and went into syndicated distribution to other newspapers in 1911. Hubbard also selected essays for his book of the same title, which was published in 1912. Creator of the Abe Martin cartoons Hubbard's most famous work was his creation of the cartoon character Abe Martin, "a rustic character that made a habit of commenting on legislators' foibles". His first Abe Martin drawing appeared in the Indianapolis News on December 17, 1904. The popular cartoon series, which remained the main focus of the cartoonist's work for the remainder of his life, was featured six days a week on the back page of the News for twenty-six years. It also appeared in syndication beginning in 1910. Hubbard moved his Abe Martin character to rural Brown County, Indiana, on February 3, 1905. The scenic locale among the hills of southern Indiana provided Hubbard with additional inspiration to exaggerate Abe Martin's humorous comments. Over the years, Hubbard slightly changed Abe Martin's appearance and added more fictional characters to the series. These characters include, among others, Uncle Niles Turner, Miss Fawn Lippincott, Professor Alexander Tansey, Tell Binkley, and Hon. Ex-Editor Cale Fluhart. Although Hubbard's characters were composites of various people, rather than a single individual, their characteristics represented stereotypes of local judges, teachers, businessowners, and proprietors, as well as other inhabitants of the fictional town of Bloom Center, and were readily identifiable to his readers. Portions of the names for the characters came from people that Hubbard knew in Ohio. He also found inspiration for names of his characters from Kentucky jury lists. The growing popularity of the Abe Martin cartoon lead to annual publications of related books beginning in November 1906 with the initial publication of Abe Martin of Brown County, Indiana, a compilation of Hubbard's works from the Indianapolis News. The cartoons also began to reach a wider newspaper audience in 1910 after Hubbard signed with the George Matthey Adams Syndicate. The syndicated Abe Martin cartoon series eventually appeared in approximately 200 cities. The News also continued to publish Abe Martin's sayings even after Hubbard's death in 1930. Part of Martin's popularity was his rustic humor and sharp-eyed observations of everyday life. Hubbard communicated his humor using just a few words. His typical formula was pairing two sentences of humorous, but unrelated observations in each of his daily cartoons. Hubbard's signature style of writing also included liberal use of colloquialisms and contractions. For