1856–1919 · American vaudeville comedian and pioneering recording artist
Cal Stewart (1856–1919) was an American comedian and humorist who pioneered both vaudeville monologue and early sound recording — his own book billed him as “The Talking Machine Story Teller”. He is best remembered for Uncle Josh Weathersby, a garrulous old resident of the invented New England village of Punkin Centre, whose stories Stewart sold in print and on cylinder records to a national audience. He signed the verse behind this proverb with his character’s name rather than his own, which is most likely why the credit went astray.