Youthful Son)
CLonuxc may be fashioned, my hired spies inform me. Some jernalists prefer to work in old clothes—others just have to. Which reminds me of the strange story of Mr. Palsy.
Mr. Palsy was leeder-writer on the "Daily Wangle," and is blamed for inventing the phrases: "exploring ewery avenue" and "wishful thinking." He declared his best leeders were wrote while wearing a very ancient jacket, out at the elbows and generally in a state of disrepair. Out of this jacket he was like a fish out of water.
Came one morning when a char-woman clearing up gave the jacket to a seedy fellow hanging about Shoe Lane. Not knowing what to do with it—it was no good trying to flog it—the chap threw it into the river on his way home.
That afternoon Mr. Palsy dident arrive at the office at the usual time, so they phoned his home address but got no response. A little later a call came through to the editor from Aubrey At-taboo, their ace reporter.
"Is Palsy there?" he ast, and on being told he was ent, Aubrey said "I thought not—they've just fished his jacket out of the Thorne:
"Good heavens!" cried the editor. "This 1s terrible! Stand by, Aubrey, and get the full story.
Hanging up he quickly got the lads hi an obit., dug up a port rate of Mr. Palsy ing in his old jacket, and soon an impressive tribute to the leeder-writer was in type. Aubrey phoned aggain—they had fished a boddy out of the uvver at Rotherhithe—Aubrey was on his way there now..
An hour later Mr. Palsy arrived fuming at the traffic chaoss which had delayed him. Further fuel was added to his ire when he saw his obituerry—which was ent fair, pecos it was a good obit.
He sat down and wrote a stirring leeder on the folly of "Wishful thinking," as he put it, "before exploring ewery avenue." He found he wrote better without his old jacket.
Some time later a messenger brought in a parcel. "Your jacket, sir, from the Rivver Police," he said. "Wht shall I do with it?"
Mr. Palsy told him, and went on writeing—
MARMADUKE.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.