The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1875-01-29
my FIRST INTERVIEW WITH ERTE'
NUS WARD. s5ora
5. ]. cLEMrEg LMAnE TwAINl.

DlOobu III l0tlGI5 VI lutAbuuCtlOha HUH
mutual friends in San Francisco, and
ny invitation breakfasted with him.
1t was.almost religion, there in the
silver mines, to precede such a meal
with whiskey cocktails Artemus,
with the tue cosinopolitan instinct,
always deferred to the customs of the
country he was in, and 50 he ordered
three Of those abominations. Hing
stem was present. lam a match for
nearly any beverage you can mention
except whiskey cocktail, and there
fore | said l would rather not drink
one 1 said it would SO rightto my
head and confuse me SO that | would
be ina helpless tangle in ten min
utes.. did not want to act like q
iunatic before staugers. But Arte-
nu sepf1S. insisted, andI drank the
treasuhable mixture der protest,
and felt III. the time that was doing
tlr;ng | might be sorry for. | Iwait-
ed III great anxiety for the conversa-
stioD ito open, with a sort Of vague
hope that nay understanding would
prove clear, after all, and my misgiv-
ings. groundlesss
Artemus opened an tinimportant
remark or two,Land then assumed o
look ofisuperhuman earnestness, and
made the following astounding
speech. He said :-fA
"Now, there is one thing I ought
to ask you about before forget it,
You have been here in Silyerland -
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 ext
anime them carefully in detail, and
therefore you know all about the sill
yer mining business. Now, what 1
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 curbstone.
s'Well, take a vein forty feet thick,
for example, or eighty, for that mat
ter, or even Il hundred-say you go
down on it with a shaft, straight
down, you know, or with what you
call the 'inclines, maybe you go
down FIVE hundred feet, or maybe
you don't go down but two hundred,
any way you 50 down, and all the
time this vein grows narrower when
castings come nearer or approach
each other, you may say, that is.
when they do approach, which Of
course they donot always do, pariic7'
ularly in cases where the nature OF
the lormationis such that they stand
apart wider than they otherwise
would, and which geology has failed
to account for, although everything.
in that science goes TO prove that, all
things being equaul, it would not. or
not certainly if it did, and then Of
course they are. Do you think it isS
said to myself: snow just
knew how it would be--that cussed
whiskey cocktail has done the busi7
ness for me; / don't understand any
more than a clam" And then | said
aloud, .%tI-I-that is you don't mind,
would would you say that over
aonin? | ought" Ia
80, certainly, certainly! You see
l am very unfamiliar with the sub
iect and perhaps don't present my
case clearly, but l."
''No, mono, no--you state it
plain enough, but That vile cocktail
has muddled me little. But ! will
no, l do understand for that mat
ter, but / would get the hang Of it
better ii you went over itragain--and
I'Il pay better attention this time,
He said, "Why, what l was after
was this" Here he becnme even
more fearfully impressive than ever,
and emphasized each particular point
by checking it off on his finger ends. !
i.This vein, or lode, or ledge, or
whatever you call it, runs along be-
tween two layers of granite, just the
same as if it were a sandwich. Very
we'll. Now, suppose you go down on
that, say thousand feet, or maybe
twelve hundred lit don't really mat
ter). before you drift; and then you
start your drifts, some OF them across
the ledge, and others along the
length Of it where the sulphurets--I
believe they call them sulphurets,
though they should, considering that,
50 far as l can see, the main depend
ence Of miner does not SO lie, as
some suppose, but in which it cannot
be successfully maintained, wherein
the same should not continue, while
part and parcel Of the same ore not
committed to either in the sense re-
ferred to. whereas, under different
circumstances, the most inexperl-
enced amongst us. could not detect
it if it we're, or might overlook if it
did, or scorn the very idea Of such a
thing, even though it we're palpably
demonstrated as such. Am / not
right"
/ said, sorrowfully. 81 feel ashamed
of myself, Mr.. Ward. 1 know l
ought to understand you perfectly
well, but you see that internal whis-
KEY cocktail has got into my head,
and now / cannot understand even
the simplest proposition. | tol ] you
how it would be-
20, don't mind it, don't mind it,
the fault was my own, no doubt, -
though / did think it clear enough
for"
'sDon't say a word. Clearl Why,
YOU stated It clear as tho sun to any
body but an abject idiot, but it's that
coniounded cocktail that has played
the mischief"