Page:McClure's Magazine v10 no3 to v11 no2.djvu/65

Rh popular, was presently put under a good salary voluntarily, and remained at his post a year. Then he disappeared, greatly regretted. His creditors will lynch him when they get him. Or maybe they will elect him mayor; there are enough of them to make it unanimous.

The fifth man followed the rules, and went up and up till he became chief editor, then down and down until he became a lawyer.

No. 6 was a fine success. He chose his paper, and followed the rules strictly. In fifteen years he has climbed from a general utility youth to the top, and is now chief leader writer on one of the most widely known and successful daily journals in the world. He has never served any but the one employer. The same man pays his large salary to-day who took him, an unknown youth at nothing-and-find-himself, fifteen years ago.

These are genuine cases, and Mr. Clemens stated them truthfully. There are others, but these are enough to show that the "system" is a practical one and is soundly based.

And not uncomplimentarily based, for I think it is fair to assume that its real strength does not lie so much in man's selfish disposition to get something for nothing, as in his inability to rebuff with an ungenerous " no" a young fellow who i.s asking a wholly harmless and unexacting favor of him.

Since the system has succeeded so well in finding openings in journalism, it may perhaps be trusted to open a way into nearly any calling in the list of industries. So it is offered with confidence to young men and women who want situations and are without friends and influence.

N the early spring of 1849 there collected in camps on the Kansas River, near the Missouri line, men from many Western States, intending to take the overland route to California. I joined a small party of these, made up for the the mutual protection while crossing the Plains. One member of our company was a young man who had left his Illinois home with a new, strong wagon, well loaded with everything deemed necessary to last him a year in the mines, and drawn by a pair of good horses. Of this team one had been a colt born and reared on his father's farm, and all its life the pet of the family.

For many weeks our journey was a delightful pleasure trip. The vast uninhabited country was strange, beautiful, and majestic. The pure air and exercise were exhilarating. Good appetites made our camp fare delicious. In high spirits we made our westward marches day by day. But when we had advanced several hundred miles, the horses of the Illinoisan began to show marks of the journey.