Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-17
War EnlarQes the HunOr Zones


DERICARP sat at his desk with a pair
L of compasses making circles on large
sheet of paper when I entered his room,
He is one of those interesting and precise
persons who puts his arguments in a dia'
gram resembling the business organization
charts prepared by efficiency experts In.
deed, he might be called one Of the origi-
nal intellectual efficiency advocates. He
writes his main proposition in little box
at the top of a sheet of paper. Then the
propositions that modify it are written out
in more little boxes connected with the first
by lines and the notifications of the modi
fers are similarly connected with the prop
ositions to which they belong. When his
diagram is completed the fool, though
wayfaring man, can see what he is driving
at.
DUT, as I started to say, Pericarp sat
Lat his desk with a pair Of compasses
drawing circles on a large sheet OF paper.
I suppose my expression. as l looked at
him, was interrogatory, for without wait
ing for any questions from me he began
with one of his own:
Did you ever study the zone system OF
humor? No? 1 thought not. Few persons
have. 1t is a discovery Of my own and l
am proud Of it, Like all other great dis
coveries l came upon it by accident. live
in Philadelphia but have friends who re-
side in Boston, as they put it. They visit
me occasionally and I return the compli-
ment. The last time was in Boston one
of my best friends, whose jokes I had en-
IN, a1 1oIp
took me to a dinner party to which he had
been invited as a guest. And, would you
believe it, the lady at my left-a most
charming lady, too-began one of my
friends best stories with the soup. She
told another of them with the fish, and
when the roast came on 1t was accomp.-n-
led by a third, and so on through the salad,
the dessert and the coffee.
ssDID I lose respect for my friends
- Jokes? By no means. I am more
broad.minded than that, for I know that
the stock of humor is limited and in it's
use the rule of the communists prevails.
It had suddenly dawned upon me that 1
had entered my friends humor zone. The
convention of zones of humor was so novel
that / forthwith explained IL u lne lduy
with results much more satisfactory than 1
could have anticipated. Her eyes twinkled
| as she said that several of the jokes that I
had cracked had been heard recently on
| the lips of my friend. 4 smiled at them
| as YOU smiled at mine she explained, but
| now 1 understand it. He brought them
from Philadelphia. So I see the humor
zones overlap
| ..SOME day when have time l am
| ~ planning to write a book on the
| subject to explain its social significance.
| You know that when you get in. COM
pany of clergymen the humor climate
| varies radically from that Of group of
physicians. You might call it tropical
for a large proportion of their stories dea
with conditions in the hottest region dis
covered in history or fiction. Bob Inger-
| soils remark that lie preferred HEAVIER
for its climate and hell for its society will
get more laughter from group of clergy
men than from men of any other profes'
sion. And the clerical humor zone is sub
divided by sectarian zones. am Protes-
tant and cannot laugh at all the jokes OF
those who adhere to the mother church
For example, have heard Catholics laugh
to split their buttons at the story Of thu
Irishman who went into q restaurant or
hFriday and after calling for whale and
dplphip and shark nnaily ordered corps'
Y l0 & II 4 ~ &. E t<