SEBA SMITH.
Before the close of the last century a famous humorist was born in the town of Buckfield, in the State of Maine. Seba Smith was his name, yet during his entire life few persons knew him by that title. Speaking of him as “Majer Jack Downing,” however, instantly recalls him to mind, and he at once becomes well known.
Seba Smith was born on the 19th day of September, 1792. As early as 1818 he graduated from Bowdoin College, and, a year or two later, settled in Portland, where, in 1820, he became the editor of the Eastern Argus. In 1830 he transferred his labors to the Portland Courier, with which journal he was connected until 1837. It was during this time that Mr. Smith wrote a series of letters for his paper. They were of a political nature, and took well with the public. They became so popular that in 1833 they were collected in a volume and published in Boston, under the caption of Life and Letters of Majer Jack Downing. The letters were humorous in the extreme,and being written on prominent political subjects, they became widely popular.
In 1841, Smith issued, also through a Boston house, a poem of considerable length, entitled Powhattan. The next year the friends of Majer Jack Downing found him in New York city, where he became actively engaged in literary work. His writings continued to be popular, and his books were written in rapid succession. Away Down East, or Portraitures of Yankee Life, appeared in 1843, and in 1846, a book entitled Dewdrops of the Nineteenth Century was issued. This was followed by a work, New Elements of Geometry, and other books of a serious nature.
In 1859, towards the close of the year, Mr. Smith issued another volume of political humor, which he called My 30 Years Out of the Senate. This book had a wide reputation, and attained an immense sale. The “late unpleasantness” found Mr. Smith hard at work, although now an old man. In 1864, he issued a book entitled Majer Jack Downing of the Downingville Militia. An English edition of the work now lies before me. It was printed in Paternoster Row, London, and contains just thirty chapters. On the title page is the following:
“The constitution is a dimmycratic machine, and its got to run as a dimmycratic machine, or itwon’t run at all!”
“The constitution is a dimmycratic machine, and its got to run as a dimmycratic machine, or itwon’t run at all!”
MAJER JACK DOWNING TO LINCOLN.
One of the richest things in the book is “A. Linkin’s Proclamashin Concerning Majer Jack Downing’s Book.” This excellent “take-off” on a President’s proclamation is dated Washington, July 15, 1864, and is as follows:
“Whereas, my friend, Majer Jack Downing, of the Downingville millisha, has issued a Book of Letters, containing his views on public affairs, the war, etc., etc.“Now, therefore, I do hereby issue this, my Proclamashin, enjoyning upon every loyal, as well as disloyal, citizen, includin’ loyal Leegers, Abolitionists, Republikans, War Dimmycrats, Copperheads, Clay Banks, Charcoals, &c., to buy this book and to read the same, under penalty of the confiscation of all their property, includin’ niggers of every descripshin. Furthermore, all officers under me, whether civil, military, or otherwise, are hereby ordered, under penalty of court marshal, to purchase the said book and read it. This order applies to all Postmasters and their Clerks (who are also ordered to assist in the sale of the book), to all Custom House officials, Provo-Marshalls, to all Tax Collectors, Assessors, Recruteing Officers, Runners, Brokers, Bounty Jumpers,and espeshully to all Government Swindlers, Contractors, Defaulters, &c., to all Furrin Ambassadors, Ministers, Penitentiaries, male and female, &c. &c. Further more, Generals Grant, Sherman and all other Generals, including Ginneral Banks, will see to it that the Majer’s letters are widely circulated in the armies, as the menny good stories of mine, as well as of the Majer’s, in the book, will keep the sojers in good sperits.“Further more, if eny disloyal editer shall presume to say enything against this book, or advise eny person not to sell or circulate the same, or aid or abet them in so doing, he shall at once be arrested and his paper stopped.“Further, if any person, in order to avoid the penalties mentioned above, shall borrow said book, he shall, if it be proved, be fined $1000 in gold. If there be no proof, he shall be sent to Fort Lafayette.“Finally every person perchasing a copy of the Majer’s Letter shall be exempt from the draft. All others are at once to be seized and sent to the front.“Done, in this, my city of Washington, in the fourth year of my reign.A. Linkin.”
“Whereas, my friend, Majer Jack Downing, of the Downingville millisha, has issued a Book of Letters, containing his views on public affairs, the war, etc., etc.
“Now, therefore, I do hereby issue this, my Proclamashin, enjoyning upon every loyal, as well as disloyal, citizen, includin’ loyal Leegers, Abolitionists, Republikans, War Dimmycrats, Copperheads, Clay Banks, Charcoals, &c., to buy this book and to read the same, under penalty of the confiscation of all their property, includin’ niggers of every descripshin. Furthermore, all officers under me, whether civil, military, or otherwise, are hereby ordered, under penalty of court marshal, to purchase the said book and read it. This order applies to all Postmasters and their Clerks (who are also ordered to assist in the sale of the book), to all Custom House officials, Provo-Marshalls, to all Tax Collectors, Assessors, Recruteing Officers, Runners, Brokers, Bounty Jumpers,and espeshully to all Government Swindlers, Contractors, Defaulters, &c., to all Furrin Ambassadors, Ministers, Penitentiaries, male and female, &c. &c. Further more, Generals Grant, Sherman and all other Generals, including Ginneral Banks, will see to it that the Majer’s letters are widely circulated in the armies, as the menny good stories of mine, as well as of the Majer’s, in the book, will keep the sojers in good sperits.
“Further more, if eny disloyal editer shall presume to say enything against this book, or advise eny person not to sell or circulate the same, or aid or abet them in so doing, he shall at once be arrested and his paper stopped.
“Further, if any person, in order to avoid the penalties mentioned above, shall borrow said book, he shall, if it be proved, be fined $1000 in gold. If there be no proof, he shall be sent to Fort Lafayette.
“Finally every person perchasing a copy of the Majer’s Letter shall be exempt from the draft. All others are at once to be seized and sent to the front.
“Done, in this, my city of Washington, in the fourth year of my reign.A. Linkin.”
The thirty letters following are all dated Washington and give a humorous account of matters political at the National capital at that time.
Miss Elizabeth Oakes, a well known writer, was married to Mr. Smith when she was sixteen years of age. She was born in Cumberland, Maine, in 1831, and was a noted novelist for upwards of twenty years. She has published in all something like fifteen different works. She issued, in 1851, a volume, Woman and Her Needs, which became quite popular.
Mr. Smith retired to private life at the close of the war, and died on the 29th of July, 1868, at his homestead in Patchogue, Rhode Island. His wife survived him and was living in North Carolina several years ago. She gave up writing ten years since.