THE HUMOROUS SPEAKER: BEING A Choice Collection of Amusing Pieces, BOTH IN PROSE AND VERSE, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED; CONSISTING OF DIALOGUES, SOLILOQUIES, PARODIES, &C. DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS, LITERARY SOCIETIES, DEBATING BY OLIVER OLDHAM. Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci, NEW YORK: IVISON & PHINNEY, 321 BROADWAY CINCINNATI: MOORE, WILSTACH, KEYS & CO. KD1179 HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY SHELDON FUND JULY 10, 1940 ww Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by HENRY IVISON In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York. STEREOTYPED BY THOMAS B. SMITH, 216 William St., N. Y 1 1 PREFACE. HUMOR and fun! Humor and fun! There's nothing like it under the sun But, if you'd have it a perfect thing, Or rather chains, That Wisdom throws o'er Fancy's strains; For Fancy she's a mettlesome steed, Fills you with dirt, The kind to hurt; With trifling trains Of thought that chiefly entertains, Because obscure, or low, or profane; From which no useful lesson you gain, Except you, with all your might and main, |