The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-12-07

from the tumbier IN the circus to th
e great tragedian of the day. In th
q performance of his duty as local ed
4 tor, Charles Browne had abundant o
q portunity of gratifying his taste, an
he gradually became acquainted wi.
most of the travelling showmen of tn
' Western country. He delighted t
: study their habits, and ne used to tel
r many good story of their ingeniou
!. devices for rousipg tire enthusiasm c
the public. Much of this Snowman
lore he turned to account in the lei
tiers of Artemus Ward.
There are dull times in a plac
like Cleveland--times when the loca
editor is hard put to it to fill his col
umns. No show, no court no accident
no police report, no trotting match
no fashionable wedding, no surpris
party, no anything. One day in Is
SO. when the oical editor of the Cleve
land Plaindealer was in desperat
want of topic, he dashed upon pa
per letter from an imaginary show
man, to which he affixed the nam,
of a Revolutionary General, which
had always struck him as being odo
''Artemus Ward" The letter begar
thus:
"To the Editor of the Plaindeale,
l-SIR: I'm moving along-slowly
along-down lords your place,
want you should write me letter
sayin hows the show-bizniss in your
place. My show at present consists
of three moral Bares. Kangaroo
amoozing little RaslSal 'twould make
you larf to deth to see the little cuss
Jump up and squeal--wax fggers OF
G. Washington, Gen. Taylor, John
Bunyan, DR.. Kidd, and DR.. Web
ster in the act of KILN Dr. PaIkman
besides several miscellanyus moral
stattcots of celebrated piruts and mur
derers, etc., exalted by few and excel
led by none
The Snowman proceeds to urge the
editor to prepare the way Tor his COM
ing, and promises 20 have all the
handbills ''dun at your offiss'
eve must fetch the public some
how" he continues. 1--WE must work
on their feeiins-come the moral on
'em strong. lifts a temperance COM
munity, tell 'em I sined the pledge
fifteen .minits arter Use born. But, ON
the contrary, if your people take their
tods. say that Mister Ward is as gen
ial fellow as we ever met-full Of
conviviality, the lite and sole of the
soshul Bored. Take. don't you ?"
Mister Ward concludes his epistle
by condensing IT'S whole meaning into
a very short postscript:
"You scratch my back, and lie
scratch yol.r back"
This letter made wonderful hit
1t was Immediately copied into many
hundreds of newspapers, and was
generally taken as the genuine pro-
duc:ions of Snowman. Other let
ters in the same vein followed, which
carried the name of Artemus Ward
and the Cleveland Plaindealer to the
ends of the earth. For two or three
years they figured in the funny col
umn or most of the periodicals in
America, England end Australia.
But except the reputation which
the letters gave, they were of little
advantage to their author. His sal
airy may have been increased a few
dollars n week, and he added little
to his income by contributions to the
comic papers of New York. No man,
indeed is SO cruelty plundercd as the
writer of short amusing pieces, easily
clipped and copied. He writes com
ic piece for triffing sum which anus
es perhaps five millions of people, and
no one compensates him except the
original purchaser. There are for ex-
ample, comic dialogues which have
done service for fifteen years at negro
minstrel entertainments, and now
make thousands OF people laugh every
night, for which the author received
three doll rs.
Artemus Ward, anxious to buy
back the family homestead in which
to shelter the old-age of his widowed
mother, soon discovered that he could
never do it by making jokes, unless he
could sell them over and over again.
So he tried comic lecturing. The first
night the experiment was failure
A violent storm OF snow, sleet and |
wind thinned the audience in Clinton.
Hall, New York-to such a degree,
that the lecturer lost thirty dollars by
the enterprise. A tour in New Eng
land, however, mad better results. -
He lectured a hundred nights, by
which he cleared nearly eight thou
sand dollars; and he was soon able
% establish his mother in the COM
:ortable village home in which he was
porn.
I think onght not to conclude this
lrticle without letting the reader know
Why this bright and genial spirit is no
onger here to add to the worlds
amusement Well, this was
he reason; wherever he lectured,
whether in New England, California
not OF young fellows to gather round
i'm, and go home with him to his ho-
el, order supper, and spend half the 3,
ight in telling stories and singing &
ongs. To any man this will be fatal /
1 time; but when the nightly carouse I
blows an evenings performance be-
,re an audience, and is succeeded by c
railroad journey the next day, the 4.
'aste of vitality is fearfully ranid - /,
Five years of such life finished /
oor Charles Browne. He died in El
,ondon in 1867, aged thirty three 'c
ears and he now lies buried at the y
ONE of his childhood in Maine. !,
He was not a deep drinkcr. He
as not a man of strong appetites.-
was the nights wasted in convivial-