Memoirs of an editor : fifty years of American journalism / Edward P. Mitchell.

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MEMOIRS OF AN EDITOR

anonymously, only a couple of years ago after about half
a century of submergence, in Miss Dorothy Scarborough's
otherwise delightful book of "Humorous Ghost Stories."
The name of the immigrant ghost, Newbegin, was that
of a real person of the sort described whom I had known
at Boothbay Harbor in boyhood's summerings there; the
name was used without thought of its accidental significance. I have always been grateful to Johnny Newbegin,
for he probably shaped the whereabouts of my subsequent
life. Mr. Dana told me long afterward that this article
determined him to invite me to his staff. At the time it
brought me a second brief note of encouragement.
The Sun, New York, Dec. 26, 1874.
DEAR SIR: I enclose a check to pay for your excellent article
on Pocock Island.
We are always glad to hear from you.
Yours sincerely, C. A. DANA.
Edward P. Mitchell, Esq.
The personal attention bestowed by Mr. Dana on
anything that happened to catch his fancy as it came his
way is shown in a letter relating to another extravaganza
sent from Lewiston and based on the report of some
astounding discoveries about the Flood and Noah made
by the British Museum Assyriologists in translating the
epigraphs on tablets found by Mr. George Smith in the
Konyunjik mownd. The cuneiform inscription here referred to was engraved for me on boxwood by Sturges, in
pretended arrowhead script. It purported to be an entry
in the log of the Ark, recording the rapid fall of the waters,
the consumption for food of the last pterodactyl in the
menagerie of animals, and the birth of another pair of

twins to Mrs. Japheth:
The Sun, New York, April 25, 1875.
MY DEAR SIR: As there is plenty of time, I enclose proofs of
your article on the Deluge. Everything is here except the cunei