Browne, CHARLES FARRAR

Browne, CHARLES FARRAR, American humorist, commonly known by his pseudonym 'Artemus Ward,' was born in Waterford, Maine, 26th April 1834. Having learned type-setting in a newspaper-office at Skowhegan, Maine, he soon removed to Boston, and thence to Toledo and Cleveland. Meantime he had become a reporter and contributor to the newspapers. In 1858, under the style of 'Artemus Ward, showman,' he wrote for the Cleveland Plaindealer a description of an imaginary travelling menagerie. This was followed by letters professedly from the same source, in which grotesque spelling and an inextricable interweaving of business puffery and moralising served to convey sound sense and shrewd satire. The letters were widely circulated, and the author was invited to a share in the editorship of a new comic paper, Vanity Fair, in New York. In the stress of war times the paper failed, after a brilliant career, and in December 1861 'Artemus Ward' entered the lecture field. Under the title, The Babes in the Wood, he delivered a telling satire on the dull twaddle which had been imposed on the public by pompous bores. Such was its success that a theatrical manager in California telegraphed to him, 'What will you take for forty nights in California? Answer immediately.' His prompt reply, 'Brandy-and-water,' assured him a welcome among the miners. Making his way thither by stage-coach over the plains and Rocky Mountains, 'Ward' had some experience with the Indians, and especially with the Mormons, 'whose religion,' he afterwards explained, 'is singular, but their wives are plural.' As an adjunct to his lectures on these attractive topics, he got a panorama, whose artistic wretchedness furnished occasion for countless jokes. In 1864 the lecturer was disabled by pulmonary consumption. In 1866, having rallied somewhat, he went to England, where he was received in the most friendly manner. He contributed to Punch, still in the character of 'the genial showman.' In November he opened the exhibition of his panorama in Egyptian Hall in London, and achieved great popularity as a representative of American humour. Though the seal of death was on his features, he did not abate any of his quaint originality and amusing satire. His keen observation and graphic revelation of human nature stood forth from a background of truisms, which removed for a time any suspicion that the satire was aimed at the audience. In February 1867 Browne went for the benefit of his health to the Isle of Jersey, but returned to die at Southampton, England, 6th March 1867. He was deeply beloved by his asso- ciates, and tenderly devoted to his mother, to whom he left a modest competence. His writings were gathered into several volumes: Artemus Ward, His Book (1862); Artemus Ward, His Panorama (1865); Artemus Ward among the Mormons (1866); Artemus Ward in England (1867).