Simeon Ford, the after-dinner speaker and raconteur who, so it is said, can look more sad and at the same time talk more humorously than any other man before the American public, was born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1856. After an education received in the public schools of the town of his birth he studied law, but finding that there was but little merriment in Blackstone and briefs, abandoned his first intentions, and after plunges into various businesses, drifted to New York, where, in 1883, he fell in love with and married Julia Shaw, the daughter of the proprietor of the Grand Union hotel. He forthwith became a partner with his father-in-law, and from thence on has been as successful as a hotel manager as he is famous as an after-dinner speaker. ELIZABETH MERIWETHER GILMER. Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, whose nom-de-plume is “Dorothy Dix,” was born in Montgomery county, Tennessee, November 18, 1870. She was married November 21, 1888, to George O. Gilmer. In 1896 she became the editor of the woman’s department of the New Orleans Picayune, and contributed to that paper a series of articles called Dorothy Dix Talks, which won her immediate recognition as a humorist. In 1900 she joined the New York American and Journal staff as a writer on special topics, which she treats in a breezy, snappy fashion. GEORGE V. HOBART. George V. Hobart, the humorist and librettist, who is well known to the newspaper public under his nom-de-plume of Dinkelspiel, was born at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. When a boy he studied telegraphy and obtained a position as an operator on one of the Cumberland (Maryland) newspapers. One day between the clicks of his instrument he wrote a humorous story, and handed it to the editor, who remarked, “I want more of that.” That was the beginning of the famous Dinkelspiel sketches. Mr. W. R. Hearst, of the New York American, saw Hobart’s work, called him to New York. He is the author of several comedies and books of musical productions. MELVIN DE LANCY LANDON. 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. JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS. STEPHEN BONSAL.