Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor By: Thomas L. Masson (1866-1934)
First Page: [Illustration: Mark Twain] MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN WIT AND HUMOR Edited by Thomas L. Masson Volume IV By Fitzhugh Ludlow Harriet Beecher Stowe Danforth Marble William Dean Howells Samuel Minturn Peck William Cullen Bryant and others 1903 CONTENTS AGNES REPPLIER A Plea for Humor MARIETTA HOLLEY An Unmarried Female FITZHUGH LUDLOW Selections from a Brace of Boys ROBERT JONES BURDETTE Rheumatism Movement Cure OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES An Aphorism and a Lecture JOSHUA S. MORRIS The Harp of a Thousand Strings SEBA SMITH My First Visit to Portland WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT The Mosquito JOHN CARVER Country Burial places DANFORTH MARBLE The Hoosier and the Salt pile ANNE BACHE The Quilting FITZ GREENE HALLECK A Fragment Domestic Happiness CHARLES F. BROWNE ("Artemus Ward") One of Mr. Ward's Business Letters On "Forts" JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Without and Within LOUISA MAY ALCOTT Street Scenes in Washington ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE Mis' Smith JAMES JEFFREY ROOHE A Boston Lullaby CHARLES GRAHAM HALPINE Irish Astronomy SAMUEL MINTURN PEOK Bessie Brown, M. D. ROBERT C. SANDS A Monody CAROLYN WELLS The Poster Girl JAMES GARDNER SANDERSON The Conundrum of the Golf Links HARRIET BEECHER STOWE The Minister's Wooing WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS Mrs. Johnson ANONYMOUS The Trout, the Cat and the Fox The British Matron Agnes Repplier A PLEA FOR HUMOR More than half a dozen years have passed since Mr. Andrew Lang, startled for once out of his customary light heartedness, asked himself, and his readers, and the ghost of Charles Dickens all three powerless to answer whether the dismal seriousness of the present day was going to last forever; or whether, when the great wave of earnestness had rippled over our heads, we would pluck up heart to be merry and, if needs be, foolish once again. Not that mirth and folly are in any degree synonymous, as of old; for the merry fool, too scarce, alas! even in the times when Jacke of Dover hunted for him in the highways, has since then grown to be rarer than a phenix. He has carried his cap and bells and jests and laughter elsewhere, and has left us to the mercies of the serious fool, who is by no means so seductive a companion. If the Cocquecigrues are in possession of the land, and if they are tenants exceedingly hard to evict, it is because of the encouragement they receive from those to whom we innocently turn for help: from the poets, novelists and men of letters whose duty it is to brighten and make glad our days. "It is obvious," sighs Mr. Birrell dejectedly, "that many people appear to like a drab colored world, hung around with dusky shreds of philosophy"; but it is more obvious still that, whether they like it or not, the drapings grow a trifle dingier every year, and that no one seems to have the courage to tack up something gay. What is much worse, even those bits of wanton color which have rested generations of weary eyes are being rapidly obscured by somber and intricate scroll work, warranted to oppress and fatigue. The great masterpieces of humor, which have kept men young by laughter, are being tried in the courts of an orthodox morality and found lamentably wanting; or else, by way of giving them another chance, they are being subjected to the peine forte et dure of modern analysis, and are revealing hideous and melancholy meanings in the process. I have always believed that Hudibras owes its chilly treatment at the hands of critics with the single and most genial exception of Sainte Beuve to the absolute impossibility of twisting it into something serious. Strive as we may, we cannot put a new construction on those vigorous old jokes, and to be simply and barefacedly amusing is no longer considered a sufficient raison d'etre . It is the most significant token of our ever increasing "sense of moral responsibility in literature" that we should be always trying to graft our own conscientious purposes upon those authors who, happily for themselves, lived and died before virtue, colliding desperately with cakes and ale, had imposed such depressing obligations... Continue reading book >>

Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor By: Thomas L. Masson (1866-1934)

