Locke's National Monthly Volume 2 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1873 Excerpt: ...the literal man is joined to his idols, and absolutely refuses to be divorced from them.--But after all it is safe to say that Americans as a people appreciate what we class under the broad generic name of humor much more than they respect or value the quality of mind which creates it. The experience of poor Tom Corwin, who set the country in a roar by his keen sallies and sparkling wit, affords only a repetition of the story of many a less prominent man who finds those who laugh with him undervaluing and depreciating him. It is a fallacy as old as history, that the world should mistake gravity for wisdom, when at the best it is often merely a mask for discretion, or a bulwark for timidity. There be wise men who are grave, and therefore a grave man must needs be a wise one. The man is credited, not with what he has said, but with what he might have said, and this method of casting up the account is almost always sure to leave the balance largely in his favor. On the other hand, people fail to realize that the quick perception, the acute appreciation of differences and resemblances which characterize the humorous mind, are not at all antagonistic to the weightier qualities of judgment and reason, and may frequently be found associated with them. But so generally is the distinction made, that the humorous speech is remembered often as against the humorous man, while his graver and abler efforts are forgotten.--The revolution of the years naturally brings many old ideas to the surface, --ideas that, to the time of their reappearance have all the semblance of freshness and novelty. Quite a number of hundred years ago, the nations which represented the leading races of their time, and stood in the front rank of the wealth and culture of the world, had a custom of..