"THE BOY IN SWADING CLOTHES."

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 62, 15 May 1878, Page 2

"THE BOY IN SWADING CLOTHES."

OBITITABY OP A. WESTERN EDITOB. '•'". (From fie-' Printers' -Register?*), Ye Editor sat m his ricketty chair, -a_s worried as worried could be, for ye Devil was grinning before him there, and "copy " ye Devil saved he.- - ; „ • r .Oh, ye Editor grabbed his big quill pen, and it spluttered ye ink so free, that his manuscript looked like a^Jwar 1 map when— 7'Take tiluV to,ye Devil, spake he. ... ( ..^' : He scribWed*"and scratched through ye live-long day, nq re3t or, had he V for ye Devil kept constantly coming that way, arid howling for more, "vcop,-ee !" T Day after day Tie scissored f and wrote, a ; slaying the whole oauntree";' while ye Devil kept -piping; his single note, "A little more put side ejp-ee !" And when ye boys m ye newsroom heard ye noise-of ye fray, ye sound of a bio wand a blasphemous word; "" He's raising '• 'ye Devil !" say they; ;' '■:■■'" [ And oft . when a man with a grievance came iriyye Editor man to We/ he'd turn ;his back; with a word of sin-— -"Gto talk to ye Devil !'.' sayed he. :. And ever and oft, when a proof of his r . :work ye Proprietor wanted to 'see, "Ye 'proof shall be Bhown by niy peraonal clerk ; jyou must, go to ye Devil," sayed he. ; And tlius he was destined, through ; .all of 'Ms life, by the spirit tormented to. be V™ 'hunger and po verty^ sorrow and i strife, ?always close to ye Devil. was he. -.../I' . / ;H , Yb Ejanoß died. . , . .MutyelDeml. jived on / - And ye force : of lifers habits, .we ; see; for ye Editor's breath no sooner was. 'gone than straightto Ye T)bvil went he.. 'i [The writer of the above letter called upon us, said; that he had written for the 1 , iverses, and asked if "we would ' give him space for .their insertion and his reply. We said, " Qertaihly.;<;hb should have every opportunity to prove, his word." He went away quite satisfied, and • w,e naturally con- , eluded that that was an acceptance, of our ichalleuge, but toVonr surprise received the. iabove. pseudo-sarcastic note, declining )the v jterms. We never offered -tot bet, conse-v quently the sneerabput the sum being "«p. "enormous " faUs harmless. ; we proposed." to give the forfeited.; stake to a charity. With regard to it "being impossible to settle such a vague bet,'* we must di^gree with our correspondent. His words were " poetry' cribbed wholesale ;" we challenged him'td^ produce a copy, af the supposed- stolen verses V he has fcirwarded what he alleges i'to be a reprint of what we printed. ; 'Either he has I 'prdved his case or he 'has not. We leave our readers to i judge/ and say' whether, if he be po3se3sed of one particle of honor, ; ;he should not hand over the £s; ' t6; the Palmerston Hospital. Hj| denial that;we : taught him a lesson m. orthography is on a : par with ;his other reckless assertions, and were it worth the trouble we could cpriviet i him of 'an un^rufcli from t;he te3timony iV pf- ; those present. However, it ianoV our wish 5 * to strike at a fallen foe— -and m our eyes he has fallen very low indeed. .Before finally dismissing him, however, we must I destroy one pleasing delusion which he appears tqihug. We never said' his twaddle was grammatical ; truthfully' we could not say so, as even m ttiis.jourrial he. Has given 1 too many evidences to the contrary; 1 What we did say was, that it ; was possible t<y hwrite' grammatically and yet write twaddle ji but we never, intended to, hint that- ihis twaddle - was grammatical. In; conclusion,; we, jDoay say that- we ■ do not publish either ; the extract or letter out of any considera- : tion to him, for by.hiß*'cowardice he has ; deprived, himself; jof any such. Howeyer, knowing' the lively imagination -of ;. the gentleman, and his aptitude for altering :the aspect of affairs, we thought for ' once we would baulk Ilia laudable intentions.' We have done with him ; we have proved the value to be set upon anonymous scribblings, and we pledge' ourselves m future, under no provocationj to take^ the slightest notice of anything coming from such questioqable sources.] • >: :v<H E