First Page:

[Illustration: Mark Twain]

MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN WIT AND HUMOR

Edited by Thomas L. Masson

Volume IV

Fitzhugh Ludlow Harriet Beecher Stowe Danforth Marble William Dean Howells Samuel Minturn Peck William Cullen Bryant and others

1903

CONTENTS

AGNES REPPLIER A Plea for Humor

MARIETTA HOLLEY An Unmarried Female

FITZHUGH LUDLOW Selections from a Brace of Boys

ROBERT JONES BURDETTE Rheumatism Movement Cure

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES An Aphorism and a Lecture

JOSHUA S. MORRIS The Harp of a Thousand Strings

SEBA SMITH My First Visit to Portland

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT The Mosquito

JOHN CARVER Country Burial places

DANFORTH MARBLE The Hoosier and the Salt pile

ANNE BACHE The Quilting

FITZ GREENE HALLECK A Fragment

Domestic Happiness

CHARLES F. BROWNE ("Artemus Ward") One of Mr. Ward's Business Letters

On "Forts"

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL Without and Within

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT Street Scenes in Washington

ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE Mis' Smith

JAMES JEFFREY ROOHE A Boston Lullaby

CHARLES GRAHAM HALPINE Irish Astronomy

SAMUEL MINTURN PEOK Bessie Brown, M. D.

ROBERT C. SANDS A Monody

CAROLYN WELLS The Poster Girl

JAMES GARDNER SANDERSON The Conundrum of the Golf Links

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE The Minister's Wooing

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS Mrs. Johnson

ANONYMOUS The Trout, the Cat and the Fox The British Matron

Agnes Repplier

A PLEA FOR HUMOR

More than half a dozen years have passed since Mr. Andrew Lang, startled for once out of his customary light heartedness, asked himself, and his readers, and the ghost of Charles Dickens all three powerless to answer whether the dismal seriousness of the present day was going to last forever; or whether, when the great wave of earnestness had rippled over our heads, we would pluck up heart to be merry and, if needs be, foolish once again. Not that mirth and folly are in any degree synonymous, as of old; for the merry fool, too scarce, alas! even in the times when Jacke of Dover hunted for him in the highways, has since then grown to be rarer than a phenix. He has carried his cap and bells and jests and laughter elsewhere, and has left us to the mercies of the serious fool, who is by no means so seductive a companion. If the Cocquecigrues are in possession of the land, and if they are tenants exceedingly hard to evict, it is because of the encouragement they receive from those to whom we innocently turn for help: from the poets, novelists and men of letters whose duty it is to brighten and make glad our days.

"It is obvious," sighs Mr. Birrell dejectedly, "that many people appear to like a drab colored world, hung around with dusky shreds of philosophy"; but it is more obvious still that, whether they like it or not, the drapings grow a trifle dingier every year, and that no one seems to have the courage to tack up something gay. What is much worse, even those bits of wanton color which have rested generations of weary eyes are being rapidly obscured by somber and intricate scroll work, warranted to oppress and fatigue. The great masterpieces of humor, which have kept men young by laughter, are being tried in the courts of an orthodox morality and found lamentably wanting; or else, by way of giving them another chance, they are being subjected to the peine forte et dure of modern analysis, and are revealing hideous and melancholy meanings in the process. I have always believed that Hudibras owes its chilly treatment at the hands of critics with the single and most genial exception of Sainte Beuve to the absolute impossibility of twisting it into something serious. Strive as we may, we cannot put a new construction on those vigorous old jokes, and to be simply and barefacedly amusing is no longer considered a sufficient raison d'etre . It is the most significant token of our ever increasing "sense of moral responsibility in literature" that we should be always trying to graft our own conscientious purposes upon those authors who, happily for themselves, lived and died before virtue, colliding desperately with cakes and ale, had imposed such depressing obligations... Continue reading book >>

Genres for this book
Humor
Literature

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