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Scotch Wit and Humor
CLASSIFIED UNDER APPROPRIATE SUBJECTHEADINGS,
WITH, IN MANY CASES,
AREFERENCE TO A TABLE OF AUTHORS
PHILADELPHIA
GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO.
103-105 S. Fifteenth Street
Copyright, 1898, by
George W. Jacobs & Co.
Scotch Wit and Humor is a fairly representative collection of the typeof wit and humor which is at home north of the Tweed—and almosteverywhere else—for are not Scotchmen to be found everywhere? To saythat wit and humor is not a native of Scotch human nature is to sharethe responsibility for an inaccuracy the author of which must have beenas unobservant as those who repeat it. It is quite true that the humoris not always or generally on the surface—what treasure is?—and it maybe true, too, that the thrifty habits of our northern friends, combinedwith the earnestness produced by their religious history, have broughtto the surface the seriousness—amounting sometimes almost toheaviness—which is their most apparent characteristic. But under thesurface will be found a rich vein of generosity, and a fund of humor,which soon cure a stranger—if he has eyes to see and is capable ofappreciation—of the common error of supposing that Scotchmen are eitherstingy or stupid.
True, there may be the absence of the brilliancy which characterizesmuch of the English wit and humor, and of the inexpressible qualitywhich is contained in Hibernian fun; but for point of neatness one maylook far before discovering anything to surpass the shrewdness andplayfulness to be found in the Scotch race. In fact, if Scotland had nowit and humor she would have been incapable of furnishing a man whoemployed such methods in construction as were introduced by the engineer