Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-02-14
TERMS: $500 PER YEAR
Anecdotes of Geo. II. Prentice.

| Oh tseO. IL. Prenttce.
| There is sor; Of general idea that
Prentice WAS a bad man with Il gun"
duelisi, and all that sort ofthiDg. Moth
ing coaia be more erroneous. The fact
is he never fought duel, but was some
lines, from the nature of his business,
forced 10 personal and sudden rencoun.
tcrs He was frequently challenged but
always made fun of messages. Once he
wrote his challenger that it only took
one fool TO send a challenge, while it
took two to fight, and he didn't wish TO
te c'assed in the category. On another
occasion he accepts the challenge. and
having the choice of weapons, insisted
hat each man should he armed with a
straw and a cask OF whisky, and that
each should suck with his straw fiora
his own cask until one fell, and that one
should be considered vanquished aud
the others honor satisfied.
Prentice was an exceedingly candid
man, as the following anecdotes will
show: Once Will S. Hays, the famou
soDg-writer, in conversation with him
said: "l suppose, Mr.. Prentice, you have
seen my last song?" With sly aud
quizzical look at the minstrel, he replied:
Jewell, hope so, Bill"
Coming out Of public building, one
day, where there were double doors
which swung in and out, young man,
, who was coming in, pushed against the
! left-hand side of the door in order to
, enter, while Mr.. Prentice was pushing
against the other side of the door, trying
, ridiculously awkward halt. Finally,
e when the two had managed to get the
: door open, Mr.. Prentice said to the
f stranger: "My young friend, in making
your way through the world, if you will
e only keep to the right you will never
: run against anybody but fool, and yOu
needn't apologize to him.
. Somebody stole the unabridged die.
tionary once from the editoral.roon of
the Journal, and Mr.. Prentice, having
l occasions to use that valuable tome, dis
# covered the loss. Forth with he ordered
q that another copy of the book be pur-
-. chased at once "For," said he, mo one
i but shameless egotist would attempt to
e edit a newspaper without dictionary"
Mr. Prentice's hat was one of his &C.
4 centricities. He always had it more
Q than half full of bits of paper not larger
~ than postal stamp, on each of which
a he had written q wOrG or two. in the
4 way of memoranda. Besides, he carried
i his pooket-knife, pencils, scissors, spec
;s tacles, and portemonnaie in it, and some.
times. in an absent minded way, he
I would put a well mastica.ed chew of
.. tobacco into il instead of throwing the
*, cud away.
:, Many persons from abroad used tC call
on Mr.. Prentice when they were in
pn Louisville, as though he was one of the
n curiosities ofthe city, or Just for the pur.
"a pose of being able to say that they had
i. talked with such great man, and this
was peculiarly annoying to him.. as he
. never thought of fcomprehending his own
~ fame. On one occasion an old friend
,s called on the editor, and brought will
re him callow young man from some un
defined locality in the rural districts
nj This youth was particularly curious, and
" actually asked Mr.. Prentice to say some
as thing funny. The ludicrous remark wa:
m smoothed over as quickly as possible by
the gentleman who brought the young
& man in, and shortly thereafter souc
,g liquid refreshments were ordered to be
~ brought up to the sanctum. Mr. Prem
IA tice had chosen mint.julep, and wher
"a it came he held it ND and asked the gen
+ tleman why that drink was like bis
young frieudP OF course the young man
10 feeling fiattered by the attention, was
ii eager to know, and begged for the an.
ID swer to the conrndrun. Finally, turn.
IN ing to the gentleman Mr.. Prentice said
If with pleasant smile, This is Green
\. hOrnn
of Once Mr.. Prentice met an acquaint.
va ance Oh The street who was very much
an intoxicated, and be declared TO the wife
that he vas all hunkidori "What do
n you mean by hunkidori?" said Mr.. P.
70 Il mean, sir" said the inebriate, "that
=, am pretty drunk" "Well," said Mr..
10 Prentice, ''if hunkidori means pretty
drunk, think Won are hunkidori." In
ot 1868 Hon. Henry Watterson became
Of editor and part owner of the Journal
and Mr.. Prentice, who had grown quite
feeble, did very little work. In the course
of six months the Journal was consOli.
dated with the Courier and became what
"e is now known as the widely circulated
art and influential Cour.er-Journal. About
,u- year after. Mr.. Prentice died at tho
be residence of his son, Colonel Clarence
Prentice, q few miles below Louisville
III on the Ohio river. .r,--.-..
nd He was powerful editor, aud was tn,
m most brilliant paragrapher of the age
;ce indeed, the irt one of any note. Hi
"a wit was fright and sparkling, bis satir'
eu keen, his rloquence grand. his poetr,
ali beautiful, his logic unanswerable.
EN- deep thinker, Il profound reasoner, gen
his ial, hopeful, humor, and therefore, some
times erring, he had the best of friends
'"' the bitterest enemies, and he was, all j
in all. a great and gifted mana geniu
Will L. Visscher, in Denver Opinion.
upnv nN