The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-24

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PRENTICE MILFORD.
In mental ability he was chief among
| his fellows He possessed vast knowledge,
but of the most heterogeneous character.
| He was full of the most strange, out-of-the-
| way information, mingled with much that
| was practical to degree His humor was
delightful, he saw the comic side of every
| thing, yet was his humor most closely
| allied to pathos. His range of thought
covered the widest, and to many, the most
absurd dreams, but he was full of hard
common sense, which flashed out in his
brief comment On the doings of day with
the shock Of douche of cold water. In
literary work nothing is so difficult as the
writing of epigrams, those short, pithy
sentences which cover so much in so few
words; yet to Mulford they seemed to be
the easiest Of all forms of composition.
In his love Of nature Prentice milford
reminded one of Thoreau. He was exceed
ingly fond of the water, and he lived on it
for many years, cruising about alone in bis
boat. In San Francisco, when he was
working for The Golden Era, a weekly pa
per edited by Colonel Lawrence. his home
was In an old whaleboat he bad picked up
somewhere and made over TO suit his
needs. For quite hong time he wore the
strangest clothes one can imagine-a knit
ted suit all in one piece, like bathing
suit. This had, I believe, originally been
blue In color, but the wind, and the rain,
and the strong sunlight had turned it to
rusty brown. Mulford declared it to be
the only garment man should wear, and
was fond of expatiating on its many excel
lent qualities.
In his boat he had a place to sleep and
an arrangement for cooking. 1t was his
habit to land once in day or two for the
purpose of buying bread, papers, eggs,
milk and butter, and to mail and receive
his letters. At ether times he cruised,
sleeping at night with his boat anchored in
the most lonely parts of the bay. But
writing on pad resting on his knee, with
his arm over the tiller, he would pour out
any quantity Of the wittiest, most humor-
GUS, most common sense matter that any,
one ever read. Some of his articles liter
ally laughed with the fun that dubbed
through them; in others he struck deep
notes of passion or of pain
Colonel Lawrence, himself one of the
queerest originals ever met, was full of
stories about milford. The Golden Era
was the first paper Mulford wrote for, and
he remained faithful to it so long as
Colonel Lawrence had it. Milford was
under salary, but as he was utterly careless
about money and never drew more than
ten dollars at time-which he preferred
should be paid in silver quarters, as he
thereby had plenty of small change-his
money accumulated to his credit in The
Era Office. Many times Colonel Lawrence
urged him TO draw it out, but milford al
ways replied he had no need of it, Then
the colonel mentioned the savings bank,
but milford. who at that time was rank
socialist, declared he considered banks inn
moral institutions which be refused to
patronize.
Milford was shy beyond the power OF
words to express. When for any cause ne
found ii necessary to visit The Era Office,
then IN Merchant street, he used to stand
on the sidewalk until some one he knew
came along who would 90 up with him.
Remember, the man was a favorite with
every one in the place, and was at that
time one OF the chief contributors to the |
paper. When alone with one person he |
knew well or with two, or, perhaps, if he |
were In the mood, with three, he would /
talk at times most brilliantly, holding his 1
audience spellbound by the beauty OF his /
thoughts and words, or keeping them in !
paroxysms of laughter by his fun. Let /
some one he did hot know join the circle, |
or let two more persons come up and Null |
ford became silent at once, nor was it long /
before he would break away to enjoy mis- |
beloved solitude once more While he was |
able 20 face audiences at his lectures in aft
er days, he never got over his shyness when /
brought into close companionship with /
men.
Malford was man who cared absolutely /
nothing about money. During the period
Of his married life, when be he'd q wife 70
support, ne made greater efforts to earn it
than at any other tine, but ordinarily he
was Indifferent His wants were few and
Of the simplest: his food was the pisinsst
be could get, and his friends cared far more
about bis dress than he ever did. At one
time he believed that men should not eat
neat, for be held the blood was the hfe.
His diet then was Ssh vegetables, fruit
md bread / have hazard him argue elo-
,uently in favor OF this regimen, aud n is
needless to say agreed with him No one
.ver disagreed with Milford when be
,poke in earnest, however much one might
-ebel afterward when the spell Of the talk
vas no longer on Mn but aAlIocu n@0 !
TRANCE ideas about the blood, and some
lines have thought he then booked on il
S a sacrament. This, however, Is 8 part
II his mysticism which no one. 80 far a. |
nov, ever thoroughly understood
Strange things became no longer strange
o those who knew Prentice Milford. he
lways did THAI which no one would ex-
sact He had the most absolute disbelief
q ais own mental powers; be HeTer real
ed the intense admiration felt fer them
$ other men He has IN his time actually
signed a position on q paper hecause be
-as convinced he would be discharged; the
act being that no one IN the Office would
ave allowed him TO gsif il might be pre-
ented He hated fgttery Of all descrio-
ons; ''lionizing" drove him away al srce.
lie liked people 20 admire his articles, but
1eir admiration had 20 be expressed With
rtreme caution or he thought they were
Iughing at him You could, however,
raise his work If you sandwiched in q
ue proportion of criticism Yet for all !
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