The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1883-05-30
DOB BURDEfrE.
i serleus view Of the Great Humo.
~ flst's Life.
E;.o,,, he Atlanta Co,,stit,tion.

From, tie atlanta Constitution.
Bob Burdette is known the country
over IS the humorist Of the Burlington
Hawkeye. He is the most successful OF
our funny men: His books have con-
stant and increasing sale. His salary
from the Ha,rLeys gives him handsome
income and his little sketches command
the best prices from the magazines. In
addition he has $50 to $3.50 night
whenever he wants to take lecturlng
tour of one or two weeks. His humor Is
delicate, true and abundant, and ne is
an honor to the lighter American let
tiers, because of his literary achieve
ments.
But better and more honorable than
all this is the story of his hearth-stone.
When he was a young man Of 20 he was
engaged to Miss Carrie Carrot, of Peoria,
III. She was frail and delicate girl, and
one evening Burdette was summoned to
her bepside with the message that she
was dying. Little hope was entertained
for her life when he reached her. 1t
was determined, at the wish of both he
and she, that they should be married,
even if death should at once claim the
bride. The ceremony took place in fif-
teen minutes, the little lady being able
to respond only by motion OF the eyes
and a gentle pressure of the hand. In
spite of the doctors predictions she raj
lied, and was finally well enough to move
to the quiet and coy home her husband
had provided for her.
But she has been an invalid all her
life. More than once her life has been
despaired Of. Usually she has been con-
fined to her room and unable to walk.
One night at the theatre in Philadelphia
the writer saw pale and earnest man
making his way to a private box with a
delicate, clinging woman in his arms.
Her girlish face was full of a pathos that
passes description, but was wonderfully
pretty. And strangely happy, too--full
of content. Everybody made way for
the little lady, and her great tender eyes
seemed to send thanks to every gentle
man who moved aside in courtesy. 1t
was Bob Burdette and his invalid wife.
This Is an index of his life. The temp
tations of the world, the dazzle and gilt
ter of the society that has welcomed him
the converse with brilliant men, the
club, theater, wealth, famc-all and
either of them failed to win his heart
from the little woman who sat at his
fireside and lived on his love and SYM
pathy.
Nor was there lacking a practical re-
ward of this devotion. Mrs. Burdette has
been the inspiration of her husbands
life-at once his spur and his counselor.
She first discovered the rich quality and
the spontaneity of Bob's humor, and the
homely flavor that would carry it to the
heart MS well as the intelligence of the
public. Imagine the humorist reading
the most laughable stories at the bedside
of his invalid wife. He tells himself OF
how she forced him to write his first lee
ture in these words:
Zone day, when she was lying helpless,
she said she believed that / could write
n lecture and deliver it successfully, and
so she sat me down to write that lecture,
and from time to time rebelled with
tears and groans and prayers. 1 told her
that was too little, that had no voice,
and that / couldn't write a lecture any
how. She kept me at it, and in due time
we had lecture on our hands, The Rise
and Fall Of the Mustache.' This was all
right enough. But now how to get an
audience. thought would try it first
at Keokuk. If / delivered it first at
Burlington, even though it were tame
tanner, tamest, thought they might pat
me on the back. But Keokuk hated
Burlington, and knew if it was fiat the
Keokuk people would say so. Mrs. Bur-
dette said, as she was responsible for that
lecture, she was going to hear it deliver
ed. So carried her aboard the cars. We
went to Keokuk, and the people pro-
nounced it good"
From that day he has prospered wher-
ever his homely, insignificant little figure
has been seen.