The Sierra citizen., 1854-11-04
An Injured Man


Grand Jury:
1T is generally believed that portion
of that qul ute mass, Or body, possess a
small share of illiteral talent, inasmuch as
they are so maliciously charged with act
ing merely to quench an amarous thirst,
we must presume that the great majority
of that jury could not have had feeling
Of animosity against those alleged in their
report. if the public know themselves. and
| think they do,a portion or at least a
text from which portion of that report
was formed, was developed by the ex-
Founders Of political sentiment throughout
this county prior to the last election, and
any body of men would naturally think
that where there was so much smoke there
must be some fire, and consequently would
without hesitation, enquire into any mat
ter that they thought the interest Of peo-
Pile whom they represent were involved.
In conclusion, permit me to say, that the
subject taken up by the Citizen has won
for its author an everlasting laurel in the
estimation of some good citizens. Iwould
say, go on your way rejoicing, Mr.. Citizen,
you may End an error by and by.
Yours, truly, W. B."
Give us strong rag to tear, or knotty
pole to climb! w. B., we have some
what to say unto thee; take another drink
and face the music Sorry to say any
thing disagrceable, but w. B. is an old
correspondent of ours whose hebdomedal
prosings grew so dry that one cold drizzly
October morning a few yards of them
took fire, and were utterly destroyed. We
couldn't help it, w. b., indeed we could
not; we didn't go to do it Twas case
of spontaneous combustion; we touched
them off with blazing splinter, but we
had no idea that they were so combusti-
bic, or that their ghost would appear in
the California Express. Ingratitude! w.
B., we have labored with them letters o
yourn!' we have decapitated those capi-
tails, we have elongated is, and where the
sense was obscure, we have taken out
whole sentences, and tried them by fire,
and after all you have forsaken us and
transferred your invaluable services to our
neighbor of the Express.
But, W. B., that's queer paragraph
of yours, about the Grand Jury being "ma-
liciously charged with acting merely
to quench an amarous thirst ~
Now, we didn't charge them with such
indecorous conduct We didn't think
that any Of that honorable body, of which
you have the honor Of being fugleman,
were silly enough to come to Downieyille
with any such intentions. Now, W. B.,
may it not be possible that you have made
donkey Of yourself by using words that
you don't understand? That's a very
bad word up aloft there! Hadn't you
better abandon the pen and try the crow
bar? ". B., you are an afflicted man;
a victim of that dreadful disease called
" an itch for scribbling." Bad ailment,
that! BetteR have the genuine Scotch
fiddle, with long nails and elbow room to
scratch; but even under such an aff1iction
it is better to confne your manipulations
to any little eruptions that may appear on
the operator. The pen is a mischievous
instrument in unpractised hands, and some
times gets the tyro into difficulty. Better
try the buck and saw-they make more
noise-are more profitable. w. B., may
we venture to suggest that literature is
not your mission? We would 60 into an
argument to convince you ofthe fact; but
to save trouble, we refer you to the school
of experience, in which the old copy-book
says that certain class will learn to the
best advantage.
Don't for Heavens sake bore our friends
of the Express with that awful manuscript
of yours. Those capitals and littlei's will
cause them to use unseemly expletives,
not to speak of reducing nonsense to COM
mon comprehension.
w. B., did you write that curiosity of
literature which we publish in another
column? 1t does look very like your manu-
script. If you are the author, do for
Heavens sake dry up-take in your sign
and abandon the thorny path Of letters.
Your mission is not to revolutionize the
world with the pen, or to stay the wan-
derings of a lost dog by an ineligible ad-
vertlsement. Don't drag the whole Grand
jury into the unsavory nest that you have
made for yourself, for some of the gentle
men who had the misfortune to get mixed
up with you in that Grand Jury, have
called on us and repudiated your literary
performance.
W. B., did it ever occur to you that all
this fuss and feathers might end in fizzle?
That if you would cease to distress your
self about the affairs of the county.
the commonwealth would not go to wreck?
that your tempest in teapot would not