§ 195 A Wholesale Order
The late Sam Davis, editor of the Carson Appeal, was known as the Oracle of the Nevada sage-brush. Once upon a time he was instructed by the San Francisco Examiner to meet Mme. Sarah Bernhardt at Reno and bring her over the mountains of California on her first tour of the Western Slope.
Davis was a most likable person. The great French actress became so fond of him that thereafter she declined to be interviewed by any other newspaperman during her sojourn on the Coast. If she had anything to say for publication, he said it for her.
The day came when the train bearing her private car was about to start on the long journey back East. As the locomotive bell was ringing, she put her hands upon his shoulders, kissed him upon either cheek, and then squarely upon the mouth, remarking, as she did so,
“The right cheek for the Carson Appeal, the left for the Examiner, the lips, my friend, for yourself.”
“Madam,” said Davis, without the slightest sign of bashfulness, “I also represent the Associated Press, which serves 380 papers west of the Mississippi River.”