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قراءة كتاب Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor Volume I
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
Little Masterpieces of
American Wit and Humor
Edited by Thomas L. Masson
VOLUME I
By
| Washington Irving | Oliver Wendell Holmes | |
| Benjamin Franklin | "Josh Billings" | |
| "Mark Twain" | Charles Dudley Warner | |
| James T. Fields | Henry Ward Beecher | |
| and others | ||
Copyright, 1903, by
Doubleday, Page & Company
Published, October, 1903
INTRODUCTION
This anthology of American Humor represents a process of selection that has been going on for more than fifteen years, and in giving it to the public it is perhaps well that the Editor should precede it with a few words of explanation as to its meaning and scope.
Not only all that is fairly representative of the work of our American humorists, from Washington Irving to "Mr. Dooley," has been gathered together, but also much that is merely fugitive and anecdotal. Thus, in many instances literary finish has been ignored in order that certain characteristic and purely American bits should have their place. The Editor is not unmindful of the danger of this plan. For where there is such a countless number of witticisms (so-called) as are constantly coming to the surface, and where so many of them are worthless, it must always take a rare discrimination to detect the genuine from the false. This difficulty is greatly increased by the difference of opinion that exists, even among the elect, with regard to the merit of particular jokes. To paraphrase an old adage, what is one man's laughter may be another man's dirge. The Editor desires to make it plain, however, that the responsibility in this particular instance is entirely his own. He has made his selections without consulting any one, knowing that if a consultation of experts should attempt to decide about the contents of a volume of American humor, no volume would ever be published.
The reader will doubtless recognize, in this anthology, many old friends. He may also be conscious of omissions. These omissions are due either to the restrictions of publishers, or the impossibility of obtaining original copies, or the limited space.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Acknowledgments are made herewith to the following publishers, who have kindly consented to allow the reproduction of the material designated.
F. A. Stokes & Company, New York: "A Rhyme for Priscilla," F. D. Sherman; "The Bohemians of Boston," Gelett Burgess; "A Kiss in the Rain," "Bessie Brown, M. D.," S. M. Peck.
Dodd, Mead & Company, New York: Four Extracts, E. W. Townsend ("Chimmie Fadden").
Bowen-Merrill Company, Indianapolis: "The Elf Child," "A Liz-Town Humorist," James Whitcomb Riley.
Lee & Shepard, Boston: "The Meeting of the Clabberhuses," "A Philosopher," "The Ideal Husband to His Wife," "The Prayer of Cyrus Brown," "A Modern Martyrdom," S. W. Foss; "After the Funeral," "What He Wanted It For," J. M. Bailey.
Bacheller, Johnson & Bacheller, New York: "The Composite Ghost," Marion Couthouy Smith.
D. Appleton & Company, New York: "Illustrated Newspapers," "Tushmaker's Tooth-puller," G. H. Derby ("John Phœnix").
T. B. Peterson & Company, Philadelphia: "Hans Breitmann's Party," "Ballad," C. G. Leland.
Century Company, New York: "Miss Malony on the Chinese Question," Mary Mapes Dodge; "The Origin of the Banjo," Irwin Russell; "The Walloping Window-Blind," Charles E. Carryl; "The Patriotic Tourist," "What's in a Name?" "'Tis Ever Thus," R. K. Munkittrick.
Forbes & Company, Chicago: "If I Should Die To-Night," "The Pessimist," Ben King.
J. S. Ogilvie & Company, New York: Three Short Extracts, C. B. Lewis ("Mr. Bowser").
The Chelsea Company, New York: "The Society Reporter's Christmas," "The Dying Gag," James L. Ford.
Keppler & Schwarzmann, New York: "Love Letters of Smith," H. C. Bunner.
Small, Maynard & Company, Boston: "On Gold-Seeking," "On Expert Testimony," F. P. Dunne ("Mr. Dooley"); "Tale of the Kennebec Mariner," "Grampy Sings a Song," "Cure for Homesickness," Holman F. Day.
Belford, Clarke & Company, Chicago: "A Fatal Thirst," "On Cyclones," Bill Nye.
Duquesne Distributing Company, Harmanville, Pennsylvania: "In Society," William J. Kountz, Jr. (from the bound edition of "Billy Baxter's Letters").
R. H. Russell, New York: Nonsense Verses—"Impetuous Samuel," "Misfortunes Never Come Singly," "Aunt Eliza," "Susan"; "The City as a Summer Resort," "Avarice and Generosity," "Work and Sport," "Home Life of Geniuses," F. P. Dunne ("Mr. Dooley"); "My Angeline," Harry B. Smith.
H. S. Stone & Company, Chicago: "The Preacher Who Flew His Kite." "The Fable of the Caddy," "The Two Mandolin Players," George Ade.
American Publishing Company, Hartford: "A Pleasure Excursion," "An Unmarried Female," Marietta Holley; "Colonel Sellers," "Mark Twain."
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York: "Living in the Country," "A Glass of Water," "A Family Horse," F. S. Cozzens.
George Dillingham, New York: "Natral and Unnatral Aristocrats," "To Correspondents," "The Bumblebee," "Josh Billings"; "Among the Spirits," "The Shakers," "A. W. to His Wife," "Artemus Ward and the Prince of Wales," "A Visit to Brigham Young," "The Tower of London," "One of Mr. Ward's Business Letters," "On 'Forts,'" Artemus Ward; "At the Musicale," "At the Races," Geo. V. Hobart ("John Henry").
Thompson & Thomas, Chicago: "How to Hunt the Fox," Bill Nye.
Little, Brown & Company, Boston: "Street Scenes in Washington," Louisa May Alcott.
E. H. Bacon & Company, Boston: "A Boston Lullaby," James Jeffrey Roche.
Houghton, Mifflin & Company, Boston: "My Aunt," "The Wonderful One-hoss Shay," "Foreign Correspondence," "Music-Pounding" (extract), "The Ballad of the Oysterman," "Dislikes" (short extract), "The Height of the Ridiculous," "An Aphorism and a Lecture," O. W. Holmes; "The Yankee Recruit," "What Mr. Robinson Thinks," "The Courtin'," "A Letter from Mr. Ezekiel Bigelow," "Without and Within," J. R. Lowell; "Five Lives," "Eve's Daughter," E. R. Sill; "The Owl-Critic," "The Alarmed Skipper," James T. Fields; "My Summer in a Garden," "Plumbers," "How I Killed a Bear," C. D. Warner; "Little Breeches," John Hay; "The Stammering Wife," "Coquette," "My Familiar," "Early Rising," J. G. Saxe; "The Diamond Wedding," E. C. Stedman; "Melons," "Society Upon the Stanislaus," "The Heathen Chinee," "To the