Henry Martyn Kieffer

Henry Martyn Kieffer served as an American clergyman, educator, Civil War memoirist, and compiler of humorous literature. The Funny Bone was published in 1910 under the fuller title The Funny Bone: Short Stories and Amusing Anecdotes for a Dull Hour, with Kieffer identified as editor. The volume does not form a continuous narrative; it gathers brief comic pieces, anecdotes, dialect stories, and familiar examples of American wit for casual reading or recitation. Its contents and editorial credit place it firmly within the tradition of American humorous anthologies. Kieffer’s broader career included Reformed Church ministry and the memoir Recollections of a Drummer-Boy, which drew on his wartime experience. That background places this lighter compilation beside writing rooted in public speaking, memory, and nineteenth-century civic life. The shortened title obscures the book’s anthology form, so Kieffer is best understood here as its selector and editor rather than the sole creator of every story in the collection.