Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-12-06
BOB BuRDrrrE.
The Oplnian Of the Leading Humorists and
Their Work-Dificultie Under
Which they Labor.
St. Louis Chronicle.


A funny little man, with his
hands buried In his pockets, q cigar
In his mouth and a derby hat tilted
on the side OF his head, stood in the
rOtunda 0f,.the L4aclede this MORN
ing, chatting with several men, who
would now and then break forth
into laughter at his words. The
man was Robert j. Burdette, the
humorist OF the Burlington Hawk
eye. He heartily greeted the
Chronicle reporter. "You are won
dering, my boy" he said, at once.
rs the reporter scrutinlzed his
face, "why all funny writers have
q melancholy cast of countenance.
Why is 1t? Oh. because the fun is
all sapped out of our system and
makes us melancholy TO lose it."
He laughed heartily and all
thoughts of his alledged melancholy
appearance were dispelled. Yet he
seems careworn. His eyes, a dark
brown, twinkle merrily, but his
complexion is too sallcw to lend any
thing but sadness to his face.
"Well, The added, "we humorists
seem to have more than our share
OF sorrow to bear, and il is rather
trying at times to be funny when
death is is at your door. My wife
for eight Years was an invalid, suff-
ering continually and during such
times, when was overcome with
grief, / had to grind out paragraphs
over which hundreds would laugh
without thought of the authors
tQrture% Lately things have been
worse fortne, and there amt much
fun in life. Only a few months
since my wife was taken away, then
a nephew and am only just return
ing from the funeral of my brother
in-law. Pathos is as much the pas
sion Of a humorist as the ridiculous
When can see the funny side OF
things ii is because / feel the pa
thetic. The deepest, most tender
and sympathetic letter Of many
received after my wife's death was
written by Bill Nye. 1t contained
eight pages which would MAKE an
eye weep and revealed q new feat
ure of this most original mans
character"
Speaking of the humorous articles
of the day, Mr.. 'Burdettee was in
cIined to give but favorable crlti.
cism.
1I think" he said, "that the
grandest worker and the man i
admire most Is Lewis, OF the De-
iroit Free Press. His versatility Is
wonderful, for there il nosubject he
does not touch well, and he writes
three times the amount OF any other
man. Bill Nye occupies the fore
most plare among the funny men,
and there are none so original.
believe Opie Reed, of the Arkan-
saw Traveller, to be funny at times.
Geo. Peck? Oh, can say for him
that he has made more money out
of his fun than any OF us. His Bad
Boy caught the popular fancy, and
seems TO have no end. begun
writing funny things twelve years
ago when / was working in Peoria,
Ill / had written my items daily,
and never attempted to be funny,
until my wife persuaded me TO try.
used to save up the funny things
/ saw during the day to tell her at |
night, SO as to make. her, sufferings |
lighter, and / got so In the habit OF |
1t that / began to put the same |
spirit into my copy. One drawback |
to this business is that we,are ex.
pected to be funny at all times, and |
people We meet are terribly disap-
pointed in US when they don't find
us talking as we write. They don't |
want us to be serene. Have you
ever noticed how fat the serious
of a humorist fall upon the
mind of the reader? When the
funny man becomes serious his fate
Is sealed. Good bye; come up to
Burlington and perhaps | can scare
up something funny to say"
He laughed as he. walked away.