(ARTEMUS WARD).

Humorist, b. at Waterford, Oxford County, Maine, U.S.A. 26 April, 1834; d. in Southampton, England, 6 March, 1867. He went to school in his native town and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed in the printing office of "The Skowhegan Clarion". A year later he was employed in a like capacity on "The Carpet-Bag" of Boston, edited by B.P. Shillaber (Mrs. Partington), and to which Charles G. Halpine (Miles O'Reilly) and John G. Saxe were at that time contributors. In this journal appeared his first humorous article, a burlesque description of a Fourth of July celebration in Skowhegan. After his Boston experience, Browne traveled the Eastern States as a journeyman printer, sojourning for a while in the town of Tiffin, Ohio, where as reporter and compositor he received in wages four dollars a week. Going thence to Toledo, he contributed to the columns of "The Commercial" of that city. Already his reputation was gaining ground. Though vigorously assailed in a series of articles in "The Toledo Blade", he treated his opponents with unfailing courtesy and humor.

In 1858, at the age of twenty-four, his reputation first assumed a national character as a reporter of "The Cleveland Plaindealer"under the sobriquet of "Artemus Ward". His best work at this period consisted in burlesque descriptions of prize-fights, races, spiritualistic seances, and political meetings. Towards the close of 1860, he accepted an engagement in New York with "Vanity Fair", a comic paper edited after the manner of the London "Punch" and ere long succeeded the editor Charles G. Leland (Hans Breitmann) as editor. In this paper some of his best contributions were given to the public. It was, however, as a lecturer that "Artemus Ward" acquired both fame and fortune. His first appearance on the lecture platform in New York was in a travesty called "Babes in the Woods". His next hit was in a lecture on "Sixty Minutes in Africa ", given in Music Fund Hall, Philadelphia. In 1866 he sailed for England where success far beyond his expectations awaited him. His stay in London is spoken of as "an ovation to the genius of American wit". He became at once a great favorite with the "Literary Club" of London and his letters in "Punch" recalled the days of "Yellowplush". But sickness brought his brilliant career to an unexpected close in the seventh week of his engagement at Egyptian Hall in London, and his death occurred a few months later. When he felt the end was near, he asked his friend Arthur Sketchly to procure him the ministrations of a priest. "So Sketchly", Clement Scott informs us, "took steps to carry out his friend's instructions." His remains were brought to his native land and laid to rest beside his father and brother in the little cemetery at Waterford, Maine.

Artemus Ward was a consummate humorist and represented a type distinctively American. His fun was a fountain that always bubbled, ministering naturally to the happiness of himself and others. In leading up to the joke whatever art was employed was carefully concealed, and the joke itself when it came was always a surprise but never an awkward or unwholesome one. The depth and strength of his character are revealed as well in the interest excited by his lectures and sayings as in the friendships he formed and retained to the end.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online