Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-11-05

money. Next he hired himself out to drive
cattle, and was again unfortunate Having
obtained the place of master Of small
steamboat on the Ohio, he navigated the
river for two years, having in that time
sunk three vessels and lost, according to
his own calculation, 5000 or $4,000,
which was all the more deplorable as he
had no money to begin with. Teaching
was his nexs enterprise, and later banking.
He had neither capital nor credit, and SOON
suspended" As a failure in life he was
thus far a SUCCESS ttsf ti. .v.. l..
Finding himself at tbs age Of 40 with
three growing daughters he cams east with
the intention of securing an education Tor
them. He settled at Poughkeepsie, on the
Hud son, in the business of auctioneer
Among his various callin Is this was one in
which he had some previous experience and
one in which his natural humor aided him
materially. His luck seemed to change. He
actually made money here. His ready wit
on the auction stand attracted the atten-
ton of a newspaper editor in the villag
and he invited him to contribute to his
paper. He did so to the extent Of about t
forty essays, which atsractsi little atten-
tion, though it needed but sight change
in them to bring their author fortune,
which they afterward, did. 0ne day Mr..
Shaw read one of the squibs Of Artemus
Ward on a subject that he had treated in
one of his short essays. He real it over
and over and over again; and the more he
read it the less he un 1ersto ID why Artemus
Wards writings should be popular, while
his pieces had fallen stillborn from the
| press. He made up his mind that ii
was the bad spelling that had lent
wings to Artemus Wards humor and
made him famous, and that it was
his own loyalty to Webstsr's Una
bridged that had weighted his hui
NOR down. So he TOOK his essay
ON the mule. THE mules favorite ami
NAL with me-" Josh once said. He ha:
treated me pretty rough, and I've treated
him pretty rough; we understand eacf
other and without changing wore
"he slowed round the spelling,' as he ex
pressed it, and sent it to a weekly paper of no
large circulation at the time. Before mail
ing it he signed it "Josh Billings" Josh
was in honor of an old comrade Josh Care W
of his western life; Billings came by in
spiratioa as it were" The mis- sp ,lle1 Ess,
on the Muel" was printed and instantly
went the rounds Of the press" and tn
name of Josh Billings became famous
$1.50 was his pay for the first essay h
offered to a news paper. Then New Yorl
paper gave him 500 week for hal
column of squibs. As a lecturer he ais
commanded large audiences and good prices
His lecture ON "Milk" will be long remem
bered. Indeed, it matterei little what tn
topics were to b, treated of in his lecture
his title was generally Milk" a
In 1871 he began the publication Of hi
'Farmers' Almlnax," which in its secon
year had sale of 127, 600 copies and nette
the author and publisher $50, 600 each.
Mr. Shaw looked like very melanchol
man. His strong features and long gra,
hair attracted attention every where As
story teller he was inimitable. His facult
of serving up homely truths with dressin
of bad spelling and a sauce Of Yankee wi
may never be equaled.