CALLING ON THE EDITOR.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 430, 13 January 1912, Page 7

CALLING ON THE EDITOR.

An editor can usually take a joke as well as anybody, but there are ;imes during the rush of business when he is apt to miss the point o! the joke for some moments. Such an instance happened recent ly in an Australian up-country newspaper office, which resulted seriously for the joker. The joker in question happened to be the editor's own brother, whom he hadn't seen for ten years. He came to surprise his brother and to pay him a: short visit, and, being more or less given tc practical joking, he determined to wait upon his brother in the guise oi the "feller what wants to lick the editor."

He was a big, strapping man, well fitted to enact such a part, and when he forced his way into the editor's private office he had his hat pullec down over his eyes and a cigai elevated at an angle of forty-five degrees, causing him to look verj fierce. "Is this the editor ?" he asked, as he faced his brother. "It is," replied the other. "What can I do for you ?" "Nothing," returned the fiercelooking man. "It's me what wants to do for you. Are you prepared tc take a good licking ?" "Charmed, I'm sure !" replied the editor, and with this he picked up a portrait block and slammed it intc the visitor's face, knocking him under the table. The foreman of the composing room had a roller in his hand at the time, and, hearing a strange noise in the office, came running in just in time to stand on the strange man's chest and run the roller over his face. When the man came to his senses he explained the little joke, disclosing his identity, and all is now peace and joy, barring a piece of his eai that is missing where the sterec glanced off his head. It took some time to get the ink off his face, and his chest is still a little tender where the forman's number elevens tracked it up, but otherwise he is doing first-rate.