A pioneer cannot be humorous. But now that the
world is leavened and Christian principles are theoretically, if
not practically, taken for granted, a new range of qualities comes
in sight. By humour I do not mean a taste for irresponsible
merriment; for though humour is not a necessarily melancholy thing,
in this imperfect world the humorist sighs as often as he smiles.
What I mean by it is a keen perception of the rich incongruities
and absurdities of life, its undue solemnity, its guileless
pretentiousness. To be true humour, it must not be at all a cynical
thing--as soon as it becomes cynical, it loses all its natural
grace; it is an essentially tender-hearted quality, apt to find
excuse, ready to condone, eager to forgive. The possessor of it can
never be ridiculous, or heavy, or superior. Wit, of course, is a
very small province of humour: wit is to humour what lightning is
to the electric fluid--a vivid, bright, crackling symptom of it in
certain conditions; but a man may be deeply and essentially
humorous, and never say a witty thing in his life.
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