“David Ross Locke, an American satirist,” says the American
Encyclopedia, yet Locke is a newspaper humorist of the modern school.
True, he does not subject himself to the painful necessity of forcing
humorous paragraphs into the world, neither is he given to punning. Yet
throughout his writing is easily distinguished a dry, uncertain, yet
entertaining humor.
David Ross Locke was born in Broome county, New York, in or near the
village of Vestal, on the 20th day of September, 1833. After a common
school education, lasting but a year or two, young Locke, in 1844, or
when he was but eleven years of age, became apprenticed to a printer
in Cortland, a few miles distant from Vestal. Learning his trade, he
sought out, Bohemian-like, to seek his fortune. He drifted around
the country, North and South, varying the occupation with which he
earned his daily bread. At different times he acted in the capacity
of compositor, reporter and general writer for various newspapers and
magazines.
It was in 1852 that young Locke settled down for the first time,
at Plymouth, Ohio, where he became connected with the Advertiser,
a weekly village newspaper, with a few hundreds circulation. Locke
afterwards removed his talents to the Herald, at Mansfield, Ohio; then
he drifted into the offices of the Journal at Bucyrus, Bellefontaine
Republican, and the Jeffersonian, a prosperous weekly published at
Findlay. It was during his connection with the last named paper that
Locke wrote for the Journal, an article signed by the “Rev. Petroleum
Vesuvius Nasby.” The letter purported to have come from an ignorant and
penniless bourbon Democrat, who resided in Kentucky. This character was
apparently devoted entirely to free whisky, perpetual slavery, and a
position as post-master. The letter was dated “Confederit Cross Roads,”
and soon after its appearance created considerable comment.
Not long after the appearance of the first Nasby letter, Locke changed
his location once more, and turned up in the office of the Blade, at
Toledo. Here he came to stay. He has stayed there ever since; has grown
up with the Blade, and now owns and controls the paper. The “Nasby”
letters have made both the Blade and Locke famous all over the country.
In a private letter to the writer, Nasby says: “I have kept up the
letters ever since 1860, for which I ask forgiveness.” At the close
of the war Locke, like others of his class, entered the lecture field
for a short time, and lectured in nearly all the Northern States. His
first volume of letters appeared in 1865, in Cincinnati, under the
title of Divers Views, Etc. In 1867 appeared another volume of Nasby
letters, published in Boston, under the title of Swingin’ Round the
Cirkle.” In 1868, appeared a third volume, Ekkoes From Kentucky, and,
in 1874, a Boston house published his Morals of Abou ben Adhem. This
was followed by A Paper City, published by Lee & Shepard, Boston, and
Hannah Jane, a poem. This last-named work has had a large sale, and is
quite popular. Of this work a leading critic said: “It is certainly
one of the best things the Rev. P. V. Nasby ever produced. It has the
extraordinary attraction of being in popular and excellent verse. It
is real life, and true nature. It touches a chord that will vibrate
everywhere; a subject near the heart of many, and in the experience of
all. It touches it with honesty, frankness, and self-condemnation, that
stings with conviction while it thrills with admiration.” One is fully
convinced of these facts after a careful perusal of Hannah Jane. The
following is a fragment from the poem:
“I was but little better. True, I’d longer been at school;
My tongue and pen were run, perhaps, a trifle more by rule;
But that was all: the neighbors round, who knew us thro’ and thro’,
Spoke but the truth in calling her the better of the two.
“She blundered in her writing, and she blundered when she spoke,
And ev’ry rule of syntax that old Murray made she broke;
But she was fresh and beautiful, and I----well, I was young;
Her form and face far, far outweighed the blunders of her tongue.”
In 1881 Mr. Locke, with his eldest son, sailed for Europe, where they
travelled for nearly a year. On his return he began a series of papers
in the Toledo Blade, entitled “Nasby in Exile.” These letters were
afterwards, in 1882, published in book form by the Locke Publishing
Co., of Toledo, under the same title. The work is principally
descriptive of travel in Ireland, England and on the Continent. Locke
is the author of two plays, “Inflation” and “Widow Bedott.” The last
named has proved very successful, financially and otherwise.
“Nasby” was married to a very estimable lady, upwards of twenty-six
years ago, and is the proud father of three children. He lives in a
quiet, but elegant manner in the city of Toledo, and is considerably
engrossed with the business interests of the city. Under his able
management the weekly Toledo Blade has become one of the leading family
papers of the country, and circulates in every State and Territory of
the Union. Locke writes solely for his paper, even his most successful
books being made up of material taken from the columns of the Toledo
newspaper.