Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-12-04

, Aorooo WIN 0OnVy warn O~s
That Joke In Pulpit Was Not at All
Out Of Piaes-0sclarsd That "Peepls
Ar the Funniest Thinos This Side Of
the Grave"
Bob Burdette. humorist to the end.
could crack joke when death was
knocking vt the door. This Is demon
strated ia letter written by the ia
NOUS humorist to his lifelong friend.
the Rev. Dr. J. G. Walker. pastor OF
the Nantua Baptist church. West Phil
adelphia. When Burdette lived in
Bryn Mawr twenty-five years ago be
frequently visited Dr. and Mrs. Walker
ut their parsonage.
Burdette's letter. written on his
deuthbed. reads III part as follows:
my health is sadly broken; perma.
nently SO. | still write little every
week. but my pulpit and platform days
are yesterdays story. 60 out to drive
little daily and see a few people
mighty few.
II enjoy life. l love to live, though
1t isn't nice to be sick. l don't know
just what is the matter with me;
chronic pancreatitis ! think the doc
tors call 1t. Do you know, until it went
on strike l never knew had a PAN
creas. and I'm mighty sorry l ever
found out"
Instance Of Humor.
A fugitive instance of Burdette's roll
licking humor was a letter home to his
flock in Los Angeles during his first
trip to Europe. He dated the letter
from "some distance out in the damp"
and said in part:
THE scenery along this route, al
though somewhat monotonous, Is
splendidly irrigated. But it seems too
early for the growing crops. Nothing
has come up yet except on shipboard,
and that has gone overheard. The
route is not nearly so populous as the
Santa Fe trail over the desert. We
have just two kinds Of days-the days
we see a ship and the days we don't"
The veteran humorist found fun in
everything. While he was forced to
abandon it in the pulpit largely because
of the reputation he had made for fun
making. he agreed with Henry Ward
Beecher that a joke in the pulpit was
not at all out OF place. 1t was, as
Beecher said. when you are fighting
the devil shoot him with anything"
Burdette died with the conviction
that there was not only just as much
fun in the world today as ever hut "a
great deal more. because" us he said.
there are more people in it. and peO-
pie are the funniest things on this side
of the grave.
On the occasion of his sixtieth birth
day Burdctte. asked by newspaper
man how it felt to be sixty years old,
replied:
well. my boy. 1t feels rather crowd
ed. There are so many more people
In the world than there were when l
took up my homestead claim. When
l landed on this planet there wasn't a
soul in Los Angeles that I would 20
across the street to shake hands with.
There was no city Of Los Angeles, In
fact."
"A great many old people say they
feel just as young at sixty as they did
at twenty. Is it that way with you?"
MOT by forty happy years. my boy.
No man. and fewer women, can be as
young at sixty as at twenty. When
enter a room now | instinctively select
the chair want to sit in. | pick out
the one that is the easiest to get out
Of, for it takes me longer to get up
than it did at twenty. | do not love
the kind hearted. stupid people who
insist on my sitting down in a cavern
nation and foot rest which l cannot
reach, for then there is life and
death struggle when | would emerge.
Strokes Of Paralysis"
"But you are still very vigorous"
"Oh, do my daily stunts. But
don't rush at my work with a war
whoop. as l used to do. have a
stroke Of paralysis every day right
after my noontime dinner. 1t lasts
about an hour and is incurable
break and lose more spectacles every
week than used to break in five years
| -NhcH 01uH NCul any Ndu utui
great deal better than did in young
er days. for | can't hear thing with
my left ear. and | use that-oh, very.
very often-to rest the one l can hear
with So. Though don't hear so much.
| hear a great deal better-much bet
ter"
rs there rs much fun in the world
as there used to Beg
| "More-a great deal more-becauSe
there are more people in it. and peo-
| pie are the funniest things this side of
the grave Monkeys tire me. but peo-
| pie amuSe me"
would yoa like to be young again?"
Indeed ! would. my boy. And I'm
going to be-when | get to be about
ten or twenty years older But don't
want to be young again in this world.
because then ! would grow old again.
1t is a sign of weakness-intellectu
| physical and moral weakneSs-tO want
to be younger in this life. A man
ought to be ashamed to have such a
feeling. One of our boys. Robert, once
wrote to me on one Of his birthdays,
A mans years are his yetainers. and
the more birthdays he has the stronger
and greater is his following That's
about the way 1t feels to be sixty"