The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-08-23
Selfft 2uetru.
TIE Editors Guests.

Poem Read Before the Michigan Publisher.
by VII NJ. Carleton.
The Editor sat in his sanctum, hi
t countenance furrowed with care,
His mind at the bottom of business
his feet at the top of chair,
His chair-arm an elbow supporting
his right hand upholding his head
His eyes on his dusty old table, with
|. different documents spread:
There were thirty long pages from
Howler with underlined capital:
topped.
And a short discussion from Growler,
requesting his newspaper stopped ;
Thee were lyrics from Gusher the
poet, concerning sweet flowers and
zephyrs,
And stray gem from Plodder the
farmer, describing couple of heif
ers;
There were b;llets from beautiful
maidens, and bills from a grocer or
two,
And his hest leader hitched to letter,
which inquired if he wrote or who ?
There were raptures of praises from
writer's of the smooth and mellifous
school, -..
And one OF his rivals last papers, in
forming him he was fool;
There were several lorg resolutions,
with names telling whom they
were by,
CaDonizing some harmless old brother
who has done nothing worse than to
die b;
There were traps on that table to catch
him and scrpents to sting and to
smiue him;
There were gift enterprises to sell him,
and biters attempting to bite him:
There were long staring lads" from
the city, and money from never a
one,
Which added, "Please give this in
sertion and send in your bill when
you're done -
There were letters from organizations
their meetings, their wants, and
their laws
Which said, "Can you print this an
nounc ment for the good of our glo
rious cause -
There were tickets inviting his pres
ence to festivals, parties, and shows,
Wrapped in notes, with "Please give
us n notice" demurcly slipped in at
the close;
ran Ger its ink-spattcred trash,
There was nothing it did not encounter,
excepting perhaps it was cash.
The Editor dreamiIy pondered on sew
eral ponderous things,
On different lines of action,
and the pulling of different strings
Upon some cquivocal doings, and some
unequiv ocal duns
On how few OF his numerous patrons
we're quietly prompt paying ones
On friends who subscribed s.just to
help him" and wordy encouragement
lent,
And had gave him plenty of counsel,
but never had pail him a cent;
On vinegar, kind hearted people were
feeding him very hour,
Who saw not the work they were do
ing, but ondered that "pIint RS are
sour ;"
On several intelligent townsrnen, whose |
kindness was so without stint.
That they kept an eye out on his bu- |
siness, and told him just what he
should print,
On men who had rendered him favors,
and never pushed forward their |
claims,
So long as the paper was crowded with |
locals con, aiming their names;
On various other small matters, suf
fcient his temper to roll,
And finely conirived to he making the
blood OF an editor boil;
And so one may sea that his feelings !
could hardly be said to be smooth, I
And he needed some pleasant occur
renee, his wakened emotions to
soothe;
He bad it; for 10, on the threshold,
slow and reliable tread,
And farmer invaded the sanctum,
and these are the words that he said a: /
Good mornin', sir, Mr.. Printer; how
is your body, to-day?
I'm glad you're to home; for your
: fellers is al'ays runnin' away.
Your paper last week want so spicy
nor sharp as the one week before
But I s'pose when the campaign is
opened, you'll be whoopin' it up to
emu more.
That fellow that's printin' The Smash
or, is goin' for you. pretty smart;
And our folks said this mornin' at
breakfast they thought, he was get
tim the start.
But hushed 'em right up in min
ute, and said a good word for you
[ told 'em / believe you was tryin to
do just as well as YOU knew;
And l told 'em that some one was
sayin,' and whoever twas it is so.
That you can't expect much of no one
man, nor blame him for what he
don't know
But layin' aside pleasure for business,
I've brought you my little boy Jim;
And 1 thought would see if you
couldn't make an editor outen O.
him. .
My family stock is increasin," while
other folks seem to run short.
I've got right smart of a family
it's one of the old fashioned sort.
There's Ichabod, Isaac, and Israel,
workin' away on the farm
they do bout as much as one good
boy--and make things go off like q
charm. T.. a.r4
There's Moses and Aaron are sly ones,
and slip like couple of cells:
But they're tolerable steady in one