The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-05-10
PRENTICE AND TRAIN.
INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE AGITA-
roR AND THE FAMOUS EDITOR.


Amranuensis.
One afternoon about twenty-five or three
years ago, q des?naire young gentleman
walked into the editorial rooms OF the OLD
! Louisville journal and asked to see Mr. Prem
tice He was clad in handsome blue broad
cloth coat Of the swallow tail STYLE with
smooth and glittering brass buttons. HIS
/ trousers were of black doeskin, his shoes
shiny. patent leather, bis vest of some heavy
buG material over which his coat vas but
toued so that it doubled in front, showing an
/ inch or two below the front of the coat; and III
/ his band he carried a rich looking soft nat.
! His hair was black. wayy and PLENTIFUL aud
bisupper lip was covered with Il luXurlant aud
well kept mustache. Altogether there was
/ an air of elegant negligence about HIM Inc
man was over the medium height and build,
and presented a card when bore the words
"George Francis Train Ciyis Americanus
Sum"
/ Being then Mr. Prentice's ananuensis ana
private secretary, presented Ar. Train to
/ the immortal George D., wit, poet and cd
/ itor Train seemed 10 be little staggered
/ / presume he expected to see n large, ilnpos-
/ ing and severe man, aud ne beheld "a lean
and slippered pantaloon." Mr Prentice was
peculiarly "A slouchy man then IN bis dress,
[ and altogether careless Of his personal APP
pearance Indeed, believe he never tad
! been "dre-sy' Ills hair, which had once
/ been let black, fell on his shoulders and even
about his checks, well 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 a. close up as possible with a cotton
/ Irvine, and his ears We're stuffed with cotton
( tobacco Juice stained his vest. and be- had a
/ habit OF using his fingers for paste brush
and of wipiug them on his pantf-
/ looms He had taken on has long,
/ black frock coat and replaced It with
brown. somewhat ragged and alto
~sfAer dIsreputable looking old yarn
pea jacket, or what was commonly called IN
kentucky "a "wasmus.' On tue table near
MN stood his hat This was q SLOUGH with a
tall crown. and 10 answered the place ot
/ rockets IN his clothes, which sort Of recepta-
cl,s ha never used flo carried in his hat
+ everything that other men carry IN tteir
/ rocs,ts and more too. Being unable %
write more than a word or two at n time
with his own hand he would, with both 81
his trembling. writers palsy stricken hands
make ont 10 scratch memoranda OK such
thiurs as bee desired to consider upon the
margins of newspapers. and these little tit-
he would throw into his bat for future refer
enco. lie usually bad the old felt about hah
full of them. tie also carried bis pocket
/ knife. pencils scissors, keys, etc., IN the nat
and have often seen him, absent mndcdly'
drop Il well fnasticated quid OF tobacco into
it 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 "Prinee Harry OF the
I West during the latters glorious and bril-
4 liant career as a statesman, the writer 81
The Closing Year and other grand poems
/ the man whose keen wit, caustic sarcasm,
eloauence and terse dramatic force drove
/ giants before him with bis pen. Yet his
ouivcr was filed with arrows OF all sizes,
/ from the quill 81 the eagle to that Of the
humming bird. aud he could indite fierce
/ philippe in prose- or tune his sentences to a
sweet and tender song Of sympathy or love
IN poetry
Train exhibited his establishment for an In
staut unohseryed by Mr. Prentice, however
and at once the two fell into earnest CONVEX
sation. Train was in Louisville with Anna
/ Dickinson. Susan 3. Anthony and number
of other leading woman's rights women, aud
/ was assist ing ia their suffrage crusade. After
q pleasant stay OF a half hour or 50, Train
/ f.rra.ltfl To dictate
n pen picture If his late visitor
For many years Mr. Prentice had been
forced to write by an amauuenss, being. as
before intimated, sufferer from scryeners
cramp. or writers palsy, Known in surgery
as cborea scriptorum He would walk the
floor in slip shod way, with his hands
clasped behind him. and ia a somewhat PIP
inc voice. with a nasal twanc, being also
afflicted with catairh. he would dictate to his
aiuauueusis, punctuatng the matter as he
went. He always began his articles with
what i, known IN typography as list "a
little cut If the hand with the index finger
pointing. and thus his pen picture OF George
Francis Train was like this;
",Fisu ~ \ locomotive that has run of
the track comna turned upside down
I lCOumal WITH inc tp"SStthct '"4 f-f GO 90
stump and tue wheels making thousand
revolutions a minute full stop kite ~
the air that mas lost its tail dash "A
human novel without a hero dash
man who climbs. tree for BIRDS
nest lcommal out on limb comma
and in order to get it saws tho AmD
off between himself and the tree uuu
stop, \ ship without a rudder daSht
a clock without hands dash an arrow
shot into the air dash q sermon that Is all
taxt dash, pantomime u words dash the
arotheosis OF talk comma the incarnation
Of cab nun stop Handsome lcommal viva
cious Ic0mmal muscular commal rs neat an
a cat lcommal Judge Of the effect OF clothes
,commai frugal in food and regular only IN
habits dull stop \ MONDAY mystery dash
Il solved conundrum dash cipher hunting
for a figure 10 pass for something semi
coior,i with the brains OF twenty men in his
head 'commal all pulling in different direc-
tious lsamj-colOm not bad as % heart lcominal
but n man vino has shaken hands with reyer
enco full stop This is George Francis Train
! Gull stop"
Thus did Mr. Prentice draw a picture OF
the restless agitator which photographs him
inside and out, even to-day. viii Nisscher.
WHAT The United states
Tho name OF our country ought 10 be the
same in all languages employing tho Latin