The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-26

A NON, hook from Bob Burdette Is IKE
q hearty hail from an old friend, ana there
axn ,onv north SOUTH east and west, who
Iii, cordially welcome Chimes from Jes-
80 Rolls, The table of contents indl-
Gates a cheerful variety in these zoo pages
and as one picks his way through lheni'
tasting and getting the flavor as II "ere'
of the author one finds him more ana hole
TO the palate. With the exception Oh 'HarA
Twain. Mr.. Burdette is, perhaps, the ISL
nonular of living American humorlsts. VI
his wide circle of admirers the MAJORITY
no doubt. read him for his farce ana yet
that is not the best part OF MIN. On lhe
other hand, a good many who do not quite
fancy his farce and look no further, thro"
him aside and thus he fails of an added
circIe who might be his warmest friends II
thew once caught his full spirit. Burdette,
when rightly understood, is a humorist in
the truest sense of the word In some re-
sDects he is more akin to Washington lrV-
ing than any one else we nave. NOT tnat
his frequent broad eXtraVagance Is nke tLe
delicate delicious Waggery or the Iather ol
American letters, but the humorlstlc Sue
of Irving and that of Burdette are OIL tne
same teXture-the same fundamental qual-
itv and the characteristic common 10 them
is q cheerful. happy healthy vision and an
eyer-bubbling playfulness that oVerruns
from the heart to lave all creation III It's
flow And the heart is ever kindly. BuIuette,
first of ALL is genuinely in love with MS
fellow-men, and while keenly alive 10 tnelr
thousand little foibles, it is worthy OF note
that his humor never carries with II d stlnS'
Even his most PRONOUNCED Satlre IS NIUE
other than gOod-natured ra1llery at Wmcn
the victim himself could only laugh IN du-
dition to this our jester has an unmlStak-
able though incOnSpicuOuS philosophy or
life and ii is a homely, healthy philosophy,
rich with common sense and tull OF charlly
-one good to come in touch with. Back OF
his tests lies a sense of life In us deeper
meanings: back of the jester is the man,
and though the laughter is upon his lpS, MS
way lies very close to the region OF tears.
All this is in these Chimes, revealing IL
self at a hundred points, and his humore is
best when intimately linked with the more
serious life which we could not escape IL we
would. it enters torch-l1ke, lrradlatlng an
things with a CHEEKY glow. He should be
read with his gentle, genial, great hearted
personality continually in the background
and with his spontaneous, perVasiVe numor
as q garment 70 something greater than IL
self. and this / take it, may, without I'M
due assumption, be offered as one key" to
Burdette.
parts-'tThe Story of Rollo" and a collec-
tion of miscellaneous stories and sketches
now first presented in book form. Rollo, in
several chapters beginning with Alpha
and ending with omega" we'll reveals the
humorists tender domestic nature. The lit7
tie story indeed could have been written
only from the depths of the father-heart,
and the lovingness of it never wanes.
alpha" the coming of Rollo-hardly a
theme for the humorist. one would think,
shows the sureness and the delicacy of his
feelings and is well worth quoting from.
Might
Silence"
"A struggle for the light And he did not
know what light was. An effort to cry. And
he did not know that he had voice"
HE parted his lips and hailed this world
with a cry for help. A tiny craft in sight
of new shores. he wanted his latitude and
longitude. He had no reckoning, no
chart, no pilot.
He did not know the language of the
inhabitants of the planet upon which Provi-
dence had cast him. So he saluted them
in the one universal speech Of Gods crea-
There was a mans voice-the doctor s
strong and reassuring. There was a wom-
ans voice, soothing and comforting, the
voice of the nurse. And one was a mother
voice There is none other like it. 1t was
the first music he heard in this world. And
the sweetest. BY and by somebody laughed
softly and said in coaXing tones: There
there-there-give him his dinner His face
was laid close against the fount of life.
warm, and white and tender Nobody told
him what to do. Nobody taught him. He
knew. Placed suddenly on the guest list of
this changing old caravanSary he knew his
way at once to two places in this bed
room and the Olning room
Found that gracious hollow that God
made in his mothers shoulder that fit his
head as pillows of down never could. Cried
when they took him away from IL. Cried
once again, twenty-five or thirty years
by and by he learned to laugh. That
came later than some other things; much
later than crying. 1t is q higher accom-