Among the Humorists and After Dinner Speakers, Vol. 1 / A New Collection of Humorous Stories and Anecdotes

AMONG the HUMORISTS and AFTER DINNER SPEAKERS
OLIVER HERFORD
A NEW COLLECTION OF HUMOROUS STORIES AND ANECDOTES SELECTED AND ARRANGED BY WILLIAM PATTEN Editor of American Short Story Classics, Foreign Short Story Classics, etc. VOL. I
P. F. COLLIER & SON NEW YORK
Copyright 1909 By P. F. Collier & Son

THE collection of these humorous paragraphs has extended over a number of years. Even a small beginning became a source of such entertainment that the collection grew and grew, always without any thought of publication.
The man who can not laugh has yet to be found. Therein lies that immediate appeal to a common ground which the sense of humor gives, and it has been a conspicuous characteristic of those who look to the public for appreciation and support. Lord Palmerston and Abraham Lincoln were two notable examples of men for whom sympathy quickened through their ready wit, and no political speaker drives home his arguments half so well as he who can introduce a witty illustration. The joke has ever been a potent factor in combating oppression and corruption, in ridiculing shams. It has embalmed some reputations, and has blasted others. It is the champion of the weak against the strong, and has often illuminated for us, as in a flash, a glimpse of character or custom that would otherwise have been lost to the world.
There is only one similar collection of which I am aware, the “Jest Book” by Mark Lemon, who was for twenty-nine years the editor of “Punch.” Alas that there should be fashions in jokes as well as in hats, for much of his book that we know must have been humorous reading to his contemporaries, leaves us, of the present generation in America, indifferent.

I shall be glad if some of my readers are minded to do a graceful act and send me, in return, some paragraphs to add to my collection.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank the following publications for the paragraphs borrowed from their columns: