San Andreas independent., 1859-08-20

Extract from Poem read before the Sixth Animal
Session of the Ohio Editors and Publishers
at Dayton, by JAMES DUMARs]
knew an editor-twas long ago,
Before the art was blessed by steam or Hoe:
When printers dined on unsubstantial fare,
And nursed their hopes whispers from the air
Grew rich poverty, and stuffed their clay
On airy nothngs-promises to pay.
WE'LL as / said, knew him-a rare fellow
Who kept his own and others natures mellow:
One of those social souls We all enjoy,
Who hold in age the freshness of the boy
Forth came his paper, neatly launched and freghted
And when it came, the village was elated
Ignoring party, in party sense,
Avoiding all that might excite offence,
1t praised the town, its prospects, its advances
It's enterprise, resources, and finances;
1t praised the schools, the teachers so profound,
Until their fame was known for miles around;
1t praised the village parsons eloquence,
His modest bearing, lack of all pretence,
But most his learning and his solid sena: -.
1t praised the DOCTORS as uncommon skilled,
Adding with great sauvty and grace,
Their treatment cured more people than it killed;
1t spoke-and Of its truth some doubts will spring
or honest awyers-an uncom non thing
Who had conscience-an sAcommon case.
In short, 1t praised so well, that people grew
To think that praise merited and due:
1t was his fault, and grew from excess
or aim to please and proft-nothing less;
And had he been to self but half the friend
He was to others, he had met an end
That YOU might safely aim at and commend.
His influence was felt the towns fair fame
With all who read his paper found name:
Enjoyed its quiet and its heathful air;
The artists came and sketched such charming scenes
That they were sought to grace the magazines
And thlther, too, came men of enterprise
Blocks rose on blocks, and mills and factories
Hotels paatial and stores that Wed
With those on Broadway or along Cheapside.
In brief, the town. that ere the printer came
Had scarce "a local habitation or a name"
As though twere touched by magic, grew to be
An inland city: but-how fourished he?
Come with me, up three flights of stairs, and there
In dingy daylight and lead poisoned air.
Beside his desk he sits his hair has grown
Gray with the fecks that time and care have sown:
Ar19nd Ar's him lie exchanges, scraps, and clippings,
Half written leaders, local puffs and sippings
OfPUNCH-y humour; manuscripts rejected,
From geniuses who think themselves neglected:
Obituary verses full of gloom
And doleful voices from doefu tomb
Lines to Lady" from Mister Dash,
Who's desperately in love with-his moustache
A sentimental song about sea-shells,
Writ by moping melancholy she,
Who would be married, though her face yet smells
Or bread-and-butter and the nursery;
An eulogy on General Blanks Grafton
Delivered offhand at the late ovation,
And which suggests by way of mere reflection,
He should be honoured with reelection
Modest requests, which hope he'll not refuse
To notice this or that in next weeks NEWS;
bunch of bad cigars, that some sends,
Expecting thrice their value in "local
Unopened invitations from his friends,
Asking his presence at a concert vocal,
Or at a lecture, party, hop, or ball.
At such date please menton) and such hail.
Novels and books not worth decent rating,
Sent out-they send few others but for cash
By eastern firms who take that way of batting
The country press to advertise their trash
In short, hundred things by men devised
TO get their baubles cheaply advertised
There, patient toiler ever at his work,
Himself his foreman, publisher and clerk,
He laboured hard-few men had laboured harder
Grew lean in person, leaner in his larder;
And still he toiled, from dawn TO twilight gray,
The first OF men to court-THE LAST PAY
Some said that he rch--it might be true,
Provided that you Teckoned what was due;
But this his friends both said and knew
His wants were many, but his dimes were few.
His paper-bills came in, which MUST be paid,
So to denquents he appealed for aid:
He would take pork, potatoes, corn, oats,
Axe-heves or hooDpoles, or at worst, their notes;
In short take anything they have to pay,
Provided it was brought by such day.
And thus he turned short-corners always pressed,
sad example of Pope's sagest saw,
'Man never is, but always to be blessed"
The victim of a fate that knows no law.
Beset by butchers, by his baker teased,
By creditors beseiged by baffs squeezed,
He yielded slowly. in the desperate >trlfe,
His dingy office and his troubled life,
And gave to quiet earth and modest stones
His many virtues and his aching bones.