Manchester High School - Somanhis Yearbook (Manchester, CT)

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SOMANHIS EVENTS 31 nights when it was safe for the people to travel. It is the belief and hope of the National Educational Association that by 1930 enough of these Moon- light Schools will have been established to wipe out the entire stain of illiter- acy from our society. Thus the mountaineers are facing a great change. Everywhere civiliza- tion is pushing into the mountains. Large enterprises are being installed; the timber, minerals, and water power are being put into use. Along with all this will come schools, newspapers, industries, etc., and soon the moun- taineer will be in line with human progress. Viola May Johnson AMERICAN HUMOR AND HUMORISTS Humor is defined as the faculty of discovering, expressing, or appreciat- ing the ludicrous or the incongruous. There are various types of humor, according as the author of it intends to be facetious, malicious, subtle, or merely entertaining. Spoken humor usually appeals more vigorously, be- cause the inflection of the voice helps to carry the point; yet literature is not entirely lacking in those who have been clever enough to write for the enter- tainment of others. American history, poetry, fiction, and drama were fairly well established among us before American humor appeared at all; and naturally too, for the early colonial life was too hard to provoke much mirth. The earliest humor- ous work which appears as a classic now, was the sayings of “Sam Slick,” a Yankee clock-maker. It was quite natural that the Puritan austerity should challenge the irrepressible Yankee wit. A subtle humor, never boisterous or caustic, is found in Washington Irving’s works. Benjamin Franklin might also be mentioned for the kindly, though crude humor shown in his proverbs. In fact Benjamin Franklin’s humor was the first which was recognized as such in this country. The first American humorist of nation-wide fame was Artemus Ward (1834-1867). He achieved his humorous effects through the use of the Yankee dialect; and crude grammar and spelling. He was accustomed to say the most absurd things with an air of great solemnity, and his unexpected turns and ridiculous puns used to set his audiences into unbounded gales of laughter. He would say, “Africa is fames for its roses. It has the red rose, the white rose, and the negroes.” Often he would give such sound advice as, “Always live within your income, if you have to borrow money to do it.” The lectures of Artemus Ward, in book form, present his best sayings; but do not now excite the mirth that they did when the lecturer's personality made them the best of their kind. Mark Twain is the representative American humorist by right of the quality and quantity of his writings. He was born in Missouri in 1835— under a lucky star. Almost everyone has read his “Jumping Frog” story, which is a prime example of his humor. When this story was published in the French paper, “Revue des Deux Mondes,” under the title of “la Gren- ouille Sauteuse Du Comte De Calaveras”, the translation amused Mark Twain so much that he translated it literally, into English, which made a second Jumping Frog Story. In criticizing people Mark Twain always went right to the point. He was once asked to write an introduction to a book; which he did, but as the man for whom he wrote it liked high-sounding words and phrases, he revised the introduction, substituting for Mark Twain's simple but correct English, flowery stereotyped expressions. When Twain read the revision, he return-

