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.