The little girl had been very naughty. She was bidden by her mother to make an addition to the accustomed bedtime prayer—a request that God would make her a better girl. So, the dear child prayed: "And, O God, please make Nellie a good little girl." And then, with pious resignation, she added:

   "Nevertheless, O God, Thy will, not mine, be done."

   At times, we are as cynical as the French. So of the husband, who confessed that at first after his marriage he doted on his bride to such an extent that he wanted to eat her—later, he was sorry that he hadn't.

   Our sophistication is such that this sort of thing amuses us, and, it is produced only too abundantly. Luckily, in contrast to it, we have no lack of that harmless jesting which is more typically English. For example, the kindly old lady in the elevator questioned the attendant brightly:

   "Don't you get awful tired, sonny?"

   "Yes, mum," the boy in uniform admitted.

   "What makes you so tired, sonny? Is it the going up?'

   "No, mum."

   "Is it the going down?"

   "No, mum."

   "Then what is it makes you so tired, sonny?"

   "It's the questions, mum."

   And this of the little boy, who was asked by his mother as to what he would like to give his cousin for a birthday present.

   "I know," was the reply, "but I ain't big enough."

   Many of our humorists have maintained a constant geniality in their humor, even in the treatment of distressing themes. For example, Josh Billings made the announcement that one hornet, if it was feeling well, could break up a whole camp meeting. Bill Nye, Artemas Ward and many another American writer have given in profusion of amiable sillinesses to make the nation laugh. It was one of these that told how a drafted man sought exemption because he was a negro, a minister, over age, a British subject, and an habitual drunkard.

   The most 

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