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30 SOMANHIS EVENTS nails in the walls together with strings of dried apples, peppers, and tobacco. The wall decorations consist of gaudy advertisement-posters left by travel- ers. Very few cabins have a carpet on the floor. Kerosene lamps are used; and all necessary beds, tables, and chairs are made, when needed, or bartered from some neighbor. In some of these places you will find a “pet pig” harbored. Utensils are limited to a frying pan, an iron pot, a coffee pot, a bucket, and some gourds. Such dwellings obviously are difficult to keep clean and orderly. But despite the low standard of living in the backwoods, the average mountain home is a happy one. There is little worry or fret. These people raise a few cattle, which with dried fruits, honey, nuts, fur, herbs, and woolen socks knitted by the women, form the stock in trade which they barter for their necessaries and few luxuries, cloth, sugar, coffee, snuff, and fiddles. The raising of corn is the chief work in summer, and the getting out of tan-bark and lumber in winter, There is not much variety in food for these people. Dry corn bread, black coffee, potatoes, few vegetables, and very little meat completes their menu. The mountaineers raise a great deal of corn, much of which is used in one of their occupations—the secret manufacture of liquor. They call this liquor “moonshine”, because it is made and sold during the night. They are very sly about this and construct their stills in places hidden by trees, laurel, or other shrubs. All this liquor used to be pure; but now, as the mountain- eer knows how to adulterate it, all sorts of ingredients are used. The men make this liquor in secret, largely because it looks like “easy money to the poor folks.” Thus, among these poverty-stricken people, the temptation to run a secret still and adulterate the output spreads. Although they fear the law, they are lawless and, if any government officer is around, he must be very cautious, for the mountaineer will not hesitate to shoot to kill. There is, however, a softer side to their natures. The mountaineers are fond of music and dancing furnished by singing, banjos, and fiddles. In homes where dancing is not permitted, “play parties’’ are held at which social games are practiced. As there are so few amusements, “goin’ to meetin” is recognized as a social function. Everybody goes to the log schoolhouse to hear the circuit-rider preach for hours, Weddings are not celebrated in church but at the home of the bride and are jolly occasions, The man of the house is lord. He takes orders from nobody. Whether he shall work or loaf is nobody’s affair but his own. No hat is lifted to maid or wife, At the table, if women be seated at all, the food is passed to the men first. No one can understand the attitude of our highlanders toward the rest of the earth, unless he realizes their isolation, They are really still living in the 18th century. ‘They are not only cut off from the outside world, but are separated from each other. Each is confined to his own locality. Some women have never been to the post-office six miles distant. Another has never seen the ford of the river only two miles from her home.” The moun- taineer is not tempted by a display of good things all around him, nor does he see the haughtiness and extravagance of the rich. All men are equal. He will accept no charity and never loses self-respect. Strangers are very rarely welcome and are called foreigners. : The one thing the mountaineer values the most is his independence. This must be preserved or the fine spirit of the race wi ll vanish. One can readily see that education is needed there. But the schools needed are not ordinary schools. They must be vocational, to turn out good farmers, mechanics, and housewives. Moonlight schools have been in operation for about five or six years. A little Kentucky mountain school teacher, herself a product of the mountains, discovered that people, including adults, would walk miles to learn to read and write. She established Moonlight Schools, holding the sessions on moonlight evenings, because those were the only

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32 SOMANHIS. EVENTS ed a most scathing criticism which would have made a less conceited person abandon the field of writing. Mark Twain's first appearance as a speaker, the beginning of a life-long series of triumphs on the platform, was at a printer’s dinner in Keokuk. He was elected “governor” of a mock legislature. In his speech none of the politicians escaped ridicule. On another occasion when asked to make a conundrum, he said, “Well, why am I like the Pacific Ocean?” Several guesses were made but he shook his head. Someone said, “We give up; tell us, Mark, why are you like the Pacific Ocean.” “I don’t know,” he drawled, “T was—just—searching for—information.” His autobiography is a very interesting collection of incidents which he chose to tell at random. ‘They are told in his own whimsical informal fash- ion which none can imitate. The more recent humorists term themselves “Columnists”, as their writings appear first in newspaper columns and magazines. Not always do they produce literature of high merit, but they do recognize and represent present day humor. Montague Glass portrays the Hebrew as an American business man. His success in discovering and developing this field of humor may be accounted for by the fact that he is descended from an old well- known Jewish family. His “Abe Potash” and “Morris Perlmutter”, types among which he grew up, are classics. George Ade must be mentioned among the original American geniuses for his development of slang into a highly cherished medium of expression. From his contact with modern civ- ilization he has made an interesting contribution to literary history with his “Fables in Slang.” Ring W. Lardner has a dialect of his own. He seems to combine a mixture of all the arts which the earlier humorists used. Like many American humorists he served his apprenticeship in newspaper work. His reputation for “You Know Me, Al” stories is growing. Almost every possible phase of humor has been developed by some author or other. George Fitch contributed the best book of college humor thus far produced. Irvin S. Cobb’s “Speaking of Operations” has stamped him as a natural-born humorist. John Kendrick Bangs was one of the few literary artists of his time who expressed humor oratorically. He became the most notable humorous lecturer and after-dinner speaker this country has ever known. In speaking of humorists, women are almost invariably left out. It is true that there are few American women who have entered the field; but Ruth McEnery Stuart, in her quaint writings of the negro South, has shown her gift of humor. Anne Warner appeared at just the right time to heighten and continue the tradition of American women as humorists. Her work, mostly character sketches, is an incomparable part of our general tradition. Humor offers a varied and extensive field of endeavor. This literature has been so rapturously received by an over-strung people during the past decade or two that it shows signs of over-development. But, with the serener general outlook, this phase will disappear, and the literary value of humor of a higher quality is bound to increase. Stella Adele Lincoln POLITICAL PARTIES AND THEIR PLACE IN AMERICAN HISTORY One of the greatest critics of democracy, Sir Hon. Sumner Maine, once asked this pertinent question: “How can a democracy make up its mind?” Obviously, it cannot determine, as an individual can. It is incapable of