Greene, Albert Gorton (1802-1868), founder of the Providence Athenæum, and president of the Rhode Island Historical Society from 1854 till his death. His poem, “Old Grimes,” has appeared in almost every collection of American humour published.
Gregory W. H., working editor of Judge, and a brilliant paragraphist.
Griswold, A. Minor (nom de guerre, “The Fat Contributor”), first made his name on the Cincinnati Enquirer, and afterwards became identified with Texas Siftings. In 1889 he started on a lecturing tour à la Artemus Ward, and died in Michigan.
Habberton, John, born 1842. The author of Helen’s Babies. He served through the war, and after an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself in business he took up journalism. In 1876, after several refusals, he found a publisher for Helen’s Babies, and the result was a sale of close on half a million copies in the United States alone. Since that time he has published a dozen or more books, most of them successes.
Hale, Lucretia Peabody, born 1820. Her Peterkim Papers, published in America by Osgood & Co., Boston, made her famous with the young folk of America, but the reader must be young to enjoy the skits.
Haliburton, Thomas Chandler (1797-1865), Canada’s most famous humorist. Was admitted to the bar in Nova Scotia at the age of twenty-three, and nine years later was made Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1840 Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1842 he resigned this office and settled in England, sitting in Parliament as Conservative member for Launceston from 1859 to 1865. It was in the year 1835 he commenced writing his humorous works that made the name of “Sam Slick” famous the world over. His first production was The Clockmaker; or, The Sayings and Doings of Sam Slick; and this he followed up with Bubbles of Canada, Letter Bag of the Great Western, Yankee Stories, Nature and Human Nature, etc.
Halleck, Fitz-Greene (1790-1867), a descendant of John Eliot, “The Apostle of the Indians.” In 1819 he and John Rodman Drake published the Croaker Papers, humorous and satirical, which attracted much attention at the time. These papers he followed with “Fanny,” his longest poem, hitting off the follies of the day. These are his chief contributions to humorous literature.
Halpine, Charles Graham (1829-1868), “Miles O’Reilly,” a verse-writer. Established with “Mrs. Partington” a humorous paper called The Carpet Bag, which proved a failure. He enlisted during “the war,” and worked his way up until he finally became a colonel. He issued Life and Adventures, Songs, Services, and Speeches of Private Miles O’Reilly, 47th Regiment, New York Volunteers, and A Collection of Essays, Poems, Speeches, and Banquets by Private Miles O’Reilly. Collected, Revised, and Edited, with the Requisite Corrections of Punctuation, Spelling, and Grammar, by an ex-Colonel of the Adjutant-General’s Department, etc.
Harris, Charles H., “Carl Pretzel,” born 1833. Author of Pretzelisms, My Book of Expressions, etc., humorous compilations in Dutch dialect.
Harris, Joel Chandler, born 1848. The greatest exponent of the negro dialect. In the columns of the Atlanta Constitution, of which he is editor and part proprietor, his Uncle Remus sketches first saw the light, and proved enormously successful. His humour is delicate and fascinating, and as a consequence the Remus series of books have had a world-wide circulation. No lover of the humorous should overlook Mr. Harris’s work. American publishers, Appleton & Co.