The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-07-28
Artemus Ward.

Calling upon Mr.. Lincoln on one Of
the darkest days in the late war; | was
surprised to see upon his mantel-piece
couple of volumes-one small Bible.
the other Artemus Ward. his Book. DO
you read Artesnus Ward?" | asked
him. Il don read ANYBODY else" he
answered. with a smile on his csre-worn
face: ''he is inimiiable In the plain
building before which we are standing
the inimitabl, Snowman first set up his
wax iigeers: and If We enter here we
may encounter the assistant editor of
the PlG0tdcaiey who was the asso-
ciate and intimate friend of "a Ward
when the latter was the city editor of
this journal lie has many anecdotes
TO tell of the genial Snowman. He de-
scribes his appearance. when he first
came TO the Office. rs decidedly rustic.
he was, he saws. long and lank. with
flowing hair, and loosely fitting coat.
and trousers too short in the legs and
bagging at the knees. His humor was
irrepreSsihle, and always bubbling over.
and he kept all about him in constant
state of merrinlent. He was wap-
nothing but wag-but in that line a
genius. He could see only the ludicrous
side of subject. Going away once on
short vacation. he engaged this gen.
tleman to perform his work during his
absence. He carefully instructed him
as to his duties. and in doing SO drew
from his pocket n tow string about q
foot and "A half long. and told him he
must furnish that amount of copy per
day. leaving on his desk the measure as
reminder of the quantity. About this
time he was called upon to respond to
toast to the Press at Ben Franklin fes-
tiyal held in Cleveland. He rose to his
feet, hung his head for few moments
in silence and. then sat down, hav-
ing said nothing. In his account of
the festival in the next days Pidinded-
Ter his speech was reported by a blank
space of about half column of eloquent
silence.
This gentleman remembers that soon
after "A. Ward" entered the lecture
field he was invited by theatrical
manager in San Francisco to deliver a
course in California. The season being
close at hand, the manager asked him
by telegraph: What will you take for
forty nights in California? Answer
Immediately" Ward answered imme-
diately, by telegraph, Brandy and wa
ter. )" The joke was noised throughout
the State, and the result was, when Ar
temus went there to lecture on his own
account, he was met everywhere with
overflowing houses. While engaged
leeturing in the West, he wrote this gen.
tleman the following epistie:
My DEAR GEoRGE,-I want you to do
me favor. | relied on one of my men to
save me the press notices. He didn't Will
you collect them for me at once and send
them to me at the Bates House? Now this
Is taxing your good-n4ture, but you'll do il
for me-won't you, George? DO you know
that you remind me more and more of the
noble Romans? | don't know who they
were, but you remind me OF them; you do,
indeed. And could 1 have appealed 20 one
of those noble Romans to cut out some
press notices for ME in vain? 1 guess not.
Go on, young man, go on. Deal kindly with
the aged. Remember that we are here for
only little while, and that riches take un-
to themselves wings and fly away. Intoxi-
cate the stunning bowl. Support your
county paper. Love the Lord, and send me
those notices. Write likewise. And now,
kind sir, farewell. Farewell.
when other lips and other hearts
''Your'n, my pretty gazelle.
"A. WARD"
Edmund Kirke, in Hdrper'S Maqa-
cine for March