Explore "The Humorist" by Ambrose Bierce on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
"What is that, mother?" / "The funny man, child.
His hands are black, but his heart is mild."
"May I touch him, mother?" / "T were foolishly done: / He is slightly touched already, my son."
"O, why does he wear such a ghastly grin?" / "That's the outward sign of a joke within."
"Will he crack it, mother?" / "Not so, my saint; / 'T is meant for the "Saturday Livercomplaint."
"Does he suffer, mother?" / "God help him, yes! -- / A thousand and fifty kinds of distress."
"What makes him sweat so?" / "The demons that lurk / In the fear of having to go to work."
"Why doesn't he end, then, his life with a rope?" / "Abolition of Hell has deprived him of hope."