Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 December 1896 — The Joke Failed. [ARTICLE]

The Joke Failed.

Some people aw bright enough to enjoy a good joke, but have not retentive memories, so as to be able* to repeat it to others. Failures of this kind are sometimes very ludicrous. We have a couple of specimens. A college professor, on parting with a ktudent who had called on him, noticed that he had a new coat, and remarked that it was too short. The student, with an air of resignation, replied: “It will be long enough before I get another.” The professor enjoyed the joke heartily, and, going to a meeting of the college faculty just afterwards, he entered the room In great glee and said, "Young Sharp made a capital joke juqt now. He called on me a little while ago, and as he was leaving I noticed his new coat, and told him it was to© short, and he said, 'lt will be a long time before I get another.’ ” No one laughed, and the profeasor, sobering down, remarked, "It doesn't seem so funny as when he said It" A red-haired lady, wno was ambitious of literary distinction, found but a poor sale for her book. A gentleman, in speaking of her disappointment said, "Her hair is red if her book is not" Au auditor, in attempting to relate the joke elsewhere, said, “She has red hair if her book hasn’t.”