Even then, Leacock had a hard time. He had married a wealthy young woman and they
tried for fifteen years to have a child. Then their only son was born with a birth defect,
and Leacock’s wife died of cancer just ten years later.
Through all of his personal problems, and despite the frustration of having his political
science and economic work ignored compared to his funny stories, Stephen Leacock kept
his remarkable sense of humor.
That humor not only got him through some dark times, it also assured him a place in
history. Every year, the Stephen Leacock Award is given to the funniest writer in Canada,
and Leacock’s books are still found in classrooms and libraries across the country - not
his dry works on politics and economy, but the collections of witty tales and parodies that
preserve his reputation as a man who made the world laugh.
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