Show FAMOUS JOKE IS RECALLED sydney sm th s method to get fun out of a scotchman at the association bool sellers din ner in edinburgh the other week a story illustrating one of sydney smith s most famous jokes was recalled all the world knows sydney smith s saying hat it required a sur cical operation to get a joke into a scotchman s head but in 1844 he sup plied a scotchman with a consolatory interpretation of this dictum when william chambers the pub lisher was visiting london in 1844 there drove up to the door of his angs in greek street Soho an old tarn lly coach drawn by a pair of sleek horses from this descended an aged gentleman ho from his shovel hat and black gaiters was seen to be an ecclesiastical dignitary he was ush s ered in and his name announced rev sidney smith you are possibly at my visit said sydney there is nothing at all strange about it the of the edinburgh review come to see the of the edinburgh journal smith tall ed about old times in ed finburgh he made some little inquiry about chambers own early efforts and he laughed when chambers reminded him of a saying of his own about stud ing on a little oatmeal ah labora he said piously how that word expresses the character of your country well we do sometimes work pretty hard observed chambers but tor all that we can relish a pleasantry as much as our neighbors you must have seen that the scotch have a con sid erable fund of humor oh by all means said sydney smith you are an immensely funny I 1 eople but ou need a little operating upon to let the tun out I 1 know no in strument ment so effectual for the purpose as the corkscrew |