The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-06-23

one of the funniest things ever writ
ten i'm American or any other litera
ture is the scene in Mark Twain's Tom
Sayer where Tom, as the prize Sunday
school scholar, is called upon to repeat
some of the knowledge he has gained
in his perusal of the Bible. In order
to gain the prize Bible Tom had
industriously traded among the other
boys of the school for the necessary
number of tickets, each ticket repre-
senting a verse memorized from
the Bible. Tom, to the surprise of his
teacher, produced the number of tickets
necessary to win the prize and he was
for the time being, the hero of the oc-
casion Judge Thatcher called the lit
tie fellow up and asked him to tell some
thing of what he had learned in his
studious perusal Of the Good Book. Tom
was asked who were the two first
disciples chosen, and the reply came
David and Goliath"
The story to my mind was 50 funny
that until recently l had imagined that
it could not have been anything but
the creation of Mark Twains brain but
I have learned that l was wrong. A
/
There is certain pious lady living in
this city, whose religious views are of
the old fashioned kind. She does not
perhaps, believe i'm the actual laying on
of hands but she has great faith in the
efficacy of the Bible, if persistently
read. To certain children she offered IS
each if they would each read the Bible
through. The bunch got busy right
away and it was automobile time turn
ing pages. Finally after persistent
reading for week or so they an
nounced they had finished the Good
Book and they were paid off. One of
the boys was hauled up by some rela-
tives who proceeded to put him on the
grill and ask him as was done with
poor helpless Tom Sawyer, to tell some
thing of what he had learned in his ex-
tensive reading of the Bible. The
youngster hemmed and hawed and
halted, something like man hesitates
before taking a plunge into cold bath
and then he started well, Adam begat
Eve and Eve begat Jacob and but
here 1 will draw kindly curtain over
the young mans discontinue.
C G G G
George X. Fitch, whose death has just
been reported from San Francisco, was
in the Horace Greeley class in hand
writing,-and in some of the other
characteristics which go to make a
great editor. His chirography called
| for a specially trained printer The
ordinary man couldn't follow it when
| he knew what the words were. | have
! had samples of it read to me with the
writing before my eyes and still failed
to see how the reading corresponded
with the extraordinary scratching the
| editor had made. Yet in the old san
Francisco Bulletin Office he had print
ers who struggled through his writings
He did not, however write great deal
He employed men with whom he had
had long association and with whom
he was in perfect accord, and they did
most of the writing, representing his
views. He outlived most, if not all
of them
No more striking change in Journalism
could be cited than that which the San
Francisco Bulletin underwent when
Fitch retired from it's management. VI
to the last day of his editorship 1T was
a huge blanket sheet, dry and heavy
looking as the London Times. 1t stuck
to the methods of the past and in d
| financial way it was slowly dying,-it
is to be feared that only too often there
was great difficulty experienced by its
manager when Saturdays came round
in getting together coin for the payroll
Then came the change. 1t got modern
press and reduced the blanket sheet and
became as sensational as an able mo-
dern yellow editor could make it. In
IL few years its circulation was COM
parable to that of the big morning pa
pers and at the time of the earthquake
it was claiming more than any of them
In circulation and money-making il
climbed quickly to the top. But it is
! doubtful whether it's editorial page
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