|I SEE in a recent issue of the _Sun_ a short article clipped from a
Sidney paper, relative to William Henry Harrison, which brings to my
mind fresh recollections of the long ago. I knew William too. I knew him
for a small amount which I wish I had now, to give to suffering Ireland.
He came upon me in the prime of summer time and said he was a newspaper
man. That always gets me. When a man says to me that he is a newspaper
man, and proves it by showing the usual discouraging state of resources
and liabilities, I always come forward with the collateral.
William wanted to go into the mountains and recover his exhausted
nerve-force, and build up his brain-power with our dry, bracing air. He
knew Mr. Foley, who was then working a claim in Last Chance, so he went
out there to tone up his exhausted energies. He went out there, and
after a few weeks a note came in from the man with the historical
cognomen, asking me to send him a gallon of best Old Crow. I went to
my guide book and encyclopoedia and ascertained that this was a kind of
drink. I then purchased the amount and sent it on.
Mr. Foley said that William stayed by the jug till it was dry, and
then he came into town. I met him on the street and asked him how his
intellect seemed after his picnic in the mountains. He said she was all
right now, and he felt just as though he could do the entire staff work
on the New York _Herald_ for two weeks and not sweat a hair. But he
didn't pay for the Old Crow. It slipped his mind. When time hung heavy
on my hands, I used to write William a note and cheerfully dun him for
the amount. I would also ask him how his intellect seemed by this time,
and also make other little jocular remarks. But he has never forwarded
the amount. If the bill had been for pantaloons, or grub, or other
luxuries, I might have excused him, but when I loan a man money for a
staple like whisky. I don't think it's asking too much to hope that in
the flight of time it would be paid back. However, I can't help it now.
It's about time that another bogus journalist should put in an
appearance. I have a few dollars ahead, and I am yearning to lay out the
sum on struggling genius.