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"OUT OF THE HURLY-BURLYORLIFE IN AN ODDCORNER."
MAX ADELER.
Out of the Hurly-Burly
OR
LIFE IN AN ODD CORNER
BY
Max Adeler
With nearly Four Hundred Illustrations
BY
ARTHUR B. FROST, FRED. B. SCHELL, AND OTHERS
PHILADELPHIA
DAVID McKAY, Publisher
1022 Market Street
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
CHARLES HEBER CLARK,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
DEDICATION.
I have resolved to dedicate this book to a humorist who has hadtoo little fame, to the most delicious, because the most unconscious,humorist, to that widely-scattered and multitudinous comedian whomay be expressed in the concrete as
THE INTELLIGENT COMPOSITOR.
To his habit of perpetrating felicitous absurdities I am indebtedfor "laughter that is worth a hundred groans." It was he who putinto type an article of mine which contained the remark, "Filtrationis sometimes accomplished with the assistance of albumen," andtransformed it into "Flirtation is sometimes accomplished with theresistance of aldermen." It was he who caused me to misquote thepoet's inquiry, so that I propounded to the world the appalling conundrum,"Where are the dead, the varnished dead?" And it was hisglorious tendency to make the sublime convulsively ridiculous thatrejected the line in a poem of mine, which declared that a "cometswept o'er the heavens with its trailing skirt," and substituted theidea that a "count slept in the haymow in a traveling shirt." Thekind of talent that is here displayed deserves profound reverence.It is wonderful and awful; and thus I offer it a token of my marvelingrespect.
"Fun is the most conservative element of society, and it ought tobe cherished and encouraged by all lawful means. People neverplot mischief when they are merry. Laughter is an enemy tomalice, a foe to scandal and a friend to every virtue. It promotesgood temper, enlivens the heart and brightens the intellect."
PREFACE.
It seems to be necessary to say a few words in reference tothe contents of this volume as I offer it to the public. Severalof the incidents related in the story have already appeared inprint, and have been copied in various