Here’s a laugh from the Past!!!
From 1818 to 1885, Henry Wheeler Shaw was an unknown writer. But by his pen name, Josh Billings, he was widely read and compared favorably with Mark Twain – which was also a pen name. Billings almost had a college education. It came to an end when, as a prank, he was caught removing the clapper on the Hamilton College bell. For the act he was expelled. Until he turned 40 he stumbled through a number of professions including miner, auctioneer and explorer until he found success as a journalist – under a pseudonym. His writings were folksy and loaded with the slang of day. His books titles reflect his writing approach: Farmers' Allminax, and Josh Billings' Trump Kards. Some of his pithy bits of wisdom included
"Consider the postage stamp, son. It secures success through its ability to stick to one
thing till it gets there."
"I honestly believe it iz better tew know nothing than tew know what ain't so."
"There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness."
"The old miser who has accumulated his millions, and sits down on them afterwards,
reminds me of a fly that has fallen into a barrel of molasses"
The Billings poem focusing on the squeaky wheel is still used today. (In the 1880s, a
”kicker” was a complainer.)
I hate to be a kicker,
I always long for peace,
But the wheel that does the squeaking,
Is the one that gets the grease.
?Steve Levi "Master of the Impossible Crime"
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