English Satire and Connecticut Wit

Abstract

THERE WAS LAUGHTER ON THESE SHORES, OF COURSE, BEFORE THERE WERE SCRIBES to record it, and for this reason any study of early American humor is likely to begin with notions easier to suppose than to demonstrate. Europeans met Indians in solemn conclave, and then each party went home with their own people to mock the dress, burlesque the manners, and parrot the mispronunciations of the other. Between decks of the Mayflower children whispered together, making foolish faces and mimicking the solemnity of their parents. Near New Amsterdam English travelers mocked Dutchmen, and the Dutch in their turn ridiculed the English. In the South children had to be taught not to snicker at the great man's funny-sounding name, General Oglethorpe. Everywhere older settlers tested the gullibility of newcomers by telling tall tales; new arrivals laughed uncertainly and looked forward to the day when they would possess the humorous self-assurance of older settlers. And, as with every great venture, things went wrong-it was rainy and muddy, or snowy and cold, or hot and dusty; mosquitoes were everywhere, or chiggers, or flies; crops failed or were eaten by pests; guns misfired and wagons broke; food spoiled and neighbors gossiped; children died, wives complained, and men got drunk and people laughed ruefully at all these things because there was little else to be done. In a sense, then, there is no identifiable beginning to a native tradition of American humor. By the same token we should recognize that nearly all of the early American humor that we do possess now is belated humor, humor that had to wait until people had the time, detachment, and inclination to write it down, along with the expectation of an audience to share it. Recording humor in a literary