4-22-10
(To the first annual special edition of the Courier-Post, published April 29, 1908, Mr. Clemens sent the following little personal note, which shows that he started work as a printer's apprentice in the old Courier office when but 14 years of age):
"To the Editor of the Courier-Post.
"Dear Sir:--Next spring it will be 59 years since I became an apprentice in the Courier office under Joseph P. Ament, along with William T. League, Waleo McCormick and a Palmyra lad named Dick Rutter. Two of the group still survive, viz, the Courier and the undersigned. Surreptitlonely and uninvited, I helped to edit the paper when no one was watching; therefore I was a journalist. I have never been wholly disconnected from journalism since; therefore, by my guess, I am dean of the trade in America.
"I hope the Courier will long survive me, and remain always prosperous. Truly yours,
MARK TWAIN."
