Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1915-07-08
CORED>BY-A-L4UCH
Was a Hearty One and Better
4 Than a Dose Of Medicine.o ).
A. STORY ABOUT A7LECTURE.

lin -ETT -Aszg
It Ought to Have Been Funny and
Seemed at the Time to Be Funny and
Yet Afterward There Was Grave
+ Doubt az to Whether 1t Was OF. Not.
Whats your book?' Squire Dumont
asked Of a neighbor as they sat wait
ing their turn in the village barber
shop. sis.45 Il D. .s(54-1sI
"Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain"
was the reply. 81 just got it out Of
the library. 1 suppose you would call
it pretty light reading aI
"You needn't be bit ashamed Of it,
Mr.. Pinkham,'' said the squire, heart
lily. Its book that has done q lot
Of good. It has made thousands of peo-
pie laugh, and good laugh is often
better than dose of medicine" 90
.'I've seen that proved" said MI
Pinkham. II went to hear Mark
Twain lecture once" he added, with
a reminiscent chuckle. a5ar
"You don't say sov' exclaimed the
squire Il never had that pleasure
myself. 1t must have been a great
treat" fIa-.8 4aea.<.. s-s .r aeaaa
Eyes, it was. I'm a great admirer
of Mark Twain and have been for
years. had always wanted to see and
hear him, and when I saw in a Port
land paper that he was to lecture there
ON certain evening.it came over me
that that was my time to go and hear
him.
81 had just lost lawsuit, and my
wife was away from home with sick
sister, / was pretty blue and lone
some and felt the need of being cheer
ed up.
II took the afternoon train, calculat-
ing to get to my cousin Jims in time
! for supper and then go to the lecture.
| But, as luck would have it, freight
train had been wrecked near Bruins
| wick, and we never got into Portland
until o'clock. However, I hurried to
! the hall and paid my way in and got a
good seat right up in front. | had
missed some of the lecture, but was
! thankful TO get what was left. 1t
4 wasn't so much what he said, though,
as the way he said it that tickled me.
| I laughed more that night than I had
! for year.
/ "Well. after the lecture was over I
made my way to my cousin Jim's. He
has means. and they live in some style,
but l got cordial welcome. Clara,
his wife, told me that I couldn't see
Jim that night. He was poorly, and
she was a good deal worried about him
But while we were talking he found
out | was there and sent for me to
come to his room. l never saw any
/ one more in the dumps than he was. /
guess he complained steady for as much
as half an hour. He was a very sick
man. He didn't relish his victuals, and
| what he did eat distressed him. Night
after night he got hardly a wink of
] sleep, and nothing interested him any
more. Moreover, what the doctor gave
him didn't do a mite of good. 1t was
pitiful to hear him go on. Finally he
asked me how I happened to be in
Portland -.''..f5 = - 3..s-@ gu
51 $3.50 you came up to hear Mark
Twain? says he, and his face bright
ened up. Did you like him? says he
and said, of course did,
CHOW tell me honestly says he
was that lecture as funny as you ex-
pected? 2A'. ~ 3'''''
"'Well' says I, it was funny, OF
course, and I guess when l have had
T., mil
funnier But there were parts of ii
that didn't seem so dreadful funny
"Then all at once Jim fell back in
his chair and began to choke, and for
| a minute I was scared. AS soon as he
could speak he says: That wasn't Mark
Twain that you heard He lectured
here last week. What you heard says
he, was a lecture on the poetry OF
| Robert Browning by Professor
forget now what Jim called his name
Then he took to laughing. again, and
: I thought he'd never stop.
I - "After that Jim wanted to know how
the people near me took my laughing
so much at the lecture and when l re
membered that some of 'em did scow
little he went off again. t'--'--' ~
"Well, naturally / felt little cheap
but afterward / wasn't sorry. The
Z next morning Jim said he had had his
first good nights rest for month, and
he really made out quite breakfast
/ About fortnight after that / got 6
letter from him saying that he was
feeling quite like himself again.
a7'I don't know as my visit had thing
to do with it, but I've always felt as il
Il it did. In that case 1t goes to prove
what, you said, squire, that a goot
laugh is sometimes better than a dose
Of medicine "-Youth's Companion
& Eu4a4-J Hard to Keep Up. 'l19I9I