Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-04-28
AN EPISODE.
Sensations of Writer who Found his Fun
Unappreciatoa.
a MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE IN a
RAILROAD CAR.

1t was a good many years ago,
when we were more conscientious as
to the quantity than the quality of
the matter that we furnished the
newspaper with which we were con-
nected.
Seated in a railroad car we noticed
that the individual, great, broad
shouldered, powerful looking man,
who sat directly in front of us, was
reading a copy of our paper, and from
the way in which 1t was folded we
could tell that it was one of our own
articles, humorous sketch in which
we took much pride, that was absorb
ing his attention.
Never was man subjected to closer
scrutiny than he from the moment of
this discovery: lit will make him
laugh when he gets to the nub of it. !"
We almost envied him. Presently
he appeared to be chuckling at a
great rate; we could not see his face,
but his neck was suffused with blood.
Evidently ho was enjoying himself
hugely.
Then the thought occurred to us that
he would be pleased to make the &C
quaintance of the author of the
sketch and we leaned over, touched
him on tho arm and said;
You appear to be amused. May L
ask" but we did not finish the
sentence,
He turned suddenly and scowled
upon us in a way that was altogether
dlscouraging.
BEG your pardon, sir, 1 thought
you laughed" we added.
"Well, 1 didn't. Why should 1
laugh? What difference is it to you
anyhow, if did laugh?'
We stammered another apology
and he resumed his reading.
We felt glad of that; we were sure
that the article would finally bring
him around.
In about two minutes he turned
upon us again, and with face full
of malignity exclaimed:
"I've a good notion to wiring your
neck for you, you impudent puppy"
1t panied us extremely to be ad
dressed in this manner, but there was
so much of earnestness and meaning
in his tone and manner, and our
strong prejudice in favor of unwrung
necks was so great, that we refrained
from resenIing it.
Then he went on with his paper.
Again we were hopeful that all would
yet be well. Surely he had not reached
the funniest part; he could never
withstand that, however brutal and
unappreciative he might be. But,
alas, he finished the article without
betraying the slightest CLEAN of pleas
ure; on the contrary his face seemed
to grow harsher and harder looking
and he finally folded the paper, turned
in his seat so that he could obtain a
full view of us, and sat there glover
ing at us for fully half an hour.
Here was man without particle
OF humor in his make up. We would
have been interested in making a
study of his face, if we had dared;
we would have pitied had we not
feared him.
Presently the tight set muscles re-
laxed, aud soon smile lit up his face.
and he extended his hand toward us.
"Ah, ha! Ithas fetched him at last, t"
thought we. 1t was our first great
triumph, and we felt, in our exulta-
ton, that we could forgive even him,
and we took the proffered hand.
Then he spoke: "My boy" said he.
Il am sorry talked to you as l did;
l am satisfied now that you had no
intention of being impertinent. You
are, 1 can see, fresh from the plow,
unacquainted with the ways of the
great world, and perfectly thought
less of the fact that man dislikes
nothing so much as to be punched in
the back when he is reading, especial
ly when he is being nearly choked to
death with the asthma at the time.
Besides, l was in very bad humor,
anyhow, or wouldn't have done it.
You see I got hold of an article in
that paper that l was just reading and
such another piece of idiocy I never
came across in my born days. If
there's anything in the world l hate,
it's fool, and if there's one kind of
fool l hate worse than another it's
one of these fool writer's. Well. this
rot, that I'm talking about, made me
SO damn mad that l forgot that was
gentleman. Here, I'll show it to
you and, I'll venture to say, you'll not
blame me for being in bad humor."
Then he went down into his pocket,
hauled out the paper, and pointed
yes, pointed at our gem.
Did we own its authorship? No.
Craven like, we pretended to read it
and then feebly rendered our verdict
with his. Told him that under such
aggravation, his conduct was perfectly
excusable, and at his urgent solicita-
ton took the seat alongside of him,
and listened with respectful attention
for three hundred miles to a man
whom we loathed.
We never forgave that man until
the other day when we happened on
the article and read it, and then our
sympathies were with him.
1t was at the shore, and gentle
man was chatting on his cottage
porch with two or three guests. His
pretty daughter came up from the