little ripple of laughter that met his explanation--a ripple that came
from the hearts of the good-natured students, who meant only to be
appreciative and kind. Foreigners, too, unacquainted with American slang
often find themselves precipitating a laugh for which they are
unprepared. For a bit of current slang, however and whenever used, is
always humorous.

The American is not only a humorous person, he is a practical person. So
it is only natural that the American humor should be put to practical
uses. It was once said that the difference between a man with tact and a
man without was that the man with tact, in trying to put a bit in a
horse's mouth, would first tell him a funny story, while the man without
tact would get an axe. This use of the funny story is the American way
of adapting it to practical ends. A collection of funny stories used to
be an important part of a drummer's stock in trade. It is by means of
the "good story" that the politician makes his way into office; the
business man paves the way for a big deal; the after-dinner speaker gets
a hearing; the hostess saves her guests from boredom. Such a large place
does the "story" hold in our national life that we have invented a
social pastime that might be termed a "joke match." "Don't tell a funny
story, even if you know one," was the advice of the Atchison Globe man,
"its narration will only remind your hearers of a bad one." True as this
may be, we still persist in telling our funny story. Our hearers are
reminded of another, good or bad, which again reminds us--and so on.

A sense of humor, as was intimated before, is the chiefest of the
virtues. It is more than this--it is one of the essentials to success.
For, as has also been pointed out, we, being a practical people, put our
humor to practical uses. It is held up as one of the prerequisites for
entrance to any profession. "A lawyer," says a member of that order,