The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-03-29
eflanitomof pilot.
THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1883.
Thought BE Laughed.


we were more conscientious as to the
quantity than the quality of the matter
that we furnished the newspaper with
which we were connected.
Seated in a railroad car we noticed
that the individual, a great, broad
shouldered, powerful looking man, who
sat directly in front of US, was reading
copy of our paper, and from the way
in which it was folded we could tell that
it was one of our own articles, a humor-
Gus sketch in which wetook much pride,
that was absorbing his attention.
Never was man subjected to closer
scrutiny than he from the momen of
this discovery: "He will like that, we
soliloquized. at will make him laugh
when he gets to the nub of it.
We almost envied him the pleasure
that was in store for him. Presently he
appeared to be chuckling at great
rate, we could not see his face, but his
neck was suffused with blood. Evil
IDENTIFY he was enjoying himself hugely.
Then the thought occurred to us that
he would be pleased to make the ac-
auaiptance of the author of the sketch
and we leaned over, touched him on the
arm and said:
You appear to be amused. May 1
ask but we did not finish the sem
tence.
He turned suddenly and scowled upon
us in a way that was altogether dis
couraging.
beg your pardon sir, thought you
laughed" we added.
''Well. didn't. Why should laugh?
What difference is it to you anyhow, if |
did laughp"
We stammered another apology and
he resumed his reading.
In about two minutes he turned upon
us again, and with face full of malig-
nifty exclaimed:
'Tve a good notion to wiring your
neck for you, you impudent puppy"
II panied us extremely to be addressed
in this manner. but there was SO much
of earnestness and meaning in his tone
and manner, aud our strong prejudice
in favor of unwrung necks was so great,
that we refrained from resenting 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 with
stand that, however brutal and unap-
preciative he might be. But, alas, he
finished the article without betraying
the slightest CLEAN of pleasure; on the
contrary his face seemed to grow
harsher and harder looking and he
finally folded the paper, turned to his
seat so that he could obtain a full view
of US, and sat there glowering at us
for fully half an hour.
Here was a 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-
Taxed, and soon smile Lit up his face,
and he extended his hand toward us.
"Ah, ha! 1t has fetched him at last"
thought we. 1t was our first great tri-
umph, and we felt, in our exultation,
that we could forgive even him, and we
took the proffered hand.
Then he spoke: my boy" said he,
Il am sorry 1 talked to you as did; l
am satisfied now that you had no inten-
ton of being impertinent. You are, I
can see, fresh from the pillow, unac-
quainted with the ways of the great
world, and perfectly thoughtless OF the
fact that man dislikes nothing so
much as to be punched in the back
when he is reading, especially where he
is being nearly choked to death with the
asthma at the time. Besides, was in
very bad humor, anyhow, or wouldn't
have done it. You see 1 got hold of an
article in that paper that l was just
reading and such another piece of
idiocy / never came across in my born
days. If there's anything in the world
hate, it's fool; and if there's one
kind of fool hate worse than another
it's one of these fool writers. Well,
this rot, that I'm talking about, made
me so damn mad that / forgot that I
was a 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-ike, 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 solicitation
took the seat alongside of him, and lis
tened 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 SYM
pathies were with him. Cincinnati
SATURDAY. Ni1ht.