Mark Twain's Speech Misfires Before Three Literary Lions
An anecdote from J. M. Colby in the Bookman recounts Mark Twain delivering a skit about three impostors Emerson Holmes and Longfellow to a banquet. The diners, including the famed trio, react with stony stares as Twain struggles to land the joke.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mark Twain
Clemens
J. M. Colby
Bookman
Matt. Twain
Mr. Emcerson
Mr. Longfellow
Mr. Holmes
Mark Swann
Emerson
Longfellow
Mr. Emerson
A Quick Change and Wit Save a Captain in War Tales
A fragment from an old Times column recounts General Winfield Scott nicknamed Fuss and Feathers for his temper. Captain C appears as an Irish aide in a Bulls Run era episode, then a joke about apologizing to the general. A Scottish tale has a drunk and a clergyman on Sunday. A Pompadour relative gains the Marquis de Marigny title after a court case.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Winfield Scott
United States Army
Bull Run
Washington
Lincoln
Captain C
Los Angeles Times
Mme. de Pompadour
Marquis de Vandleres
Marquis de Marigny
Gaffrin
General Assembly of
Maryland
Circuit Court
Baltimore
Thomas L. Chuaffinch
Caroline County
Parson Outsmarted Cowboy and Wit From Willis
A frontier tale recalls a minister who declines a drink, then fends off a cowboy and floors him with a punch. It ends with the cowboy’s cry that the parson was “chockful of fun.” Also recounted is Nathaniel Willis’s witty note reply to a critical aunt and a garbled garden party message from Mr Gasley and Michael the gardener.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chancey M. Depew
Yale
Ife
Far West
Parson
Dion
Willis
Nathaniel Parker Wills
Washington
Mr. Campbell
Nat Willis
Willful misunderstanding over board of agriculture chair
Sir John Sinclair pressed Pitt to make the president of the board of agriculture a peer. Pitt agreed and appointed Lord Somerville to succeed Sinclair. Sinclair lamented the change, exclaiming it was a willful misunderstanding of the arrangement.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pitt
John Sinclair
Board of Agriculture
Hts
Sinclar
Sir John Sinclair
Lord Somerville
Diggles Prank at Quakers Meeting and Lawyer Fireside Tale
Two vignettes from English college life and Albany lore appear in this excerpt. Diggle and Barham press a pie on a Quakers assembly, while Senator Fiero recalls a raw night among lawyers by a fireplace in Albany. The humor hinges on bravado and a blunt, deadpan setup.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Diggle
Barham
Quakers’ Meeting House
William Pierson Fiero
Catskill
Albany
Germans
Egypt
Japan
Africa
Asia
Hell
New York Herald
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New Jersey
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Lexington Sts
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Toc
Justice of the Peace
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L. F. Smith
Opt
Denton, MD
Doriet
Cep
Carter Block
WM. Bullock
Denton
Box
The
Hughes Lumber and Coal Co
Denton, Maryland
Kranz-Smith Piano CO
Chickering, Packard, Mehlin & Son
Bradbury
Everett, Webster
Fred Kranz
FIELD
Harvard
Concord
Webster
J.T Moore
D. A
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Tuckahoe
Ae H. Smith
Ecto Md
Rhode Island
W. J. Thinman
J. N. Jordin
Greensboro
Maple Avenue
Shull
Burrsville
Oxfords
Howard Hopkins
Burrsville, Md
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Sadi
Smith Good
Dentox
Mob
General Assembly of Maryland
State Roads Commission
J. M. Tucker
E. Goslin
Diamond Telephone
J. W. Wright & Co
Hobbs
Gill
Thomas & Messer Co
W. Baltimore St
R.C. Garrett & CO
S. Front St
Philadelphia
Board of Control and Review
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Pipsie
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A. B. Cooper
Allroad Avenue
GEGOR
U. S
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Tronder
Chicago
Approva
Reed Tires
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Ill
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Fowling Creek, Md
Oliver
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Fowling Creek
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the Texas Company
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Tuckahoe Neck
J. R. Bonney