Litchfield enquirer., 1867-04-11
From the New York Citizen. AMTEMUS WARD. E, .ts"4
BY oEoRoE ALFRED TowSsEsD.

Poor Charley Browne was 6
 snowman in the fullest sense, his associates
 and aspirations being always for the cap.
 and-bells, and his choice of a character to
 express his humors being from the begin.
 ming the old wax-work exhibitor
 think his life ought to receive more than
 a paragraphs attention; because, as pop.
 ular humorist, he was represent tative of the
 habits and afinities of his class, while in
 origin he was individual as the hero of a
 showman's table.
 "With about enough education for a
 sign-board, as be himself said,-a lean,
 provincial adventurer, not midway in his
 teens, his dialect of the most nasal Down
 Eastern and made to match his dress. young
 Brown left his stool in printing office of
 Skowhegan, Maine, and came to Boston for
 his fortune. He dropped, by chance, into
 the office of laughing bankrupt paper, called the Carpet Bag, where by fortuity of good humor were collected together B.
 P. Shillaber ("Mrs Partington'), John G. Saxe, and Chas. G. Halpine, (ssMiles O'Rei- ly'). Ward attracted no attention beyond his uncouthness, as he was probably the best model of the traditional Yankee boy that Lowell or Trowbridge could discover.
 His nose was keen aquiline, very mobile and peculiar. his eyes were of the palest indigo redeemed from coldness by their constant twinkle; he had country boys high complexion, ''tow-head," an irresolute, versatile mouth and chin, and more than a due allowance of neck and legs. At first he was promising compositor; but his heart was never in the case; his most be- loved office perquisite was pass to the theatre; he despised small thrift, and found in the smart spirits around him no great inducements to cultivate method as fine art. About as frowsy, good for nothing, disciple of Gottenburg as ever filled a "stick, Ward was quite spoiled as com- positor when some of his jokes were admit ted to the Carpet Bog's columns. From his exemplars here he insensibly built up the phraseology and orthography of the fu- ture Artemus. Shillabers old lady. mis- pronouncing and maldefning, Halpine's political ardor, and Saxes satire of social things, combined promptly in the indomi- table old snowman, and took Wards future individualities.
 It is to be suspected that he ceased to adorn the mechanical office, and, after a year or two with that errantry which is the favorite literary apprenticeship, he was dis covered at small town in Ohio named Tifin, whether he had walked with bun dle on his back to ask for 'job." At Tif6n he assumed the responsible duties of local editor and general compositor, at four dollars per week, and soon became known for the quaintness and pertness of his par agraphs, many of which were picked up by the neighboring weekly newspapers, and circulated to the praise of their author. The little notoriety they obtained him was of no immediate good result. He received no promotion to better newspaper, but in lieu thereof the friendship of ali the lazy wags in the village, and these took up the burden of his time, so that his favorite text book became the bottom of a tumbler Peo- pie in Tifin remember him still, in the lux ury of new apparel purchased bya notice of our enterprising townsman, the dry goods merchant, and making free with strangers in the town of which he was the crowning hospitality. Every travelling show that happened in the place found in him patron, and he was most generally behind the scenes, happy as king in the of clown and acrobat, who rec ognized in him the traditional good fellow and incipient genius.
 One of these said to me, since his death: "He was the funniest fellow I ever see. But Lord! didn't think then he had half so much fun into him. He made more jokes than six end men, He never had nothing whatever of no kind to do, when see him, and had tried to get an engage ment in most all the shows that went through town. He wanted to be Bones, Banjo and Triangle. But that warn't his line, no how! He hadn't no talent for our biz. Artemus was scholar, SO far as see, and always pretty tolabul hard up"
 Against all our theories that life ought to have purpose, rises up the case of life the best education to which is purposeless. You can no more cultivate humor than you can grow gold or granite. It is doubtful that Browne's ambition to be great hu- morist extended, at that time, beyond the wish to see his freshest joke appreciated. His life had only object beyond enjoyment; that of placing his old mother in Maine beyond the reach of want. This was his youngest, longest, and only permanent am- bition. He bad consummated it years be- fore he died, and this being his only per- sonal duty was followed by calm satisfac- tion that made downy his foreign grave.
 From Tif6n he went to Toledo as re- porter. He made very piquant para graphist, and now and then indited some savage piece of irresistible satire at the re- porter of the opposite paper. Toledo was one of the most grasping of new towns, it's sole convivialities clustering about the ho- tel, where you might have seen Browne, now grown to be tall, long haired, un- kempt picture of native genius, making in- timate with townsfolks and strangers, wild weed in commerce and society, the best known and most lonely existence in that busy mart. He was invited hence to Cleveland-a great elevation-and after lively sallies upon all sorts of police cases, good-humored buffets at the "soulless cuss of the concern across the way" he made, with the show of purpose he had had, the first of the A. Ward contributions. The name he chose at random from the list of colonial patriot Generals, one of whom, SO entitled, could be impressed without shock ing anybody s reverence. It travelled slow ly through the exchanges till it got to Gin cinnati, where the Gazette made it promi- nent, and perhaps no single humorous pa- per ever seemed so unique, made so general pleasure, and was SO universally well comed. Before he was well aware of his success he had written second one, and 8 third. These three made him known East. West, and South. He was traced up to Cleveland, and from salary of twelve dol lars a week, he found himself receiving daily annlications to roroo %o No~, vorlr ~.