MR. LEACOCK'S DISCOVERY OF ENGLAND.*
ONE of Mr. Leacock's discoveries during his recent visit to England was the girl who tries to be amusing. She narrates some
commonplace personal incident in an utterly unamusing way and rounds it off with some such phrase as " It was excru- ciatingly funny ! We all roared ! " The English are such honest people, declares Mr. Leacock, that when someone says this sort of thing they believe him and laugh. The reviewer of Mr. Leacock's books is in a similar position. Indeed, he might emulate Snug, the joiner, for his part " is nothing but roaring." English readers being honest folks must believe him, purchase the book and roar also. Of course, a reviewer might attempt to analyse Mr. Leacock's stock methods of being amusing. One of his most effective tricks is to take some figure of speech in its absolutely literal and consequently absurd sense. The effect lies not so much in the manner or the matter, but in the context. Again, a reviewer seeking to be unreasonably
discursive might grasp the opportunity to hold forth on the psychology of humour, yet after all quotation will serve him best. Bearing in mind the typical American interview, Mr. Leacock had
prepared a little paragraph for the Press on his arrival in London. In it he prophesied a bright future for the city. His labour was wasted. In spite of this disappointment, he found London as pleasing in its way as South Bend, Indiana.
" In the mere physical sense there is much to attract the eye. The city is able to boast of many handsome public buildings and offices which compare favourably with anything on the other side of the Atlantic. On the bank of the Thames itself rises the power- house of the Westminster Electric Supply Corporation, a hand- some, modern office in the later Japanese style. Close by are the commodious premises of the Imperial Tobacco Company, while at no great distance the Chelsea Gasworks add a striking feature of rotundity. Passing northward, one observes Westminster Bridge, notable as a principal station of the Underground Rail- way. This station and the one next above it, the Charing Cross one, are connected by a wide thoroughfare called Whitehall. One of the best American drug stores is here situated. The upper end of Whitehall opens into the majestic and spacious Trafalgar Square. Here are grouped in close proximity the offices of the Canadian Pacific and other railways, the International Sleeping Car Com- pany, the Montreal Star, and the Anglo-Dutch Bank. Two of the • My Discovery of England. By Stephen Leacock. Landon John Lane, Ps. net/ best American barber shops are conveniently grouped near the Square, while the existence of a small stone monument in the middle of the Square itself enables the American visitor to find them without difficulty."
Naturally, in his capacity as a University Professor, Mr. Leacock visited Oxford. He took a room at the Mitre Hotel and studied the place for himself. He was distressed to find the students working in old buildings that had been used for centuries. At Christ Church the only kitchens available were built in 1527. There he saw four cooks roasting an ox whole for the students'
lunch. From the size of the fireplace used he presumed.it was an or—though it may have been a cow.
The tutor, Mr. Leacock has discovered, is the chief factor in an Oxford education. The students gather in his rooms and he smokes at them. After they have been systematically smoked at for four years they become ripe scholars. " A well-smoked man speaks and writes English with a grace that can be acquired in no other way." Women, unfortunately, threaten to overrun the University. Mr. Leacock gives us this generous warning, because he remembers his experiences at the graduate school of Chicago " where co-educational girls are as thick as Autumn leaves— and some thicker."
Those of our readers who were unable to attend Mr. Leacock's lectures while he was in England will congratulate themselves on a fortunate escape when they read how he nearly killed a man with laughing The man in question . . . was seated near the back of the hall and was laughing uproariously. All of a sudden I realized that something was happening. The man had collapsed sideways on to the floor. A little group of men gathered about him ; they lifted him up, and I could see them carrying him out, a silent and inert mass. As in duty bound, I went right on with my lecture. But my heart beat high with satisfaction. I was sure that I had killed him. The reader may judge how high these hopes rose when, a moment or two later, a note was handed to the chairman, who then asked me to pause for a moment in my lecture and stood up and asked, `Is there a doctor in the' audi- ence ? ' A doctor rose and silently went out. The lecture continued, but there was no more laughter : my aim had now become to kill another of them and they knew it. They were aware that if they started laughing they might die. In a few minutes a second note was handed to the chairman. He. announced very gravely, A second doctor is wanted.' The lecture went on in deeper silence than ever. All the audience were waiting for a third announcement. It came. A new message was handed to the chairman. He rose and said, If Mr. Murchi- son, the undertaker, is in the audience,will he kindly step outside? ' That man, I regret to say, got well. Disappointing though it is to read it, he recovered. I sent back next morning from London a telegram of inquiry (I did it, in reality, so as .to have a proper proof of his death), and received the answer, Patient doing well ; is sitting up in bed and reading Lord Haidane's _Relativity : no danger of relapse.' " However, Mr. Leacock's book is not entirely made up of jokes. For whole pages he discusses, with a weird intermixing of good sense and nonsense, such subjects as edu- cation, economics, and journalism. These are not really out of place, for Mr. Leacock came over here as a Professor of a great University as well as an irresponsible humorist. At least we can be grateful that he has let us off so very lightly.
Previous page
