The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-30
eRrELEr,s HANDWRITING.
new uts n,eeibinty was Turned to Account ~
a -Rlnnnrnr Of . Country Ralr.

new us nte9ibtity was Termed to Accountb ~
y Manager or = Country Fair.
Every composltor who ever put in type any OF
Horace Grceley's copy will certify to the fact
that his handwriting was almost ilogible. IL
was the despair Of tho composing room, ana
even Greeley himself couldn't always dccipher
It. A man who was many years ago President
Of the oswego County Agricultural Association
said several days ago that he had good reason
on one occasion TO be thankful that Mr.. Grceleys
writing was hard to d~cciphcr. This fact secured
for him a star attraction at tho fair which he
could not have obtained otherwise. Tho asso-
citation of which he was President made q great
effort each year to Guido rival associations In its
fair, and one Of Its regular attractions was Ids
tinguished speaker who delivered an address to
the crowd on any subject that he might select.
"whon / was made President" said the ex-
officer OF the association, IL was young and am
bilious. wanted to give the best fair that ever
had been held at oswcgo Falls, and 1 was will
ing TO work hard to accomplish such a result
Long beforehand 1 stirred up the farmers to
raise big squsshes and pumpkins, and pre-
pared q good schedule of horse races. Isecured
q man to mako q 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. 10
and j knew that we had about one chance in
Shsnse Son Aiiss %HSN wlsS oehers pFspsrea and NJ
t ssnd our 10 9 fnir and ie deliver srq an address on, any sub;
iect that he chose. assured him that he would
a Me h oal io fr,9 Iooso ID h for as saeh s1 o app ! sniI yH to
hear him. Two days later the village Post.
master, told me that he sasrh had a letter ms'
had heard o good deal about Greeley,,s
handwriting. and i knew at once once, thaI tnss
were Irregular scrawis that I couldn't d~ecipher.
, %ish t,% Ssy' Ssl 9 z co %y f''en resd / f. I SnGf IT &
that the editor es,tS e. q our %rp pSpsF. had San 81 @ 9rS , nine an. neen
took the letter to him. Ho was a little out Of
practice; but h. decai Rr, GssoI Il a aesrett hsIf that AT
was a great disappointment to me. thought Il
over. and suddenly It dawnSd on me : that at
strategy get Mr.. Greeley to oswego Falls after
all. I sent him another letter that must
aware OF the fact that his writing was almost
%illegible, and he was never much. surprised
took advantage of that, and in my second letter
I thanked him for accepting our Invitation. 70
l We had di bes nH iG 10 pdiStri but ei hSshpdbilIhs S announcing
the fact that he was going to deliSes the lss address tSs
S at 1hs 1si to p pna ! h isd ham ssi ii | biz ef iSt G Z cS o sne
three-sheet posters. I knew that when he got
my letter he would conclude that we had
as a letter Of acceptance, and I hoped
whom he learned how far we had gono
with our printing that he would conclude
to come. We received no reply from Mr.. Gree
ley. but. from time to time we sent him our post
ers and information about the fair and the
town. A week before the day set for the address
we sent him a time table and told him on what
train we should look for him. / was uneasy all
this time, because I knew that IL Mr.. Greeley
didn't turn up l should DO blamed. When the
day for the great event arrived ] went to tho
station to await the train. Sure enough. Mr..
Greeley was on board. ] introduced myself to
him as the man who had sent him the invitation
and who had received his very kind acceptance.
o suspicion of a smile on his face.
".You had no difficulty In reading my let
ter Z he said.
"'Well it was a little hard to .decipher it at
first replied, and we were in doubt for q
few minutes whether you had said Yes" or
mo" to our invitation, When We did decipher
the letter we were very much pleased to find
that you had agreed to come
"'Humph!' said Mr.. Greeley expressively.
You ordered your posters at once, didn't youf'
Eyes / replied, we wanted every one to
know what an attraction we had to Offer
MIR. Greeley again looked at me closely as IL
he were u bit suspicious. He delivered the adj
dress. and the largest crowd In the history of
the association heard him. Whether or not he
suspected the trick l had played on him ! never
that he had his suspicious. and he made the re-
mark that ! would make an excellent politician.
That was his only i still have Mr..
Greeley's letter, and any one who will examine
1t will see how easily it might have been mis-
taken for an acceptance"