Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1854-03-01
VALUE OF THE PRESS.


ped his paper. His subscribers were all in ar
rears and he resolved, in the most positive man
ner, that he would give the people no more Of
the products of his brain until he had received
some of the products of their farms, or, if that
was not convenient, the cash instead. lie hap
pened to own patch of ground, and very qui-
etly took up the shovel and the hoe, and with
his "devil," went to work raising his grub"
while waiting the decision of the towns peo-
ple
Great was the excitement in the town where
the paper was stopped. The maids and matrons
didn't know who was married and who had died
in the neighboring towns; the farmers got no
news respecting the crops in other sections Of
the country, and sold off their produce at much
lower prices than they nigh: have commanded;
the manners and morals of the people de!eriora-
ted the children grew up much less intelligent
than formerly, and the people got completely in
the fog on all the prominent questions of the
day.
The inhabitants of the town were like those
of some islands, Block Island, for instance, cut
off from frequent communication with the world
and when one of them tackled up his team and
drove 10 neighboring town to trade, he gener-
ally came back with his head filled with rdicu-
lous reports respecting the affairs of this and
other nations, which had been told him by mis-
chievous persons who knew that the paper had
stopped for want of pay, and that the people
would not subscribe for city papers, whose terms
were invariably cash in advance"
When one of the " solid men" Of this village
had been over to the country to attend court, or
sell his wheat, on his return the village was
generally thrown into u commotion Of rumor
of war impending on the frontier or between
the United States and England, until somebody
paying visit to the village would disabuse the
good of the error that had been imposed on
them, and not unfrequently laugh at them for
their credulity. Their only excuse was that
their paper had stopped, and this excuse the bet
ter portion were ashamed to give.
Frequently when some of the men Of the
village passed by the editors. homestead, and
saw him leaning over the fence, watching the
growth of his corn and potatoes, they would
ask in tones almost indignant when he intended
to start the paper again!
His only reply was, when the old subscri-
bers pay up"
| The old subscribers were rather stuffy about
! the NATTER" as a venerable dame expressed it.
They thought hard to be obliged to pay for
paper when they had only subscribed at first to
give the enterprise a start,-only TO encourage
the editor and publisher and so they resolved to
endure the priva,ion as long as possible.
Matters were, however, brought to crisis
by the following circumstance. The deacon Of
the village church (Which by the way, was not
SO well attended after the paper was suspended)
came home one day from the country town, u
place of considerable size, and announced that
Thanksgiving festival was to be on Thursday Of
the next week. The farmers killed all their fat
poultry on the first of the next week, and start
ed off to market, while their good wives rolled
up their sleeves and went to work at making
mince pies. The young men bought dancing
pumps and engaged fiddler, and the girls sat
up onights to make dresses for the Thanksgiv-
ing ball.
| Great was the surprise and chagrin of all the
inhabitants of the village to learn on the return
Of the farmers from the market that the deacon
had been grossly humbugged, and that the
Thanksgiving festival would not come off until
another week. They had been obliged to sell
their poultry in the county town at great
sacrifice, and would be compelled to wear their
old Sunday coats another year in consequence.
The women of the village sat up great clam
or, and at length their husbands, ashamed Of
their conduct, called public meeting and voted
to invite the editor to lay down the shovel and
the hoe" and resume the publication Of the pa
per- They paid up their arrearages and for the
next year in advance, and many who had de-
pended on their neighbors for their reading sub
scribed for copies for themselves, so the editors
| list of subscribers was increased and all of them
became in reality patrons of his sheet The
people of the village are happy once more, and
each Thanksgiving festival reminds them to re-
new their advanced payments for the village pa
per. Boston Herald.