Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-04-10
WHAT'S A JOKEP"

and his bucking broiicho had no existence
 in fact, and that the whole thing was only
 little joke of ours. Then old Cy dashed
 his hat on the floor, jumped on it with
 both feet and pounded our editorial table
 as he yelled;
 ssWhat's a joke? Show me the reptile!
 Trot him right out ye-e that I may git my
 paws on him!'
 We tried to explain, but MT. Schemer-
 horn kicked over chairs and tables and
 left us lying on the floor with a dim sus-
 picion in our mind that we had made
 failure of the funny business. Some
 months later we began to feel the inspira-
 tion again and invented very funny arti- cle about a man and his mother-in-law. We called the man MT. Kabiff, and for
 fear of results we laid the scene over in
 Utah. The day after publication we were
 reading the article for the fiftieth time and shaping our leg when in walked solemn looking old relic of the stone age and said: "I want you to gimme the abidin place of that kyote named Kabifff'
 "What fors"
 "I'm goin to camp on his trail! Durn his hide, but I'll hev both his ears to
 grease my heels with afore let up oh himn
 "He's over In Utah.
 "But whar'bouts! Locate him! That mother -in-law of his is woman, and any blamed critter of man in this kentry who'll hurt woman's feelin's has got to
 grow wings and fly away, or ole Pete Tar bell will wallop himl"
 We thought it prudent to acknowledge that the characters were purely imagina- ry, and at the same time read the article over to MT. Tarbell and laughed and tried to make him laugh too. It was no go. He T k%xx1 and pulled our hair, and when he departed he was sorry we had any excuse for living: In the last two years we have had three funny men on the staff of THE KICKER. All came here believing that this was one of the richest fields in America. The first one wrote up something to tickle the fer ryman and left town with a bullet tic king his shoulder. The second founded a very funny article on an incident that happened in the Bald Eagle saloon. We forget whether the crowd which came over to the office numbered 12 or 13 men, but we distinctly remember that when the shooting began our funny man asked for a weeks vacation and bolted for the hills. Six months later we heard of him in Alas ka, and he was still moving on. The third man started out to locate all his incidents up in Maine and New Hampshire, and for three weeks all went well. Then he got careless and had a broad horn steer chase l a fat man up Cochise place. We didn't t say anything when we read his article in print, but gave him the general course of the trail to Prescott and the quantity of crackers and cheese usually consumed on the journey He took the hint and the g
 salary due him just three minutes before ex-Judge Kosher, who is a fat man and lives on Cocn1se place, came puffing ib with gun in either hand and gasped out;
 "I won't give the miserable sinner but jest seven seconds to write to his mother and fall dead before mel''
 The funny man had safe start, but the judge stopped his subscription to THE KICKER and called us names and vowed we should never be mayor of this town again. Two weeks ago, after long rest, we rung pp the curtain on . 10 line joks