Marshall County Republican

Mr. Sothern informs us that he made the acquaintance of our old friend, Artemus Ward, in London, and was very much struck with his exuberance of droll humor. The first time he beheld Ward on the stage at Egyptian Hall, the lecturer came and sat down awkwardly on a chair. The time seemed to hang heavily on his hands. He glanced up nervously at the clock, made frequent and vigorous applications of his handkerchief to his prominent nasal organ, rose two or three times and walked objectlessly about the stage, and returned to his seat. The hour hand pointed to eight, and yet no sound issued from the "showman's" lips; five minutes past eight, and yet no sign. The audience began to show signs of impatience. They did not understand this demonstration. They had paid their money for a mass of information about Mormondon, polygamy and all, and feared that some sham was in store for them. Finally the clock indicated ten minutes past eight, and then the lecturer rose again, and shuffling to the foot-lights, with his little whip in hand, said: "Ladies and gentlemen, a lecture was advertised for to-night in this hall; it was announced to begin at eight o'clock; but as I can talk only fifty minutes at a stretch, I have used ten minutes seeing what time it was!" At first the audience stared at stage and speaker in blank amazement; but soon the mingled drollery and impudence of the joke broke upon them, and the house exploded in one big guffaw. Mr. Sothern says that the idea of the thing struck him as so delightfully absurd that he fairly screamed after that every time Ward opened his mouth.

Another episode of this same entertainment is related by the actor. The panorama had rolled along to the well-known moonlight scene. This was a great point in his exhibitions, as a clever contrivance of machinery enabled a very pretty effect to be produced of a moon sailing through the clouds, and casting its shadow upon the calm waters of a lake. On this occasion, Ward, with more than his usual elaborateness, was expatiating upon the beauties of the scene. "This moon, ladies and gentlemen," said he, "is our main stand-by to please our patrons; you will observe the naturalness with which it sails through the heavens" [glancing over his shoulder as he spoke, to find that the machinery had broken down, and the moon wouldn't work]; "ah, you will have to excuse me; I perceive that my moon is has gone to tea: he will be back presently!" And then on with the rest of the show, as though nothing had happened.

Mr. Sothern remarked the affected unconsciousness of a humorous utterance, on the part of Ward, as the most telling point in his comic lectures.