III Oral: Recite in class any historical incident or story known to you thru actual observation or thru hearsay which illustrates in some way nobility of character.

IV Suggested Oral: Read aloud in class the passage by Hawthorne upon Leigh Hunt, which was quoted in Chapter XV.

V Written and Oral: Name in your wordbooks from time to time the examples of good characterization which come to your notice in your general reading, whether these occur in fiction, in history, or in other forms of writing. Later, should time permit, read one or more of these aloud in class. Cite always the author, the volume, and the page, that the passage may be quickly found.

For him her Old World moulds aside she threw,

And, choosing sweet clay from the breast

Of the unexhausted West,

With stuff untainted shaped a hero new,

Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true.

How beautiful to see

Once more a shepherd of mankind indeed,

Who loved his charge, but never loved to lead;
One whose meek flock the people joyed to be,
Not lured by any cheat of birth,

But by his clear-grained human worth
And brave old wisdom of sincerity.

Our children shall behold his fame,

The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man,
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame,

New birth of our new soil, the first American

From lines upon Lincoln in the "Commemoration
Ode," by James Russell Lowell. *

* Reprinted by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Company, authorized publishers of Lowell's works.

CHAPTER XXII

WIT AND HUMOR

There is an old proverb which says, "Laugh and grow fat." Now, whether or not laughing actually adds to flesh, it may at least keep one from growing thin. It is certain that goodnature tends to lengthen life, while ill-nature tends to shorten it. The reasons for this we need not discuss; but the fact you may well remember. Joy and mirth have prolonged many lives, while discontent and grief have shortened as many more. For your health's sake, don't worry," is a wise proverb, which might also read, "For your good looks' sake;" since one's disposition is always reflected in his face, making it either more charming or less so.

Man is the only animal that actually laughs, altho the bark of the hyena is also called "laughing." Fun-real fun-is one of the best things in life and is necessary to our well-being and happiness. Hence, the power to see and to enjoy the funny should not be considered unimportant. We may sincerely pity the mạn who never sees a joke, and who carries a solemn face all thru life. The pleasure he misses, no one can guess.

Since no two persons see the fun in things with exactly the same eyes, it may interest you to give some thought to certain things called "funny."

Among your friends, perhaps, there is one who often surprises you into a laugh by his bright and unexpected remarks. His mind quickly seizes upon the unsuspected relations between different ideas or words, and like a flash he gives you a new, wise, and laughable view. This friend has the rare and valuable gift of wit.

You have, also, I hope, another friend who does not make you laugh so often, but who keeps you good-natured by his amusing way of looking at whatever happens. Amid disagreeable surroundings, he sees a funny side. The spirit of good cheer goes with him, because he can smile over every mishap and find the best way out of it. This friend of yours has that most desirable gift, humor; and humor usually goes hand in hand with genuine “good-humor.”

Now, you may have a third acquaintance who has neither the wise, keen wit of your first friend, nor the good-natured humor of the second one. He also loves to laugh, but he is contented to have his laugh all to himself. He forgets that there is all the difference in the world between having fun with his friends and making fun of them. Hence, he is always saying things in the way of ridicule. He uses sarcasm; that is, he says the opposite of

what he means, in an unkind and sneering fashion.

Perhaps you have also another friend, who has still different ideas as to what things are "funny." This friend takes chief delight in playing practical jokes. To enjoy the trouble and annoyance which someone else must suffer is the so-called fun of the practical joker. But it is always a narrow and uneducated spirit which gets pleasure from tricks played upon others. For nothing is fun which causes loss, pain, or annoyance. Now, the practical joker has no humor; for he fails to see things from all sides,—a thing which the real humorist is sure to do. He may be neither witty, nor humorous, nor sarcastic; for his "fun" is found in action rather than in speech.

You admire your witty friend and enjoy his brilliant remarks; you love your humorous friend and seek his companionship; you fear your sarcastic friend because he makes you a frequent target for shafts of ill-natured ridicule; and you dislike heartily the practical joker who never puts himself mentally into another's

place long enough to fancy the feelings of those whom he victimizes.

Wit is a quality of mind born with its owner. It is a natural gift, desirable but dangerous. Like a sharp-edged tool, it is to be handled with care. Combined with an ill-natured disposition, wit is sure to cause much unhappiness, for it makes of words cruel daggers; but when joined with a gentle spirit, it may make us laugh while teaching us to be wise.

Benjamin Franklin was remarkable for constant good-humor and also for a keen wit which he could turn to good account against his political enemies. Here are two familiar anecdotes :

When John Hancock, after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, urged upon the signers the necessity of union, saying, "We must all hang together," "Yes," said Franklin, or we shall all hang separately!"

This celebrated letter was written by Franklin at about the same date to an Englishman named Strahan :

You are a member of Parliament, and one of the majority which has doomed my country to destruction. You have begun to burn our towns and murder our people. Look upon your hands! They are stained with the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends. You are now my enemy, and I am

Yours,

B. FRANKLIN.

When wit turns itself to reform abuses and follies, we have what is called satire. Satire need not be ill-natured, as you may see by reading Lowell's "Biglow Papers," the greatest example of satire in our American literature. Satire and sarcasm both say what is not really meant, but satire is often good-natured, while sarcasm is always bitter. Satire most often uses verse, but “the immortal Mr. Dooley's" wise and humorous satire is prose.

Oddly enough, as one may at first think, the bodily as well as the mental springs of laughter and of tears seem to lie side by side. For one may cry till he laughs and laugh till he cries, and then may do both together. Likewise, it is true that pathos in writing, that is, its power to move us to tears, usually marks the writings of the greatest humorists.

When wit plays with mere words for the sake of the play, we have puns, and when wit plays with a thought in order to present it in an odd and apparently contradictory form, we have an epigram. Franklin's pun on the word hang you have just read. Here is an epigram which I think you can now understand:

The man who has the most good-humor may have no humor at all: but the man who has humor is sure to have good-humor also.

We may think of humor somewhat as we do of the warm and steady sunset glow which fills the western sky, and of wit as of those sharp and infrequent lightning flashes which play harmlessly upon and thru that golden glow, shifting and changing but never stopping. And, as to sarcasm, — well, I believe sarcasm is most nearly like the swift thunderbolt which takes no heed as to what lies in its path, but stuns and blackens and destroys everything it chances to touch.

One who has no gift of wit himself may perhaps enjoy the wit of others all the more. It is desirable that everyone should be able to enjoy those most delightful writers like Washington Irving, Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt, Oliver Goldsmith, and many, many more whose very names almost carry a happy smile with them. No person who loves these writers is likely to find life full of hardships. If so be that you are one of those who do not easily see the amusing side of things, at least comfort yourself with the thought that it is there, nevertheless, and so set yourself to find it. And all the while, remember that humor in spoken or in written