Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v3.djvu/45

Newspaper Comedians 27 ders. James Montgomery Bailey (' ' The Danbury News Man " ) and Robert Jones Burdette ("The Hawkeye Man") attained a more than local vogue as newspaper comedians, Bailey excelling in quaintly exaggerated pictures of familiar domestic occur- rences, Burdette in the unexpected collocation of dissimilar ideas. Edgar Wilson Nye ("Bill Nye"), once of The Laramie [Wyoming] Boomerang, was also fond of surprising turns of phrase, but his most characteristic vein lay in a sort of affected, zealous idiocy. No better example of his manner is available than one already selected by a skilled hand : The condition of our navy need not give rise to any serious ap- prehension. The yard in which it is placed at Brooklyn is en- closed by a high brick wall affording it ample protection. A man on board the Atlanta at anchor at Brooklyn is quite as safe as he would be at home . The guns on board the A tlanta are breechloaders ; this is a great improvement on the old-style gun, because in former times in case of a naval combat the man who went outside the ship to load the gun while it was raining frequently contracted pneimionia. ' The lecture platform gave both Nye and Burdette an oppor- tunity to display at best advantage their comical solemnity, and much of their notoriety rose from their public appearances. Nye especially was fortunate in his collaborators, touring at one time with Mark Twain and again with James Whitcomb Riley ^ and Eugene Field. The last named, greatest of newspaper paragraphers and in his own right something more, qualified as a Middle Westerner by his birth in St. Louis (1850) and by his New England an- cestry and bringing up. After three years in three colleges, a trip to Europe, and an early marriage, he served his apprentice- ship to joumaUsm on several Missouri papers. From The Denver [Colorado] Tribune his first humorous skit. The Tribune Primer (1882), was reprinted. The best years of his life were spent in Chicago as contributing editor to The Chicago Record. In his daily column of "Sharps and Flats" appeared his most characteristic verse, 3 tales, and miscellaneous paragraphs, later • Quoted by S. Leacock, American Humour, Nineteenth Century, vol. Ixxvi, p. 453- ' See Book III, Chap. x. ' See Book II, Chap, xxiii.