236 



MARK TWAIN'S SKETCHES. 



The excited listener sprang toward 

 me to shake hands, and said — 



"There, there — that will do. I 

 know I am all right now, because 

 you have read it just jis I did,- word 

 for word. But, stranger, when I first 

 read it this morning, I said to myself, 

 I never, never believed it before, not- 

 withstanding my friends kept me 

 under watch so strict, but now I 

 believe I am crazy; and with that I 

 fetched a howl that you might have 

 heard two miles, and started out to 

 kill somebody — because, you know, 

 I knew it would come to that sooner 

 or later, and so I might as well begin. 

 I read one of them paragraphs over 

 again, so, as to be certain, and then I 

 burned my house down and started. 

 I have crippled several people, and 

 have got one fellow up a tree, where 

 where I can get him if I want him. 

 But I thought I would call in here 

 •as I passed along and make the 

 thing perfectly certain ; and now it 

 is certain, and I tell you if is lucky 

 for the chap that is in the tree. I 

 should have killed him, sure, as I 

 went back. Good-bye, sir, good-bye ; 

 you have taken a great load off my 

 mind. My reason has stood the 

 strain of one of your agricultural 

 articles, and I know that nothing can ever unseat it now. Good-\>yt, sir." 



