Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1877-10-27
SOME RECOLLECTTOSS OF 4RTE-
Nus UIRD.

The most rCautitul city In the Unitet = tteS,
has been at different times the abode OF ~, n
lew distinguished persnnages. Col. John
Hay, author or Little Brooches, and O-heT
dialetic poems, lives there now. in far too
grand a mansion TO admit the thought that
lie viii ever scribble any more verses in bad
grammar. He married the daughter o.
Cleveland, fares SUmpiuou>ly every day.
ard will probably be known no more for
ever as one of ''them literary feilerS." to
Las found an angel father in law, mayhap
angel mother law too, VINO don't spend
Their time l0afin' around the throne.
The Cleveland PAN Dealer gave some OF
these distinguished perSOuaSes the first step
towards fame and fortune. Bishop McLaren,
now the Honorable Ep scOPal Blsnop of Iiii-
nOis, used tn be a local reporter on the PLATA
Ded'eT staff, and il is said In those unreg-n-
crate days, could go on a clark with any Of
The boys. He was newspaper reporter, AMI
row he Is a Bishop 10 Is enough To taxi
ones breath away. We don't have 10 lose
our breath very often that way, however.
Then there, too, was "Artemus Wari"
(Charles F. Brown, gentle, genial sOul-tI3
funniest man that was ever in America. H.
has been dead over ten years, yet he -
quoted more than other American hum1r-
ists-except, perhaps, Mark Twain. His vein
was that of the broadcast buresque, tipped al
ways with sarcasm, and somehow has quaint
sayings have this popularity about them
that they are not forgotten like other peoples
funny say ings. How many times has IL
CURED to every man to say. I'm ike Arte
mus Ward; i don't mind sacrificing all my
wife's relations" Who has forgotten the in
imitable letter wherein tue Great American
Snowman siaid all night in the Shaker viii
lage, and The pretty Shakeresses "said nay
and we nayed;' the ludicrOus visit to
Brigham Young. when the eyes of Artemus
We're edited by the sight OF ninety five pairs
of long stockings on the clothes line in the
back yard; or the button bursting descrip-
ton OF how the Snowman ATTEMPTED to .,re,
humOr he ever attempted is as funny as any
thing that followed. Ii Is mentioned in an
obituary notice of Artemus, written by Mr..
George HOyt, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer,
Intimate friend lnnlDrtSt
published in Il. p. Shillab5I's Carpet bag"
and was description OF a country Fourth of
July celebration. The battle OF Yorktown
was celebrated over again In mimic night, by
villagers dressed up as British and Co1ti-
mental soldiers, but before the day was over
Washington got drunk and engaged in a fist
night with CORVALLIS. who gave him an
awful thrashing.
IL Is worth pilgrimage To Cleveland 20
hear old personal friends revive their reco,-
leotiOns of Ariemus Ward. Ii was w1ile
associate editor IN the Plain Dealer Office
that he ErSt D, came known TO fame The
old office wherein he used 10 write his funny
ATtemus Ward papers has been partly torn
away, and the Iewspaper itself removed TO
a new building, but there are still several
persons connected with the pa per who knew
AID appreciated the great humOrist. IL wa
Mr.. HOyt above mentioned. now as then on
of the editors OF the PAN d ClcT, WI o
sketched the Immensely funny pictures th.s
illustrated the Artsmus Ward letters. linep
The old cuts are still existent in The Office .a0o
MI Hoyth souvenir in the shape OF IA r. is
DeGteT, eighteen yeIrs old, and yellow wiz
age, which contains q Joint production o.
himself and ArtemuS, q iSplIying The pacd
liar vein Of each. Not very IN Ich beyond
this old newspaper remains IN inc I'GiH
Dealer rooms EXCEPT in Inc Office files ~ fn
literary wors OF ATiemus Wards own hand
The yellow old paper contains II =
comical description Of a Republican cOnven-
ton which met in Cleveland In May, Is59
Artemus Ward described this Convention a.
Iit had been "A circus, Mr.. HOyt making the
pictures 10 correspond.
