The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1873-03-19
. ..ARTEMUs WARD"
BY JAMES PARTON.

Ohio, ten years ago, | was introduC
ed one Sunday morning, to Nh
Charles F. Browne, who had recent
" acquired celebrity by his Artemu
Ward letters, in the Cleveland Plai
Dealer. He was then twenty-fiv
years of age, of somewhat slende
form, but with ruddy cheeks and
general appearance of health and vigor
He was local editor of the Plain Deal
er, and had the ready, cordial and of
hand manner of the members of th,
Western press. Like other profes
sional humorists, he was not particu
larly funny in ordinary conversation
on the contrary he was less so thai
Western editors usually are. | wa
far from anticipating the career tha
was in store for him still less could
have foreseen the premature death 0
young man who presented an excep
tional appearance of good health. |
be were alive to-day he would b.
only thirty-six years of age.
He was born at Waterford, il
Maine, where his father was a sur
veyor. His native village, as h
says in one of his papers, docs no
contain over forty houses all told; bu
they are miIk-wbite, with the green
est of blinds, and for the most par
are shaded with beautiful elms anc
willows. To the right of US is {
mountain; to the left a lake The
village nestles between. OF course i
does. | never read novel in my
life in which the village did not nes
tie. Villages invariably nestle" Ii
this secluded nook in New England
be passed the first fourteen years o
bis life, during which be acquired
such education as a rather idle anC
sport-loving boy could acquire in the
common and high schools.
He was sent to learn the printing
business at neighboring town, call
ed Skowhegan, where, in the Office Of
the Skowhegan Clarion, be learned
to set type and work hand press
To the last of his days he held this
place in adherence. One of his
friends has recorded that he was ac
customed Ito set up howl of dcri-
sion" whenever its name was men
toned: and that whenever he de.
sired to express the least degree OF
contempt for any person or thing, he
would speak of them as worthy Of
Skowhegan How many a boy has
reapcd full revenge upon teacher
or an employer by turning out to be
a genius, and consigning him to uni
versal ridiculel
At sixteen he found his way to
Boston, where he obtained employ
ment as eompositor in the Office OF
the funniest periodical then published
in Boston, the Carpet Bag, to which
Shillaber, Halpine and SAKE contrib
uted. As he set up, from week to
week, the humorous contributions OF
these writers, the conviction grew up
on him that he too could write a
piece that would make people laugh.
think he must have been reading
Franklin's Autobiography, or the
preface to Pickwick, for in putting
his talent to the test, be employed a
device similar TO that used by Frank
lin and Dickens in offering their pro-
ductions to the press. Having writ
ten his piece in disguised hand. he
put it into the editors box. Great
was his Joy when it was handed to
him soon after, tC set in type.
The first piece, believe, was in
the style of Major Jack Downing,
whose letters, he once said, had more
to do with making him 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 bis making the tour of Eu-
rope, and paying his way by working
At his trade, which was that of
printer. Captivated by this great
example he started for the Great
West. When his money was exhaust
ID, he would stop for while in some
arge town where there was print
ng Office and replenish his purse
which done, he would continue his
Quincy.
he stopped short of China, howev-
n. At the town Of Tiliin, Ohio, he
obtained place as compositor and
assistant editor, at four dollars
week. From Tiflin he removed to
Toledo. where he procured similar
position on the Toledo Commercial at
i've dollars a week. 1t was upon
his paper that his talent as humor-
st first attracted attention, and
le was soon permitted to devote his
whole time to filing the local column
With amusing abuse of the rival pa
,er. He acquired so much celebrity
n Ohio as a facetious paragrapher,
hat he was offered at length the
,lace of local editor Of the Cleveland
Plain Dealer, at salary, munifcent
It the time and place, of twelve dol
ars a week.
Most of the noted hnmorists-and
he great master of humor himself,
,harles Dickens-have shown a par
icular fondness for persons who gain
heir livelihood by amusing the pub
ic-showmen of all kinds and grades
rom the tambler in the circus TO the
.reat tragedian Of the day. In the
erformancc of his duty as local edi-
or, Charles Browne had abundant
pportunity of gratifying his taste,
nd he gradually became acquainted
With most of the travelling showmen
f the Western country. He delight
d to study their habits, and he used
0 tell many good story of their in
.enious devices for arousing the en-
husiasm of the public. Much of
his showman's lore he turned to ac-
cunt in the letters Of Artemus
Ward