Evening star., 1924-03-22
The Library Table
ny THE BooKLovER ]

49, -----. -
Humor-Sahas been phiIosophized
about, desfgtbed and dissected, but
this has usually been done with Teu-
tonic thoroughness by German
writer's, with rather fugubrious re-
suits. Carolyn Nv ellis has altogether
too keen a. sense OF humor2to try to
analyze and classify humor% But
noting the phenomenaf vogue OF '-Th e,
Outline of History" by the English
Wells, the novelist turned historian,
whose book has achieved perhaps the
greatest sustained uccess OF any
has led to the, publfca tion of outlines
OF science, literature and art, Caro-
lyn Wells has also gone into the cut.
line business on her own account ana
has edited AN Outline of Humor.
Described in a subtitle as "befng
true chronicle from prehistoric ages
TO the. twentieth century, this. Dook
con tains the Hinirna of introductory
and explanatory connecting para
graphs necessary to hold II together.
Its pages, numbering nearly So0.' are
devoted to & well selected anthology
OF humorous passages. PROSE ana Pc
etry, from ancient, medieval and moo
ern writings arranged chroho.iess hr s,riasn-
all made disable by an author, title
and subject index. -"
The brief general Introduction. 20
"An Outline of 1umor consists
writer's on the humorous elements IN
literature. 1t excludes the Germans
who have given, the editor says, pro-
found il. unimportant opinions, put
includes writer's who discuss the oiso
tinetion between humor and the sense
of humor, which the editor points
out are by no means inseparable.
"Humor and the sense+of humor
need not necessarily lie In the same
brain" she writes. Just as one may
be a competent musical or art critic
without creative ability in those feios,
so one may have sense or huInor
without being humorous, ana wee
versa She relates that many great
humorists have little or no sense OF
hurnor. She suggests trying to ten
a Joke to an accredited joker and not
ing his blank expression OF uncompre-
hension. 1t is because he mas no
sense of hur11or that he taxes MN. nm
self seriously" she says. But the
man with a sense Of humor is JOY
| to know and to be with. The man
who possesses both is already an I'M
mortal"
The temptation to Gull and quote
| from this Joyous book are too strong
Out Of the many old friends that urge
their claims the Book1over WIN
choose only this one from oliver Her
ford (after Herrick):
Gather Kittens while you may
Time brings only Sorrow; ..
And the Kittens OF Today
| Will be Old Cats tomorrow"
Here is another short one from
! Thomas Moore that insists on being
quoted:
| ",come. come said Toms father, at
your time of life,
There's no longer excuse Tor thus
playing the rake.
=. .i,aa yo,, .hould think boy, Of
taking a Wife
| Why, 50 it IS: father--whose wife shall
! ! takee''" -. ..
Two brothers as opposite in type as
II they had bsen descended from en-
tirely different lines Of ancestors are
the. chief characters in Booth Tark-
! ington's novel, The Midlander" Both
Dan and Harlan Oliphant. are by
birth Midlanders, for both are natives
Of Booth Tarkington's favorite In
diana city, of which he has traced
/ the development in several novels.
| 1t is TO Dan, however. that the title
of Midlander is applied. for Dan is
the true son Of the middle west.
whose hopes and ambitions all center
about his home city. Dan is mat
] uraI promoter and booster and almost
as soon as he is through college ne
! conceives the great idea OF the Or
naby Addition. He sticks to the idea
| in spite Of the warnings and the
ridicule of nearly every one in town,
and slowly. contrary to all prophe-
eics and with many financial crises,
the idea f,naf1y succeeds. The irony
OF it all rs that the optin,istic. per
| sistsft7 fovable Dan lays the -fouuna-
/ tioas and builds the structure, but
| il is the cuItivatea. superior, cynical
! success. After. ali. Dan has lived and
J has had the fun OF II, and to his
| temperament that alone is worth
/ while. AS Harlan says: Il hope
/ Dams been too busy to be much both
cred about my Judgments: I've been
i hes at least heen a branch. of the
! growing tree, though We don't know
where it's growing 10, or why"
! X r
II Queen Elizabeth had lived IN the
twentieth century instead OF the six
teenth and had Been the victim of all
the diseases attributed to her by
frederick C'hamberIin in q, his book,
The Private Character OF Queen
Elizabeth" she would almost certain.
!Iy not have weathered through tos the
age OF s,.sxtgln,as ,s. M, ~ cn nsbestin
of Queen Elizabeth and concludes
that she was most interesting med
i ical case. He lists chronologically
all her ailments and gives the date of
l each and her age at the time. as well
as all available details of each, dis
4 ease. After this itemi1ed account he
quot es. a. number of-pages of "Qpin-
! ions of Medical Experts" which in
most cases are wisely cautious. Most
1 of the experts, although admitting
shst sH did she not eaSy ss bss. heath
demur that ,itas both difficult and un-
scientific to render a diagnosis on
scattered historical data after the
lapse of mors than 400 years. One
serious flluess which Elizabeth suf-
I fered at the age ,of eighteen was
nephrit!s, or perhaps acute endocar-
&, dftis: but he sees an objection to
! either aiagn9sis in the fact that
have psrmittsd her. to live to be
nearly. s6Sentyfs Another physician. of
the Royal College OF Surgeons, thinks
that she had aner1ia, stomach and
! liver disorders. septic: gums and teeth
and rheumatism. It seems TO be Ger,
tain that Queen Elizabeth once had
! smallpox, but then nearly every one
in the sixteenth century had small
pox and those who recovered were
not often permanently injured in
I from the disease, which was decid-
ed advantage in the days of fro
\ duently recurring epidemics. Alto
gether, one is inclined to believe that
il Queen Elizabeth were a lifelong in
Valid, as Mr. .Chamberiin contends,
she endured the same type of invalid
ism as Jonathan Swift, Thomas Car
lyle and Florence Neutrality-suspicious.
type which is not incompatible, with
longevity.
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