and artful dodger in general, Thorpe
belongs to a class
of newspaper men were 
very large in the north, now almost
extinct � persons utterly without any
ability or qualification for their vo-
cation, beyond the capacity of string-
ing together dislocated and inconclu-
sive sentences � and venal in all
their motives.   Now we have no
end of scoundrels � there�s little im-
provement in that item � but rogues
with ability; they have shouldered
the fogies on one side.   Well, Thorpe
drifted into New Orleans journalism,
wrote for extinct papers and �was
largely instrumental in introducing
the present school system into Louis-
iana� � he says.    He got an office,
too; I don�t know whether he didn�t 
go to Congress.      He wrote for
Porter�s Spirit of the Times, sport-