after the remains have been decently interred, the following remarks shall be uttered by the presiding humorist:

this joke has been our refuge from one generation to another:

before the mountains were brought forth this joke was lusty and of good repute:

in the life of this joke a thousand years are but as yesterday.

blessed, therefore, is this joke, which now resteth from its labors.

but most of our jokes are of little continuance: though there be some so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is their humor then but labor and sorrow:

for a joke that is born of a humorist hath but a short time to live and is full of misery. it cometh up and is cut down like a flower. it fleeth as if it were a shadow and abideth but one edition.

it is sown in quotation, it is raised in misquotation: we therefore commit this joke to the files of the country newspapers, where it shall circulate forever, world without end.