1895. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



173 



ir ever 1 come oiit of this, we'll be a paii 

 of friends instead, but" — He broke off 

 with a groan . 



"Come, come," said I, "you aren't go- 

 ing to die. You'll be well in a week oi 

 two. ' ' 



"I know that, but the paper — the paper! 

 I can't do a solitary tiling, and McK^y 

 alone won't got the matter up in a week." 



"Right enough. Now let's see how we 

 can manage it. I can do your part of the 

 composition today and finish up my own 

 tonight. If we're both a day late, it won't 

 make much difference. I'll begin setting 

 at once." 



Hurrying down stairs to escape Rowe's 

 thanks, I came upon a spectacle which 

 took my breath away. Staiiding at a case, 

 sleeves rolled up and thoroughly at home, 

 clicking the type into his stick at a great 

 rate, was Bud Haskius. 



"Hello!" said he, looking around, 

 "how's your editor, publisher, 'n propi'toi 

 today? Fin' him pretty conif t'ble?" 



"How on earth did you get here?" de- 

 manded I. 



"Same way you did. Got to thinkin — 

 that's all." 



In a few moments I was scribbling away 

 on an improvised desk by the bedside al- 

 most as fast as Bud was setting the type 

 below. Scratch, scratch — think an instant 

 — scratch, scratch again — think once more 

 — and so on until a pile of "copy" had ac- 

 cumulated. This was the beginning: 

 A FATAL FALSEHOOD. 



Our by no means courteous and not in the 

 least esteemed contemporary, The Spy, which 

 is at once a disgrace to American journalism, 

 a libel upon the name of a newspaper and a 

 blot upon the fair city in which it is aa j'el 

 still scornfully suffered to drag out an exist- 

 ence noxious to others and of no value tc 

 itself, etc. 



Rowe listened without saying a word. 

 At the end he quietly remarked : 



"That's a powerful article, Warren." 



"Well, now, see how this one strikes 

 you." And I began reading again: 

 DESPICABLE DECEPTION. 



We had hitherto supposed that the utmost 

 imaginable depths of reckless, shameless, hon- 

 orless, conscienceless mendacitj' had long ago 

 been readied by that sheet unknown to fame, 

 but intimately acquainted with infamy undei 

 the name of The Herald. 



Rowe bounced up in bed. 



"Do you mean to say you're going to 

 abuse yourself like that?" said he. 



"I mean to say that such a savage arti- 

 cle as mine has got to be replied to a little 

 more savagely if possible. ' ' 



Rowe by this time had taken the humoi 

 of the situation into his fevered brain. He 

 replied faintly: 



"I think you'd better call yourself 'falsi- 

 fier' first and save up the 'ignoramus' foi 



use later on. iowara the last you migni 

 work in some reference to your general rei 

 semblance to a donkey, if you don' 

 mind." 



"Mind? Why, it's the very point I 

 want. I'll say that the only thing in 

 which I don't resemble a donkey is my ut- 

 ter incapacity for any useful employment. " 



"Suppose you attack me again?" sug- 

 gested Rowe when the article was finished. 

 "There should be at least two sharp lead- 

 ers in each paper. You might mention the 

 probability of my being ridden out of town 

 on a rail because the citizens can't stand 

 my coutiiuial lying any longer." 



Aided by Rowe's suggestions, I wrote 

 until I had matter enough for four col 

 umns, two for each paper. There were a 

 pair of outrageously abusive leaders foi 

 The Herald, a pair of outrageously abusive 

 leaders for Tlie Spy, besides two strings ol 

 satirical versos wl.ich I chanced to ham- 

 mer out. 



Bud Haskins and McKay, working first 

 at one office, then at the other, got the 

 precious stuff iuto type, and then, with 

 my assistance, made up The Herald and 

 ran off the edition that night. Next morn- 

 ing our uuiied forces did the same thing 

 for The Spy. 



All this was ten years ago. Calabash 

 City is begiiming to taunt Chicago with 

 the certaimy of being second to her in 

 population, wealth and resources by A. D. 

 1905 at the latest. The Spy-Herald is one 

 of the leading journals of the west. 



Rowe and I might call ourselves rich 

 men, though we never do. We have al- 

 ways been the best of friends. — Tit-Bits. 



The Largest Medical Liibrary. 



A writer ill the Washington Star says 

 that the lar^^cst and most complete med- 

 ical library In the world is the colleo- 

 tion of meaical works located in the 

 Army Medical museum, in that city, 

 under the care of the surgeon general's 

 oflfice of the war department and the im- 

 mediate supervision of Dr. John S. Bil- 

 lings, U. S. A It may be said that the 

 card index system of medical publica- 

 tions used by the library is the most 

 thorough and practical index of medical 

 works in the world. The library now 

 includes about 113,000 bound volumes 

 and about 150,000 pamphlets. It is es- 

 timated that this collection comprises 

 three-fourths of the medical literature 

 of the world, and at least nine-tenths of 

 the medical literature which has been 

 published within the last ten years. 



Blubber, the fat of sea animals, costs 

 10 cents a pound in Lapland. 



