New-York tribune., 1874-03-28
John PAUL INDIGNANT.
NOT A CALIFORNIAN HUMORIST WITH A
iRCE


o,o,v ats down to write about himself from any
where Won NAV know that he is dcsperate-that
vary few alternatives are open to him ON TINS S'oo
of the grave.
The cause of this present anguish was found IN
Oh. nages of The atlantic for December Just arriVeu
and displayed for sale the counters OF tne oh'y
drugstore in town. Under the head Oh heoe"'
literature. my frenzied eye lit upon the following
exposition:
what the rative Californian is to he IN ieTat%rg % tSs
dTSoPn Of that State IS yer yolnS to give us any
ant ,imcs is merely a set of circumstances and the
literature which has come from u is the Moh t Sos
r,i who are Of widely varOus origin. Very likely the
re californian son of the red soil and the blue SKY VIII
be a%gesft or riSI Mr. Bret rte formerly
Yorker Mr. Prentice Mulford or Mr. Charles WeoU o
then California aud view it objeeavely ne VIII prov S
ably he no more aware o ms is aware Of his
local qualities lie will have no ground oil lorner
cai,ohs om ,H woI W. i6k Of which he is an amusing
pari and 50 he may not nc aCaIhOinIa nuvilS, nun o
each Of these writers il. IL is very possible thal u '
take II entirely SricUx aud DC poet say OF d IhHn'
TSc Triiers whom We have named. and whom. with
ont an nviious silence concerning other clever people
W. may consider as having given California her dlSinc
sSn r ms M S 5iofaS lfmS NOT NO ioasc clemens yns in
Hsr,9orI Messrs. Hsrtc and Webb in New-i9rk' ana ana
have each deeply received the Same Californian stamp
VI.
carcter as II ia each o; them IL from sense OF
their anomaly men of the literary tempeIament
AMI ambition In world OF rude advenurG iapaeloaSS
mOney gel ug and barbarous profuSi9n The stie oI
Ihngs in which they found themselves must nave
affected them as immensely drO III II. but not OF h
ihcy must felt themselves rather more comic tnah
anything about them; and this sense oil one oMn sdo
tesducness IN the midst of groteSqueuess s huhlol
vi the large ii, which We have been gradually coming
at. All literary men We Supp0S,, ieei tneIr "an d IN IN
tbr sc 6f the C9lfnrnan hHcraieirS We readily
NJ ne
hin0r, which haslnov become the type OF American
humar that merry person can hope TO please the
puJaC unless 1o approaches H.
Nov don't wonder that Mr. OSgood sold out all
hi, magazines for these gentlemen who edit them
wouid have got him killed had they kept Oh in tins
way long. There are things that cannot be
passed over in silence. l have been called a good
many names in my time but this is the first time
that ever was grouped asa" Californian Humorlst
"A large II" clapped Oh top of me at that! 10 the
paragraph which lately went round stating that
am Miss Ida Greeley, | do not object. For were
choice left open 90 me, certainly would rather DE
an estimable young lady than most anything else
Aud the feminine delicacv of my style, the airy
grace of my expression, would very naturally lead
an country editor knowing me only through my
polemic essays and unacquainted with me person.
any to mistake my sex aud put me up for young
LADY, the error is quite pardonabe. But there is no
reason for Bostons treating me as it now does and
always has; and if YOU will permit crushed worm
tO turn in yOur columns I'll kick back.
The idea Of a crushed worm kicking back will per-
haps be regarded i'm Boston characteristic touch
of California Humor" but the crushed worm, with
your kind permission, will proceed TO put his
lin, up
In the first place. don't know why should be
called Californian at all-if we except the fact that
once owned and edited a weekly newspaper of that
1. al in
short space of time. Circumstances over which
had 10 control - to which The Californian was
something more than kin and considerably less than
kind-nnce made me a sojOuTner in San Francisco
for the comparative eternity of three years What
that remarkable city or ever did or left undid to
deserve such dispensatOn, have never been able
10 determine but | suppose both merited a Sc
we're lick-and got it. After serving out my three
years, however faithfully, returned to New-York,
where have lived ever since, with the exception of
a week in Boston, which should not be counted
against me.
On landing in San Francisco myi arrival was
chronicled as that of a "Copperhead," and an
"Englishman." During my residence similar at
tentions were bestowed upon me, with but few
exceptions by the press of the Golden State. On
leaving there can truthfully say that the general
editorial expression Of tumultuOus Joy at my going
was only equaled by that which swelled within my
own bosom at leaving. This auspicious exodus
CURED nearly eight years since, yet even now my
attention not infrequently called by goodnatured
friends to a paragraph in some California paper
wherein am pleasantly followed and pointed out.
if not as fugitive from justice as fugitive from
something still more seyere-frOm a wife, and ad-
ye,tised for by her. This being the way of it, you
perhaps will not wonder that object to being called
a Californian Humorist and am more than half
Al 70 lp
Still greater reason for my lodging the nOmen-
clatme is an abiding conviction in my breast as TO
what will come of it. l know that even now the
Thunderers of the sage brush are nbbling their
editorial uus anew to 60 for me. There" they
will say with that precision of statement and ele-
pance of diction which my prophetic soul too well
remembers. "there goes that hali-baked galoOt,
dumping his hog-wash and singing his purp-stuff
around the country and trying 10 palm himself off
for a Californian" YOu see I've been there, and if
tha reviewer in chasing me among those who "vew
California effectively" means that object to re-
turning TO the country and settling down as per-
manence why then he's right about it. I'm rather
curious TO know what they'll say about him when
The Atlantic gets out there and they find that he calls
California a set of circumstances"
Notwithstanding, however, wish to take up the
cudgels for California in one respect. Tie atlantic
does injustice TO State that has rightfuly enough
good deal TO answer for and wastes sympathy that
might be better expended nearer home, when it at
tempts to shed any in behalf of men OF the literary
temperament and ambition in a world of rude ad-
venture. rapacious money-getting and barbarous
profusion." Emerson, who is a born Bostonan,
says very much the same thing, but this is how he
saysit:
DO not think very respectfully OF the denizens or the
dongs OF the people who went TO California IL
q rush and scramble OF needy adyenturers;