notwithstanding
the prOyerbial happiness OF the Irish
people. Samuel Lover made a farce
out of it. Sir Walter Scott put it in
to verse. Both called it The Happy
Man It was about q certain Sui
tan of Serendib, in the Far East, who
was troubled with chronic insomnia,
and was told by wise man that he
could be cured in only one way
namely, by sleeping in the shirt of a
happy man. The Sultan forthwith
advertised for a happy man with a
shirt to sell, or to let, but strange to
say, he could not find one in his
whole dominion. Thereupon he went
abroad to look for one. He sailed
to the east, the west, the north, and
south; but all in vain, until at last
he came to the shores of Ireland on
the edge of the Atlantic; and 10! the
very first man that he saw on land
ing was not only happy but willing
and ready to admit that he was hap
by. Then the Sultan signified his de-
sire to get possession of that mans
inmost garment.
But the happy man, being happy,
declined to consider the proposition
on any terms WhereupOn ensued
what did not in the least diminish
the gentleman's cheerfulness, a fight.
II was a good fight while it lasted, but
the power of numbers triumphed, and
the victors proceeded benevolently to
assimilate the spoil But alas for the
Sultan and the theory of mental heal
ing! When they stripped the beaten
hut still undaunted Irishman, they
found that he did not have a shirt to
his back. And in the words Of the
poet
The heartbroken Sultan, in sorrow
and shame,
Went back to Serendib as sad as he
came.
Irish wit and humor found their
writer's, orators, and poets, many OF
whom are calmly classified among
English Men of Genius" such as
Swift Goldsmith, Sheridan, Steele
Sterne, and a score Of others. Leigh
Hunt, no mean judge, said of one OF
them, For the qualities of sheer wit
and humor, Swift had no superior, an
cient or modern" Great as he was
however, Swift lived to prove the
truth of Dryden's lines:
Great wits are sure to madness nea'
allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds
divide.
Never Lost His Wit.
But even in his old age and insanity
his quick Irish wit was alive and