The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-01-03
as PRINTERS DEVIL.

devil on small newspaper in Hanni-
bal, Mo. He was just then thirteen
years old.
The duties of the great humorist in
that stage of his remarkable career
including milking the EDITORS COW,
cutting his wood, building f.
sweeping out the Office and all tiiv
various small and dirty jobs that fall
to the lot of the devil in a country
printshop.
The Hannibal paper on which Mr..
Clemens started his journalistic work
was the Courier. On the paper at
the same time was Van B. De Lash
mutt, now citizen and mining oper-
ator of Spokane, Wash.
This early life of the humorist and
some of his strange adventures as
reporter on the Enterprise of Virginia
City, New, during the early days of
the mining excitement are thus enter
tainingly told for the first time by
Mr.. De Lashmutt
During his apprenticeship on the
Courier Clemens had to board in the
family of the editor and proprietor,
who lived we'll out in the suburbs of
the town, and in the morning was
supposed to milk the COW and cut
enough stove wood for the day while
waiting for his breakfast, which must
on weekdays be served in time for
the men to get to their work by
O'Clock. He had to get to the Office
little earlier to sweep out, build the
FIRE, bring in a bucket or two of water
and later on to cut and bring in suf-
fcient frewood to last over the fol-
lowing day.
"The arrival of the stage was Sam
uel's opportunity. It was the one
bright spot In his monotonous routine
work, for it gave him an opportunity
to go to the postofice and frequently
to wait for two or three hours until
its arrival. In the meantime 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 usu-
ally found time to play a little ball
or game or two of marbles with his
chummies.
"After nine O'Clock in the morning
when the actual work of the day be-
gan he was kept alternating 'twixt
his case in the Office, where he was
undergoing the rudimentary lessons
OF learning to set type, and the near
est saloon, whittier he went at intervals
in quest of the editor in order to get
more copy or at the request offsome
subscriber, or more likely .,ssz aHar~
with z nls h;iila lat tie task was ~ easy mat
ter and called for a good deal of di-
plomacy, 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 endeavoring to
show them why it was that Thomas
Jefferson was entitled to the honor of
being called the father of Democracy
or why Andrew Jackson was justified
in annuling the bank act.
"In the meantime he had TO stand
demurely by and await his opportuni-
ty to speak to the editor without dis
turbing him; had to catch his eye at
the end of game or after round OF
drinks or at the end of sentence,
and it frequently took him an hour
or two to get his man.
''It 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 correspondence and say to him,
Now, sonny, if you will get the old
man to publish this I'll buy you a
new Barlow knife with horn han
die, etc.
Advertisements were most gener-
ally 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.
"The office employees all got tick
cts to all the balls and shows and pub
lie entertainments, and frequently
some old farmer would invite him out
to spend Sunday with him or to come
out any time and help himself to all
the fruit he wanted. This latter in
vitation a boy of his keen apprecla-
ton never overlooked, and, along
with other boys, he frequently drop
ned into the orchard at II and
i o'clock at night and accepted it. The
following morning the farmer was
usually una5letedetcrt the differ dii1hieeffsencc
'twixt his footprints and those OF Tom
|. | Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn.
! "From the printing Office he served
$ for a time as river pilot on the Mis-
e sissippi river, and from heaving the
: lead in taking the soundings he is
said to have obtained the idea OF hi:
e future cognomen-Mark Twain.
J, "In 1861 his brother Grin was ap'
y pointed secretary of the territory O
e Nevada, and in that year Sam wen
t thither with him. He naturally drift
i ed into journalism and for numbe1
e of years was local reporter on the
e Virginia City Enterprise. While thu
e engaged the writer also worked OF
It the same paper.
n "There were two other reporter
IS on the paper at the time, one of whom
Dan De Quille-enjoyed quite
D reputation as clever writer, but tn
Of public did not detect in Sam any evi
;e dence of his then unknown genius
IL He was droll and hail fellow we
j. met with everybody, but somehow
a. one got the impression that he was
D. little inclined to be lazy.
i'd Virginia City was then in th
1e very zenith of its brilliant existence
at Sam had to be rather swift to mali
lit tain his standing as live reporter {
~4fx