Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-11
MARK TWAIN A
HELP TO ENGLAND
His Services in the Present War
Are Greatly Underestimated.
Some Achievements of Humor
in Other Times and Places

THE encyclopedia offers no aid to a defini-
concerned over its own sense of proportion.
1t doesn't consider the subject of humor
worth an article. There's proportion for you.
The consequence is that whatever humor
you may find in the encyclopedia is dry and
not at all aqueous.
Proportion is only another name for the
fitness of things. Violating all the rules of
the fitness Of things was Mark Twain's
method. If Mark Twain had written an
encyclopedia it would have been a very inter-
esting encyclopedia
Mark Twain's peculiar sense of the unfit
ness of things didn't always pan out as he
intended and hoped. He confessed as much
in his autobiography. In 1877 a company of
the leading geniuses of New England gath
cred to celebrate the birthday of the poet
Whittier There was banquet. Mark Twain
was one of the speakers. When his turn
came he arose and entered upon a reminis-
Genital tale. According to this tale he had
knocked at a miners cabin in southern Cali
fornia and announced himself as a literary
man. With marked i'll humor the miner re-
piled that he had just got rid of three of
them-"Mr. Longfellow, Mr. Emerson Mr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, confound the lot!
Mr.. Emerson was a seedy little bit of a chab
red-headed; Mr.. Holmes was as fat as a
balloon; he weighed as much as three hun
dred, and had double chins all the way down
to his stomach. Mr.. Longfellow was built
like a prize fighter They had been
drinking, could see that!" The story was a
dismal failure Not smile not flicker of
smile, from Mr. Holmes or Mr.. Longfellow
or any of the company. Just a hard New
England frost. 1t took years for the author
to recover from the shame of it, But after
while he himself wrote of that speech:
Refuses to Crawl
II have read 1t twice, and unless I am an
idiot, 1t hasn't single defect in it from the
first word to the last. 1t rs just as good as
can be. 1t is smart; 1t is saturated with
humor. There isn't suggestion of coarse
ness or vulgarity in it anywhere. What
could have been the matter with that
house? If I had those beloved and
revered old literary immortals back here 1
would melt them till they'd run all over the
stage"
He Jared better with his remark that the
reports of his death had been greatly exag-
gerated. And about the same with the
Puddnhead Wilson story wherein Wilson
says, 81 wish l owned half of that dog"
kill my half"
The humOr of Artemus Ward was also that
of funster, a jokester His will was re-
garded by many as his greatest joke. Some
body looked 1t up little while ago and found
that its most interesting parts are as follows:
I desire that my body may be buried in
Waterfall, Me. | give the library Of books
bequeathed to me by my late uncle Calvin
FaTrar, and those that have been added nv
ma m fha hONO Or cir hn at
to be held between the first day of January
and the first day of April immediat ,ly sue
ceeding my decease shall be declared to he
the best scholar in Waterford Upper Village,
such scholar to be native of that last men
toned place and under the age of IS years
l bequeath the residue of my estate
toward forming a fund for the founding OF
an asylum for wOrn-out printers In the
United States and direct that the same be
paid TO Mr.. Horace Greeley, OF New York
HumOr in War and Peace
But we were speaking of Mark Twain.
Mark Twain is helping the Allies win this
war. Mark Twain is the favorite author in
the British trenches.
The story of the New England banquet
shows that Mark wasn't afraid of being vul,
gar The defense which he afterward made
shows that he refused to see any vulgarity
In his own humor In his defense he scorned
defense. Until recently that was the very
opposite OF the Englishmans attitude toward
humor but Mark has conquered England
It's a mighty good thing for England. Heaven
knows it has taken the country long enough
to wake up. but It would have taken longer il
Marks influence hadn't helped break the
awful respect supposedly due bishops ana
buffers. even in the comic papers.
So. in the trenches. the books OF Mark
Twain are the bible OF real business. In the
common, everyday walks Of life, in times Of
peace. humor Is helpful. sewell Ford tells a
story % illustrate this point; Il remsmbsr