, 1881-10-29
The Troubles OF u Poet.

Il
/ office one day, man whose brow VA
a clothed lii thunder entered
Fiercely seizing a chair, he slamme,
1 his hat On the table, hurled his umbrsIl:
an the ficor and sat down,
3" Are Yen the editor = he asked
| yes"
"Can yol read writing
"Of course"
" Read that, then, he said. thrustins
at the colonel an envelope with An in
scnption on it. .-
| B said the colonel trying TO
spell it,
Thats not a B. It's an s." said the
man.
IS; oh yes, see. Well, the words
looks a hide like Salt for dinner. or
Souls Of sinners, said the colonel per
plexedly.
No, SIR, replied the man, nothing of
the kind That's my name, Sam1 Ii.
brunner. knew JON cpalda'. read.
Called to see you about that poenl of nine
You printed the other day on the Sur
cease Of SorroK."
Il don't remember IT, said the
colonel
vi course You don't, because 1t ap-
peared IN the colnnans of Your paper un
der the infamous title Of - Smesrcase To-
morrow.
a blunder Of one of the compos;-
tons
Yes, sir, and that's what want 10
see you about The way that poem was
mutilatei was SIMPLY scandAlous. |
hsven't slept night SINCE. Ii exposed
ME t" der's'"n- Let NE show you.
Go ahead, saiI the colonel.
The first line when wrote it read in
this way
Lying by weebing willow, underneath a
gentle slope"
That Is beautiful, poetic Now, how
did your vile sheet present it to the pub-
licl There it is, Look at that. Made
it read this way:
Lying "a weeping widow 10 induce her T.,
elope.
Weeping widow mind you A widow,
Oh, thunder and lightning Tbs is too
much It's enough to drive a nan
cr :"
I'm sorry, said the colonel but -
I" But look here at the fourth verse.
l. cts worse yet What l said was
Cast thy pearls before the swine and lose them
in the dirt
L wrote that clearly and distinctly in a
PLAIN, round hand Now what does your
compositOr dol Did he catch the sense
Of that beautiful sentence No. sir. He
sets it up in this fashion. Listen
Cart thy pills before sunrise and love them A.
they hu
Now isn't that 4 cold blooded outrage
| ON man s feelings IN leave it TO you
It's hard, ,ha,'s a fact said the
| colonel
And then take the fifth verse. u the
original manuscript it said plain N day
light
Take aV -iy the jinglins money, it is only gilt
| terin,y dr.,ss
| A nan with only one eye, and cat
aract over that, could have read the
words correctly. But your pirate up
stairs there, do you know what he did.
He made it read
Take away the ieering MONKEYS on a sorely
| slandered ,ioss !
with a fire shovel l was never So cut
up IL. my life
| 1t ms natural too, SAID the colonel
| = There, for irstance, was the sixth
verse. / wrote
| am weary Of the tossing of the ocean it
It's lovely line too but IMAGINE my
horror and the anguish Of my family
when | opened your paper and saw the
| line transformed into this
| en- wearing out my trousers tall they are
open at the knees
| That Il little too much That seems
To me Ike carrying the thing an inch or
| two too far think have q constitu-
| tioI o. right 10 murder that eompositor
don't you T.
| " think you have"
"L.t me read one more Verse / wrote
swell the fvine echoes as they roam among
the hi =,
| And / feel Day soul awak-n o. the ecst-sy that
thrilki
Noa, what do you snppnse your niIssra-
bic ouicast fnrned it to- Why into this:
| sInri the fryins sho A. their roasted by
the rirls,
And / peel INV sir-' M taken Ia the Prrctary
that whirl-.
GibbrrIsh Awful cibb.rish must
siay that man. Where is he ?
g He is out jnst nov come to-mor-
row, sir. "
II will, said the poet, "and will
come arm d.
Then he put On his bat. shouldered has
!