The Topeka state journal., 1919-12-31
ON SECOND THOUGHT

BY JAY z. HOUSE
(From Phiiadelphia Public Ledger.l


Sir-Permit me to take issue with
Won as to Harold Bell Wright being
"among contemporary writer's the
greatest of the unconscious huInorists-
Since when has H. Addington Bruce
lost the distinction, If you please!
on my distinguished candidate for Su-
prenle Scream Of the Order OF Uncon-
scious Humor.
HUGH MERR-
There is, %e are surprised to OBJ
serve, some local controversy as to the
identity Of Belshazzar. We are pleased
to contribute such information as We
possess to the symposium Belshaz-
zar was the guy who looked across
the top OF the golden goblet in which
l.reposed his sixth silver fizz and saw
the chirography on the adobe.
Which reminds us that, in recent
years, we have come TO admire Joseph
more than any other of the old bibli-
cal characters It was Joseph. you
may remember. who, having turned
the joke on his relatives, resisted the
temptation to rub it in
| The superhuman performance Al s
ways enthralls the fancy of the col
umn. If we neglect to applaud 1t, you
may attribute such failure TO an over
| sight.
| We have hitherto referred to Mr.
Drinj.water's "Abra ham Lincoln"
which Is by way of being something
OF sensation in New York. We get
it from one who has seen 1t that Mr.:
Drinkwater puts the interjection An.
into the late and martyred presidents
mouth.
As graduate of the Illinois. or
prairie, school of ejaculation. we
should be willing to lay little at odds
of to that Mr.. Lincoln never said
| it.
| MFR. Bryan. if he returns to tlfs
leadership of his party, will find Il
about as he left ii. After an almost
Unprecedented era of prosperity, II is
again insolvent.
! We are grateful to the reader of the
column who supplied US with the rule
concerning the use of the words
further" and farther" We were
always in doubt. The trouble is he
made it so clear as to render iue--
fective one of the best of the phrase
illogical curves in our repertoire.
For that reason, we ask that no ore
attempt to lay down to US the rule for
who and whom" We are too old
| to think up new stuff. To deprive US
of moro of the old would be to reduce
US TO a physiological plttance.
We may add, as an aside. that the
middle-western. or prairie school OF
expression. from which we graduated,
had but one rule. That was, "Shoot
| it,"
The common people are not only
| hard-put to make a living, hut the one
distinction that formerly came to them
no longer is considered ethical or in
good taste. Very few publications
nowadays print the record of the
patients recovery thru the use Of
proprietary medicines. Fewer still
can be persuaded 10 permit picture
of the patient to appear in their
columns.
! The feat of a man who lost bass
drum finally has been duplicated
| There are, indeed, some who consider
the act of the Brooklyn man who mis-
laid hair mattress to be an infinitely
superior performance.
Those who say ''let me pay it, are
numerous enough. but those who
actually reach for the check" are less
frequently encountered.
Another joke which has gained vida
circulation in this country is the one TO
the effect that If certain candidates are
elected to offie taxes Will be reduced.