The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 12 — John Shaqi
The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 12Brann, William Cowper
History
The Complete Works of Brann, the Iconoclast — Volume 12
Brann, William Cowper
Brann, William Cowper, 1855-1898; Essays; Reformers
"I got together $11,000 not long ago," he said, "and
put it into a house. It is the first money worth talking
about that I ever had, and I feel that the investment ties
me, more or less, to Waco. But aside from that," he went
on to say, "I am a little afraid that the ICONOCLAST
would lose its characteristic flavor if I moved it to one
of the big Eastern cities. You will remember that that
experiment was tried with the Arkansas Traveller, which
was moved from Little Rock to Chicago, and promptly fell
flat. The same thing happened to the Texas Siftings,
when it was taken from Austin to New York. I am inclined
to believe that a publication acquires a savor of the
soil in which it springs, and it is a mighty risky business
to try to transplant it."
He told me of Col. Gerald, who had killed the Harris
brothers only a few weeks before. "Gerald is a wonderful
old man," he said. "He is over sixty, but he is as straight
as a pine. He has a light mustache and chin beard, and
eyes the color of the blue you see in old china. He don't
know what fear is. He thinks it is some kind of a disease
like smallpox or appendicitis, and only know that he has
never had it." Between talk we ate oysters and drank a little
beer. Brann impressed me as being a very temperate man.
The conversation drifted frequently to his plans for the
future. "I've been roasted a good deal for the go-as-you-
please style of the ICONOCLAST," he said, "and, between
ourselves, wish I could have refined its style a trifle. But
if I had done so we would never have gone over the 100,000
mark as we did last week. However, I'm tired of it," he
said slowly, "most infernally tired. I am anxious next
year to devote myself to a higher class of work. I have
a novel about half done, and also a play, and I am very
hopeful that they may both succeed."
It was long after midnight when we parted. He said
that he expected to be back "one of these days."
Poor Brann! It sickens one's soul to think of the value
of such a life as his as against that of his slayer. Good
God! His little finger was worth all the Texas pot-house
politicians and Baylor University pharisees that could
be lined up between her and Orion.--O. H. S., in the
Looking Glass.
* * *
SEMPER VIVAT IN MEMORIAM.
Now that partisan hate has succeeded in hounding to his
death America's most eloquent champion of humanity; has
driven to the verge of insanity an adoring wife, and
thrown o'er the roseate lives of two tender, clinging
children the black pall of a sorrow that will forever embitter
their hearts, perchance it will pause; will remember the
teachings of that other "friend of humanity" who, nearly
nineteen hundred years ago, was crucified for daring to
fight what he believed to be wrong; whose religion may be
summed up in one word--"forgiveness."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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