Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1866-01-24
Our Sturg-T TGIIGr.
Jill SNILEY And His JUMPING FROG,

I'VE give up the principal portion of our
editorial space to-day to an eXquisitely hum
orous szetch-'' Jim Smiley and his Jumping
Frog by Mark Twain, who will shortly
become regular contributor to our columns.
Mark Twain is the assumed name of writer
in California, who has long been a favorite
contributor to the San Francisco press, from
which his articles have been so extensively
copied as to make him nearly as well known
as Artemus Ward.-.Saturday Press
Mr.. A. WARD Dear Sir We'll, I
called on good-natured, garrulous old
Simon Wheeler, and I inquired after
your friend Leonidas W. Smiley, as you
requested me to do, and l hereunto ap-
pend the result. If you can get any in
formation out of it, you are cordially
welcome to it. 1 have a lurking suspi-
cion that your Leonidas W. Smiley is a
myth-that you never knew such a per-
senage, and that you only conjectured
that if I asked old Wheeler about him it
would remind him of his infamous Jim
Smiley, and he would go to work and
bore me nearly to death with some infer
nal reminiscence of him as long and
tedious as it should be useless to me. If
that was your design, Mr.. Ward, it will
crafty you to know that it succeeded.
found Simon Wheeler doing com
fortably bv the bar-room stove Of the
little old dilapldated tavern, in the anci-
ent mining camp Of Boomerang, and l
noticed that he was fat and bald beaded
and had an expression of winning gen
t.eness and simplicity upon his tranquil
countenauce. He reused up and gave
me good day. l told him friend Of
mine had commissioned me to make some
inquiries about a cherished companion Of
his boyhood, named Leonidas w. Smiley
Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley young
minister of the Gospel who he heard
was at one time a resident of this village
of Boomerang. [ added that if Mr..
Wheeler could tell me anything about
this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley I would
feel under many obligations to him.
Simon Wheeler backed me into a
corner and blockaded nee with his chair
and then sat down and reeed off the
monotonous narrative which follows this
paragraph. He never smiled, he never
.rowned, he neve. changed his voice
from the quiet, gently flowing key to
which he turned the initial sentence, he
never betrayed the slightest suspicion Of
enthusiasm, but all through the inter
minable narrative there ran vein OF i'm
gressiye earnestness and sincerity, which
showed plainly that SO far from his i'm
agining there was anything ridiculous or
.unny about his story, he regarded it as
really important matter, and admired its
swo heroes IS men Of ftranscendcnt genius
n Gnesse. To me, the spectacle Of
man drifting serenely along through such
q queer yarn without eve: smiling, was
exqgisitcly absurd. As | said before /
asked him to tell ne what he knew Of
Rev Leonidas W. Smiley, and haraP.;sd
M, follows, I let him go on in his own
%ay, and never interrupted him once:
There was a feller here once by the
name of jim Smiley. in the winter of 10
or may be it was in the spring of so
Il don't recolect exactly, some how,
though what makes me think twas one
or the other is because I remember the
big hume wasn't finished when he first
come to the camp, but anyway, he was
curiousest nan about always betting on
anything that turned up you ever see, if
ne could get anybody to bet on the other
side, and if he couldn't he'd change sides
any way that suited the other man
would suit him-any way just SOS he
got bet, lie was satisfied. But still, he
was lucky-uncommo lucky; he most
always come out winner. He was always
ready and laying for a chance there
couldn't be no solitary thing mentioned
but what that feler'd offer to bet on it
aud take any side you please, as I was
Just telling you; if there was a horse
race. you'd find him flush or you'd find
him busted at the end of it; if there was
dog-fght he'd bet on it; if there was a
cat fight he'd bet on it if there was a
chicken-fght he'd bet on it; why if
there was two birds setting on fence,
he'd bet you which one would fly first /;
or if there was a camp-meeting he would
! be there regular to bet on Parson Walker,
which he indged to be the best exhorter
about here. and so he was, too, and Il
good man if he even see a raddle-bug
start to 30 anywhere he would bet you
how long it would take him to get
wherever he was going to, and, if you
took him up. he would foller that strad-
die bug to Mexico but what he you'd
| fnd out where he was bound for and how
long he was on the road. Lots Of the
hoys here has seen that Smiley, and can
tell you about him. Why, it never
made no difference to him-he would
bet on onythjng-the dangdest feller.-
! Parson Walkers wife laid very sick,
once. for a good while, and it seemed as
if they warn't going to save her; but
one morning he came in, and Smiley
asked him how she was, and he said she
was considerable better-thank the Lord
for his infinite mercy-and coming on so
smart. that, with the blessing of Provi-
dence, she'd get well yet-and Smiley,
before he thought says, Well I'IIrisk
two and a half that she don't any way.
Thish yer Smiley had mare-the
bovs called her the ffteen-minute nag,
but that was only in fun you know, be-
cause. of course, she was faster than that
and he used to win money on that
horse. for all she was SO slow, and always
had the asthma, or the distemper, or con-
sumption. or something of that kind
! M. = ,,.,l to rive her two or three hun.
! dred wards start, and then pass her under
way, bat always at the fag-end of the