SK 



K 



OW, to show how really hard it 

 is to foist a moral or a truth 

 upon an unsuspecting public 

 through a burlesque without entirely 

 and absurdly missing one's mark, I 

 will here set down two experiences of 

 my own in this thing. In the fall of 

 1862, in Nevada and California, the 

 people got to running wild about ex- 

 traordinary petrifications and other 

 natural marvels. One could scarcely 

 pick up a paper without finding in it 

 one or two glorified discoveries of this 

 kind. The mania was becoming a little ridiculous. I was a bran-new local editor 

 in Virginia City, and I felt called upon to destroy this growing evil ; we all have 



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