The San Francisco call., 1897-07-27
GREELEY'S HANDWRITING.
How Its Illegibility Was Turned to Ac-
count by a Manager of Fair.

HOW Its Lille eglDlIlty was l. urned TO nc
count by a Manager of a Fair.
Every compositor who ever put in type
any of Horace Greeley's copy will certify
TO the fact that his handwriting was a.
most illegible. 1t was the despair OF the
omposing-room, and even Greeley him.
self couldn't always decipher it. A man
who was many years ago the president OF
the Oswego County Agricultural Assocla-
tion SAID several days ago that he had
good reason on one occasion to be thank
full that Mr.. Greeley's writing was hard to
decipher This fact secured for him a
star attraction at the fair which he could
not have obtained otherwise. The asso-
citation OF which he was president made
great effort each year to outdo rival asso-
Citations in its fair, and one OF It's regular
attractions was distinguished speaker
who delivered an address TO the crowd on
any subject he might select.
when [ was made president" said the
ex-officer OF the association, 81 was young
and am bilious. | wanted to give the best
fair that ever had been held at Oswego
Falls, and l was willing TO work hard to
accomplish such a result. Long before
hand | stirred up the farmers to raise big
squashes and pumpkins, and l prepared
good schedule of horseraces. l secured
man TO make balloon ascension, and all
that was lacking in my programme was
the speaker At that time Mr.. Greeley
was the most conspicuous man in
the United States. We all wanted TO
see him and hear him speak. He
was very busy man, however,
and I knew that we had about one chance
in ten of securing him. l determined to
take that chance. After much prelimi-
nary thought and manv consultations
I
very cred table invitation to attend our
fair and deliver an address on any subject
that he chose. | assured him that he
would find only friends in his audience,
and l said that we had long looked for
such an opportunity to hear him. Two
days later the village Postmaster told me
he had a letter that he thought was ad-
dressed to me. I had heard a good
deal about Greeley's handwriting and
l knew at once that this was my
reply from Mr.. Greeley. When l opened
the envelope l found sheet of paper, on
which were irregular scrawls that L
couldn't decipher. With several of my
friends I puzzled over it a long time, but
l couldn't read it. l remem bered that the
editor OF our paper had at one time been
familiar with Mr.. Greeley's handwriting,
and [ took the letter TO him. he was
little bit out of practice, but he deciphered
it after half an hours examination. Mr..
Greeley regretted that he was unable TO
accept our invitation. That was great
disappointment to me. l thought 1t over,
and suddenly it dawned on me that there
was Just a chance that | mig hit by strategy
get Mr.. Greeley to Oswego Falls after
all. l sent him another letter that must
have staggered him. Mr.. Greeley was
we'll aware of the fact that his writing was
almost illegible and be was never much
surprised when his letters were miscon-
strued. / simply took advantage OF thar,
and in nv second letter l thanked him
for accepting our invitation. TO leave
him no loophole for escape, l told him
that we had begun to distrlb butte handbills
announcing the fact that he was going to
deliver the address at the fair, and l
added that l had ordered the printers to
place his name in big letters on our three
sheet posters. l knew that when he got
my letter he would conclude that we had
read his letter declining the invitation
as letter of acceptance, and l hoped
when he learned how far we had gone
with the prin ting that he would conclude
to come. We received no reply from Mr.
Greeley, but from time to time we sent
him our posters and information about
the fair and the town. week before the
day set for the address We sent him time
table and told him on what train we
should look for him. l was uneasy all
this time, because | knew that if Mr..
Greeley didn't turn up should be blamed.
When the day for the great event ar
rived ! went TO the station TO await the
train. Sure enough Mr.. Greeley was on
board. l introduced myself to him as the
man who had sent him the invitation and
who had received his very kind &C
ceptance Mr.. Greeley looked at me
closely and there was a suspicion of
smile on his face.
"You had no difficulty in reading my
letter." be said.
"'Well, it was a little hard to decipher
it at first l replied, and we were in ooubt
for few minutes whether you said eyes"
or mo" to our invitation. When we did
deeipher the letter we were very much
pleased to find that you had agreed to
come
"'Humphp said Mr.. Greeley, express
lively. You ordered your posters at once,
did MT your
Yes replied; I'VE wanted every one
TO know what an attraction we had to
offer
''Mr. Greeley again looked at me closely
as if he were bit suspicious. He dellv-
cred the addre,s s, and the largest crowd in
the history of the association heard him.
Whether or not he suspected the trick
l had played on him l never discovered.
He intlmated to one of my friends that
he had his suspicious, and he made the
remark that | would make an excellent
politician. That was his only comment.
l still have Mr.. Greeley's letter. and any
one who will examine it will see how
easily it might have been mistaken for an
acceptance. New York Sun.