Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-03-28
A Small Beginning.

and publisher, just issued by Scribner,
Armstrong & Co., we make the follow
ing extract:
M progress in compositorship was at
first slow. l had to feel my way. A
defeci i've adjustment of the lines to a
uniform degree OF tightness was my
greatest trouble, but this was got over.
The art of working my press had next
to be acquired, and in this there was
no difficulty. After an interval Of fifty
years, l recollect the delight l expert
enced in working off my first impress.
dreds of Thousands of sheets pouring
terest being nothing to it'll If the
young and thoughtless could only be
made to know this,-the happiness, the
dignity of honest labor conducted in a
spirit of selfreliance the insignifcence
and probably temporary character OF
untoward circumstances while there is
youth, along with willing heart the
proud satisfaction of acquiring by per-
severing industry instead of by COM
passionate donation,-how differently
would they act
l think there was degree of infatua-
ton in my attachment to that jangling,
creaking, wheeling little press. Placed
at the only window in my apartment,
within few feet of my bed, l could see
its outlines in the silvery moonlight
when l awoke; and there, at the glow
ing dawn, did its figure assume distinct
proportions. When daylight came fully
in, it was impossible to resist the desire
to rise and have an hour or two of exer-
else at the little machine.
With an imperfect apparatus, the exc
cution of my song-booN was far from
good Still, it was legible in the old
ballad and chap-book style, and l was
obliged to b. content. Little by little,
l got through the small volume. 1t was
tedious drugery. With my limited
font, could set up no more than eight
small pages, forming the eighth part of
sheet. Alter printing the first eight,
had TO distribute the letter and set
up the second eight, and so on through
out hundred pages. Months were con-
sumed in the operation. The number
of copies printed was seven hundred
and fifty, to effect which had to pull
the press twenty thousand times. But
labor, as already limited, cost nothing.
l set the types in the intervals of bust
ness, particularly during wet weather,
when thestall could not be put out, and
the press-work was executed late at
night or early in the morning. The
only outlay worth speaking of for the
little volume was that incurred for
paper, which was unable to purchase
in greater quantities than few qui1es
-
able disadvantage in price, but this was
only another exemplication of the old
and too well-known truth; that " the
destruction of the poor is their poverty"
about which it was useless to repine.
When completed, the volume needed
some species of establishment, and
fortune helped me at this conjuncture.
There dwell in the neighborhood poor
but ingenious man, advanced in life,
named Peter Fyfe, with whom l had
already had some dealings. Peter,
short man, in secondhand suit Of
black clothes, and wearing a white
neckcloth, which he arranged in loose
folds so as effectually to cover the breast
OF his shirt, was from the west country.
He had been a weavers reed-maker in
Paisley, but having been unfortunate in
business, he had migrated to Edinburgh
in hope of procuring some kind OF en-
ployment. Necessitous and clever, with
was ready for anything artistic that
might come in his way. Peter did not
want confidence. | am not aware of
any department in the fine or useful
arts of which he would have confessed
himself ignorant. At this period, whom
few knew anything of TYPOGRAPHY, and
he knew nothing at all, he courageously
undertook, in answer to an advertise
ment, to organize and manage a concern
of that kind, and by tact and intuition
gave unqualified satisfaction. Peter was
lust the man | wanted. Although al
together unacquainted with copper
plate engraving, he executed, from the
DIES options / gave him, portrait of the
Black Dwarf for my account of that
singular parsonage; which sketch has
ever since been accepted as authority.
| now applied to this genius for
W pod engraving for my song book, which
he successfully produced, and for few
nette representing some national en-
DI0mS. invested WIFI tA0sO dlITdcllOHS,
the song-book was soon put in boards,
and otherwise prepared for disposal.
sold the whole either in single copies at
shilling, or wholesale to other stall
keepers at a proper reduction, and,
after paying all expenses, cleared about
nine pounds by the transaction.
Nine pounds was not large sum,
but it served an imp .rtant end. was
able to make some additions to my
scanty stock of types, which l procured
from an aged printer with decaying
business. To be prepared for executing
posting bills, cut variety of letters in
wood with chisel and pen-knife. For
such bold headings, therefore, as
4" Notice." " Found" or "Dog Lost" l
was put to no straits worth mentioning.
One of my most successful speculations
was the cutting in wood of the words
4" To Let" in letters four inches long,
an edition Of which disposed of by the
hundred at an enormous profit, to
dealers who sold such things to stick on
the fronts of houses to let.
The Sword Mightier than the Pen.
Richmond editors evidently repudiate
the maxim that "the pen is mightier
than the sword,r and so whenever two