Los Angeles herald., 1891-07-22

v,,J,.us items, with a sar-
o. L. castle or grotesque
comment appended. Perhaps it is for this
very reason, because he never made an eff
fort to make US laugh, that his humor has
been for the most part so natural. AS far
back as 1866 he began writing these humor-
Gus comments, and they have from that
day to this received wide recognition. In
an old scrapbook find several samples of
Mr.. Williams work. They are taken at
random, and he has written many better,
but they serve to illustrate his peculiar
style of hunor:
A news item says that mule in Colusa coun-
ty, Cal, was struck by lightning and para
lived, but recovered after twenty-four hours,
and was as frsky as ever" 1t was not stated
what became of the lightning, but it is inferred
that it is still lingering in the hospital.
Several Indians who went on the war path
recently were overtaken by four white men
and killed. 1t is feared that our government
had not provided the unfortunate Indians with
the latest improved rifles.
A lecturer has chosen for his subject, "How
to Rise in the World" Texas horse thieves
who get caught have solved this problem.
At q concert in St. Petersburg few weeks
ago there were $50 drums and twenty-fOur pi-
amos played by women. Last week ground was
broken for a new insane asylum in that city.
The way Mr.. Williams came to be a
humorist is extremely interesting. He
was born near Philadelphia, and when he
was sixteen years old moved to Norristown,
and started in to learn the printers trade
This was in 1857. His first literary effort,
he tells us, grew out of some of the thrill
ing tales which, in common with most
ba IND hohit nf dQuourin0
s'The serial stories of we'll known writer"
he says, published in an equally we'll
known story paper, formed portion of
my mental pabulum. These stories, albeit
reeking with exaggeration and improba-
bilities, were extremely fascinating to the
youthful mind In order to learn whether
the hero had rescued the beautiful, golden
haired Ethelinda from the clutches of the
chief of the robber baud, would hasten to
procure copy of the paper on my way to
the of1icein the morning, and, concealing it
under my case would now and then
surreptitiously draw it out and satisfy my
curiosity. Iwould read few dozen lines
of The Lord of Uno; or, The Old Cobbler's
Secret and then set four or five lines of
an editorial on Bleeding Kansas; or, Down
With the Rum Demon and thus alter
Continued in our next
''This style of literature eventually palled
on my taste. The hero's feat of cutting a
CORY swath through band'of armed rob-
bers and escaping without scratch, and
finally discovering that he was the son of a
king instead of the offspring of poor but
respectable shoemaker, became monoto-
nous, and almost my first literary effort
was a travesty on one of these sensational
and improbable stories. My hero encoun-
tered enough dangers in a week to make
an ordinary mans hair turn white several
times night; but he was made of stern
stuff, and being perforated with bullets
and frightfully hacked by the hired tools
of his unprincipled rival didn't cause him
to swerve from the path of duty. When
he was seized by the hireings of his schem-
ing uncle and buried alive the outlook did
appear gloomy, but an earthquake inconti-
nently and opportunely came along, split
open the ground, and my hero crawled out
and walked home as good as new, but his
clothes somewhat soiled. This burlesque
was printed in New York weekly paper,
and the editor encouraged me to continue
my contributions-gratuitously."
1t was about this time that Mr.. Williams
began to be funny; and he was unconscious
ly melted to write by his employer. But
hereAre his own words:
During the first year of my apprentice
ship the editor of the paper on which was
employed wrote and printed a couple oi
articles in imitation of well known
humorist, since deceased, using the latter's
pen name. did not regard the imitation
as a brilliant success, and concluded to try
my hand at the business. The result L for
warded anonymously to the eeditor, and had
the satisfaction of putting take of the
effort in type. My article was also praised
editorially. The authorship soon leaked
out in the Office, and permitted myself te
be persuaded to continue the limitations,
adding, however, 'Jr. to the nom de plume
Being young and inexperienced in journal
istic ways, failed to see the injustice o.
borrowing the style and name of another
writer, and, besides, did not suppose ths
contributions would be seen outside of tht
local paper in which they originally ap
peared. They were quite extensively
copied, however, and frequently with tn,
affix 'Jr., omitted, thus fastening tn,
authorship on thecreator Of the characte
and damaging his reputation, no doubt. Al
last my conscience was touched and
ceased to be an imitator. As never re
ceived any pay for the articles, perhaps
was not guilty Of a very serious offense"
After Mr.. Williams had served a year o
apprenticeship he took charge of tho ofiic
and remained there until 1884, when th
paper was consolidated with the Norris
town Herald. and went on the latter paper
where he staid until 1855, removing ther
to- Wilmington, Del, where he superin
tended the mechanical part of the Dali,
Commercial, and it was here that he begal
writing the paragraphs that have mad
him SO widely known. In 1871 he returne,
| TO the Norristown Herald and introduced
the column of photographic Humor,
which from that time was a regular featur
of the paper. Mr. Williams has firmly re
fused all offers to lecture, and says that hi
matter will never be published in boo
form if he can help it. The writer is in
debted to the j. B. Lippincott Co. 70
some of the extracts in the foregoing.
Tom MASON