Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1885 — Artemus Ward on Foreigners. [ARTICLE]

Artemus Ward on Foreigners.

I recollect a witty remark of Artemus Ward’s at a dinner party when he visited this city toward the end of the war. Among the guests at the table was ah English lady of pronounced Southern sympathies. Artemus Ward —or, as he was better known to his friends, Charlie Brown was in the middle of a long tirade against the enemies of the Union, for he was a loyal Northerner. Especially bitter was he against “those foreigners” for what he termed their cowardly conduct toward the Union. Ashe waxed more vehe-. ment the English lady grew redder and redder, and her fellow-guests glanced mischievously in her direction. Suddenly Artemus stopped short. He realized that something was not exactly right. Glancing suspiciously at the English lady, he strove to discern her nationality. He realized that she was not an American. Then, with that excellent raffinement d’esprit which stamped his character, he leaned over and said, apologetically: “Mrs. S., when—l—er spoke—er —of foreigners -—I Was referring—only to—to —negroes and Chinese!”— San Francisco Ingleside.