OPEN LETTERS.
rule, is in the drawer of the desk at which I am writing, and which I keep as relics, as mementos, of Artemus and the old days.”
From Charles E, Wilzon, now of Hartford, Connecticut, I got the following touching Artemus’s wanderings:
Being of a roving disposition, he left the “ Advertiser” of Norway, Maine. He worked for a time at Skowhegan and at Gardiner, Maine, and later drifted down to Boston, where he obtained a situation in the composing-room of the Carpet Bag,” published by Benjamin P. Shillaber ("Mrs. Partington”). While employed in this office he wrote his first article of any pretension, and shoved the copy under Shillaber’s sanctum door.
He was much gratified a few days later to see the copy come into the composing-room to be set up; and being thus encouraged, he wrote another article, rather historical in character, making no attempt to be funny. This also went under the sanctum door. Neither of these articles was signed, but Shillaber was satisfied they were written by some one in the office, and accordingly made inquiry, which resulted in Browne's acknowledging that he wrote them. Shillaber patted him on the back,—metaphorically,—told him he manifestly had ability, and encouraged him to make literary work a study and profession.
Noticing one day, in one of the local an advertisement, “School-teacher wanted” at a small town in Kentucky, near Cincinnati, he answered it, and secured the position, but taught the school only one week. were several big boys in the school, and he learned from local gossips that these ‘young toughs had “licked” every schoolmaster that had attempted to keep school there for several years previous. As he was not particularly robust and had never studied the “noble art” of self-defense, he concluded the climate of that Kentucky village would not exactly suit him.
At the close of school on Friday night his modest wardrobe in his down-East carpet-bag, and without waiting to collect his week's pay, started early Saturday morning for Cincinnati. He did not remain there long, however, but pushed along up tho Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railroad, stopped a short time in Dayton, thence went on to Springfield, where he obtained a situation as compositor, remaining there several weeks. Major W. W. Armstrong, publisher of the Tiffin “Advertiser,” along in the fifties, engaged Artemus for his paper, temporarily, to fill a sick man’s place. Artemus walked from Sandusky to Tiffin, a distance of thirty-four miles, to take the job. The major says he reached Tiffin late in the day, wearing a long linen duster and a shilling chip hat, and with his carpet-bag; he was hungry and weary, but jolly—considered the feat a good joke.
When he came again a few years later to exhibit his “moral snaix and waxworks” at Webster Hall, he averred that a prejudiced citizen smashed the face of Judas Iscariot with a brick, declaring the “betrayer” could never again show his “ugly mug" in Seneca County.
His next stopping-place was at Toledo, where he secured the position of market reporter on the Toledo “Commercial.” It was on this paper that his work as a writer really began. When James D, Cleveland, later Judge Cleveland, who had held the position of city editor of the “Plain Dealer,” was called as assistant clerk to the United States District Court, Artemus was called to fill his chair. How well he filled it is generally known in Cleveland and throughout the country.
From a letter dated March 15, 1867, written by Albion Chadbourne of London, England (formerly of Waterford), to Daniel Browne of Waterford, Maine, an uncle of Artemus, I get information of interest.
Mr. Chadbourne, a close friend of Artemus, in the early days of his coming was active in introducing him among his friends, and took with him a good number of friends to the lecture, with a view to encouraging and applauding him. He found it quite unnecessary, as Artemus‘s reception was an ovation. He and his friends had difficulty in getting into the hall even, so crowded was it. Never had an American visited London as a stranger who so quickly found his way to the favor and friendship of the English people. His popularity was unprecedented. He was soon admitted to membership of a club of authors and artists, where, when in London, he spent many happy hours.
At the residence of Mr. Milward, one of the foremost members of the club, Artemus spent his first evening in London, and after his death (March 6, 1867) his body was brought from Southampton to Mr. Millward’s, and lay in state until his burial, which occurred in the chapel at Kensal Green, where all that was mortal of that sunny nature lies in a tomb by itself. Mr. Chadbourne, who was one of the pall-bearers, says that many honest tears were shed in the circle of friends who surrounded his grave.
Dear Artemus! His mission was to “tickle the ribs” of the world, and the world stood the tickling right cheerfully.
The Dirigible Balloon of Santos-Dumont —
Addendum.
(SEE PAGE 77.)
THE “Santos-Dumont No, 6” balloon is one hundred and twelve feet long and twenty feet in its greatest diameter, being in form an elongated ellipsoid, terminated at each end by a conical point. Thus it is now a cigar-shaped balloon only in name, all its predecessors having deviated more and more from the original cylinder terminated by two cones. The balloon’s total capacity is twenty-two thousand one hundred and eight cubic feat, so that when filled with hydrogen gas it will have a lifting-power of thirteen hundred and sixty pounds. Of this, eleven hundred pounds are represented by keel, machinery, and M. Santos-Dumont’s own weight, leaving two hundred and sixty pounds disposable ballast. M. Santos-Dumont will load every pound of this ballast, from which it will result that when the order to “let
