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

"THE NEWSPAPER MAN'S NEWSPAPER" 133
than one reason it is a prodigy of fruition. It looks as good as
it is beautiful, but it would be a pity to cut it for eating; for
it, displays in perfectly distinct white letters on its unimpaired
natural skin the initials of the Editor of this paper, who is
compelled to confess th:t the marvel of cultivation or of artifice
producing this astonishing phenomenon is beyond his comprehension.
It was quite a struggle to persuade the experienced
foreman of the composing-room to let a freshman in the
establishment take the responsibility for disregarding a
"Must" properly held in that quarter to be an edict
inviolable. I had to explain then and there, as I did more
timidly to my chief afterward, that while the acknowledgment of the gift was all right the avowal of the mystification would be unfortunate in print; inasmuch as many
boys' books and treatises on natural magic taught how
to perform the miracle by pasting letters cut out of paper
on the equator of the apple when it was green and letting
Phoebus Apollo do the rest.
When Mr. Dana arrived the next day he demanded at
once: "What became of my 'AMust' paragraph about the
apple?" I told him with trepidation why I had ventured
to hold it over for him to see again. He blushed slightlyhe was always able to blush, even to the age of seventyeight, though it was rarely for himself and generally at
the provocation of something disagreeable or discourteous
said in his presence-and then broke into a hearty laugh:
"Don't be afraid to kill my 'Must' for any reason as
good as that one. Lynch him without judge or jury."

II
So affectionate was this editor's relations with those
under him, so entirely absent was the least symptom of
jealousy of his subordinates, so slow was he to fasten
blame upon the blameworthy, so quick and cordial was