The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Book of Humorous Verse, by Various,
Edited by Carolyn Wells

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Title: The Book of Humorous Verse

Author: Various

Editor: Carolyn Wells

Release Date: December 22, 2007 [eBook #23972]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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THE BOOK OF HUMOROUS VERSE

Compiled by

CAROLYN WELLS

|Author of| "|Such Nonsense|,"
"|The Whimsey Anthology|,"
|etc.|, |etc.|

New York
George H. Doran Company

Printed in the United States of America

TO
ROBERT CHAPMAN SPRAGUE

INTRODUCTION

A hope of immortality and a sense of humor distinguish man from the
beasts of the field.

A single exception may be made, perhaps, of the Laughing Hyena, and, on
the other hand, not every one of the human race possesses the power of
laughter. For those who do, this volume is intended.

And since there can be nothing humorous about an introduction, there
can be small need of a lengthy one.

Merely a few explanations of conditions which may be censured by
captious critics.

First, the limitations of space had to be recognized. Hence, the book
is a compilation, not a collection. It is representative, but not
exhaustive. My ambition was toward a volume to which everyone could go,
with a surety of finding any one of his favorite humorous poems between
these covers. But no covers of one book could insure that, so I
reluctantly gave up the dream for a reality which I trust will make it
possible for a majority of seekers to find their favorites here.

The compiler's course is a difficult one. The Scylla of Popularity
lures him on th