Thare wouldn't be enny wit in striking fire with a flint, but thare might be in striking fire with a piece of injia rubber.
I don't serpose thare would be enny grate quantity ov wit in yure telling sumboddy that yure gal was as hansum as a rose, but thare might possibly be sum wit into it if yu should go on and say that she was as frail, and as thorny, too.
Humor (as compared with wit) seems to be what the old fashioned folks in Connecticut used tew call "heat lightning," not the original artikle that gashes the heavens with a flaming sword, and makes a fellow's hair get up on end and ake with astonishment. Humor don't dazzle, don't knock a man down with a sparkle; it is more a soothing syrup, sumthing tew tickle, without enny danger ov throwing the patient into fits.
Thare seems tew be more than one kind ov wit; punning is called wit, but punning alwus looked to me like trieing tew make words pass for ideas.
Thare is without doubt, sum wit in puns, but it is something like sticking a pin into a man, just for fun, and then ask him tew join in the joke.
Thare is sum more kinds ov wit, but i find i aint roomy enuff in the skull tew talk mutch about them.
Wit and humor both are similar tew kissing; thare is a peculiar kind ov bewitchment in awl three ov them, that evryboddy can acknowledge better than they can pictur out.
Almost evryboddy hankers tew be witty, and most folks think they am, but ginowine wit is like piety; thare aint much ov it in the market, and those who think they hav the least ov it, are quite apt tew hav the most.
Philo.—I am chuck full ov favourable sentiments towards dancing. I like most awl kinds, from a genteel, and modest Saratoger prance, tew the limber, and loose bilt Alabama break-down. Thare is no other way tew git the booby out ov a boy, and keep him from steping onto himself, than tew learn him how tew danse. This kind ov leg manuel is useful for both sexes. Dancing is just as harmless as gitting over a fence, and i think dancing-masters should be encouraged, but still i haint got enny more respekt for a full grown man, who weighs over a hundred pounds, who will give himself up tew this profession, ov learning folks how tew dance, than I hav for the fellow who exhibits trained mice. The best apology that i kan make, tew these dancing professors, is tew say, that they are martyrs tew the calling. But while I am loud in mi sentiments for the theory ov motion, thare is sum ov its collaterals that don't fasten onto my bussum with mutch exta-tickness, but rather with grate clammyness. I don't kno but awl the kind ov dances that are now raging, are as free from guile as an oyster, but i hav witnessed sum amung the top ov the ladder folks, (i don't know the name ov the dances) that i think ought tew be confined tew the married people, and each man with his own wife, and not tew menny bystanders at that.
The amusements which i refer to, are ov the cluss communion style, a species ov affectionate rotaryousness, interspersed with palpitating pauses, and demiquaver wiglings, which, strike me, must be indulged in with great risk by those whose minds and hearts ain't thoroughly broke to go in aul harness.