In an article published by _The Bookman_ not very long ago Mr. James
Lane Allen remarked that Uncle Remus was one of the two names in
American fiction which have attained anything like universality of
acceptance, the other name being, of course, Uncle Tom. And yet fame
was thrust upon Mr. Joel Chandler Harris.
It happened in this wise. Mr. Harris went to work for the _Atlanta
Constitution_ as an editorial writer in 1876, succeeding Mr. Samuel
W. Small, who has since prefixed to his name the title of Reverend.
Mr. Small had made a success with sketches dealing with a character
called Uncle Si, and Capt. Evan P. Howell, the editor of the
_Constitution_, desired to have the success maintained in some form.
So he approached Mr. Harris with the suggestion that he should try his
hand at negro sketches. The young writer was diffident. He pleaded
inexperience, incapability; but Captain Howell wouldn't listen to the
excuses. In a good-natured way he pursued his associate, requesting,
begging, entreating, encouraging. If Mr. Harris would only put into
black-and-white those plantation stories with which he was accustomed
to entertain the staff! If he would only get his courage up! Finally,
the young man yielded and put some of the memories of his boyhood in
Putnam County, Georgia, into the mouth of a negro named Uncle Remus.
Uncle Remus he has been ever since the publication of the first
sketch--Uncle Remus, famous and beloved throughout the land.
Captain Howell is said to have gone to the editors' room the morning of
the first appearance of Uncle Remus and shouted: "Well, Harris, you're
a trump! If you just keep up that lick your fortune is made. Everybody
is talking about Uncle Remus, so give us another story." It was given
willingly.
Mr. Harris was born in 1848 in what used to be known as Middle Georgia.
Like many another of our well-established authors, he received a good
part of his education at the printer's case in a country newspaper
office. It was at the case--just as in the story of Howells and of
Mark Twain--that the Georgian acquired his love of journalism--a love
which often very naturally develops into a love for higher and more
durable literature. He joined the staff of the _Atlanta Constitution_
at the age of eighteen. For a time he served as dramatic critic, in
addition to his other service; but he soon found that he had no taste
for the theatre. It must be that it was his hard lot to fall among poor
actors, for it was not long before he gave up the work and formed a
determination to visit the theatre as seldom as possible. Thereafter,
he was virtually permitted by the editor of the _Constitution_ to
follow his own bent.
But the story is moving along a little too fast. It should be said
that Mr. Harris was fortunate in his birthplace. Eatonton, the capital
of Putnam County, was not a lively spot, in a mercantile sense, in
the days before the war, but it could boast of an excellent school,
Eatonton Academy.
Speaking of Eatonton, the _Baltimore American_, some thirteen or
fourteen years ago, printed this strange biography of Mr. Harris under
the title of "A Humorist's Sad Romance":
"Joel C. Harris, the famous humorist, of the _Atlanta_ (Ga.)
_Constitution_, has had a strangely romantic career. His father was a
missionary, and it was at the small town of Boog-hia, on the southern
coast of Africa, that Joel was born. He was educated by his father,
and is a profound Sanscrit scholar, besides being thoroughly versed in
Hebraic and Buddhist literature. Just before the Civil War he emigrated
to America, and taught school in a village near Lake Teeteelootchkee,
Fla. There he fell in love with Sallie O. Curtis, daughter of a wealthy
planter, and soon was engaged by Colonel Curtis as a private tutor. The
parents made no objection to their daughter's choice of a husband, but
the war came on before the marriage could take place, and so Colonel
Curtis and Mr. Harris went away to the war. The Colonel lost all his
property during the strife, and at the battle of Columbia, S. C., a
grape shot tore his leg into shreds. When the war closed Miss Sallie
died of yellow fever, and Mr. Harris became the support and comfort of
the maimed sire of his dead sweetheart. The two yet live together in a
vine-covered cottage near Atlanta. Mr. Harris is hardly forty years of
age, but his snow-white hair tells the sorrow of his life. He is noted
for his generosity, his amiability and his tenderness."
The fact is that from the time of his birth until General Sherman swept
toward the sea after burning Atlanta, Mr. Harris lived in Eatonton.
When he was six years old he could read, and it is said that a stray
copy of "The Vicar of Wakefield," met in his juvenile days, did much to
develop his taste for good literature. Joel attended Eatonton Academy
for a few terms, and at the age of twelve went to work for Colonel
Turner, the publisher of a weekly called _The Countryman_.
It was the boy's own enterprise and ambition which brought this about.
It was Joel himself who heard that Colonel Turner was in need of a
boy with "willing hands" to learn the printer's trade, and who went
unbidden and unendorsed to apply for a job. The publisher and the
youngster took a liking to each other on sight, and young Harris was
put to work forthwith.
Those were unquestionably among the happiest days of the humorist's
life. This is not saying, of course, that his cup of happiness is not
brimming over to-day; but those were days of new contentment. The young
printer's work was not burdensome; but the happiest fact of all is that
his employer, Colonel Turner, had a rich library, in which his youngest
workman was free to browse in leisure moments. The acorn of taste for
good books which the boy had cultivated at home here developed into an
oak; and the soil in which the acorn took root was fertile, and there
was ample room for the spread of every growing limb and bough.
