Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor, Volume II
General
Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor, Volume II
American wit and humor
The woman lived seven years after that, and they called her the
"India-Rubber Woman." She had suffered terribly with the rheumatism,
but after this occurrence never had a pain in her bones. The dentist
kept them in a glass case. After this, the machine was sold to the
contractor of the Boston Custom-House, and it was found that a child
of three years of age could, by a single turn of the screw, raise a
stone weighing twenty-three tons. Smaller ones were made on the same
principle and sold to the keepers of hotels and restaurants. They were
used for boning turkeys. There is no moral to this story whatever,
and it is possible that the circumstances may have become slightly
exaggerated. Of course, there can be no doubt of the truth of the main
incidents.
* * * * *
Bob Ingersoll relates an anecdote of a Hebrew who went into a
restaurant to get his dinner. The devil of temptation whispered in his
ear, "Bacon." He knew if there was anything that made Jehovah real
white mad, it was to see anybody eating bacon; but he thought, "Maybe
He is too busy watching sparrows and counting hairs to notice me," and
so he took a slice. The weather was delightful when he went into the
restaurant, but when he came out the sky was overcast, the lightning
leaped from cloud to cloud, the earth trembled, and it was dark. He
went back into the restaurant, trembling with fear, and, leaning over
the counter, said to the clerk, "My God, did you ever hear such a fuss
about a little piece of bacon!"
BRET HARTE
THE SOCIETY UPON THE STANISLAUS
I reside at Table Mountain, and my name is Truthful James;
I am not up to small deceit, or any sinful games;
And I'll tell in simple language what I know about the row
That broke up our Society upon the Stanislow.
But first I would remark, that it is not a proper plan
For any scientific gent to whale his fellow-man,
And, if a member don't agree with his peculiar whim,
To lay for that same member for to "put a head" on him.
Now, nothing could be finer or more beautiful to see
Than the first six months' proceedings of that same society,
Till Brown of Calaveras brought a lot of fossil bones
That he found within a tunnel near the tenement of Jones.
Then Brown he read a paper, and he reconstructed there,
From those same bones an animal that was extremely rare,
And Jones then asked the chair for a suspension of the rules,
Till he could prove that those same bones was one of his lost mules.
Then Brown he smiled a bitter smile, and said he was at fault;
It seemed he had been trespassing on Jones's family vault:
He was a most sarcastic man, this quiet Mr. Brown,
And on several occasions he had cleaned out the town.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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