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This collection assembles more than three hundred brief anecdotes, jokes, and epigrams that depend on wordplay, situational irony, and everyday foibles. Each item appears as a short titled vignette, ranging from single-line quips to slightly longer comic sketches touching on family life, clergy, lawyers, regional manners, and social customs. The tone moves between gentle satire and absurdity, using concise setups and swift retorts to highlight human vanity, misunderstanding, and hypocrisy. Entries are grouped for easy dipping and light amusement, offering quick observations and humorous reversals rather than extended narrative development.
At a temperance lecture the speaker told of a Dutchman and his companion who went into Delmonico's in New York to get a lunch. They were surprised at being charged nine dollars! The Dutchman began to swear. "Don't you swear," said the other, "God has already punished Delmonico. I have got my pocket full of his spoons."