Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-03-13
c0)NNcE J ! PuuNlEs,
James Russell Lowell CIeverIy Hid
One In a Review.
QUAINT HUMOR IN A SkEEZE.
The Story That Is Told Of the Witty
Cleric, Sydney Smith, and the Wager
He Won While In the Pulpit-A
Buried Pun by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Buried PUN py NathanleI 1a"tnoTns'
Horace Z. Scudder in some reminis.
ccnces OF James Russell Lowell point
ed out that the poet critic even In his
soberest essays would sometimes hide
away jest for the delectation OF spe-
cluIly discerning readers. Thus in a
review Of Richard Grant Whites edi.
ton Of Shakespeare, Lowell remarked
incidentally:
ITO every commentator who has
wuntonIy tempered with the text or
obscured it with his inky cloud Of para
phrase we feel inclined to apply the
quadrisyllabic name OF the brother Of
Agis, king of Sparta"
Professor FELTON, OF Harvard, we are
told, was the first to remember or dis.
cover that the name Of Agis' brother
was Eudamidas.
4 more opaque mystilicaton is con-
tanned in passage in the first chapter
Of Nathaniel IIawthOrne's Our Old
Ilome"-opaque only because he pur-
pOscly seeks to conceal every c!ew to
: the fact that 4 pun is buried beneath
the surface.
The chapter is headed "Consuar Ex-
pcriences.' Speaking OF the lights and
shadows of the consul's office Mt Liver
pool. where he was stationed during
the presidency Of Franklin Pierce,
| Hawthorne dwells with special pleas
IRE Oh the visits Of a young English
friend, "a scholar and literary amateur.
between whom and myself there sprang
up an affectionate and, trust, not
transitory regard
This friend used to come and sit or
stand by the Hawthorne fireside. with
such kind endurance OF the many
rough republicunisms wherewith l as,.
sailed him and such frank and aIniuble
assertion OF all sorts Of English preju.
dices ana mistakes, that l understood
his countrymen infinitely the better for
him and was almost prepared to love
the intensest Engishman of them al
$ p, It--.--7'----r -5ould crafty my cher
M anu o'a"u asce Of this dear friend
hing ana malnil him without offend
And get each veg the public know it.
Commerce Commisaame upon my page.
ort which contains illumination of my
? otbor s+.+;s,,os onent as often rs he
wful as the hypotn'dsr n.yor .,snocts
,-.-. I~,As<A.A. A[uuei never SuSlcCtS
that Hawthorne has deity accomplish
! ed his purpose. 1t does not occur to
him that Bright, the apparent adjective
that SO cunningly begins a sentence
and therefore achieves the right to
capital initial, may be alternatively
read rs proper noun.
Henry A. Bright was. In fact, Haw.
thorne's only intimate friend in Liver.
pool. He was a man Of wealth and po-
sition in that town, dilettante who
had published for his own amusement
u botanical manual, 1.-The English
Flower Garden" With Hawthorne he
would frequently call upon the local
bookseller, Henry Young, making use
OF little nook in the rear Of the shop
TO examine and discuss the recent pub
| llcatiOns. This came to be known as
Hawthorne's corner
There is story told about Sydney
Smith that represents him as carrying
concealed pun into the pulpit with
him. The most familiar version is that
which Lord Houghton used to tell.
! N'h0n cnff1n1 Of hiS email Rv{nr In
Yorkshire, Sydney willingly assisted
his brethren in that neighborhood in
their clerical duties. On one occasion
he dined with the incumbent on the
preceding Saturday. The evening
passed in great ,hilarity, the squire,
Kershaw by name. being conspicuous
by his loud enjoyment Of the visitors
| Jokes.
Il am very glad that have amused
you," said Sydney Smith ut parting,
but you mast not laugh at my sermon
tomorrow"
Il should hope I know the difference
between here and a church." remarked
the squire little tartly perhaps.
| III llOL 81 oulC VI llIut.
"I'll bet you Il guinea on it,"
"Take YOU" said the divine.
Next day the preacher assembled the
steps Of the pulpit apparently suffering
from a severe cold, with his A,ndker-
chief to his face. and at once sneezed
out the name "Kershaw" several times
in various intonaions. This ingenious
assumption of the readiness with which
man would recognize his own name
IN sounds unintelligible to the ears Of
others proved accurate. The poor
squire burst into guffaw, to the scan
dial Of the congregation. The minister
after looking at him with stern re-
proach proceeded with his discourse
and won the bet
Another version makes the victim
of Sydney's jest a certain Sir Archi-
bald Macdonald, equerry to the Duke
Of Sussex Sir Archibald said to the
preIate, who was then canon at st.
Paul's cathedral:
II will come some Sunday to hear
you preach"
IF you do shall name you from the
pulpit" was the reply.
Undaunted by this threat, Sir Archi-
bald went to st. PauTs.
Sydney entered the pulpit, looked