Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1882-04-15
The Origin Of the Name "Artemns
Ward.v

Ward"
There has been not a little specula-
ton as to how Brown came by his non,
de plume, "Artemus Ward" DR..
| Shattuck says that, having some conf
| dental business with him during one Of
his last visits to Waterford, he took the
occasion to inquire in particular about
it. Brown said it was in this wise {:
While engaged at the Piaindcater Of
flee, In Cleveland, Ohio, he made the
acquaintance of an eccentric old gentle
man whose actual name was Artemus
Ward, though assuming some more pre-
tentious titles. This man was in the
show business, having few "wax fig
gers" birds, "snaix" and kangaroo.
While waiting on the printers for his
bills he amused Brown by telling an
endless number of anecdotes, all of
which were duly treasured up. Among
these were some of the incidents in
Browns article entitled edwin Forrest
as Othello." He referred to the follow
ing as one of the contributions of the
original Artemus Ward:
Ed was actin at Niblo's Garding,
but let that pars. I sot down Ill the
pit, took out my spectacles and com
menced peroosin the evenin's bill.
AS / was peroosin' the bill grave young
man who sot near me axed me if I'd ever
seen Forrest dance the essence of Old
Vrginny.
"'He's immense in that, sed the
young man. He also does fair cham
pion jig the young man continnered,
but his big thing Is the essence Of Old
Virginny.'
"Sez [:
COS Fair youth, do you know what I'd
DO with you if you was my SUM-
"'No,' seq be.
"'Wall, sez L. I'd appint your flu
neral tomorrow AFTERNOON, and the
korps should be ready You're too
smart to live on this yearth.'
The old man claimed himself to be the
hero of this story. Brown, however,
wanted the credit of correcting the
spelling and OF dressing the stories up
m good literary style. Pleased with the
name, he attac ed it to several of his
comic productions, and, finding that it
took with the public, adopted "A.
Ward" as his own.-Scri6ne7.
How Whistler Painted a Ceiling.
Probably you have heard OF Whistler's
extravaganza in houses. He was en-
gagged to decorate a noble mansion in
Belgravia; the price was no object to
the overland, for that matter, neither
was it to Whistler. One day friend
asked me to go over and see one of the
rooms that was nearly completed, and I
fastened to accept the invitation. This
is what we saw on entering: A very
slim, spare figure extended on q mat
tress in the middle of the floor beside
him an enormous palette, paints, half
dozen long bamboo fish-poles resting on
line, with their butts close at hand,
and very large pair Of binooular glass
as. Whistler, dressed wholly in black
velvet, with knickerbocker pantaloons
stopping just below the knee, black silk
stockings and low, pointed shoes, with
silk ties more than SIX inches wide and
diamond buckles, was Hat on his back,
tishing-rod in hand and an enormous
eye-glass on one eye, diligently putting
some finishing touches ON the ceiling,
his brush being on the other end of the
tish-pole. Occasionally he would pick
up his double glasses like some astrono-
4iSi pcCllu8 hl tllo ulOoD, tAlu, Iltt'lllt
gained nearer and better view of the
effect, he would again begin to agitate
the paint brush at the other end Of the
long pole,
Now wouldn't he fool" said he,
"to risk myself on scatfolding and
nearly twist my head off my shoulders
trying to look upward when can over
come the difficulty thus 2" and he gave "a
wave of his tish-pole.
And such room one mass of gor-
geous purple end blue, ornamented
solely with an enormous number of the
eyes Of poecock's feathers. 1t was a
room to make man lunatic in week.
1t was as if all the peacocks in Christen-
dom had settled down upon one and
were about TO smother one i'll tail feath-
ers. And this was the celebrated "pea-
cock room" about which all London
went wild not long afterward. London
letter.