The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1900-07-14
Continued Next Wcek.)l
OPlE READ,s sIARI.
rl,e Author was Once a Bnrefooted
Tramp Printer.

UTE nERu,S 9tAnls
The author Was Once a Bnrefooted
Tramp Printer.
Indianapolis News: 1t was on IN
eastbound Pennsylvania train the 9TH
cr evening. The omnivorous reader
and the old time telegrapher boarded
the train at Terrc Hnute and after q
few preliminary remarks on the
weather and the chances of William
Jennings Bryan in the next presiden-
ttal race, the talk drifted to the sub.
ject of books and their writer's. Just
then the "butchcr' came through the
train with an armful of classics and
other things, anG the old time tele.
grapher began a disquisition on the
subject of Authors l Have Known
II see he has the usual assortment
of Opie Reads stories," he remarked,
with a nod Indicative Of the vendor.
"Ill always remember the first time I
saw Read,n'he continued. in a rcminis,
cent manner. The o1nnivorous reader
saw q chance for a story, and laid
down the comic weekly he was pom
dering over.
"Yes?' he remarked, in an namely
interrogative way. How was that?"
This vas enough for the old time
telegrapher, who had q moderately
good opinion of his a%necdotal abilities,
SO he rolled and lit a fresh cigarette
and opened up his heart.
ut was down III Paducah, Ky.,," h
said. II was stuck there one summt;.
in the Western Union Office, where l
was supposed to pound n key. One
afternoon l was sitting in the Office Of
one of the newspapers, when about
the most absurd looking specimen I
ever saw strolled in. The specimen
aforesaid was about six feet high,
wore a frock coat of the vintage of
go, one of these shirts with q wide,
rolling collar, no watstcoat or tie,
aud he was barefoot. He carried a
little bundle tied up in a red bandnnna
handkerchief, and after picking out a
good place to lay the bundle he de.
posted himself in the best chair the
room afforded and heaved a tremen.
dous sigk Then he said to Ed Leigh.
the editor, and myself, 'Eyenin', gen.
tlemen.'
"We had watched this invasion OF
the sanctum with a good deal Of
amusement, for the invader was ap-
parently one of a type l had never
wearied of a studying, the rural Ken.
tuckian, and we returned hi saluta.
ton with due gravity. After a mo-
ment or So, the invader said: Whats
the chance for a man gettin' a job on
this shcet?'
by his manner of expressing HIM
self we saw he had evidently been
about u newspaper office to some ex-
tent, and Editor Leigh asked him, in
a %jocular way. what kind of a Job he
wanted. Well he replied. anything
from editor to galley hoy. Society
stuff's my white alley though, and II
the editoh that takes in the social
functions of this settlement isneedin'
q vacation, I'd like to sub ioh him,
Leigh smiled audibly at this,
which didn't seem t o cmbarrass the
visitor in the least, and after a few
questions, Leigh told him he could
have a few days work. Those Offices
were not worked to death then, and
almost any kind of n man could get q
day or two whenever he came around,
The big fellow sat around aud gassed
a while, and then he said to Leigh:
I'd like to negotiate about two bits
till L have something comm. You
see. gentlemen, the pixies pretty hard
travelin, an I've got a stone bruise
on my heel about us big as a but-nut,
an I'd like to get n little arnica or
SPAWN cure to kinder ease it up a lit.
tie
Leigh gave him the two bits, and
the stranger departed, as I supposed,
for good. But no; he was back
bright and early next morning, and
the line of copy be got up for the
paper was a revelation to the Oldest
inhabitant. 1t was like a streak Of
sunshine across the dingy pages Of
that patent inside, and it wasn't long
before the public began to see it, too.
Well, that stranger was Opie Read,
and he stayed with Leigh long enough
to make his paper better known
through that section than it ever was
before. 1 left before he did, and the
next time 1 knew of him he was inter
ested in a paper down in Arkansas,
and was making a reputation as n
writer. The Inst time I saw him was
a short time ago. He was giving
readings in Chicago ut 500 per. I
hunted him up, and sent in n card.
When | was taken to his Don he had
forgotten me. He was dressed to kill
handsome frock coat. new this time,
uAA - oSuAuOlel III HIS SIiiFLaITUnl L1NC
looked like a couple of hundred, any
way. / recalled myself to him, and
we had a jolly time for a couple Of
hours, talking owe old times down in
Paducah; but Ill never hear Of Opie
Read without thinking of the bare
footed stranger with the stone bruise
bout as big as a but'nnt,' who came
into the Office in Paducah that after
noon, with all his worldly goods tied
up in a bnndannn handkerchief, and
not n very big one at that. And now
his bank roll wouldn't go in q peck.
measure"
And the old time telegrapler gazed
out of tie window at the living land
scape. as he thought Of the fate which
still kept him pounding hey for the,
Western Union at s1s per week.
John Singer Sargent, the American
painter whose portrait group at the
Royal academy in London is pro-
nounccdEto be the best picture on the
walls, is the son ofrDr. Fitz Hugh
Sargent OF Boston. His mother was
Miss Newbold OF Philadelphia, a
water colorist. Mr.. Sargent
was born In Italy in 1856 and has lived