ch a good day for them!"

And in the moralizing vein, this:

The little girl had been very naughty. She was bidden by her mother to
make an addition to the accustomed bedtime prayer--a request that God
would make her a better girl. So, the dear child prayed: "And, O God,
please make Nellie a good little girl." And then, with pious
resignation, she added:

"Nevertheless, O God, Thy will, not mine, be done."

At times, we are as cynical as the French. So of the husband, who
confessed that at first after his marriage he doted on his bride to such
an extent that he wanted to eat her--later, he was sorry that he hadn't.

Our sophistication is such that this sort of thing amuses us, and, it is
produced only too abundantly. Luckily, in contrast to it, we have no
lack of that harmless jesting which is more typically English. For
example, the kindly old lady in the elevator questioned the attendant
brightly:

"Don't you get awful tired, sonny?"

"Yes, mum," the boy in uniform admitted.

"What makes you so tired, sonny? Is it the going up?'

"No, mum."

"Is it the going down?"

"No, mum."

"Then what is it makes you so tired, sonny?"

"It's the questions, mum."

And this of the little boy, who was asked by his mother as to what he
would like to give his cousin for a birthday present.

"I know," was the reply, "but I ain't big enough."

Many of our humorists have maintained a constant geniality in their
humor, even in the treatment of distressing themes. For example, Josh
Billings made the announcement that one hornet, if it was feeling well,
could break up a whole camp meeting. Bill Nye, Artemas Ward and many
another American writer have given in profusion of amiable sillinesses
to make the nation laugh. It was one of these that told how a drafted
man sought exemption because he was a negro, a minister, over age, a
British subject, and an habitual drunkard.

The most distinctive flavor in American humor is that of the grotesque.
It is characteristic in Mark Twain's best work, and it is characteristic
of most of those others who have won fame as purveyors of laughter. The
American tourist brags of his own:

"Talk of Vesuve--huh! Niag'll put her out in three minutes." That
polished writer, Irving, did not hesitate to declare that Uncle Sam
believed the earth tipped when he went West. In the archives of our
government is a state paper wherein President Lincoln referred to
Mississippi gunboats with draught so