His prose humor, which was published serially in _The World_, New York, in the first decade after Confederation, was fresh and novel and arresting. The series was published in book form under the title _Fables Out of the World_ (1878) and were to their time what the _Fables in Slang_ by George Ade are to our time. So compellingly did Lanigan’s _Fables_ strike the imagination of Mark Twain that he republished seven of them in his Library of Humor. For the most part, Lanigan’s _Fables_ are satires on the half-truths which constitute popular moral maxims. They are all mere absurdities, and mere nonsense; but they contain a larger truth than the maxims they satirize. They are sure to awake a chuckle. We quote two examples:— The Merchant of Venice. A Venetian Merchant who was looking in the lap of luxury was accosted upon the Rialto by a friend who had not seen him for many months. ‘How is this?’ cried the latter. ‘When I last saw you your gaberdine was out at elbows, and now you sail in your own gondola.’ ‘True,’ replied the Merchant, ‘but since then I have met with serious losses, and been obliged to compound with my creditors for ten cents on the dollar.’ Moral.—Composition is the life of trade. The Honest Newsboy. A Newsboy was passing along the street, when he chanced to discover a purse of greenbacks. He was at first inclined to conceal it, but repelling the unworthy suggestion, he asked a Venerable Man if it was his’n. The Venerable Man looked at it hurriedly, said it was, patted him on the head, gave him a quarter, and said he would yet be president. The Venerable Man then hastened away, but was arrested for having counterfeit bills in his possession, while the honest Newsboy played penny-ante with his humble quarter and ran it up to $2.62. Moral.—Honesty is sometimes the best policy.