Elmo's Humorous Speaker

written to describe wit and humor, and to point out the difference between the two. Many of these labored discussions have been largely capricious, and most of them wholly unintelligible, and they have proved about as useful as an essay on the most scientific method of sucking eggs. Humor like murder "will out." Wit like wine, will tell its tale. A humorous story will never lack appreciation, a witty saying will always meet quick recognition.

It is hardly needful to say that between the genuinely humorous and the merely comic, there is a wide and impassable gulf. Clowns and buffoons-whether professional or otherwise-revel in the comic and grow uproarious in the outrages of burlesque; but they would find the realms of the humorous dull and uninviting.

The compiler begs to emphasize the fact that this is a Humorous and not a Comic Speaker. He has endeavored to exclude the absurd and the extravagant from the pages of this book, and to fill its pages with that merriment which is ever allied to wisdom; bearing in mind the Scotch adage that; "It's guid to be merry and wise;" and the still more expressive couplet of Shakespeare.

A merry heart goes all the day

Your sad tires in a mile-a

Many old favorites will be found in these pages,

and others of more recent authorship. With a few exceptions the selections are brief, experience and observation suggesting that it is better to charm an audience with brevity than to weary them by length.

Here and there suggestions are made as to appropriate costume, but for the most part the good sense of the reciter will dictate what is best under the circumstances.

MAYWOOD. ILL.
MAY-DAY 1890.