The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1893-06-03
NO. 46.
SOME FINE CRITICISMS ON AMERICAN
HUMORISTS
For the Grenada SENTINsL.7


cript to a clump OF choice intimates
lis decided talent for quaint expression
md Georgia humor was then and there
discussed, and they declared that he
must send it to a paper. Hc acted on
This advice and in a few years the coun-
try attorney became famous as q hui
morist. It is thee xccssivc drollary--tho
expressions the crystal SEN
pungcnt dictior that rem
Ter Bill Arp's writing 30 popular.
When Mark Twain announced his i'll
tcntion to write a book, his partner pi-
lot smiled good-naturelly and said,
: Iou-you goin' ter write a book well,
III be durned.' But lhe did. and he
made both fame and fortune. limo
cents Abroad" was soon followed by
It. then came the ilnmor-
tai sketch Book full Of Wit and run
ming over with humOr OF The most eX-
quisite order. There is q subtle charm
in the hunor Of Mark Twain A. unfath-
omabic as the depths Of the human
heart. His hullur Is satire, ridicule,
love, all IN one: and so gently does it
glide into pathos. that the transition
seems the work Of some mystic fairy.
Artemus Ward is regarded very
highly by a great many, but I dctest
his mis-spelling so much that I can
scarcely do justice to his merit. H.
w;s grotcsque, and thoroughly Yankee
in his compositions, and VithHI more
vulgar than refined. with II penchant
for Bohcmianiom.
Then there Was Josh Billings, whose
philosophy was pun2ratIr told in BAD
spelling, like the laugha1,e biunders Of
Mrs. Partington.
\ later period has developed the
"Fat Contributor, the" Danbury News
Man," Bob Burdutt, Eli Perkins, Gov
crnor Peck. M. QuAu,' Sam small
lwho was not much in this line(, Bill
Nye, and Joel Chandler Harris, the
great delineator Of the plantation negro
in the quarters. These are all good in
their different styles.
But before 90 further must mon
tion Opic =. Reed, who's hunlor is The
equal OF any yet produced by an Amer
lean. do not refer to his newspaper
sketches-they are mostly not OF Il well
paying character-they are the otlal Of
a great hrain-but | mean his "ken
lucky Colonel and Emmett Benloe.
The latter is perfect humor.
Nor must | close this letter without
mentioning the name Of William Jo-
seph Waddy, (''His Nibs") Of this city.
Waddy is a typical Gcorgian-strong.
vigorous, epigramatic, he hits the nail
on the head without any trouble. H
is a versatile writer, philosophical as
we'll as humorous. His sentences are
short, but in a single one of them !
have read an essay. His reflections on
the old skull of q man contains much
that is suggestive of the failure of life.
Life ui,ns high, but hits low, and final
ly goes up in smoke, like Carlyle 5
manuscript of the French Revolution.
This is the central thought Of the cs-
say. Waddy is not vulgar nor pedant-
ic, but is delightful in quaint IDEAS and
grotesque conclusions. He says he
cannot write description, but he is mis-
taken. He may not paint the rosy
dawn pulling back the curtains OF night
to let In the song Of the morning stars
he may not tell how the dcwlrop kisses
the blushing rose, or now the lark
scars in glorious song across the invis-
ible wavclets Of space that break upon
the great bosom OF the approaching
day. nor how the ELAN kisses the morn
ing air, nor any such Outanlish non
sense, but he describes with graphic
skill the weak points in the character
of mankind, and renders ridiculous sill
ly customs grown gray in supcrstitious
veneration.
Waddy is live writer. He belongs
to progressive age, and he sticks in a
point here and II point there, which be-
speak for him great success in the hu-
NOR of American literature-and no
country under the sun equals ours in
Fourth of July orations. love Of display,
toadying to royalty and genuine, every
day humor England has her Shake
speare, her Milton, her Dickens, her
Macaulay, hor Thnckeray, but she has
yet to producc a Samuel l.. Clemens.
Wuddy's hurlesQur on modern book
!, reviews. which opened in the Sunday
Times, Of this city, some -four weeks
ago, under the nom de pl'ole"His Nihs,
is y capital satire on the careless
spoony, puffy way our newspapers haze
, of criticisirg new books. Evcrythina
3 is charming. that is not strong, auy
, ever in golden ctFulgcnce of conf
fame.
WILL r. CARPENTER.