Word: writeres
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Dates: during 1873-1873
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...assume to define the legitimate course of a public writer to any one, but merely to express an opinion in regard to it, and that opinion to bear chiefly upon but two of the important auxiliaries in its pursuit, - wit and humor...
...writer sits down for the purpose of producing a witty article, one that shall make the public laugh in spite of itself; an onerous task for two reasons, - the public is decidedly opposed to laughing without being tickled, and it is exceedingly difficult to find a sensitive spot whereon to apply the straw. By public we mean the average mass of thinking men and women, excluding wholly that class of constitutional gigglers who laugh alike at David's solemnity and Twain's humor...
With these facts before him our writer sends out his thoughts in search of something funny : but witticisms are coy birds and fly high; few are able to capture them at will, or furnish them to order. In nine cases out of ten, wearied with his fruitless endeavors, he descends to a lower plane, makes use of vulgarity, and passes it off for wit. Some, as we have before hinted, seem unable to distinguish between the genuine and the spurious article; others there are who, from their moral status, seem incapable of appreciating anything genuine, who derive their intellectual nourishment...
Nothing will more surely destroy the effect of a humorous story than ill-restrained laughter on the part of the narrator. If a writer would divest his article of all poignancy, he has only to show by his repetitions and redundant expressions that he is fully impressed with a conviction of his own mighty wit, and fearful that his readers will fail to discover...
...writer shows to the public either by open avowal or otherwise, that he considers himself competent to lead it along the highway of jollity, it will immediately draw down its face, ridicule his assumption, and refuse to recognize his ability; if, on the other hand, he brings his satire into play, clothing his humor in sober, innocent-looking phrases, all with no apparent purpose of provoking a smile, his point is gained; the public laughs and commends...