The Portland daily press., 1881-05-04
The Maine Humorist.
Artemus Ward-A Few Personal Recol-
lections.

To the Editor Of the Press:
The friends and admirers of the late
Artemus Ward, who have read the pleas
ant and truthful sketch of the great Ameri-
can Humorist in the May number of Scribners
Magazine, will echo the inquiry with which
the author closes the article, respecting the
amount and disposition of Mr.. Brownies prop
erty-"What became of the rest?" Those
who did not know the man, pretend to regard
his will. published soon after his death, as
Artemus's last "goak", but they were never
farther from the truth A more sincere and
trustworthy man in his friendships than Mr.
Browne never lived; and 1 believe that the
provisions of that will truly reflected the in
tentions of the testator, and his belief in the
sufficiency of his property to carry out its be-
quests. was intimate with Mr. Browne from
boyhood- have worked with him, and boarded
with him-visited his homo frequently; knew
many OF his family we'll; was the occasional
victim Of his boyish pranks; and was perhaps
the last person to bid him farewell when he
left his native State to embark at New York
for Liverpool. During the week before his
departure 1 saw him daily and our intercourse
was of the most confidential character. In his
serious moods he manifested great anxiety re-
garding the result of his proposed venture
for it was daring in any man to attempt to win
English applause for. last of all, American hui
NOR. But he depended much for success on
his agents knowledge of the English people
and his own shrewdness in overcoming their
preiudices. One day Browne referred to the
financial question, and gave me excellent evil
dence that he was possessed of at least five
thousand dollars of available means; and he
closed his statement with the remark that he
expected to spend good deal of money before
he "got hold" of the English people, but if he
made total failure in the foreign lecture
fie Id he meant to save enough to get him safe
ly home.
Artemus went to England under the "man-
agement'' of e. P. Kingston. 1 knew Hing
ston, ALSO very we'll. He was man Of small
stature; a genuine Cockney of quite unattrac-
tive appearance. Showmen arc proverbialy
an audacious race, but Kingston had more eff
frontery in his composition than any other
specimen of the genus l ever encountered. He
came to America from Australia via. Liver
pool, as agent for Anderson, the English Wiz
ard, and landed in Portland in the latter part
of 1862 think. From the time Of his arrival
until his departure with Artemus Ward l saw
him frequently and had excellent opportunity
to form an estimate of the man. So far as 1
know he was strictly honest; bnt Artemus had
desire that his old schoomate and compan-
ion, Maxfeld, should accompany him to Eu-
gland, aud think the pecuniary uncertainty
of fba tri al al oh,
ment. l do not know whether Kingston ever
rendered any business-like account of his
stewardship; but as he has now been dead
some two years. no solution of the mystery as
to what became of Artemus Wards earnings
will ever come from him. am sure that, liber-
al as he Was, Mr. Browne did not spend all his
| gains.
| So many anecdotes have been told, and we'll
told, of Brownies keen sense of the ludicrous
and the facility with which he gave the most
ordinary incidents humorous turn, that the
subject would seem to be exhausted; but some