The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-10-25
TWAIN AS PRINTERS DEVIL"
Renaissance by Man Who Worked
With Him at Hannibal, Mo.
NeW York Morld


Fifty-five years ago Samuel L. Glenn
ems Mark Twain was printers devil on
a small newspaper in Hannibal, Mo. He
was then just Is years old.
The duties of the great humorist in that
stage of his remarkable career included
milking the EDITORS COW, cutting mis-
wood building fires, sweeping out the
office and all the various small and dirty
jobs that fall to the lot of the devil in a
country print shop.
The Hannibal paper on which Mr.. Glenn
ems started his journalistic work was the
Courier On the paper at the same time
was Van B. De Lashmutt, now a citizen
and mining operator of Spokane, Wash.
This early life of the humorist and
some of his strange adventures as re-
porter on the Enterprise of Virginia City,
New, during the early days of the min
ing excitement are thus entertain1ngly
told for the first time by Mr.. Lashmutt:
%
During his apprenticeship on the Cour-
Ter Clemens had to board in the family of
the editor and proprietor, who lived well
out in the suburbs of the town, and IN
the morning was supposed to milk the
COW and cut enough stovewood for the
day while waiting for his breakfast,
which must on week days be served in
time for the men to get 80 their work by
o'clock. He had to get to the office
little earlier to sweep out, build the fire.
bring in a bucket of water, and later on
to cut and bring in sufficient firewood to
last over the following day.
THE arrival of the stage was Samuel
opportunity. 1t was the one bright spot
in his monotonous routine work, for II
gave him an opportunity to go to the
postoffice and frequently wait for two or
three hours until its arrival. In the mean
time he had to tell every other man he
met about what time to come around in
order to catch the editor in his office.
when not thus engaged he usually
found time to play little ball or a game
or two of marbles with his chummies.
After o'clock in the morning, when
the actual work of the day began, he
was kept alternating 'twixt his case in
the office, where he was undergoing the
rudimentary lessons of learning to set
type, and the nearest saloon, whittier he
went at intervals in quest of the editor,
in order to get more copy, or at the re-
quest of some subscriber; or more likely
someone with a bill to collect, VINO would
always sit down in the editors sane
tum and look over the exchanges while
he was bringing him.
This latter task was no easy matter,
and called for good deal of diplomacy;
for the editor was sure to be in the MIDST
of a game of pool or cards, or standing
up at the bar with a party of friends en-
deavoring to show them why 1T was that
Thomas Jefferson was entitled to the
honor of being called the father of De-
mocracy, or why Andrew jackson was
justified in annulling the bank act.
In the meantime he had to stand de-
murely by and await his opportunity TO
speak to the editor without disturbing
him: had to catch his eye at the end OF
a game or after a round of drinks, or at
the end of a sentence; and 1t frequently
took him an hour or two to get his man.
1T was thus that his duties caused him
to be regarded in the community as
sort of private secretary to the editor,
and people would hand him their corre-
spondence and say to him, NOW, sonny,
If you will get the old man to publish
this I'll buy you new Barlow knife with
a r11
Advertisements were most generally
handed to him, for the reason that they
were more certain to reach the hands
of the printer The old man was not to
be relied upon in matters of business, and
frequently carried them around in his
pockets for week or two before handing
them to the printer
1.-The office employees all got tickets to
all the balls and shows and public enter
tainments and frequently some old far
mer would invite him out to spend Sun
day with him, or to come out any time
and help himself to all the fruit he want
ed This latter invitation boy of his
keen appreciation never overlooked and,
along with other boys, he frequently
dropped into the orchard at l. or ! o'clock
at night and accepted it. The following
morning the farmer was usually unable
to detect the difference 'twiXt his foot
prints and those of Tom Sawyer or
Huckleberry Finn.
a time as river pilot on the Mississippi
river, and from heaving the lead in TAX
ing soundings he is said to have obtained
the idea of his future Mark
Twain
I'm 1861 his brother Grin was appointed
secretary of the territory of Nevada, and
in that year Sam went thither with him.
He naturally drifted into journalism, and
for number of years was local reporter
on the Virginia City Enterprise. While
thus engaged the writer also worked on
the same paper
There were other reporters on the pa
per at that time, one of whom-Dan De
Quille-enjoyed quite a reputation as a
clever writer, but the public did not de-
tect in Sam any evidence of his then I'M
known genius He was a dron and hail
fellow well met with everybody, but some
how one got the impression that he was a
little inclined to be lazy.
Virginia City was then in the very
zenith of it's brilliant existence. Sam had
to be rather swift to maintain his stand
ing as a live reporter of a live newspaper
in a live city; but do not remember that
any charges were ever preferred against
him for falling to keep up with the pro-
cession.'