The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1871-06-01
Mark Twain's First Experience as
an EdftyQr.

of thirteen--an unusually s'haiI eh''u' I
| I thought at the time. twas then that Il
] did my first newspaper scribbl'ng' Il
and, most unexpected to me, it stirred
up O fine sensation in the community
It did indeed, and l was very proud or .
it, too.
Twas printers "dcvil,'' and pro-
gressive and aspiring one. My uncle
had me on his paper (the W Weekly Han
nibal Journal-S2 Il year, in advance
800 subscribers, and they paid in
cordwood, cabbage, and unnarketahle
turnips), and on a lucky summers day
he left town to be gone week. ana
asked me if I thought l could edit an
issue of the paper judiciously' All,
didn't / want to try! Hinton was the
editor of the rival paper. He had lately
been Tilted, and one night a friend found
an open note on ~the poor fellows bed,
in which he stated that he could no
longer endure life, and had drowned
himself in Bear creek The fllend ran
down there, and discovered Hinton
wadinc back to shore! He had con-
cluded he wouldn't The village was
full of it for several days, but Hinton
did not suspect it. thought this was
fine opportunity. l wrote an elab
orately wretched account Of the whole
" matter, and then illustrated it with vii
famous cuts engraved on the bottoms
of wooden type with a jack-kni'e, one
~ ~ of them picture OF Hinton wading out
J into the creek in his shirt, with lantern
sounding the depth Of the water with a
walking stick. Il thought it was des
J. perately funny, and was densely uncon-
- scious that there was any moral ooli'
. ouity about such publication. Beng
satisfied with the effort, Hooked aiouho
|, for other worlds to conquer and 1t struck
=, me that it would make good, interesting
- ", matter to charge the editor ola neigh
boring country paper with a piece OF
yratuitous rascality and "see him
~ -. souirmm I did it, putting the article
y. into the form of a parody on the burial
'' Of "Sir John Moore" and pretty
h. crude parody it was, too. Then lam
- :. pot ned two prominent citizens outrage
- :, ously-not because they had done any
" thing to deserve it, but merely because
~ ~. I thought it was my duty to make tn
u ~ paper lively. Next gently touched u
~ the newest s.ranger-the lion OF sh
" day, the gorgeous journeyman lalio
-. from Quincy. He was simpering cox
49, comb of the first water, and the cloud
- est dressed man in the State. lie wa
an inyeterate woman killer Ever.
y, ~ week he wrote lushy "poetry' to tn
" " Journal about his newest conquest III
- ~ rhymes for my week were headed "I'
ns ~" Mary in H." meaning to Mary
w ~. Hannibal, of course. But when settln
'"' up the piece I was suddenly riven frol
~ head to heel by what l regarded as
-" perfect thunderbolt Of humor, and
compressed it into asnappy ioot-no'
'"' at the bottom-thus: "We will let tn
p0' thing pass, just this one; but we wis
w. Mr.. j. Gordon Runnels to understan
~" that we have character to sustain, ar
s.' from this time hence forth when
=" wants to commune with his friends
HI he must select some other mediu
'eo than the columns Of this journal! y
ncs The paper came out, and l neys
the knew any little thing attract SO mu'
tho attention as those playful triles otm'n
arc For once the Hannibal Journal was
cot demand--a novelty it had not eXpel
o., enced before. The whole town W
.on stirred. Hinton dropped in with
.;ro double barreled shotgun early III IL
forenoon. When he found that it W
,n an infant (as he called me) that hi
,;nr done him the damage, be simplypull
tho nv ears and went away; but be thrt
Tho up his situation that plight and lett toy
..,, for good The tailor came with
o,h goose and a pair of shears; but he
him spised me too, and departed for t
tbot South that night. The two lampoon
citizens came with threats of libel, a
hio went away incensed at my insigr
tho cance. The country editor pranced
ue with war whoop next day, suffer-
NJ for blood to drink, but ended by forg
Init ing me cordially and inviting me do
ude to the drug store to wash away all a
vac mostly in a friendly bumper of tahl
,ors stock vermifuge." 1t was his lit
that joke. =.
. My uncle was very angry when
0' M got back, uni easonably so, l thoug
o1 considering what an inpe.ns+2 h
given the paper, and considering al
that gratitude for his preservati
IJui. ought to have been uppermost in
"a in mind; inasmuch as By his delay he h
|eoes so wonderfully escaped dissecti
lar. tomahawking, libel and getting
# ion head shot of. But he softened vi
no looked at the account and saw t
I actually hooked the unparalel