American fiction -- 19th century; American poetry -- 19th century; American wit and humor; Short stories, American
"Colonel Job, who has been suffering from quite a siege of boils at
his residence on Avenue C, was arrested yesterday for cussing and
disturbing the neighborhood. The colonel has generally a very equable
temper, but completely lost his balance on finding that Mrs. Job had
put a large quantity of starch in his only night robe."
* * * * *
"About 1,500 extra deputy clerks were put on by the county clerk
yesterday to assist in getting out summonses for witnesses in the
divorce case recently brought by Judge Solomon against the last batch
of his wives."
A Sure Method
The editor sat in his palatially furnished sanctum bending over a mass
of manuscripts, resting his beetling brow upon his hand. It wanted but
one hour of the time of going to press and there was that editorial on
the Venezuelan question to write. A pale, intellectual youth
approached him with a rolled manuscript tied with a pink ribbon.
"It is a little thing," said the youth, "that I dashed off in an idle
moment."
The editor unrolled the poem and glanced down the long row of verses.
He then drew from his pocket a $20 bill and held it toward the poet. A
heavy thud was heard, and at the tinkle of an electric bell the
editor's minions entered and carried the lifeless form of the poet
away.
"That's three today," muttered the great editor as he returned the
bill to his pocket. "It works better than a gun or a club and the
coroner always brings in a verdict of heart failure."
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Postscripts, by O. Henry
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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