The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1860-05-24

The Journeyman Printers Secret

The Journeyman Printers Secret.
GoU can take this case said the
foreman; "hcrc is Il stick-herc is some
copy; and fyou like Il quiet and steady
partner, you'll find this gentleman still
enough in all conscience"
The "partner merely looked up and
iaintly y smiled in acknowledgment OF
the tOrcman's compliment, and kept on
with his work, while the foreman turn
ed away to attend to something else.
We worked on steadily until dinner
time, as we were in Il hurry to get
the paper up, without exchanging a
word, or even look,
In the afternoon had leisure to study
the physiognomy Of my neighbour,
He waSa young man Of about three or
four and twenty, with handsome tea.
lures, and rather an intellectual cast OF
countcnancc. His face WAS quite pale,
and the raven darkness Of his hair,
eyebrows and eyes, made me immcdi
atcly come to the conclusion, after tho.
roughly studying his physiognomy,
that he was u hard student during his
leisure hours, or that, dcprivng himself
Of the recreation ofbOols OrOthcr sour.
ccs Of enjoyment, he spent all his work,
ING hours at the case, The latter sup
position time proved correct,
AS day by day passed by, | became
more acquainted with him; and found
him to be a singular character, Be
meath his stand he had constructed Il
kind Of closet, which contained Arjrit-
lamp, II mattraSS with bedding, few
cooking utensils, and Il small stock OF
the plainest kind Of food. When the
hour ormeals arrived, he would light
his lamp,and putting some food over it
to cook, would work until the rest oI
the hands had left the office, when he
would sit down to his frugal rcpa5t.-
He worked necessarily during the wor.
king hours, hardly leaving the office
unless to purchase food, or upon some
crrand Of that kind. Morning, noon and
night, when returned from my meals
invariably found him at the case, wor.
king away with all his might, rs iisomc
great issue depended upon thcimprovc.
mcnt Of every minute, ] suppose he
slept upon the cot which he kept in hi,
closet; but as he was always at work
when lett at nj. Int, and when return
ed in the morning, | could not positive
ly assert that he did so. | am not very
garruious, especially when employed al
the case, and rs he would not at first ad
dress me, would not speak to him SC
while the fun and jokes were passcc
around the ether cases, we were as 81
lent as the grave. was not long in dis
covering that there was some mystery
connected with him, and that his intense
application to labor was not prompted
merely by desire to make money fol
itthcrc is anything in phrcnOlogy, from
the formation of his head, he was tn,
very one whom | would have selected
from score for n spcndthritt. Occa
sionaIIy his check would flush, his eyes
light up, and Il smile ovcrsprcad hi.
features then the smile would go away
his eyes would fill with tears, Will,
an expression of sadncss-almost dc5
pair--would seat itself upon his countc
nance. had been tempted a Thousand
times to ask him the cause of this, but
as he appeared so cold and isolated,
rciraincd from doing so, rs it is not
pleasant protlering sympathy unaskec
tor.
"Well, how do you like your neigh
borl' asked one Of the journcymcn oI
me, as we were descending the stair:
one day.
81 can hardly make him out" said !
"he appears to be strange sort of be
ing. You are better acquainted will
him than how do you like him."
"For my part, 1 hate him; and wha
is more, he has not Il friend in the Who'll,
Office, The fellow has been here three
months, and has hardly spoken to any
one. A man who makes such bills al
he does, and boards up all his money
like miscr, have very little friend
ship for. We wouldn't, any Of us, care
much ifhe would be lttlo sociable, ant
spend dollar, even dime, occasional
ly; but no-evcry five cent he hangs OF
! to as if he was afraid the eagle on i