The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1868-12-10
Horace Greeley at Work.

A writer in Packard's Monthly
gives the following pen-and-ink por-
trait of one of the most distinguished
editors, AZ seen in his private room,
preparing articles for the press
Mr.. Greeley's back is towards US.
He Is seated at his desk. His head
is bent over his writing, and hisround
shoulders arc quite prominent. He
is scribling rapidly. A quire Of fool
soap occupying the only clear space
on his desk, is melting beneath his
pen. A glance at the manuscript re
veals two dozen knotty figures. You
may be sure of q leader On the ma
tional debt tomorrow morning. The
desk itself is a heap of confusion
Here is Mr.. Greeley's straw hat j;
there is his handkerchief. In front of
him is pack ofnewspaper clippings,
not neatly rolled up, but loosely
sprawled over the desk. At his left
q rickety pair of scissors catch o
hurried nap, and at his right paste.
pot and a halfbroken box of waters
appear to have had a rough-and-tum-
BILE fight. An odd-looking paper hold
or is Just ready to tumble on the
floor. An old-fashioned sand-box,
looking like dilapidated hour glass,
is half hidden under a slashed copy
of the New York World. Mr.. Gree
ley still sticks to waters and sand,
instead of using mucilage and blotting
paper. A small drawer, filed with
postage stamps and bright steel pens,
has crawled out on the desk. Pack
ages of folded misslves are tucked in
the pigeon-holes, winking at US from
the back OF the desk, and scores of
halfopened letters, mixed with seedy
brown envelopes, flop lazily about the
table. Old papers lie gashed and
mangled about his chair, the debris
of q literary battlefield. A clean
towel hangs OH rack to his right
A bound copy of the Tribune Alman-
&C, from 1888 TO 1868, swings from a
small chain fastened to staple
screwed into the side of his desk; two
other bound volumes stand ON their
feet in front Of his nose, and two
more of the same kind are fast asleep
on the book-rack in the corner.
The room is kept scrupulously clean
and neat. A waste-paper basket
squats between Mr.. Greeley's legs,
but one-half of the torn envelopes
and boshy communications futter to
the door, instead of being tossed into
the basket. *** Pen, ink, paper,
scissors and envelopes are in unfail-
ing demand. The cry, "Mr. Greeley
wants writing paper creates COM.
motion in tho counting-room, and
Mr.. Greeley gets paper quicker than
o hungry fisherman could skin an
eel.
Mr.. Greeley can lay Virginia worm
fences in ink faster than any other
editor in New York city. He uses a
fountain.pen, q present from some
friend, He thinks a great deal of it !;
but, during an experience of three
years, has failed to learn the simple
principle ofsuction without getting
his mouth full of ink, and he general
ly uses it with an empty receiver
He makes dash at the ink-bottle
every twenty seconds, places the
third finger and thumb Of his left
hand on his paper, and scratches
away ut the worm fence like one pos
sessed. He writes marvellously fast.
frequently the point of his pen pricks
though his sheet, for he writes a
heavy hand, and snap follows.
spreading inky spots over the paper,
resembling wood cut portraying the
sparks from blacksmith's hammer.
Blots, like mashed spiders or huck-
leberries, occasionally intervene bnt
the old veteran dashcs them with
sand, leaving a swearing compositor
to scratch off tho soil, and dig out the
words underneath.