The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1888-06-02
TWO GEORGES.



tlemen walked into the editorial rooms
Of the old Louisville Journal and asked
to see Mr.. Prentice. He was clad In a
handsome blue broadcloth coat Of the
swallow-tail style. with smooth and
gltterlng brass buttons. His trousers
were OF black doeskIn. his shoes shiny,
patent leather. his vest Of somc heavy
buff material over which his coat was
buttoncd so that II doubled in front.
aud showed an inch or two below the
front OF the coat; aud in his hand he
carried a rich-looking soft hat His
hair was black. wavy and plentiful. and
his upper lip was covered with luxu-
RANT and well-kept moustache. Alto
gclher there was an cir OF elegant neg
ligence about him. The man was over
the medium height and build. and pre-
sented n card which bore the words
George Francis Train. CiUis Anieri-
canns Sum"
Being then Mr.. Prenticc's amanuen-
sis and private secretary, presented
Mr.. Train to the immortal George d..
wit, poet and editor. Train seemed to
be little staggered. l presume he
expected to see large. imposing and
severe man and he bcheld "a lean and
slippered pantaloon. Mr.. Prentice
was peculiarly slouchy man then. in
his dress, and altogether careless OF his
personal appearance. Indeed. / be-
lieve he never had boon 'dressy." ii
hair, which had once been jet black.
fell on his shoulders and even about
his cheeks. we'll mixed with gray. and
his whitening beard. which was also
very long and which covered nearly
all of his face. except the nose. eyes
and forehead, was tied as close up AS
possible with cotton Irvine and his
ears were stuffed with cotton. Tobac-
co juice stained his vest and he had
habit of using his fingers for paste
brush and OF wiping them on his pan
falcons. He had taken off his long.
black frock-coat and'replaced it with n
brown, somewhat ragged and alto
gether disreputable-looking old yarn
pea-jacket, or what was commonly
called. in Kentucky, ~''warmus. On
the table near him stood his hat. This
was n SLOUGH with tall crown and II
answered the place of peck cts in his
clothes which sort of receptacles he
never used. He carried In his hat
everything that other men carry In
their pockets. and more too. Being
unable to write more than word or
two at time with his own hand. he
would. with both of his trembling,
writers-palsy-strcken hands make out
to scratch memoranda of such things
ms he desired to consider. upon the
margins of newspapers. and these lit
tic bits he would throw into his hat
for future reference. He usually had
the old felt about half full OF them
He also carried his pocket. knife, pen
ellis. scissors. keys. cts. in the hat and
/ have often seen him, absent-mind-
edly. drop well-masticated quid OF
tobacco into II instead of throwing the
"old soldier" away.
This was the famous editor, the
author OF THE Life OF Henry Clay;'
the champion and bosom friend OF
Prince Harry Of the West" during
the latter's glorious and brilliant ca
raar N a N 81 m oap,an tho ,.,.ftar al ffI,l.>
Closing Year." and other grand
poems; the man whose keen wit caus-
tic sarcasm. eloqucnce. and terse cpl
grammatic force drove giants before
him with his pen. Yet his culver was
filed with arrows OF all sizes,
from the quill OF the eagle to
that of the humming-bird. and he
could indite fierce philippe. in prose.
or tune his sentence TO n sweet and
tender song of sympathy or love, in
poetry.
Train exhibited his establishment for
an instant. unobserved by Mr.. Prem
tice. however. and at once the two
tell into earnest conversions. Train
was In Louisville with Anna Dickinson.
Susan b. Anthony aud number OF
other leading woman's right women.
and was assisting in their suffrage cru
SADIE. After pleasant stay OF half
hour or so, Twain withdrew and
Prentice proceeded to dictate n PEN
picture OF his late visitor.
For many years Mr.. Prentice had
been forced 10 write by an amanuen-
sis. being as before animated, n suf-
fercr from ''scrivener's cramp." or
wrifar,s malay known In snrnaru 40