Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/569

Rh Shortly after the war, the Medford Sun merged with the Mail-Tribune, in which "Ye Smudge Pot" became a daily feature, occupying the same space on the editorial page throughout the years.

The name "Ye Smudge Pot" was selected because it was symbolic of the Rogue River Valley with its vast pear orchards. The smudge pot is an orchard heating appliance used in the spring to protect the fruit blossoms from Jack Frost. The smudge pot ranks with the plow in assuring bountiful harvests. Thus the column's name.

The column itself is devoted to a discussion of "divers and sundry matters, with a humorous and ofttimes gently sarcastic angle." On Sundays it is called "Ye Smudge Smoke" and consists of jibes and quips at Medford and Jackson County residents.

Miss Iona Smith lost her purse. She put a want ad in the Mail-Tribune. When she got home, there was her purse on the piano, right where she left it. The Mail-Tribune want ads get quick results.

The country sausage is staying in the country.

Robins, which have been here all winter, are arriving as the harbingers of spring.

Young onions are now on the market and are being crunched by members of the fair sex who are not going any place after supper.

Jim Dinkens of Beagle towned and traded Monday. Mr. Dinkens, being weary in the knees, sat down on his own heels, without any visible means of support. Such suppleness is never found save among cowboys and long-legged mountaineers. While thus squatted James drew a rough map of Eastern Oregon, on the sidewalk with a red-headed match, and pointed out the latitude and longitude of a water hole 67 miles from Lakeview.

Coyotes have started killing turkeys, before they can eat enough grasshoppers to be milk-fed birds next Thanksgiving.

A baseball game played in old man Jones' pasture broke up in the seventh inning in an uproar when Joe Spivis slid into what he thought was third base.