The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-12-10
The Writers for Punch.

A writer saws: The little band of Punch
writer's were mostly fond of children. 1t
was Thaekeray's delight to "tip" boys.
When Sidney Blanchard was a little
fellow, on one of his school holidays
Thackeray gave him dinner at the Gar
rick, took him to the theatre in the
evening, and enioved himself immensely
in the delight of the boys. Leech was
never happier than in his pictures of
children and5 their childish humor. Du
Maurier is never more at home than
when he is delineating some quaint joke
in which the children are the actors. Tom
Hood was one of the most simple and
simple-minded of poets. Men who love
children are invariably good fellows,
and in their own homes, or round the
Punch table, Mark Lemon, Jerrold, Hor-
ace Mayhem, Leech, Thackeray, Tom
Hood, John Tenniel, were simply party
of grown-up boys, full of the freedom
and unconventional geniality of youth.
In their troubles and in their pleasures
they were happy family. What scores
of racy anecdotes, what flashes OF wit
must have circulated about the mahogany
tree in Bouverie street, where every
Wednesday for a quarter of Il century
the editors of Punch have met their con-
tributOrs at dinner to discuss the car
tOOn. A few years ago there were regu-
larly sitting round the board Mark
Lemon, Falstaffian in figure, with merry
eyes set in broad, genial face; Shirley
Brooks, his lieutenant, a handsome, pleas
ant-loOking gentleman, always ready with
a bit of pretended cynicism: Thackeray,
the great, wise, thoughtful-lOoking critic
of the Georges; Jerrold. with his massive
head and eager eyes; Percival Leigh,
quiet, gentle, and differential; Tenniel,
mild, intelligent, and afable; Mayhem,
distiRgue in appearance and confessedly
lazy; Leech, tinically funny; Tom Tay-
Ior, polite and capable, full of wise saws
and modern instances; Mr.. Bradbury, ST.,
courtly and pleasant; and, once in a
way, Sir Joseph Paxton, the only stranger
/ believe who ever dined with the Punch
men. Since the Messrs. Agnew have
joined the partnership, they have had
seats at the board, where the skeleton
may, indeed, be said to sit with the Epi-
cureans; for. on the death of a member
of the staff, he who succeeds to the va
cant place cuts his name on the dining
table above that of the former guest,
who has rested from his labors. They
were a united and happy family, almost
from the first, these writer's for Punch,
with Mark Lemon standing, like father
and friend, Mt their head; and to his
sober influence may be attributed the
general freedom of the publication from
anything like Objectionable matter, an
influence consistently taken up by his
successors. Mark Lemons personal in
fuence laid in the strong social founda
tions of the paper. Even Thackeray was
wont to unbend before the administration
of his editor, in the heyday of his fame.
In a lecture which he delivered at Bir-
mingham in 1855, on "Men of Humor,"
he said: :" am rcjOiced to think that
Mark Lemon has maintained his post as
editor of Punch since its commence
ment; for, amid its ten thousand pages,
there has not been a single line that the
young may not read, nor a girl blush
atm strong contrast with the Olden
times, when fun was not allowed them.
The comic works of the past years are
sealed to our wives and daughters. With
Punch it is not so; for where its editor
is, there is decOrOus wit, and fun without
its general attendant, cOarseness."