Gargantuan hilarity, all virtues might be
added unto her. But, as I have said, she lacks this one thing. She is
the home of humourists and no humour. A thousand jesters minister to her
amusement, and she pays them handsomely. More jokes are made within her
borders in a day than suffice the rest of the globe for a year. And the
laughter which they provoke is not spontaneous. You can hear the creak
of the machine as it goes to work. The ever-present jester is a proof
that humour is an exotic, which does not grow naturally on the soil,
and does not belong more intimately to the American people than did the
cumbersome jokes of Archie Armstrong to the monarch who employed him.
The humour which simplifies life, and detects a spice of ridicule even
in the operations of business and politics, is rarely found in America.
Nor is its absence remarkable. The Americans are absorbed from early
youth to ripe old age in the pursuit of success. In whatever path they
walk they are determined to triumph. Sport for them is less an amusement
than a chance to win. When they embark upon business, as the most of
them do, their ambition is insatiable. They are consumed by the passion
of money-making. The hope of victory makes them despise toil and
renounce pleasure. Gladly will they deprive themselves of rest and lead
laborious lives. The battle and its booty are their own reward.
They count their gathered dollars with the same pride wherewith the
conquering general counts his prisoners of war. But the contest marks
their faces with the lines of care, and leaves them beggared of gaiety.
How can they take themselves other than seriously when millions depend
upon their nod? They have bent their energies to one special end and
purpose--the making of money; and in the process, as an American once
said to me, they forget to eat, they forget to live. More obviously
still, they forget to laugh. The comedy of their own career is never
revealed to them. Their very slang displays their purpose: they are "out
for the stuff," and they will not let it escape them. A kind of sanctity
hangs about money. It is not a thing to be taken lightly; it is no
proper subject for a jest. And as money and its quest absorb the best
energies of America, it follows that America is distinguished by a high
seriousness with which Europe is powerless to compete. However far a
profession may be removed from the mart, profit is its end. Brilliant
research, fortunate achievement--t