Litchfield enquirer., 1867-04-11

into some better request in Cleveland, but
 the echo of his fame came clearer back to
 him than to the townsfolks. At last his great opportunity arrived in an application to make New York his home and revive the
 sinking fortunes of -Tasi1y Fair. In a
 few months time he had arisen from the so-
 clal rank of "tramp" compositor, to edit
 the best attempt we have ever had in Amer
 ican comic literature
 Now the purpose of purposelessness bore
 It's fruit. Those who expected to meet an
 unkempt, boorish buffoon, found in the old
 snowman tall, young man. the equal of
 anybody in courtesy and .1f,,esse, made af-
 fable and bold together by many rowing
 companionships, and accepting his inaugu-
 ration with mixture of frmness and en-
 thusiasm. All that was memorable in
 Vanity Fair afterward, was written by him.
 The Ward papers of that era were the
 most incongruous, illogical, eccentric, and mirth- stirring that he ever penned. If there had been previously any quarter
 where he was unknown, these letters ad- vertised him, and the wonderful knack he
 had of making friends of journalists at large, gave every fragment universal cireu- lation. At the time of his death he had probably more literary and newspaper &C., quaintanoes than any known man.
 Browne changed his designs in life, but not his friends. The same class of good natured loiterers were his favorites to the last. He did not believe that humor was ability, and therefore did not trouble him. self with sef-measurements and compari- sons. Jealousy he never understood. But he insisted upon getting the fullest reward for his work, and the remainder of his life was divided between enjoyment and money making. Writing never paid him anything of consequence; even his books, if I am we'll informed, netted to him but five thou sand dollars, and they included almost the whole sum of his compositions. He re- ceived invitations to lecture during the ex- istence of Tanity Fair, and after it's de- cease made his first peripatetic journey.
 At first he was bad lecturer; without confidence, faltering, uncertain in style Eventually he triumphed over these de- fects, settled down into the easy mixture of half-shrewd, haf-idiotic expression-a man. ner in which he had no equals even upon the stage-and finally, in the "parlor en- the system of featuring ori- ginated by Albert Smith, he was without a peer here or abroad.
 Early in his featuring career at Cleve- land, he met with ludicrous experience There was an individual whom we may call Higgins in the town, who had employed Artemus to write the pufs of his boot and shoe store in the PLaindealer. the writer getting his pay in stock. When Higgins heard that Ward had become rich, he re- fiected that he had never receipted for said boots and shoes, so he proceeded to the Anger House with a constable to detain the lecturers baggage. This consisted of the famous panorama, absolutely essential to illustrate the narrative; but Higgins, while the constable stood by, raised his great hoof, burst open the door, and appropria- ted panorama, dress suit, manuscript and curling tongs. Here was more humorous dilemma than any the great snowman had instanced. The audience meanwhile as- sembled. Browne pleaded and wept. Hig- gins, like Shylock, had whetted his knife upon his soul, and meant to cut the cheek from the bankrupt there. At the last gasp relief came; friends, satisfied that the house was success, advanced the funds, and Higgins went into history as the man who stood between America and her great humorist.
 In the beginning Artemus Ward lectur- ed before lyceums and associations He resolved at last to embark upon the adven- turous career of professional snowman, and 1t may be said, that, henceforward, he wrote little that confirmed his earlier re- pute. By dint of hard travelling, a new and saucy way of advertising, and passing for liberals companionable fellow, he made his entertainment suc- cessful until the winter of 1865. Admon- ished by lessening houses in the Provinces, that the Mormon pictures would no longer draw, he gave one "good by" season in New York, where his health failed; and the pro- ject of lecturing speculation in Europe, resolved into trip imminent for health's sake. He had expended his vital forces; rough and lassitude succeeded; he set sail in the spring of 1866.
 Wards was not mind of great suggest iveness, though his shrewd snowman s na- ture was always on Me qui uiue for attrac- tions. His favorite project before his de- parture for Europe, was to write lecture upon Broadway illustrated by panorama, to be, in sense. an advertisement of ho- tels and business houses, as we'll as hu- entertainment. Few persons know how dexterously and thoroughly he enlarg ed his acquaintance in New York with this end in view. His temperament was loiter- ing but not indolent; his worst business fault was love of promiscuous and familiar He wrote little during the two past years because he mistrusted his art somewhat, and because he wished to his lecture. The new papers he in 1864'65-'66 were laboriously put together, and he received suggestions for them thankfully. A friend caught him once at the De Soto-his favorite resort-a fork in one hand, turkey bone in the oth- CT, his thin frosty nose wrinkling at the bridge, saying:
 ''A wise father knows his own son, and virtue is folly to be wise: rolling stone gathers no beggars on horseback, ne plus xnuns epluri6us uzrap'
 The facility with which he caught odd fragments of conversation was equal to the ludicrous perseverance with which he rolled them over and over, to get them at the full est climax of absurdity. His aids to con- position were more frequently clowns than wits; he knew more negro minstrels than any man who wrote the English language, and heard with great delight and profit their Every street bon nsot was grist to his mill. He invented the term ''Se- cesh, :" "You bet!" '.Thusly!'' and hun dred other not very pertinent expr essions which became popular through some ira