• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
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

Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor
1
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.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor, by Various.
By
2
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 Ph\u0153nix").
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\u2014"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.
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor, by Various.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
3
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...