Melvin De Lancy Landon.
Melvin De Lancy Landon, “Eli Perkins,” was born at Eaton, New York, September 7, 1839. After a course of preparation in the public schools he entered Union college and graduated in 1861. One week later he received an appointment from the United States treasury, but soon resigned his position to enlist in the Union army to take part in the Civil war. He left the army, in 1864, with the rank of major. Next he became a cotton planter in Arkansas and Louisiana. Later he traveled in Europe and was secretary of the United States legation at St. Petersburg. In 1877 he was married to Emily Louise Smith. He has written copiously for magazines and other publications. But it is his books, Wit, Humor and Pathos, Franco-Prussian War, Wit and Humor of the Age, Kings of Platform and Pulpit, and Thirty Years of Wit, upon which his reputation as a humorist rests.