The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-04-12
Eer 7k< hykantsx Trap<iey WILLIAM WALLACE CLARK
sr Euyus R. WILSON

HID sSf any ao4 tA1%asGAANoo a9 a III hs ioye of and devotion to an exactirp 2 rzihng. ss which his brilliant talents wor him an aonored place, and his prompt. ness so suew with choicest flowers the grave x some brother journalist faller sy the ssy, lmpels me to write few hne er me death of William Wallace Clark, oet;er known 10 the world as the geniai. seirth- provoking humorist, Gil. hooley, who recently died m Pittsburgh
 Among the vas, throng of newspaper humursss who, during the past few year. have bsoaghi smiles and laughter to .houARs.s, none have occupied more promanen. place than he al least the Sriis1si. scintiliaiing vii of none has been nc.ger appreciated by his fellow nesspApe rnen. He was born m gloomy .meks ocgIiIned Pittsburgh, m July, IS, , and asiei few years spent in the com msn schools. became the apprentice oi his s.af q, who was q carpenter. From A,s eai a<s, years he Was all eager reader as ali ina; feii in his way. the novels oi of Chahes Dickens being his especial fa- voEies Ahen his father died he sue ceeded 10 his business, the manuiA IL turt. os bo1es fos the glass faotores of l.us- Slrsh
 he Iznp1 lSe to wII;e was aiwdy5 strong sIsh .aTsa and while yel Tn his teens he contributed poems ,o the 0iaHfce,, !. weekly paper edited by DAvld Lowry wkose dehgh;iul shor. Siores has since made h,s name a familiar one to inc reading psblie. Young Clark nex, wor X appeared ,n some of the eastern papers asd ihe Pittsburgh Sunday LfaGer His writings m the las, named paper atrae ed he afienuon of its proprc,or who sough ht him on; And rendered hrm d position on lts siaA This offer, after A tune he ac- cepted and n so dolng made journalism has Ife-long calling. He continued with the Lsss, until 1879, when. in company wIth A fnend, he took control of the Sas dat C,stIf, but this venture like so many sthers oi is kind, proved a failure, and n shoE; nme he returned 10 the Lctity not :o leave ii again until G!IhooIy's ELAisg5 was started, early in 1885, On ihx journal Clark did much of his tines; work, and through him 1t soon won a T. ;ios,ai reputation. Some months since, he AgAla returned to the ksoGey and re- manned with IL until his death.
 MT. Clark frs, won attention as a hui nor,s, by his " Frsbee letters, written during the centennial year. Full of broad and solhcking humor, they describe the lndicTous adventures of Frisbee ? aDd the Count" al the centennial ex- aihitson, with such careful attention to the surroundings, tha, one hnds II hard to believe that the writer had neYer vls- ned Philadelphia when he penned those letters, whose weekly appearance was watched for by thousands with the keen es, interest But, good as were these
 Frisbee lesters-and they were really good-ihey were surpassed by the Gil hooley papers Here the humorist hi, upon a vein all his own. and he woraed Il with psoht. His dialec, skesches especially those in imitation oi the Chinese are almost inimitable. His hnmor was nearly always fresh, spon- taneous and original, and directed against shams in public life and the social world. His "All Sorts" column in the Duly Lrader never failed to be ,erse, witty and incisive. From his writings scattered about here and there, could be collected choice volume of wit and hu- nor. In the future some friend may un- deriake and complete such a work, which the dead never had the leisure or per aaps the opportunity to perform.
 When VIII M. Clemens was prepar- .ng his entertaining little volume on famous Funny Fellows parts oi which. l think, were first published in THE TRsyEIER. he wrote to Mir. Clark for sketch of his life The latter $ re- sponse to this request was his bes, effort as AunsoTist- lt IS sparkling and full sf rsal hamsr, but behind it all is so much that is pathetic and full of truth. 90 much that shows hope not realized d. and honest, earnest effort robbed of it's dne. ,has ] can no, resist the impulse to reproduce it here:
 Ms DEAR CLEMENS My biography IS not particularly interesting chapter. and n fact, the romance of a poor young man. Still ] think am humorist. Away down in the innermost recesses of my system, feel am a humorist, but sy some unfortunate combination of cir camstances the public has never tumbled to the fact With the proper preeaution and accuracy the public wouldn', tumble | marble front would fan on il. That s probably the reason l am on the rag Eed edge of gen.eel poverty a, the pres sns time instead of rolling Tn luxury. ~ss born m the classic precincts of Hard scrabble, of poor and presumably hon. est parents. took fancy 10 literature Iom my mother, who was Sco.ch-lrlsh woman: great reader and knew Burns nS heart The ol1 man was an English naa with bald head and side-wh;skers. and dhad a faculty of accomplishing money {: faculty, regret 10 say, which is no, A<sediiary in our family. He used to re- mark. witA come of tha, fine humor which ipossess to such m intense degree. tha, he oarne rom Derbyshire. where they were strong m the arm and weak in the head
 Tae most striking evidence of weakness ca as part was his presenting me with a watch in consideration of which Was sos to enter the army. On this occasion became apprised, for the first time, tha, l was hrmorist, as had no notion of going to the front. think il is much better to be miserable pol,roon during war than a one-lcgged organ-grin6er afser It.