Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1876-01-08
ny, FIRST, ,LTERARYrvEHTUREa

lis. ! was a very smart child ii ths sage
I OF thirteen-San lsausually sinaftchild! I
thought gatstha timess Nwas then.ekiat
did my first newspaper scxibblino. and
Unexpectedly to me it stirred up 4 fine
sensation in the communisy. 2 did.
indeed, and Twas very proud of Il, TOO.
EfsI was q printers I" devil ahd abfo-
gressiye and Aspiring sens, d NM oiuncle
had me on his paper (the Reekly Hanni-
bal Journal, two dollars o year IN adj
1 vance 800 subscribers, and. the5yy paid
4 in cordwood ,cabbages and unfHafketa-
4 BILE turnipsl and onfa lucky ssaummsr,s
! day he left town to, be- gone agweek.
and asked me if thought, Il could, edit
one issue Of the paper jndiciously. Ahl
didn't want to try Hinton was The
editor of the rival paper. He had late
ly been Tilted, and one night % friend
found an open note on the poor fellows
bed, id which he stated that he could
no longer endure life and had drowned
himselfiin Bear creek The friend ran
down. there and, 4 discovered Hinton
wading 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!s Thought IL was
fine opportunity. i wrota an elahorate-
ly wretched account of the whole mat
ter, and then illustrated It with 5illain-
GUS cuts, engraved on thsnbottom Of
wood type with o jack-knife- one, Of
them picture of Hinton wading out of
the creek in bis shirt, with lantern,
sounding the depth of the water with
walking stick. j thoughtit wasdesper-
ately. funny, and was densely pneon-
scious that there was any moral obliqui-
ty about such d publication. Being
satisfied with this effort L looked around
for other worlds to- oiconquer, and it
struck me that it would makes good,
interesting matter To charge the editor
Of neighboring country paper ;;7ith
piece Of gratuitous rascality and asee
him squirmr' Ibid 1t putting the DR.
ticle in the form Of q parody on the
g Burial Of Sir John. Moore" and a
pretty crude parody ii was too Then
J. lampooned two prominent lcitizens
outrageously-not because they shad
done anything to deserve il, but merely
because / thought it was my duty to
make the paper lively Next I gently
touched up the newest stranger-Ethe
lion Of the day, the gorgeous Journey
man tailor from Quincy. He was q sim
pering coxcomb of the first water, and
The s'loudest" dressed man in the state.
He was an inveterate 4fwomatlkilier.
Every week he wrote bushys I" poetry"
for the Journal about his newest, con-
quests His rhymes for my week were
headed VITO, MARY in HI" meaning
to Mary in Hannibal, Of course But
while setting up'the piece Iwas sudden
ly riven from head to heel By what Ere-
garded asa perfect thunderbolt ofuhu-
NOR, and I compressed il into arsuappy
foot-note at the bottom thus: We
will let this thing pass just this once:
but we wish Mr. IJ 9 Gordon Runnels to
understand distinctly that We bars a
character to sustain, J, and from this time
forth when be wants to commune with
his friends in HI, he must select some
other medium than Tie columns Sf The
Journal.p 10 sHsass iodal1 ed 10 bnn
The paper came out, and Irnever
knew any little thing to attract so much
attention as those playful triHes Of mine.
For once the Hannibal Joufndt was in
Hdemahdada novelty it chad not expert
enced before. The whole 4oHnlswas
stirred. Hinton dropped in with
double-barreied shotgun early in the af-
ternoon. aaW hen he found fhati. was an
infant las he called ,met that had done
him the damage, he simply pulled ,iny
ears and went away; but he threw up
his situation that night an left town
for good lsT The tailor came with his
goose and shears; but 5ha deapised ssne,
too, and departed for the south, that
night. The two lampooned citizens
came with threats. Of libel, and Went
away ineensed at my insigniheahce.
The country editor aprancedBin azith
war-whoop next day suffering for blood
to, drink; but he ended, by ,foTgiying
me cordially and inviting me, dowa TO
the drug store to wash away al animos-
ity ina friendly pumper d 2" FakAes-
took Ysrmifuge. .8l It wasthisli littl6j8ke.
s Ny uncle, was: very angry Hheng be
came back, upreasonably So. ! thought
considering what an Impetus / had
given the paper, and considering also
that gratitude for his preservation ought
to have been uPpermoaats 4 il bic mind ind in
aslnuch as by his delay lie had 50 won
derfully escaped dissection. to1aahAwk-
ing, libel, and getting his head shot OF.
But be softened when he looked M the
accounts, and saw that / bad booked
the unparreled number of thirty hree
new subscribers, and had thsye8 sS(bles
to show for 1t, cordtwood, sb6AEsF and
unsalabie turnips, enough n xqn the
family for, TIVE years egk 1sesilh i''
s'e ua'easy ee -la.... a.....; l.ssl.al-,Al.abosa
az When the ladies learn sthatethe
pull back is the style Of dress in which
Homer enf0lded Helen; in whica A.
pasia and Cleopatra uaoyedt - two
models of divine beaAtyyf while Re-
traeh,ls Laura wore gaSn2Rts y fhat ttsd