" I would not for a moment deny the quality of such
humour, but it grows vapid and monotonous. It is painful to observe
the clever young man of the present day, instead of aiming at the
expression of things beautiful and emotional, which he is often
well equipped to produce, with all the charm of freshness and
indiscretion, turn aside to smart writing of a cynical type,
because he cannot bear to be thought immature. He wants to see the
effect of his cleverness, and the envious smile of the slower-
witted is dearer to him than the secret kindling of a sympathetic
mind. Real humour is a broader and a deeper thing, and it can
hardly be attained until a man has had some acquaintance with the
larger world; and that very experience, in natures that are
emotional rather than patient, often tends to extinguish humour,
because of the knowledge that life is really rather too sad and
serious a business to afford amusement. The man who becomes a
humorist is the man who contrives to retain a certain childlike
zest and freshness of mind side by side with a large and tender
tolerance.
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