Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-06-18
An Unsuccessful Joker.

From the Chicago Tribune.
''Good day. gentlemen.
81 suppose you are busy" continued the Wis
itor, a tall, thin man. with suspiciously bcnev-
Olent smile.
mot at ALL" responded the horse reporter.
''The fine, intellectual looking men that you
meet in newspaper offices are hired simply to
sit around and buy seven boxes of matches for
five cents. subscribe cheerfuy for the Illustrated
History of Macoupin County in seven parts, to
be paid for as delivered and assist latent genius
in the fascinating but unremuneratiye task of
climbing the rugged hill of Fame"
~ have been thin lg." continued the Wis
itor, that there is .tty good chance for
paper like the Trib' to make nit on this
Wall street panic and '!e failures that have re-
suited from it..
II suppose you would lead off by remarking
that Fish had proved to be scaly fellow" said
the Horse reporter.
"well. yes" replied the visitor. 81 certainly
was thinking of that. But then there are other
things Now, for instance take the case of
Yes, we know about that He wasn't
able to Ward Off the blow, was he? Is that
right?'
II certainly had at in mind" said the
stranger, but there :. another point that"
"We've looked that up. too" remarked the
horse reporter. ''YO. mean that although tenn
pOrarily crushed. Gen. Grant can still give his
enemies Jessie!"
THAT was about W. intended to say" re-
piled the thin man, "bu there are other prominent
people involved No there's Vanderbilt. OF
course he wants stock to 60 up. and"
,.precisely so; 1t ould be perfectly side
splitting. wouldn't it, 90 write something like
that. and then say Vanderbilt was a bully fellow"
~ on seem to have anticipated me there" said
the thin man, beginning to look less profession
ally cheerful How, ger Vanderbilt is not the
only prominent tigur in Wall street. There's
Exactly. There's another man-one who
hasn't seemed at all worried. and whose cheek
is as good as Gould. Did you have that rib
tester in your collecti 1?'
81 must confess thu | was thinking of some
thing in that vein bI still it doesn't matter A
true humorist Is nc ar at loss. There are
other men just as &c as Gould. Now, tor
instance"
wise but Sage. Did l spike another gun for
yOu?"
The general current of my thought was I'M
questionably tending in that direction" said the
volunteer humOrst "Let us lock at the mat
ter in another light. however There are some
people to whom the fall IN stocks was bless
ing. They are not sad. but on the contrary they
are"
You bet they do, said the horse reporter
"They Just grin and bear it. That excrnciat-
ingly funny thing was brought in last week by a
man from Wayback."
But even the wisest men are sometimes
wrong" continued the visitor. Even the
II knew you were coming to that. Even the
Sage Is liable to be put out at the calls made
on him. | remember the duck that carried that
masterpiece of hunor up here for us. We are
looking for him again-with a gun
But. leaving individuals out of the matter"
said the dispenser of humOr, "let US take some
of the firms You might say -"
81 know it. We might say that in Fisk-al
matters it Is easy to Hatch a pot-bnt we
won't 1t would alsr be possible to remark
that bankers are sometimes found to be men of
no principal, especially men 1t is to their in
terest to do so. but vacation on that style of
literature will also be taken"
''Then you don't tn; * it would be possible
to make nse of the al Gle l have prepared?'
said the humOrist
No replied the 'orse reporter 'Those
old custOm-made joke hat bag at the knees
before you can get 'em. in type won't do for
Chicago. II You have got job lot of hand
sewed witticsns with double uppers and wide
sole-something that will do for city use-we
might make trade
"GOOd day." said the humorist.