The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-04-11 00:00:00

HORACE GREELEY'S MANUSCRIPT.

Horace Greeley." copy" was a continuous string
of riddles for the unfortunate compositor's engaged on
the paper of which he was proprietor, riddles they
often solved in • way not exactly conducive to the
propounder's serenity. When, in exposing some con-
gressional malpractices, Greeley wrote, ''Tie true, 'tis
pity, and pity 'tie, 'tie true," the familiar quota-
tion appeared in the un.Shaltsperian uiae, "
two, 'tie fifty, and fifty 'tie, 'tis five ! ' A leader
upon William H. Seward came forth headed
"Richard the Third." When he alluded to cer-
tain electors as "freemen in buckram," the printer
turned them into "three men in a back-room."
These, under the circumstances, exou.sable delin-
quencies, were capped by the painter of New York
Tribune bulletins. Having received a notice in the
well-known but ever unintelligible hieroglyphics, in
tended to inform the public that they must seek "En-
trance in Spruce-street," after some hours hard study and
cogitation, the puzzled man of the brush, in sheer des-
peration, dashed off in large letters, " Editors on a Spree,"
and posted the extraordinary announcement on the front
door of the Tee beat office. If Horace's own people were
thus severely exercised, one can faintly imagine how hie
correspondents must have suffered. Writing to decline
an invitation to lecture, he said "I am ~verworked
and growing old. I shall be sixty next February 3rd.
On the whole, it seems I must decline to lecture
henceforth, except in this immediate vicinity, if
Ido at all. I cannot promise to visit Illinois on that
errand, certainly not now." Rather to his surprise, he
soon received the following reply :—" Dear Sir,—Your
acceptance to lecture before our association next winter
came to hand this morning. Your penmanship not
being the plainest, it took some time to translate it,
but we Kure* led, and would say your time, February
3rd, and terms, sixty dollars, are entirely satisfactory.
As you suggeet, we may be able to get you other
engagements in the immediate vicinity ; if so,
we will advise you." When he informed the
lowa Press Association : --" I have waited, till longer
waiting would seem discourteous, and now decide
that I cannot attend your Press meeting next June
as I would do. I find so many cares and duties press.
lag on me that, with the weight of years, I feel obliged
to decline any invitation that takes me over a day's
journey from home.' Out of this the recipients, in
consultation assembled, made —" I have wondered all
along whether any squirt had denied the scandal about
the President meeting Jane in the woods on Saturday.
I have hominy, carrots, and It. R. ties more than I
could move with eight steer. If eels are blighted,
dig them early. Any insinuation that brick ovens
are dangerous to hams, gives me the horrors." A dis-
charged employe became editor of a Western paper on
the strength of Greeley's recommendation, said recom-
mendation being really a letter of dismissal; but as no
one could decipher anything but the signature, it was
accepted as what its owner declared it to be. It is even
said that the Sege of Chamequa popped the question
unwittingly. He wrote to a lady entreating her to ab-
stain from sending poetical contributions to the Tribune.
The lady submitted the letter to a family council, and,
after much debate, the mysterious missive was pro-
nounced to be a proposal of marriage, wffich WM ac-
cepted forthwith.—Clanibtria Journal.