The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-04-17
by James Parton.
AFtemuS Ward.

/ In the beautiful town of Cleveland,
| Ohio, eleven years ago, l was intro
/ dlced one Sunday morning, to Mr..
| Charles K. Browne, who had recently
acquired celebrity by his Artemus
/ Ward letters, in the CleYeland Plain
! Dealer. He was then twenty-five
years of age, a somewhat slender
/ form, but with Tuddy cheeks and a
/ general appearance OF health and Wig
or. BE was local editor of the Plain
! DedeT, and had the ready, cordial
and df-hand manner of the members
Of the Western press. Like other
professional humOrists he vas not
particularly funny in ordinary con-
Versati0n on the contrary he was less
so than Western Editors usually are.
l was far from anticipating the career
| that was in store for him still less
could j have seen the premature death
/ of a yong man who presented an eX-
ceptional appearance Of good health.
/ If ne were alive to-day he would be
only thirty-nine years of age.
He was born at Waterford, in
/ Maine where his father was q survey
or. His native village, as he says in
one Of his papers, ''dOes not contain
over forty houses, all told but they
are milk white, with the greenest Of
| blinds, and for the most part are shad-
ed with beautiful elms and willows.
! To the right of US is q mountain to
the left a lake. The village nestles
between. OF course it does. 1 never
read novel il my life in which the
village did not nestle. Villages in
variably nestle" In this secluded
nook in New England he passed the
first fourteen years Of his life, during
which he acquired such education as
a rather idle and sport loving boy
could acquire in the common and high
schools.
He was sent to learn the printing
business at a neighbOring town called
| SkOWhegan, where, in the Office of
the Skowhegan Clarion, he learned to
set type and work a hand press. To
the last days of his life he held this
place in adherence. One Of his
friends has recorded that he was ac-
custOmed "tO set up howl of deri-
sion" whenever its name was m6n-
toned: and that whenever he desir-
ed to express the least degree of con-
tempt for any person or thing, he
would speak of them as worthy of
Skowhegan. How many boy has
reaped revenge upon teacher or an
employer by turning out to be a gen.
ius, and cOnsigning him to universal
ridicule.
At sixteen he found his way to BOs-
ton, where he obtained employment
as a compOsitor in the office of the
funniest periodical then published in
Boston, the CdIpet-Bdg, to which
Shillaber, Halpine and SAKE con-
tributed. As he set up from week to
week, the numerous contributions of
these writers, the conviction grew up
on him that he too could write piece
that would make people laugh. 1
think he must have been reading
Franklin's autobiography, or the pre-
face to Pickwick, for in putting his
talent to the test, he employed de-
vice similar to that used by Franklin
and Dickens in offering their pro-
ductiOns to the press. Having writ
ten his piece in a disguised hand, he
put it into the EDITORS box. Great
was his Joy when it was handed to
him soon after to set in type.
IC Al1L tlAECGs L bEAACNET " a. IA LAAC
style or Major Jack Downing, whose
letters, he once said, had more to do
with making him a humOrist than
the productions of any other writer.
About this time he happened to
read Bayard TaylOr's "Views AfOOt, :"
in which that popular author gave an
account of his making the tour of
Europe, and paying his way by work.
ing at his trade, which was that of
printer. Captivated by this great eX-
ample he started for the great West.
When his money was exhausted, he
would stop for q while in some large
town where there was printing Office
and replenish his purse which done,
he would continue his journey.
He stopped short of China, however.
At the town of Tiffin, Ohio, he obtain
ed a place as compOsitOr and assistant
editor, at four dollars a week. From
Tiffin he went to Toledo, where he
procured a similar position on the
Toledo Commercial at five dollars a
week. 1t was upon this paper that
his talent as a humorist first attracted
attention, and he was soon permitted
to devote his whole time to filling the
local columns with amusing abuse of
local paper. He acquired so much
celebrity in Ohio as a facetiOus para
grapher that he was offered at length
the place of local editor of the Cleve-
land Pain Dealer, at q salary muni-
ficent at the time and place, Of twelve
dollars q week.
Most of the noted humOris and
the great master of humOr himself,
Charles Dickens-have shown a par
ticular fondness for persons who gain
their livelihood by amusing the pub
Iic-showmen of all kinds and grades
from the tumbler in the circus to the
great tragedian of the day. In the
performance of his duty as local editor,
Charles Browne had abundant Oppor-
tunity of gratifying his taste, and he
gradually became acquainted with
most of the travelling showmen of the
| Western country. He delighted to
study their habits, and he used to tell
many a good story of their ingenious
devices for arousing the enthusiasm
| of the public. Much of this show
| mans lore he turned to account in the