{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-humorist",
 "title": "The Humorist",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 127,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
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   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "“What is that, mother?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The humorist, child.",
    "indent": 9
   },
   {
    "text": "His hands are black, but his heart is mild.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“May I touch him, mother?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“ ’Twere needlessly done:",
    "indent": 9
   },
   {
    "text": "He is slightly touched already, my son.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O, why does he wear such a ghastly grin?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“ ’Tis the outward sign of a joke within.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Will he crack it, mother?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Not so, my saint;",
    "indent": 9
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis meant for the Saturday Livercomplaint.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Does he suffer, mother?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“God help him, yes!⁠—",
    "indent": 9
   },
   {
    "text": "A thousand and fifty kinds of distress.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“What makes him sweat so?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“The demons that lurk",
    "indent": 9
   },
   {
    "text": "In the fear of having to go to work.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Why doesn’t he end, then, his life with a rope?”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Abolition of Hell has deprived him of hope.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}