Even careless readers frequently recognize that this statement
is true of much of the humor in _A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's
Court_, which is one of his most successful exhibitions of humor based on
incongruity.
While his humor is sometimes mechanical, coarse, and forced, we must not
forget that it also often reveals the thoughtful philosopher. To confirm
this statement, one has only to glance at the humorous philosophy that
constitutes _Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar_.
Mark Twain's future place in literature will probably be due less to humor
than to his ability as a philosopher and a historian. Humor will
undoubtedly act on his writings as a preservative salt, but salt is
valuable only to preserve substantial things. If matter of vital worth is
not present in any written work, mere humor will not keep it alive.
One of his most humorous scenes may be found in the chapter where Tom
Sawyer succeeds in getting other boys to relieve him of the drudgery of
whitewashing a fence. That episode was introduced to enable the author to
make more impressive his philosophy of a certain phase of human action:--
"He had discovered a great law of human action without knowing
it--namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is
only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.
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