Show M v = > F UNCLE REMUS Some Amusing Incidents in the Life of the Georgia StoryTeller One of the institutions of Atlanta is Uncle Remus of the Constitution newspaper news-paper writes a correspondent This is Mr Joseph C Harris a gentleman of the most unassuming character and brilliant attainments He has fiery hair but in spite of that he is so diffident that aU sorts of ruses have to be resorted to in order to get him into the presence of a stranger The history of Mr Harris is most interesting When a boy he was a printers devil attached to an obscure paper somewhere in Georgia Frequently there appeared in the little paper paragraphs para-graphs that were so replete with merit that they attracted widespread attention Nobody in the oflice knew whence they came as they were not written by the editor nor anybody else that could be discovered The interest in the mysterious mysteri-ous paragraphs became so great that an organized effort was made to trace out their source For some time the task proved a fruitless one but at last it was discovered that the little redheaded barefooted devil was setting them up and composing them as he proceeded with his typesetting He was charged with the authorship of the strangely beautiful paragraphs and in great consternation he acknowledged the corn Subsequently young Harris was offered a position on the Savannah News and ho became the state news editor of that paper In 1870 he left Savannah to escape the yellow fever and coming to Atlanta he stopped at a hotel and wrote on the register regis-ter J C Harris wife two children and a bilious nurse He soon found employment on the Constitution At thaat time Mr Samuel Small was engaged en-gaged in writing the famous Old Si papers that were a great feature of the Constitution One Saturday night Mr Small was seized with the colic or something some-thing of that sort and there was no HOld Si ready for Sundays paper There was a hl of a time It was a dead sure thing that Mr Small could not possibly recoverthat is in time to dish up anything any-thing for Sundays paper So the editor asked Mr Harris if he couldnt get up an Old Si article that night One of the habits of editors is to jump at the conclusion con-clusion that a reporter can do anything at a moments notice and they often paralyzed par-alyzed their subordinates by making just such diabolical breaks at them as the one that the able editor of the Constitution Constitu-tion fired at Mr Harris Of course it was the simplest thing in the world for a man to step without warning suddenly and precipitately into the shoes of another man who had spent years in the labor of erecting a widespread reputation in a most difficult line of special writing To be sure it waswith a copper Very well Mr Harris as soon as he could fetch his breath undertook to explain the impossibility of filling the assignment assign-ment He squirmed like a hooked eel at a clambake but he was doomed In utter ut-ter desperation and with the firm determination de-termination of murdering his family and committing suicide as soon as he could escape he plunged into the frightful task Fully satisfied that he would make a mess of it he stipulated that he should be permitted to substitute Uncle Remus for Old Si in order that he might not forever for-ever disgrace Mr Small He swore that if anybody undertook to monke with the article and attempted to ring in Old Si on him after his effusion was in type he would burn the office and the whole gang should go to the devil together he himself at the head of the procession Thus was Uncle Remus born of the imagination im-agination of Joe Harris sired by Sam Smalls colic Mr Small by the way went off and studied for the ministry Mr Harris reputation is really forced on him His work drives him He would quit work today if his friends would let him He is making 5000 a year and has a beautiful home of the Queen Anne style When he got his home built the first thing he did was to buy four foxhound fox-hound puppies and a hive of bees He is now surrounded by Jersey cattle English mastiffs and poultry He absolutely never goes into society Hehas accepted but one invitation to dinner since he has been in Atlanta and that was at the house of his warm friend arid admirer Mr Grady one of the proprietors of the Constitution Joe Harris is loved by his associates and almost revered by the people of Atlanta He would be welcomed wel-comed most heartily at any social gathering gather-ing but his inordinate diffidence is so well understood that he is spared the embarrassment em-barrassment that further invitations implant im-plant lIe is so modest and has so little confidence in his abilities as a writer that every time he receives a letter from one of his publishers he opens it in the full conviction that it is an order for him to quit writing But instead he always finds a check inclosed or a request for more of his stories A short time ago Harris went to New York to see about the illustration of one of his stories Ballard Smith and a number num-ber of the other newspaper men there heard that he was in town They got up a grand banquet for him and a committee com-mittee appointed for the purpose captured him and escorted him to the hotel where the feast was spread As they neared the hostelry it flashed upon the mind of Joe that he was to be made the victim of a dinner party Instantly that he realized re-alized the dreadful situation he broke away leaving his friends petrified with astonishment and ran for the Desbrosses street ferry crossed the river hopped on the first train out and never stopped until un-til he landed in Atlanta He telegraphed for his baggage which of course he left in New York in his wild flight This iso is-o inform his New York friends that Joe is pegging away at his desk in Atlanta grinding out stories at the rate of a mile a minute happy if he can only escape from the kindly attentions of wellmean ing friends |