94 



MARK TWAIN- S SKETCHES. 



paper with a piece of gratuitous rascal- 

 ity and " see him squirm." 



I did it, putting the article into the 

 form of a parody on the Burial of " Sir 

 John Moore" — and a pretty crude 

 parody it was, too. 



Then I lampooned two prominent 

 citizens outrageously — not because 

 they had done anything to deserve it, 

 but merely because I thought it was 

 my duty to make the paper lively. 



Next I gently touched up the newest 

 stranger — the lion of the day, the 

 gorgeous journeyman tailor from 

 Quincy. He was a simpering cox- 

 comb of the first water, and the 

 " loudest " dressed man in the State. 

 He was an inveterate woman-killer. 

 Every week he wrote lushy " poetry " 

 for the "Journal," about his newest 

 conquest. His rhymes for my week 



were headed, "To Mary in H L," 



meaning to Mary in Hannibal, of 

 course. But while setting u p the 

 piece I was suddenly riven from 

 head to heel by what I regarded as a 

 perfect thunderbolt of humor, and I 

 compressed it into a snappy foot-note 

 at the bottom — thus : — "We will let this 

 thing pass, just this once ; but we wish 

 Mr. J. Gordon Runnels to understand 

 distinctly that we have a character to 