Artemus seems TO have had the faculty OF
attaching people to himself in a remarkable
degree. He was sensitive OF soul and slight
of frame, and had the womanly tempera
menl. He had the delicate, fair hand OF
woman, too, the most beautiful hand they
ever saw, his friends say. He liked ladies'
desperately in love with any woman. HIS
was the nature OF the typical BOhe ian,
without the BOhemian's cOarser, more often
sive traits. A statuette of him, representing
well the droll, inquisitive nose ami thin hu-
mOrous face OF the man, adorns the EDITORS
room in the PAIN Deoler Office. After the
death OF Ward, his friends of the Savage
Club, in London, had eleven OF these StatG-
cites made. A Cleveland gentleman travel
ing In England brought this one home with
him, and presented IL TO Mr.. Hoyt 1t is the
only one in America.
Mr.. Armstrong. the proprietor of the Pain
De0ter, remembers the humOriSt more than
twenty years ago IT was probably not long
after his appearance in Ohio. Charles +.
brown was then jOurneyman printer, a
wandering type setter, tTamDtng from one
country newspaper Office To another. getting
work here and there where he cOald. Mr.
Armstrong WAS editor or small country
paper in Tiffin, OHIO, aud into this little
newspaper office one day came the future
American humorist, seeking work. He was
shabby, dusty, and fOTlOrn seeming.
- / think" said Mr.. Armstrong a'he was
The gaw kiest, greenest looking young fellow
ever set eyes on"
same. In after times, when he appeared u
his lecture audiences in handsome evening
GreSs, win diamond ring upon his beauti
Iul nand, there was certainly no trace either
of awkwardness or slOvenly dress about him.
but in those early years all his acquaintance
agree that he was as ''gawky' and slouchy
young man could well be.
Artemus worked as composition in the THIN
6fhce awhile, and al length wandered on To
Toledo There he worked as a comp tor
again, in the Toledo Commercial Office, but
the editor OF that paper discovered his comic
VEIN, ana gave MIN place as reporter. HIS
The notice Ct Mr. Gray, OF the Cleveland
Pam Deoier. He wrote 10 Brown. and offer
cd him place on the Pam Dealer at SI0 a
week. The otter was accepted at once as 40
week was probably more than this man,
who was slterward 10 make people laugh
themselves into Mysteries at 500 a nt ght, hal
ever earned before. He went TO Cleveland
gladly, and the yellow, old Plain Dealer be-
ioLs IlebtIoiled' pas al Ine neal OF lts ed :
tOrial Iase The names. W. Gray, editor
and proprietor, Char +. Brown, associate
EDITOR rs reporter Ariemus Ward was
lazy man Pernai,, flIs element OF humor
II necessarily Associated with a certain
amount OF laZiCess.
In IS6J ArJtIuus Warc succeeded Charles
G. Leland IN the editOrship OF ITlQi-y FFr a
short lived periodic al which was one III tine
many foIlOrn attempts OF the American pep
PIE TO be funny. Ine EumCTiSt hal made =
rational reputation while writing for the
JiC!a UsOier, AZ $40 and So per week, Sie "a
week was tie mos. h ever received in Ctsvs-
lgud. Tire cesE AID char be used 10 use
y lille writing. were presented 10 the WeSs-
en- Reserve Historical SOcietv. They ar,
Preserved In tne rooms OF that society IN
Cleveland. He used 20 white them mos
UrmeTCIfu.ly IN Lis idle moments His man
Ter Ct writing was as peculiar "a everything
else about the man. HIS mission In life
seemed Ia be 10 hunt mp fanny things. When
lie fOUUd them. out OF his own head or else
where, be himself enjoyed them better than
anyone else. A. he sat writing when tho
funny idea struck him he would laugh with
gunaw which seemed TO shake him from
his heels upward. He sat In an arm chair,
always with his left leg swung over the arm
OF bis chair. When the joke came, he used
10 pound the table with his fist, slap the long
thln leg that hung over the chair, and ex
Mr.. Hoyt:
sCOme here. GcorSe LET me- Rad Won som a.