Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation

"There's a man in the office wanting to see the editor," said the foreman, looking into the composing room of the Calaveras Clarion. "He's carryin' a shot-gun, and is a man twice as big as you."

The editor considered his brief and as yet blameless record at the Clarion. "Perhaps," he said tentatively, with a gentle smile, "he's looking for Captain Brush" -- the man temporarily absent from this very desk.

"I asked him that," said the foreman grimly, "and he said he wanted to see the man in charge. We KIN keep him out. Me and him," indicating the expectant printer behind him, "is enough for that!"

In proportion as the editor's heart sank his outward crest arose. He said at last, rising loftily, "Show him in!"

"The Boom in the Calaveras Clarion," from the days when a lead newspaper story might be answered with solid lead, is one of colorfully entertaining tales to be found in Mr. Jack Hamlin's Mediation, by Bret Harte (1836-1902).