New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-01

catalogues and indexes to write primers for
children and histories for schoolgirls to PASS
ones life III perpetual compilation or endless
pioof-reading, than TO win little temporary
not0riey by tickling the fancy OF an lDc0nstant
public: than to Try to live III ON what man
has done after ne has ceased to 90 anything, rs
a charlatan starving himself fOI q show exists
upon the tissues which meals long beiOlc di-
gested have afforded nm.
Yet those were pleasant nights in the old
cellar after all, when the last novel was dis
cusSed, the last new play anat0mized, and the
fun sometimes but not often, became fast and
furious. Poor Wilkins, now dead, like the
rest, would drop in, with the freshest IN
telligpncc from the theatre, or would tell US
something OF the drama which he was en-
gagged in writing. Now and then he wond
take us round to his own room, which was
somewere in the neigborhood-a wondrous
place as remember it full. it seemed principally
of pipes and empty beer bottles and bottles which
were not yet empty with the walls covered
with pIints of all sizes and descriptions; and
with books hcaped about as If they had been
shot there from cart and were still where
perchance they had fallen. SIngulary enough,
there was bed in one corner of this retreat,
but | could hardly imagine my friend going TO
bed at all. AT any rate, he invariably refused
To seek it so long rs anybody could be per-
suaded to say and chat with him, and smoke
! with him. and listen tt his light, salient, and
| sarcastic talk OF men, of manners, of literature
AMI especially the drama. Sometimes | have
| thought that rather than not talk ut all, after
W
| sUiioQuy, or address his clever observations TO
the stove or the bed-pOst, or to the pictured
ladies in the light d1apely If the ballet, who
smrked out of the dingy frames. To the
! genial and clever man death, as ] have SAID,
| soon me; and toll and pleasure alike being
over. he took his rest by night and by day, with
! no more comedies TO write or to crtcise.
! Perhaps for some men quiet, domestic,
! housekeeping life has no attractions They
! either naturally like the uncertainty, the vafIa-
! tons between plenty and ptnury, and the slim
illus of want which puts them upOu Their
mettle; or else, through habit they have grown
! to like 1t. / remember hearing three young
! painters blithely discussing the prospect of
breakfast Ill the studio Oi one OF them. They
| could not eat the dusty plaster cast of the
| Farnese Hercules; they cOnld not assuage the
keen demands of appetite by deVOurlng paint
and. though boys enough to have keen appe
ttes, II never occurred Ia them 10 draw lots and
TO say We must eat We" like mariners Ill AlT.
Thackerays mCmnful ballad. At last one re-
membeIed that he had half a bottle Of earet
in his room /; another that he had a shilling in
his pocket, which would buy bread and SO a
light but sufficient banquet was eXtemyOriz d
with much cheerful talk and happy lauSntcr.
! fear tnat | shall injure the moral OF my story
# | say that there was plenty of tobacco and
no end OF pipes. But this narcotic is not bad
after slender repast, and ] am bound 10 re-
mark that It was, as the doctors say, "cx-
hIbIted,' and that it bel ped the talk amazingly.
All the happy, indOmitable heart OF youth
WIZ can 1t not always stay with US WhY
cannon we keep Ii for the days in which snail |
need It most, so that We should not SO often and /
so sadly be Obliged TO admit that We have no /
pleasure in them Why should We be doomed /
10 wisdom without the force to employ II, and /
t0 knowledge, which the hand Is too tIemulOus /
to record 1t Is Colerdge, | think, who says /
finely that experience IL Ike the stern lights of |
a ship, which illuminate only the waves which /
have been passed over, ard not the wastes |
winch are before. But these are but dcleiul re-
Elections Let Us pass to merIier mat ers!
4 a.1 srffn t,la Of
money in the treasury, would lie a great god |
send TO Bohemia, wlnie the money lasted. /
have known mething OF Seye1a! Of The funny
newspapers which in past days have been
started but not established in New ! Ork, and
the memories thereof are excessively clrglac.
They have been good, bad and Indifferent, but
a common fatality has OvcraHeu them. In this
world of folly and absurdity, drOl or sat real
writing ought not to be difficult, yet believe
that editors find it the most difficult thing To
secure. We Americans have been given ~ to
believe that the pun Is the best form Of hunOr,
whereas II IS a radically bad one. Used habit
u9lly, its tendency j. to degenerate INTO alb
sudliy AMI MeXpIesSiDle f0Olishntss. Any
CopDler can make good pun; tuJ to take up
toIir, 10 tOSs 70 merrllv from hand IA hand, to
dandic and CUil It, and present II under dozen
ridiculous aspects, 70 make IL Amusing IA spite
OF lis Inherent gIavlty, and generally TO get out
OF 1t whatever iUG II l. capable 0f yedHg--a
man must have natural talent fOT tins, or he
cannot do it at all. III the managers of come /
newspaper, with whom have been acquainted
h0wicd tor contributors of real merit ard
usually Eovlcd in vain. TIE literary fellows
brought lille which even DcmoCIltuS himself
could have smiled ut. There was always
tendcIcy to glide into path0s Ct to lapse into
ierOcOus Indignation. How any man could
have supposed that daily comic news arer
could be written, much less sold. in New York,
passes nav comprehension vet his was " hat |
was undertaken III N5W-l ok about twenty
years ago, by Nj. Addle, an Engl : man who /
had been brought up IN MOXon', bOOk-shOp in
London. wrote an Introductory poem for
AtOmWS as the journal " as called which perbaIs
helped 10 Kill it, for 1t only lived about a week.
There was not much that was good about &
-H0mas except the name which | think fine Z
one. Then came. Vanity Fair. Poor Mr.. !
Stevens, the proprietor, uSed u ask me, with .
teas ~ his eyes, if ! did not know some clever
young fellows who would write for him, and /
used TO answer, with tears in my eyes, uat did a
not. Ana yet he bad the PICK OF whatever was !
to be had III NeW-IOIk at that time, including I
several lads who have since made their mark .
though not IN the comic business. One Of the
most dreadful of demises was that Of Mrs p
Gruady which should have lasted longer with =
such a man as MIR. Charles Dawson Shanly at "
rs head. ought to mention to their credit, t
hat though all the comic newspapers with "A
which have been connected have fallen into i
insolvency, have invariably been paid every y
iOllaf winch was due ne which shows periiqDs =
hat fun and keen SENSE of financial obligations 9
lre not nCOn patible. ] think one mistake i
which most of the projectors of these lament y
ibie speculatons have made has been that thcy /,
rave followed Punch too closely III fixing tie b
,hy siognomy Of theiI Journals The titles the II
lze the type, the makeup, aud the cartoon q
ave been Is nearly like those OF the London .
lroll as possible. This. doubtless, cost our u
beets an all OF originality nor do think that u
mutations Of the best things are likely to be sue
essful. Punch has lived and flourished be-
ause be is British III every fibre OF his crooked
onstituiiGn. When we have IA comic news.
apeT which III its way is just essentially V
American perhaps Its early funeral will not be c
n
The incoming generation of journalists will
ave much greater chances Of doing valuable ~