Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1851-03-19


did before. No, sir, all the minds that ever
lived wouldn't weigh an ounce troy"
"Then how do you print thoughts :"
asked. "lf minds are Thin as air, and ,ho'ts
thinner still, and make no noise, and have
no substance, shade, or color, and are like
the winds, and, more than the winds, are
anywhere in moment; sometimes in hea-
ven, and sometimes on earth, and in the wa
ters under the earth, how can you get hold
of them? how can you see them when caught
or show them to others?"
Ezekiel's eye grew luminous with a new
idea, and pushing his ink-roller proudly a.
cross the metallic page Of his newspaper, he
replied,
"Thought work and walk in things whs.
make tracts; and we take them tracts and
stamp them on paper, or iron, wood, stone,
or what not. That is the way we print
thoughts. DONE you understand"
The pressman let GO the lever, and look
ed interroga.ively at Ezekiel, beginning at
the patch on his stringless brogans, and fol-
low up with his eve to the top Of the boys
brown paper buff cap. Ezekiel comprehen-
ded the felicity of his illustration, and wip-
ing his hands on his tow apron, gradually
assumed an attitude Of earnest exposition.
gave him an encouraging wink, and so he
went on.
"Though,s make tracts," he continued
impressively, as if evolving a new phase Of
the idea by repeating il slowly. Seeing we
assented to this proposition enquiringly, he
stepped TO the ,ype-case, with his eye fixed
very admonishingly upon US. ''Thoughts
make tracts" he repealsp, arranging in his
hand a score or two Of metallic slips, "and
with these here letters we Can take an exac.
impression Of every thought, that ever went
out Of the heart Of a human being; and we
can print it ,oo," giving the linked form a
blow with his fist, "we can print il too, give
US paper and ink enough, till the round earth
is 6lanketed around with a coverlid Of
thoughts as much like the pattern as two
peas" Ezekiel seemed TO grow an inch at
every word, and the brawny pressman look
ed first at him then al the press with evident
astonshment "Talk abou, the minds liv-
ing forever - exclaimed the boy, pointing
palronzingly at the ground, as if mind were
lying there incapable Of Immortality until
the printer reached i, a helping hand, "why
the world is brimful of live, bright, indus
lrious thou hts which would have been dead,
as dead as a stone, if it hadn't been for boys
like me, who have run the ink rollers. In
mortality indeed, why peoples minds,'' he
continued, with his Imagination climbing
into the profoundly sublime, 'speople's
minds wouldn't be immortal, if 'lwasn'l for
the printers-at any rate, in this here plane
tary burying ground. We are The chaps
what manufacture Immortality for dead
men," he subjoined, sIapping the pressman
graciously on the shoulder. The latter took
II as if dubbed a kngh. of the legion of hon
or, for the boy had put The mysteries of his
profession in sublime apocalypse. "Give us
one good healthy mInd," resumed Ezekiel,
"to think for US, and we will furnish doz-
en- worlds as big as this with thoughts to
order. Give us such man, and we will
insure his life; we will keep him alive for
ever among the living. He sham. die nor
sleep. We will keep his mind a. work on
all the minds that live on the earth, and all
the minds that shall come to live here as
long as The world stands.''
'Ezekiel," asked in a subdued tone Of
reverence, twill you print my thoughts .oo?"
''Yes, that WILL" he replied, ''if you will
think some Of the right kind"
Yes that he WILL" echoed The pressman.
And ! went home and thought, and Eze-
kiel has printed my ".hought tracts" ever
since.