The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-04-25
HUMOROUS WRITING.
IH. S. Keller. in Yonkers Gaae,,e.

l HI. s. Keller, in Workers Gasette.l
 Does humorous writing pay, my boy You bet it pays-in the long end. The reason say long end is because the 10. suits of humorous writing, the long end so to speak, are long way of. Can any one write in . humorous veinP Ger tainly, bat 1t would require committee of forty-seven to examine into the mat ter and locate the humer successfully. Some humorous writers have great big pedigrees attached to their fame, in the shape cf he art affi 'ction, sore and worri- some disasters Such fellows would have you believe that they call laughs ou, of the sobs of despair, and wrest wit and humor from the depths of woe. My dear boy. dout you take any stock in this igsis fafEHs of the humorists brain. When a man makes you laugh to but ton-bursting propensity, and advertises weep and tear in the next column, you can begin to make up your mind to the fact that he is not humorist. He is something more-he is a genius. We haven't many of this sort now. Artemus Ward was called funny man. Wrong! He was genius. His consumpnve cough made his hearers laugh, even under the pail of the speakers death shadow. The humorous writer becomes in time a machine. He must grind, grind day after day. He don't always admire his word fancies, for, overdrsw VII as they are, they seldom please the writer, though they tickle the readers fancy. One of the best humorous writers of the present day, one who il ashes his wit from the Atlantic to the Pacific, wrote me, less than week ago, that pun was to him the most tiresome thing in existence. He wrote me that in the novel soon to be published from his pen, he would be bet. ter able to handle his characters, paint scenes and delineate incidents, than he could possibly essay in his short sketches -~holly overdrawn to catch popular favor. Why is the humorous writer gen. orally given to pathetic works also2 1 know one such-and in his pathetic work he attracts far more attention than in his humorous efforts. HS Huddle. of the 7Hy0Mgh Mail His Telephone Girl" made him famous. He Is now giving us some sweet touches of pathos, which will be found in scrap books, and will finger in memory long af.er his hu. ahctooS ShibS atC kOttCh' W DtQWua of the Chicago LeIger, Is just now doing some or ne prettiest conceits in comic writing Brown, bawever, is not so per fectly at home with his four or 6ve line fAncies as he is with his column articles. The latter will outlive the former. The Modern Shakespeare" is making Wade Whipple famous; but, his sober poems and pretty songs-wholiy withou, the bounds of hdmor give us reason to remember him. PHfk does its best work with the artists pencil while Li[f is far ahead with its literary excellence. Snap IS destined to an early grave; it has no foundation stone but that which is inn ported. America is too origin al fer bor- rowed hun,or, either picturesque or li,- erary. There was o1ce great humorous writer in the west-Lewis. His humor was long ago on the 'decline. He is now doing good square .toed work, and is reap,pg fame which will outlive Bii ih " or " Bro. Gardner" Bill Nye is on the tidal wave He is too oVfginai 10 ever you will see his name attached to fancy, just so long can you look for something new and original Tn his way. Opie Real Is not the devout adrairer of puns and humor that you would imagine. How eyeE, since he has made such a grand success at it, you may look for something astonishing from him in a new direction soon. promise it to be a success, equal to The Story of a Country Town" can almost safely say it will be greater success. He is one of the best students of American IitefavuYr we -have My boy, keep your eyes opened Tor Read, and with me hope to crown the coming novelist, the American novelist for whom we have so long watched aud waited.