The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-10
RECOLLECTIONS OF
ARTEMUS WARD

| C5al P. Denton in the Pittsburg Index)
The first really great humorist of this
country, and regarded by many as the
greatest and best, was Charles Farrar
Browne, who gained worldwide repu~
tation, through his writings and as a
| lecturer, under the sobriquet of Arte7s
mus Ward. 1t is a wonder, in these
days of q multiplicity of books, that
some one has not tried to collect all 81
| Brownies works and have them pub
lished. They would make pretentious
I volume and would have a large sale
There is one man who could do this
| if he only would, and he would be
doing an honor to the memory of an old
/ friend and at the same time place the
reading public under lasting obligations
to him. This man is George Hoyt OF
| Cleveland The last time that the
writer eonversed with Colonel Henry
Watterson of the Louisville Courier
/ Journal the latter expressed himself
emphatical1y that Mr.. Hoyt owed 1t TO
the public to write a life of CnaTles
Farrar Browne.
Browne has been dead more than to-
/ ty years. Soon following his death
volume was published under the title,
| "A. Ward: His Book" and Mr.. Hoyt
/ wrote the introduction. This volume
was gotten out hurriedly. Likely copy
/ NAV be found in many of the larger
I libraries and 1T is equally prooaDte
/ that a COPY may be found here and
there in private libraries; but 1T IS out
of print and has been for many years.
Hoyt and Browne began their news
! paner life together on the Cleveland
! plain Dealer. and later they were asso-
ciated on the old Cincinnati Times,
when Color 81 WattersoH and A, Miner
! C,risUold 'HThe Fat Contributor, IN
later life one of the editors of Texas
/ Siftings. were also members of the
I staff IL was in 1858, or perhaps as late
as 1853, that Hoyt and Browne were TO-
gether on the Plain Dealer. That pa
rer was then owned and edited by Cor
oneI ]. W. Gray, long since dead The
! CITY was then an Overgrown village ana
| the staff of the Plain Dealer was small
Hovt had a fund of stories reminiscent
of his afterwards famous co-iaborer.
Browne was sent out to write up q
social function He left the office early
! in the evening. and on his way drifted
/ into some friends in a neighboring car
/ avansarv. They all engaged in bill
/ lizards. puDctuating the victories ana
( losses with 1ibations. When Browne
noted that it was after 10 O'Clock, and
/ that he must hasten to the function, hls
1 friends chided him for breaking up a
pleesant evening. They pointed out to
] a
the names Of the persons who were Civ
/ ing the AFFAIR: that il would be an easy
I thing for him to describe the floral dec
/ orations. the costumes OF the women IN
/ \ general way. aud so on
Browne fingered, but with firm de-
! termination. as he afterwards ex-
blamed 10 his acquaintanees, OF pay
/ ing a visit to the house. There were
more billiards. more liquid refresh
/ rnenfs and when Browne next looked
/ "a the clock he was dazed TO find that
I - vas too late to cover the assign
ment With parting round, and IN
/ daunted. he sailed back to the ram
I Dealer Office and wrote charming &C
count of the function
when he awoke in his lodgings the
next morning Browne eagerly sought
/ tt,e n,oruinr papers. a copy of each of
/ which awaited him at the door. he
/ looked over the Leader and was un-
] ahle 10 find a line about the function
/ Then he scanned the Herald, and there
VAS nothing about il in the paper so
far as he could see Then he turned to
the local page Of the Plain Dealer, ana
I here. under big caption, was MS Own
story. He read il over and threw large
! consisr-,ents of bouquets at himself at
the thought of having such scoop over
I his CONTEMPORARIES. Yet, hardly salts
fed. he turned back to the Herald. and.
on closer contamination. he was re-
warded BY finding a thTee-line para
FZraDh announcing that the function had
] been postponed
/ Browne did not go back to the Plain
/ Dealer office. Instead. he departed from
the city. Six months OF so passed away
and finally one day Browne drifted back
4 into Cleveland. AS he was walking
down Superior street he ran face to
! face with Colonel Gray, his old en-
ployer. and Gray began to upbraid him.
Look a-here." said Gray, "for what
/ in the name of heaven did you want to
/ leave me in the lurch that way?
Don't ask me; I pray of you,
Browne retoTted-