AMUSING INCIDENTS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 August 1924, Page 12

AMUSING INCIDENTS.

TOLD AT EXAMINATION. What is meant by the word “amusing?” At the High School entrance examination held a few months ago thousands of boys and girls from 11 to 13 years of age were asked to relate an amusing incident that they had either read about in a book or taken some part in themselves (writes “Sperans” in the Sydney Herald). - Now, tlie average grown-up person might experience a little difficulty in quickly recalling an incident that could be called “amusing.” Especially if he had to do it- under examination conditions. Everybody is not a Stephen Leacock! But if he attempted the task at all he would probably try to think of a story with some spark of humour, something likely to provoke a smile. According to a big proportion of the candidates, however, his aim would be wide of the mark. To most of the boys an incident, to be amusing, must possess a- thrill. Their incidents, for the greater part, were certainly exciting; some were blood-curdling. They were Red Indian stories, in which whole families were scalped, and their bodies and dwellings reduced to ashes. Some of their tales told of the crushing strength of the boa-constructors as demonstrated on weaker animals. There were instances of triangular duels in which lives were lost, and of motor ears getting out of hand and running over embankments to the accompaniment of screams. One boy gave as an amusing incident the burning of the Kelly gang and the hanging of Ned. Another boy narrated what he called the “amusing story of Hamlet and the ghost.” An Australian story frequently told concerned the struggles of “Dad” with a wild cow while his sons stood by laughing at him. One wonders what some of these youngsters would call a sad story. On the other hand, a number of the stories reproduced genuinely amusing incidents. Perhaps the best stories from books were those chosen from “David Copperfield.” David and the waiter, Betsy Trotwood and the donkeys, David selling his jacket (“Oh. my lungs and liver, what do you want ? Oh, goroo!”: how the children could quote the old pedlar) were the favourites. Others quoted interesting incidents from Ethel Turner’s “Seven Little Australians,” and Mrs. Gunn’s “We of the Never Never.” Many hoys chose scenes from the evergreen Ballantyne’s “Coral Island” and “Martin Ratier.” Alcott’s “Little Women” and Mary Grant Bruce’s Australian stories were favourites rvith the girls. Some of the incidents were really amusing, others rather insipid. There were also a number relating to school games. But generally speaking, an amusing incident was held to he one in which • somebody came to grief, got stuck in the mud, fell into a pool of water, was chased by a wild animal, was capsized in a boat, received a. black eye, etc.

One must remember that when under a time limit children usually write the first thing that comes to them. They are not intentionally callous or unmindful of the feelings of others. Our boys and girls are composed of much the same material as those of an earlier generation, of whom Tod and Budge in “Helen’s Babies” are typical. No Biblical incident gave these youngsters quite, the same delight as that of Goliath when tolcl in gory detail. But it is a question nowadays whether simple amusements are not becoming obsolete. Generally speaking, the most successful “movies” , appear to be those dealing with subjects which are either painfully emotional or broadly farcical. Grand opera, in which so many are finding an uplift, as well as amusement, produces for the greater part grim tragedy in a rich musical setting. Webster’s first definition of the world “amuse” is “to occupy or engage the attention, to plunge into deep thought.” And if we accept this meaning ; some of us may have cause to he “amn.=-°d” at our own as well as our children’s notions of amusement.