Georgetown weekly news., 1854-10-26
THE PRINTERS SECRET.


"You can take the case," said the fore
man; here is a stick-here is some copy;
and if you would like quiet and steady
partner. you will fnd this gentleman still
enough in all conscience"
The partner merely looked up and
family smiled in acknowledgment of the
foreman's Judgment, and kept on at his
WerS, when the foreman turned away to at
tend to something else.
We worked on steady until dinner, as
we were in a hurry to get the paper up,
without exchanging a word or even look
In the afternoon l had more leisure to study
the physiognomy of my neighbor. He was
q young man of about three or four and
twenty, with handsome features and rath'
er intellectual cast Of countenance. His
face was quite pale, and the raven darkness
of his hair, eyebrows and eyes, made me i'm
mediately come to the conclusion, after thor
oughly studying his physiognomy, that he
was hard student during his leisure hours,
or that, depriving himself of recreation, or
any source of enjoyment, he spent all his
working hours at the case. The latter sur
mise proved correct.
As day after day passed by, | became
more acquainted with him: and | found him
to be singular character. Beneath his
stand he had constructed kind of closet,
which contained a spirit lamp, a mattrass
with bedding, few cooking utensils, and
small stock of the plainest kind of food
When the hour for meals arrived, he would
light his lamp, and putting some food over
it to cook, would work until the rest of the
hands had left the Office; when he would sit
down to his frugal repast. He worked in
cessantly during work hours, hardly leaving
the Office, unless to purchase food, Or upon
some errand of that kind. Morning, noon
and night, when I returned from meals, [
invariably found him at the case, working
away with all his might, as if some great
issue depended upon the improvement Of ev-
cry minute. I suppose he slept upon the
cot which he kept in his closet, but as he
was always at work when [ left at night
and when returned in the morning, could
not positively assert that he did so. | am
not very garrulouS, especially when employed
at the case, and as he would not at first adj
dress me, would not speak to him; so while
the fun and joke were passing around the
/ was not long in discovering that there
was some mystery connected with him, and
that his intense application to labor was not
prompted merely by desire to make mon
ey; for if there is any thing in phrenology,
Judging from the formation of his head he
is the very one / should have selected from
a score for a spendthrift. Occasionally his
cheeks would flush, his eyes light up, and
happy smile overspread his countenance;
then the smile would 60 away, his eyes
would fill with tears while an expression
of sadness almost despair-would seat it.
self on his countenance. have been temp
ted thousand times to ask him the cause
of this, but as he appeared SO cold and iso-
lated, / refrained from doing so, as it is not
pleasant proffering sympathy unsolicited.
well, how do you like your neighbor?"
asked a journeyman of me as we descended
the stairs one evening.
81 can hardly make him out, said l. "he
seems strange sort Of being. You are bet
ter acquainted with him than I; how do you
like him?"
"For my part, | hate him; and what is
more, he has not a friend in the whole office
That fellow has been here for three months.
and he has hardly spoken to any one. A
man who makes such bills as he does, and
boards up his money like a miser, have
very little friendship for. We wouldn't any
OF us care so much if he would be little