The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-05

exploded, the others joined and i shook
and waited till able to resume.
when | came down from the PLATFORM
the gentleman FASTENED forward to apollo,
give. 1t wa as susP oe1+ ana main az +. s~AA
S'Don't apologize / replied. ! know y
did you q lot of good and I haven't enjoyed
anything 30 much In Years
No man could be more o~onsidSIate OF
another persons fesilngs h tna Ia,t,,ro one
Of its most amusing points was his refer.
ences to the fortes Of public men. thus
he said Of Washington: His forte was not 10
have any public man OF the present Day
resemble him to an alarming extent. no
gave a list Of other historical character
sTbe forte of Gen. Pillow is-no; he hasn't
any forte; i was taken away from him the
other day"
and while the event was fresh in every ones
mind. ~"
When Browne had brought a general
smile to one Of his Western audiences he
saw an elderly woman put her h~sndkerohiet
she had a son killed at the capture Of Fort
Pillow. From that time forward Browne
omitted the references, a. he did every
thing that he thought might sadden the
heart Of any Of his listeners.
III WCht Oh ~ kutlO III III " blo
money that was In 1t for him. It was a
trial to stand before q crowd and talk In his
inimitable fashion, but IL was. Q greater trial
to be poor, and he used every legitimate
means Of earning higher wages. Bonner
Of the Ledger offered him q handsome salary
for Q weekly letter.
u aeoded the money badly he said.
sand the offer was tempting, bus ] wasn't
fool enough TO accept Il. To Try TO grind
out an Artemus Ward column each week
would have x>a,,IkaI IN fAa <l~N,lt~AA <S~l--yN
and would have ruined forever what little
reputation I had made
He accepted an editorial situation on
Vanity Far, in which for a time his letters
first appeared. Only one issue OF that
described in a poetical way the visit Of the
Prince Of Wales to this country In 1880.
Browne told me bis method Of formulating
his letters.
Il wait till some fancy strikes me. which
there are half a dozen or 20 / put them 70
paper. l may write two letters the same
week and then a month or moro may 90
by Without a paragraph.
You can see from this what a fatal thing
1t would have been for me to bind myself to
write a weekly letter, no matter how high
the price paid. For instance, a little whfm
struck me the other day. 1t was to refer To
a person as having Auburn (SinR SinR)
hair-.that Is, cut short I'll work Il into
C1S NY AOSeSioi oipoi bONOioi III COIu9
to me-
But, so far &c is known, this oouosit was
never put into print by the quaint humor-
list. and it is therefore at the disposal Of any
one who can make use of IL.
When writing those letters Browne
would laugh and chuckle to himself, sitting
with one leg thrown over the arm Of hie
chair, while between sentences he tabbed
the blade Of his pocket Enife into the wood.
When it was finished he was as deHRhted
as q boy with q new tnnket.
His spirits would overflow until perhapa
when he retired to his room late at night.
he would lock his door and paoe the
floor for hours. q victim to his horror Of
death, 30 great at times that he almost sank
into a collapse. He must have known that
the seeds OF consumption were within his
frame that but a few years Of life were
left to him.
Browne was a genuine wit and hunortut.
Some OF his best things never appeared In
print.
His dizziness in twisting and handling
was unapproachabfe. He was the
only American that ever lived whose spell
Ing. was really l~aughable.' Josh Billings
Others have spelled incorrectly, but
the slightest approach to humor.
recall Brownies dating Of one OF his letters,
cuss, his .aboose, his sijfts and
'cores OF that style whose appearances
brought a smile to the reader.
When the writer complimented him on
lis ability thus TO handle words he renlied
hat he was ashamed Of il. That the hrIrnor
Ihould be independent OF such aids. az he
maintained, was undoubtedly true, but mn
,ther writer was such a genius In that gpeciai
Inc.
When I protested he replied that hls
would be gradual. but n xas
.lready under way. II will be remembeTej
hat the photography Of his last WritinTs
vas beyond criticism. but his powers Wegs
aiming, and his productions were much
TO his earlier letters, adding little
" nothing TO the fame OF one Of the most
Of American humoriste.