Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1855-11-07
THE OLD VILLAGE PRINTING
OFFICE.
BT H. ,. TAYLOR.

But The old village had nc hot Is /; on
ly two houses of entertainment. One was
"Up street." and that was an inn, 50.
and SOS inn the other was :" down
street." and that was a stage house, the
stage house where, once a dav, the yell
low, mud bespauered stage rocked up
and brought 10, and the well-conditioned
bonifice came shuffling out from the gra-
ted corner in the bar-room. ike an over
fed old Tpder, opened the stage coach
door and let out the hungry passengers.
They were away hungry when they got
there, for breakfast was Just ready for
south IN mi rants, and dinner for north.
ern but then the landlord was not an
old spider, but very josi pleasant sort
of man, who made every body feel as
much at home as he was. and nothing
more home-like could be imagined, and
so, very well to-do did he get, at two
shillings a meal.
So much for he old village, for here
we are, just now passing an orchard, and
there, with broader phylactery of tan
bark, is the printing Office. whence was
issued weekly in olden- times, the Black
River Gazette The office, low, white
building. once tcnanted by lawyer, who
had gone up to higher court than any
they have organized yet on earth, stood
next the church. So hey were, for once,
sideby side, the pulpit and the press !;
and nobody has learned to turn out such
enginery from forge and foundry, even
to this day. We enter; there is INK on
the door, thc print OF five small fingers.
Incline your ear, delicate reader, it is
the devils! Not he who wears but one
boot, and is d sagreeably r"dolent OF
birthstone, but the begrimed urchin in
shirt sleeves, just creeping through the
broken picke;s of the orchard fence, with
apples in each hand, and one in his
mouth, followed in his flight by some
thing bearing a striking resemblance to a
brick bat.
But here we are. The walls are cob
webbed and dusty the windows are cur.
tanned with newspapers; ; very dim Ian
tern to hold great deal Oflight. Click,
click the footsteps OF type, and there in
the corner is the editor, publisher, pro-
riietor and printer setting up an ed
itoral from a verv queer old case. Click,
click there's pale young man, busy
with death" d red, and so lie
goes slowly on as though he were actually
following the bier. But then death
was veiy rare thing, rery rare in the
village, and round IN the woods, and ii
was worth pond, ring over. True, every
body knew it already, but it must go in
to the paper, nevertheless, for there Was
somebody or other, that had gone out in
10 the " Genesee country" that had low
ed the living, and so the paper must fol-
low him away there, if it could, that he
might mourn the dead.
Wonderful decorations they are upon
the walls 4; what marvellous borders ia
the handbills; what wonderful "Selims, -
: that the man with a short coat and long
whip, could hardly hold; ; what "greaI
: sales of small articles what gay coach
es, riding on the top of cloud, foul in
hand all running away, and the "nine in
side as merry as Punch.
But not a picture Of a railroad. or a
reaper, or steamboat. a strange office
in those old days.
But there in further corner stands a
square frame of heavy timber, like a
huge loom. It's loom, such as they
wove thought on it is the old "Ramag'
Press" Its huge lever, its lazy platen,
its Ponderous tympan, its gr at ink balls,
lis creaking, groaning mechanism-therc
It stands in all its rudeness, the greatest
triumph of this or any other age. a
pair of tin sockets swung up by wire
above the dingy engine. bearing each a
, brief candle, were the Castor and Pol
lux OF the place. In the corner, in the
dark, stood solitary keg of ink not a
great way off, four reams Of a very gray
ish blue paper, but then the proprietor
was passing rich at less than for.y
pounds year. 1t is publication day,
and editor, pale apprentice, and dingy
, devil are in an active state of unrest. The
editor writes, and says we," and :" oul
: readers he has two hundred and fifty
and then The printer sets type, and ther
' the publisher looks over the :" form, " ant
] then the pres sman places it on the press
and then comes the tug ofwar.' 1t j:
pull and repeat, pull again and again re-
/ peat, and the - inside" comes off, shee
alter sheet, with the gravity Of SO many
elephants the candles get briefer anl
r DINNER, but the two hundred an tiflie.l
+ is OF at last, and they all, editor, pub
b Usher. printer and pressman get into th'
!, same coat and beneath the same hat, ant