Evening star., 1909-02-18
Cloakroom Stories.

other day. group of democratic states
men were discussing the future Of the
peerless one. and there was a decided
difference of opinion as to whether he
would seek a fourth nomination for the
presidency: whereupon a certain senator
took a newspaper clipping out OF his
pocket and read the following fable:
"On a Certain Occasion an lndiscreet
Man placed Himself beneath descending
Pile-driver He was Crushed to Jelly.
but Spark of Life Remained. The Doc
tors. by Dint Of Bandages. Splinters.
Plaster of Paris Molds and Other Appli-
ances of the Healing Art. Restored his
Body to Semblance of Human shape.
The Patient then lay for Several Days in
Stupor. Finally one Morning he
Opened his Eyes. looked languidly
Around and said in a Feeble Voice to the
Where is 1t? Let Me Hit 1t Again. +"
The senator remarked with a wise tone
, that the value of fable was in the ap-
plication thereof.
out our way said an Ohio congress
man, was some years ago. when Foraker
and Brice were running for the Senate
and Bushnell and Campbell were running
for governor. Down In Fayette county,
which Is a democratic stronghold, an ed
itor by the name Of Grubb was editing a
weekly newspaper on JackSonian princi-
pies. Three pages of the sheet were
lllIeu Win DOller-pIate mattcF SnlppeO
from q press association in Columbus,
which furnished republican. populist. pro-
hibtiOn or democratic campaign material.
editorials. speeches and statistics. all red
hot. right off the griddle, suitable for all
ages and all shades of intelligence and
opinion. Most of the county papers Of
the state were patrons of this comprehen-
sive system, and were supplied with as
many columns of 'boiler-plate' as they
We're willing to pay for. guaranteed to
I C11if bo and avoid the nrAi1l-
dices of their subscribers. and Grubb de-
pended entirely upon that source of sup
ply for three pages of his sheet. the
fourth page being made up of local hap
penings and neighborhood correspond
ence.
Senator Brice was very generous and
hospitable man. He was always doing
something for the pleasure of his friends
and supporters, and one day Grubb re-
ceived a letter from the senator inclosing
a railway pass to Cleveland and a ticket
for a base ball game to be played Wednes-
day afternoon. Thursday was Grubb s
day of publication and Wednesday he al
ways made up his forms and worked Off
his 700 circulation on an old Franklin
press. An old tramp. who had blown into
the office few months before. had thus
far proven entirely trustworthy; so ne
made up the local page himself and left
instructions to All up the other three
forms with 'boiler-plate matter and to
run off the edition and send 1t to the post
office usual.
Confident that the interests Of the dem
ocratic party and it's candidates were
safe, so far as Fayette county was con-
cerned Grubb started for Cleveland. and
to his qualification found twenty or
thirty other country editors who were
also the guests OF Senator Brice. He
had such a good time that ne decided to
stay over Sunday with some Of the other
fellows and Monday he went home.
ITO his amazement he found his office
deserted much of the furniture dam
aged and the type upset upon the floor.
1t looked as if there had been a struggle
for physical supremacy between some
visitor and the old tramp printer he had
left i'm charge. The latter was nowhere
to be found but he was soon enlightened
as to the cause of his sudden departure
when he opened copy Of the last weeks
edition of the Fayette County Democrat
and found three of its sacred pages filled
with violent denunciation OF Senator
Brce and Jim Campbell and extrava-
CANT praise of Foraker and Bushnell. It
contained seventeen columns of the rank
est republican campaign matter that had
been published for years. About half Of
the subscribers had come to the Office for
an explanation of what they considered
a betrayal of the democratic cause.
Some of them had licked the printer in
charge and he had fled in the night to
wrath on furniture and fixtures. while
the rest stopped their subscriptions and
took out their advertisements.
1T appears that the press association
in Columbus had sent down the usual
supply of plate matter. but. through
some mistake. it was entirely of the rad
lcal republican variety, and Brother
Grubb's substitute was too drunk to rec
oRnize the difference. 1t took Grubb a
long time to recover his lost prestige