American wit and humor; Newspapers -- Sections, columns, etc. -- Excerpts
Our hero married the Fairy, much against his mother's wishes; she knew
her son all too well, and she felt certain that she should soon come to
know Polly as well, and as unfavorably. Things turned out no better than
she had expected. After a month of incompatibility, and worse, Polly
consented to a divorce in consideration of one hundred thousand dollars,
and they all lived happily ever afterward.
A LINE-O'-TYPE OR TWO
"_Fay ce que vouldras._"
"FAY CE QUE VOULDRAS."
_Do what thou wilt._ Long known to fame
That ancient motto of Thélème.
To this our abbey hither bring,
Wisdom or wit, thine offering,
Or low or lofty be thine aim.
Here is no virtue in a name,
But all are free to play the game.
Here, welcome as the flow'rs of Spring,
_Do what thou wilt._
Each in these halls a place may claim,
And is, if sad, alone to blame.
Kick up thy heels and dance and sing--
To any wild conceit give wing--
Be fool or sage, 'tis all the same--
_Do what thou wilt._
* * *
That was an amusing tale of the man who complained of injuries resulting
from a loaded seegar. He knew when he smoked it that it was a trick
weed, and knew that it would explode, but he "didn't know when." He
reminds us very strongly of a parlor bolshevist.
* * *
"Man," as they sing in "Princess Ida," "is nature's sole mistake." And
he never appears more of a rummy than when some woman kills herself for
him, in his embarrassed presence. His first thought is always of
himself.
* * *
A history exam in a public school contains this delightful information:
"Patrick Henry said, 'I rejoice that I have but one country to live
for.'"
* * *
Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. There are some who,
like a certain capable rounder, lately departed, have time to manage a
large business, maintain two or more domestic establishments, razz,
jazz, get drunk, and fight; while others of us cannot find time in the
four and twenty hours to do half the things we wish to achieve. Although
your orator has nothing to do but "write a few headlines and go home,"
as Old Bill Byrne says, night overtakes him with half his chores undone.
Time gallops withal.
* * *
"They know what they like."
There are exceptions. The author of "Set Down in Malice" mentions a
number, the most conspicuous being Ernest Newman. And we recall an
exception, Mr. Jimmie Whittaker, merriest of critics, who was so far
from knowing what he liked that he adopted the plan, in considering the
Symphony concerts, of praising the even numbers one week and damning
the even numbers the following week.
* * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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