--_F. P. A._ * * * * * [Illustration: MY FRIEND, DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOU ARE EXPOSING YOURSELF TO GREAT DANGER? NO, YOU BOOB--I MISTOOK THE SOUND OF THE GUNS FOR SOMEBODY OPENING WINE AND JUST DROPPED IN TO JOIN THE PARTY =FOOLISH QUESTION=--NO. 1313. BY R. L. GOLDBERG] * * * * * The surest and simplest way to appreciate Irvin Cobb is to start in to read him when you are too busy or too tired to read anything at all. --_George Barr McCutcheon_ * * * * * Irvin Cobb! Gentle, keen, loyal and truth-telling--the best ever. --_Wm. Travers Jerome_ * * * * * Certainly I appreciate Cobb! I appreciated him long before the mob got on to him. But the thing that galls me is--why the wrist watch? He came among us out west here, wearing a 27-jewelled, steam-heated, forty-dollar wrist watch and I assure you it is not being done here at all--at least not in our set. Shall we blame the Germans for this, or is Old Irv slipping? From my heart, I ask you to reason with him. --_C. E. Van Loan_ * * * * * This is the first time in five years I’ve regretted not being in New York. --_Harry Leon Wilson_ Monterey, California, April First, Nineteen-fifteen. * * * * * [Illustration: BY ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN] * * * * * Irvin is a true humorist in that he knows when not to be funny. In addition to numberless works of irresistible joviality, he has contributed to American literature some of its most serious notes, including stories of pathos and also of gruesome power, almost unrivalled. He has written important essays on food, too, one on Southern cooking, in particular, that is as savory as Charles Lamb’s “Dissertation on Roast Pig.” We are safe in hailing Cobb as already a classic. Everybody reads and rejoices in Cobb’s printed self. Those who know the man love him and rejoice in his society. “Cobb’s Anatomy” is for the general public. His heart is the biggest part of him, and if that were not true, this unusual dinner would not be given. It takes more than a great writer to earn great affection. --_Rupert Hughes_ * * * * * A big brain needs a big belly to balance it. Irvin Cobb has a well-balanced brain. He’s never top-heavy and never will be. In all the years he wrote for the _Sunday World_ he never was late turning in his copy, reaching the pay-window, going to luncheon, buying a drink, laughing at his own jokes or demanding a raise in salary.