At first the lad delved among the Elizabethans. Sir Thomas Browne, too,
became one of his favorite authors--nowadays Mr. Harris leans toward
Thackeray, Stevenson, Scott, Kipling and James Whitcomb Riley--a good
catholic taste. Few boys ever enjoyed a more advantageous course of
reading. Gradually the juvenile printer drifted from his books into
writing, just as a student one day quits the gallery and starts to
paint some work of his own. Colonel Turner responded to the ambition of
his protégé most generously. He praised the little works judiciously,
and before long young Harris was prompted to doff his anonymity and
stand up to be judged by himself. Thereafter he became a regular
contributor to _The Countryman_--which was truly rustic in scope as
well as in title--and the name of Harris began to be spoken throughout
Georgia.
This pleasant existence was interrupted by the war, which to the editor
and his assistant was indeed the fulfilment of an ancient threat.
When Sherman left Atlanta to march to the sea, he shaped his course
through Eatonton, and before him fled the loyal Southerners. Among
the last to leave the town was the proprietor of _The Countryman_.
Young Harris remained behind to look after the property. Little damage
was done in Eatonton, but the budding author, finding the state of
affairs chaotic, started, when the war was over, to make his fortune
elsewhere. He found employment on various newspapers, first in Macon,
then in New Orleans, then in Forsyth, and then in Savannah. In Savannah
he secured an editorial position on the _Morning News_, of which W.
T. Thompson, the author of "Major Jones's Courtship," and other once
popular humorous writings, was then the general manager. In Savannah,
the vagrant Eatontonian married Miss La Rose, and there he lived,
with ever-increasing success, until 1876, when yellow fever swept
through the town. Then he moved to Atlanta and went to work for the
_Constitution_. And here we shall take up the original thread of this
article.
In 1880, four years after the beginning of Mr. Harris's connection
with the _Constitution_, the Uncle Remus sketches, which meantime had
won much praise throughout the country, were numerous enough to make
a book of, and "Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings" was published by
the Appletons. The book solidified the author's fame. It had the good
fortune to be reprinted in England. Even then, more than twenty years
ago, it was reasonable to say that Uncle Remus was one of the foremost
characters in American fiction. In 1883, "Nights with Uncle Remus," was
published; the following year "Mingo and Other Sketches in Black and
White"; in 1887, "Free Joe and Other Georgian Sketches." Up to date,
Harris's books number at least sixteen.
But we must not lose sight of the fact that all the time the successful
story-teller kept up his editorial work on the paper to whose fame
he was contributing so materially. Indeed, until his retirement from
newspaper work, in 1900, his chief title was that of a "hard-working
journalist." It was his habit until within recent years to give his
mornings and afternoons to the _Constitution_ work, and his evenings
to miscellaneous literary work. He was able to maintain this arduous
program for so long a time because of his apparently inexhaustible
good nature and his simple manner of life; and, moreover, attention
to duties at hand soon became second nature in him. In recent years,
however, he gave only his mornings to his editorial labors. "His
habit," says an Atlanta correspondent, "was to come down to the office
at nine o'clock in the morning, get his editorial assignments for the
day, and then go home and do his work, sending his copy down early in
the afternoon." Such was his spirit of independence that if the editor
chanced to be late in coming down to the office he would not waste time
in waiting for him, but would pick up his bundle of newspapers and
start for home. Nevertheless, he would send in his copy without fail.
On making his morning visit to the office Mr. Harris was never out of
sorts. His good humor was perennial, and he never failed to impart
it to his co-workers. Though it was his lot to write editorials on
political topics, he never enjoyed the rancor of partisan politics, and
he managed to put into his editorials enough of humor to make the work
pleasant to himself as well as to others.
At the same time, the idol of the _Constitution_ staff, it is said,
never took a hearty interest in politics; he simply bowed to the
fact that as an editorial writer he could hardly eschew politics
entirely. But he felt that he owed much to the _Constitution_ for the
opportunity it had given him to make his reputation; and he allowed
this circumstance to outweigh his personal inclinations until the time
came when he found that he would either have to give up his editorial
work or neglect his literary contracts. So, finally, on Sept. 6, 1900,
he departed from the office of the _Constitution_ for good, taking
with him the tearful love of all his associates. As a sort of legacy,
he left two sons on the paper, Julian, the managing news editor, and
Evelyn, the city editor.
And then, almost at the end of his fifty-second year, the dearest
Georgian of them all entered upon an unembarrassed literary career,
with every promise of doing more work and better work than ever. But
even if this promise should rest unfulfilled--which seems almost out
of question--we have with us Uncle Remus and Aunt Minervy Ann, Brer
Rabbit and Brer Fox, creations unsurpassed in originality and in
delightfulness.
Mr. Harris's work is done at his home in West End, one of the suburbs
of Atlanta, and few visitors are permitted to interrupt him. Not that
he is gruff; he is simply retiring. He prefers to be known by his
books. They who know him intimately--and they are not many--say that he
is remarkably kind and hospitable. We respect his desire for privacy.
We will not even knock on the door and beg one glimpse of his private
life. With the whole reading public we shall be content to note his
boundless cheerfulness and rare enjoyableness as a story-teller.
[Illustration: DR. S. WEIR MITCHELL.]