Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-10-20
GEORGIA
Pen Pictures OF Esiii Arp, Old 81,
and UD1Ie Remus.

~ aeA
ATLANTA, GA, October l5.-Hu-
morists seem to be indigenous to this
soil and flourish as the green bay tree
The three most celebrated humorous
writers of the South have their local
habitation here and h~ereabouts. Their
fame as delineators.of the negro char
acter and dialect is co-extensiye with
the land. Two of them-Samuel
Small cod sin and Joel Chandler
Harris ("Uncle Remus")--live in this
city; the other, Major Chas. w. Smith
("Bill Arp"), makes his home at Car
tersville, sixty miles above, on the
railroad. They have all been con-
tributors and editorial writer's on the
Atlanta Constitution from time to
time, and gave it a national name. Mr..
Harris has a permanent post on the
Constitution, and is continuing the
series Of Uncle Remus stories in
Scribner, or The Century, as its new
tangled, illuminated name appears
athwart its coverlid. Mr.. Small is
now Secretary to Mr.. II. L. Kimball,
President Of the Great Cotton Expo
sition, and is stiving to get surcease
from the strain ofdaily journalism.
Major Smith pokes fun at the hands
on a farm, but has a hankering after
the hesh-pots of the literary world.
He etches in ebony for the Sunday
Constitution, and cultivates cabbages
aud sugar.cane the rest Of the week.
He is an ex- Confederate, and the
eldest of the tuneful trio. They pos
sess a quaint, piquant humor peculiar
to this part of the planet, and their
position is unriyalled and pre-emi1ent.
Humor Of the richest flavor fairly
oozes from them, like honey from
the squeezed comb. | had the
pleasure Of meeting the two first
named gentlemen, and found them
very agreeable and entertaining.
Mr.. Small is a young man, under
thirty, with a wife and three or four
cherubs. He is a gentleman of bril-
liant accomplishments, and has a
finely shaped head and Intellectual
cast of features, which bespeak the
student and thinker. His bearing is
modest, earnest, and impresses you
favorsbly at first sight and grows on
acquaintance.
Mr.. Small's contour of face and
form would indicate a quick and sem
sitive organism and the poetic tenn
permanent. He bears the traces Of
Hoverwork, and his eyesight has paled
so much that he wears glasses con-
stantly. He. should step off the
tread-mill of daily journalism and
preserve his phenomenal powers.
Mr.. Harris is, like his illustrious
predecessor of Rome, a plain, blunt
man. He is to all appearances a
tomato catsup blonde-that is theonly
way l have Of classifying him--and
looks like his face had been shotted
with Worcester sauce. He has red
hair, a short, stubby moustachc and
imperial of the same complexion, and
a not lofty brow, but one bullying with
bumps Of wit and humor. His shape
is short and stout, with a tendency to
stubbiness, and altogether he is not
unlike a "Frenchman from Cork.
He is slow of speech and wholly
devoid Of any mannerism or ostenta-
ton.
Mr.. Harris is a young man slightly
the rise of thirty, and, like his friend
Small, is twined for life with little
pomegranates on his vine. He has
published his Uncle Remus and old
folks lore in book form. The first
edition was issued last November, and
has reached a sale already of over
twenty thousand copies. He is con-
tinuing the same strain of stories in
Nineteen of them will
complete the. series. l asked him if
these stories were Pigments of his i'm
a~gination, and he replied: mo; they
are negro legends, in my own dressing,
which have been handed down from
generations. These same stories have
their counterpart among the tribes of
South America, the Creek and Grow
Indians, and in Siam and other parts
Of Asia. These different people vary
them according to the animals with
which they are best acquainted. The
origin Of these legends is unknown,
but seems to ante. date history" Mr..
Harris has done a good work in col.
lecling. smoothing and setting these
rough diamonds into our literature.
The project" promises to pan out
handsomely from = financial stand
poJa6