Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-09-29
How the Late Henry ]. Raymond Be-
came an Editor.

How the Late Henry ]. Raymond Be-
came an Editor.
| lMr. Raymond had good right to
suppose that the events Of his life
were destined to have a permanent
interest to his countrymen. His ca
reer, though brief, was a very brilliant
one, and gave promise of the most ex-
alted civic hOnors. We are not sur
prised, therefore, to learn that among
his papers was found the commence
ment of an autobiography, which,
though like most autobiOgraphies, is
only fragment, happily gives details
of that period of his life usually least
accessible to the biographer. In read
ing this brief memorial of Mr.. Ray
mOndis early struggles with the world
our readers will feel new respect for
the talent and energy by which be
/ triumphed, and those who are begin
ming life under similar disadvantages
will derive from his example and sue
cess fresh encouragement.
graduated in August, 1840-and,
/ though / could not vote, spent the
next two months in "stumping" the
/ immediate vicinity of my native town
/ for ''Tippeeanoe and Tyler too.n After
the election L trayersed the same
region in search of a select school to
teach, and it was only upon the down.
fall Of all such hopes and in despair of
| finding anything 10 do there, that /
''hied" to New York city, of which /
| had heard, but which 1 had never
seen but once, and in which knew
but one human being, and he a stu
dent in lawyers Office in Wall street.
l had once seen Mr.. Greeley, in the
Journal office in Albany-while on
my way home for the vacation aftef.
the college commencement in 1888. I
had stopped in to inform the editor,
as piece of news, that the college
had conferred the degree of LII. D.
upon Silas Wright. 1 found Mr..
Weed and Mr.. Greeley both there
both hard at work, and both greatly
disgusted at the bestoWal of such an
honor upon so notorious a LocOfoeo.-
The thing had not struck me in that
light before, but / began to be little
ashamed of having supposed 1 should
do them a favor by giving them a
piece of news which pleased them so
little. But I had sent a good many
literary contribntions-mainly eriti-
cal, though some las then thought)
.poetic,-tO the New Yorker; and I
Therefore felt at liberty, on my arrival,
in December, 1910, to call upon Mr..
Greeley and ask him if he did not
want an assistant. He said no, he
had just engaged one, a young man
from Pennsylvania But he readily
assented to my request that 1 might
be at the Office whenever / chose, in
return for which promised to help in
anything which might turn up in
which l could be of assistance. And
L did L forthwith advertised in the
Washington Intelligencer for a school
in the South, and while awaiting re-
plies arranged to "study law" in
down town lawyers Office. But l
was at the New Yorker Office every
day, and somehow or other a good
deal of the work fell into nv hands,
l added up election returns, read the
exchanges for news, and discovered a
good deal which others had over
looked; made brief notices of new
books, read proof and made myself
generally useful. At the end of about
three weeks / received the first reply
to my advertisement, offering me a
school of about thirty scholars in North
Carolina. l told Mr.. Greeley at once
that should leave the city the next
morning. He asked me to wall, with
him to the POstOffiee, whittier he al
ways went in person to get his letters
and exchanges, and on his way in
quired where was going. told him
70 North Carolina to teach q school
He asked me how much they would
pay me. I said, $4OO a year. "Oh,"
said he, ''stay here'-"I'l give you
that" And this was my first engage
ment on the press, and decided the
whole course of my life.
1 at once settled down to work.
There was not, as Mr.. Greeley said,
very much to do on the New Yorker,
though believe / did my share of
what there was. But extended nv
sphere of operations considerably. /
secured what 1 deemed a first-elass
engagement, to write daily a fancy
advertisement Of some vegetable pills
which had just been invented. and
which were to be commended TO pub-
lie favor every morning in the daily
journals by being ingeniously eonnec-
ted with some leading event of the
day-fOr which service, which cost me
perhaps ten minutes of daily labor. /
received the sum of tifty cents. L was
fortunate enough next to get a Latin
class in an uptown seminary. And |
l sent proposals for New York CORES !
pondenee to a great variety of news |
papers, daily and weekly, throughout |
the country, several of which were |
eOnfiding enough to close with nv
Among the dailies for |
which l thus engaged were the Phila- /
delphia Standard, edited by r. w. |
whom l had known in Ver- |
mont, and was always my friend; the |
Cincinnati Chronicle, edited by Z. ID. |
now for some years the |
Veteran Observer" !" of the New York /
Times; the Bangor Whig and the |
Buffalo Commercial Advertiser. edited !
by D. FOOte, whom in after years 1 |
came to know, and of course to esteem.
as did all who knew him. A daily |
letter for each of these papers, with |
my law studies, my Latin class, my |
work on tie New Yorker, kept my |
leisure reasonably well employed, and |
gave me fair income, aS none of these |
journals paid me less than S. week,
and one or two of them paid me So.
l picked up now and then instrue-
tive hints during my studies of New
York life. While walking down
one afternoon, before had
begun to earn much money, fell into
the wake of a tall, handsome, splen-
didly dressed young man, displaying
himself In all the luxury of white kids
and diamond studs, to the general ad-
miration. l faneied him one of the
nabobs of the town, and fell into a
train of wondering thought as to how
he had probably reached his present
height of dazzling splendor. OF course
could not wholly fOrbear contrasting
my own position with his, though
witAaut any feelings of special envy.
The next day, Mr.. Greeley asked me
to go to the office of POrter's Spirit of
the Times, then in Barclay street, and
get him a copy of the paper. While
at the desk, the door opened
and my magnificent friend of the day
before sailed in. He walked into the
back part Of the Office, took off, folded
and put away his white gloves, hung
up his hat and coat, put on an ink
stained linen jacket and set himself
OusiIy to work lVritiRg 1Vrdppers. 1
felt decidedly encouraged as to the
prospects Of New York life.
Delaware is a small state. and is
growing smaller. The Delaware en-
eroaehes upon it from ten to twenty
ieet every year, and the sites of houses