It is really robbing an audience of its rights,
to pass so quickly from one point to
another that the mind must lose a new one if
it lingers to take in the old. Every vital
point in a tale must be given a certain
amount of time: by an anticipatory pause,
by some form of vocal or repetitive
emphasis, and by actual time. But even
more than other tales does the funny story
demand this. It cannot be funny without it.

Every one who is familiar with the theatre
must have noticed how careful all comedians
are to give this pause for appreciation
and laughter. Often the opportunity
is crudely given, or too liberally offered;
and that offends. But in a reasonable degree
the practice is undoubtedly necessary
to any form of humorous expression.

A remarkably good example of the type
of humorous story to which these principles
of method apply, is the story of "Epaminondas."
It will be plain to
any reader that all the several funny crises
are of the perfectly unmistakable sort children
like, and that, moreover, these funny
spots are not only easy to see; they are easy
to foresee. The teller can hardly help sharing
the joke in advance, and the tale is