The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1867-08-07
ARTEMUS WARD.
Mark Ewain's First Interview
with Him.

/ had never seen him before. He brought
letters of introduction from mutual friends
in San Francisco, and by invitation break
tasted with him. 1t was almost religion,
there in the silver mines, TO precede such a
meal with whisky cocktails. Artemus, with
the true cosmopolitan instinct, always de-
ferred to the customs of the country he was
in, and so he ordered three of those abomin-
atoms. Kingston was present. / am
match for nearly any beverage you can men
ton except a whisky cocktail, and therefore
I said l would rather not drink one. | said
it would go right to my head and confuse me
so that l would be in helpless tangle In ten
minutes. Ibid not want to act like luna
tic before strangers. But Artemps gently
insisted, and I drank the IRRESPONSIBLE mix
ture under protest, and felt all the time that
| was doing thing | might be sorry for. In
a minute or two | began to imagine that my
ideas were clouded. / waited in great an
xiety for the conversation to open, with a
vague hope that my understanding would
prove clear, after all, and my misgivings
groundess.
Artemus dropped an unimportant remark
or two and then assumed a look of super
human earnestness, and made the following
astounding speech. He said
"Now. there is one thing | ought to ask
you about before forget it. You have been
here in Silverland here in Nevada-two or
three years, and Of course, your position on
the daily press has made it necessary for you
to go down in the mines and examine them
carefully in detail, and therefore you know
all about the silver mining business. Now,
what / want to get at isis well, the way
the deposits OF ore are made, you know
For instance. Now, as ! understand it, the
vein which contains the silver is sandwiched
in between castings of granite, and runs
along the ground, and sticks up like curb
stone. IS 49,
We'll, takeaa vein 40 feet thick for exam
ple--or 80, for that matter, or even a 100
say you go down on it.with a shaft-straigh'
down, you know, or with what you call the
"inclines''-maybe you go down 500 feet, Oh
maybe you don't go down but 200-anywa'
you go down--and all the time this veir
grows narrower, when the castings com.
nearer, or approach each other, you may say
that is, when they do approach, which o
course they do not always, do, particularly il
cases where the nature of the formation j,
such that they stand apart wider than the,
otherwise would, and which geology Ina.
failed to account for, although everything il
that science goes to prove that, all things be
ing equal, it would, if it did not, or woule
not, certainly if it did, and then of eours,
they are. DO not you think it is ?"
said to myself, Now Just knew how !;
would be-that cussed whisky cocktail bo,
done the business forme; don't understan,
any more than clam" And then I sal,
aloud, "I--I-that is-if you don't mind
= would you-wsould you say that over again
"Oh, certainly, certainly. You see / nm
very unfamiliar with the subject. and nerbar,
I don't present my case clearly. but II
"No, no--no, no--you state 4 nla;n enouol
but that vile cocktail has muddIad mo q Il;
+. tie. But viii mol do understand for tba
matter, but would get the hang Of / .,
the better if you went over itagain--andI ~
pay better attention this time. n :.
He said, "Why, what was after, ".
this" Here be became even more fearful
impressive than ever, and emphasized eac
particular point by checking it off on h
finger ends.) .This vein, on lode, or ledg
. or whatever you call it, runs along betwee
two layers of granite, just the same as if
were sandwich. Very we'll Now. sur
pose you 60 down ON that, say a thousan
feet, or maybe twelve hundred, Git don't :
ally matter) before you drift; and then va
20 start your drifts, some of them across n
. ledge and others along the Length .nf !;