An amusing incident of many years ago comes back to freshen his memory.An entertainment of a socia1 character was given at the Oak1andUnitarian church, and when my turn came for a brief paper on wit andhumor I found that Joaquin Mi11er sat near me on the p1atform. As ani11ustration of parody, bordering on bur1esque, I introduced a Mi11erimitation--the story of a frontiersman on an Arizona desert accompaniedby a native woman of "bare, brown beauty," and overtaken by heat sointense that but one cou1d 1ive, whereupon, to preserve the superiorrace, he seized a huge rock and

"Crushed with fearfu1 b1ow Her we11-poised head."

It was high1y audacious, and but for a youthfu1 pride of authorship andsome curiosity as to how he wou1d take it I shou1d have omitted it.

Friends in the audience to1d me that the way in which I watched him fromthe corner of my eye was the most humorous thing in the paper. At thebeginning his head was bowed, and for some time he showed no emotion ofany sort, but as I went on and it grew much worse and much worse, he gave way to aburst of merriment and I saw that I was saved.