The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1879-05-29
How n Comet struck the Earth.


About ttheyear 1889 we went to live on
the banks of Rock river in the beautifilll
State of Illinois WDaia
During the early part of that winter,
the first newspaper was printed in the
| little town near our settlement. Ii was
called the Star. My brother wrote some
ambitious verses-chanti1g the praises
of this "Star of our country! Star of
our banner! Bright Star of glory that
shineth afar!"--which were printed
in the first number, and accordingly he
was chosen from among the youth of the
town TO be the printers imp of the Star
office. M a... tJlL- ~
How admired, with just flavor of
envy, his sudden. elevation! used to
peepin at the windows, for l was too
shy to enter by the door, and would
watch the linking of the forms with the
hand-roller of those days. And act
ually came to think my brothers good
looks were improved by the smutch of
ink he habitually wore over his eye or
on his nose! ....s as .i.. :. .
We'll, it was here, hovering about the
SIR office, helping occasionally to wash
the foIms-after l had grown bold
enough 10 go in--and lending band to
| pick up the type, clear away the pi and
sweep out, that had my first dreams of
the life awaiting me in the busy world.
True, there was no fountain of inspira-
ton that flowed for me there, unless it
was the ink fountain of the old Washing
ton press, but my visions were shaped by
an object hanging against one of the
case-.stands; and that was-the foot of
an old boot! .
One day, exploring that dark abyss in
the Star office, found a lot of types that
were only slightly de?aced; and then
came to me the lucky thought that |
could beg these, and pick up enough
more like them to set up by-aud-bye a
printing Office of my own.
No prairie sun flower ever grew so
quickly as that idea, and soon l walked
with my head among the stars. 1t hap
pened, too, just about this time, that
everybody was expecting shower of
meteors, or falling stars" as they were
then called; and although l did not see
them, was constantly thinking about
them and the Star, and trying to work
out in my mind plan for starting my
printing office, and, at length--how the
thought thrilled me-publishing paper
all my own! How should | print it?
What name should give itP My spare
hours were spent in trying to find
answers to these questions. And all
the time that tantalizing old Star was
coming out as regularly as any heavenly
body in its course. My paper must have
IA name taken in some way from the sky !;
but what should it be?
Mean while, no stamp collector ever
worked more diligently in gathering
varieties than l in getting together the
type for my enterprise. The proprietor
of the Scr gave me the contents of
the old boot, and / searched daily the
sweepings OF the office to add TO my
stock. l did "chores" for friendly
carpenter, borrowed his tools, and
finally took him into my confidence.
made type-case by boring in a thick
plank as many holes as there are letters
in the alphabet, with extra holes for
numerals, "spaces," "quads, "points," :"
double letters, etc. made a press by
mai ling 20 the end of a well-seasoned
strip of two-inch oak a piece of hard
wood foot square and an inch thick
The strip of oak was two feet and "A half
long, and the hardwood piece fol med an
upright, the strip, smoothly planed and
leveled. making the bed of Che press. A
cleat." nailed along the upright on its
inner face, furnished fulc,rm, and a
stick four or five feet long was The lever.
You will see presently how this
homemade press was worked.
"Give me the fulcrum," said Archi-
medes, land | will move the world !"
had fulcrum and a lever, and with them
| hoped to lift into existence new body
Of celestial name.
But | was like young bear-my
troubles were all ahead of me. When |
began to set up my battered type,
brought about me very hornets nest
ot diseoura!gemeni.s; Sill I held bravely
on. My .jack-knife was constantly on
n 40 cII
nending the fa, es of the crooked and
perverse little letters. When "sorts." p"
o. pa' ticular kinds of letters failed me.
| had TO reconstruct them entirely, al
ways so far mindful of my "p'sh and
"q's" ms to turn those letters upside
lown when | was short of IDS" and
BIS" | made capital Ifs" with
E's," just hopping off the lower limbs ::
nd il 90" learned 70 cry ''On after |
Nnd cut away its tongue. The sevcrest
strain. however, was TO make two Tvs y
stand for W. Imagine the editorial
ia paper opening with the quotation !.
when, in the course of humans events.
it beromPs.n etc!
/ les | led my little columns of broken
English, un.ii 'hey stood at last in bat
tie array on the bed of my press, which
had been made true with the aid of II
snirit- level. Four hardwood strips
formed the " chase, or frame, in which
he cOlum were locked up " TO COM
plete the form" l had ,wo pages of
two columns each, the size of the page be-
ing three inches and a-half by five inches.
| linked the type with printers ink.
applied by ball made OF buckskin
stuffed with cotton. laid one of my
dampened sheets of printing paper on the
mixed surface, then square of wooden
cloth, then piece of hardwood board
ten inches square, planed smooth and
true, and then, on top of that, another
block half the size. Now came the su-
preme moment. grasped the lever,
fitted it beneath the fulcrum, and
swung myself over the other end!
seemed to sit astride the handle of the
Great Dipper, in this the proudest
moment of my boy life! tel. you,
there is no satisfaction like that which
comes from hard-earned success.
Now was fulfilled my hope to bring
upon earth, by means of my fucrum and
lever, visitant of heavenly title. The
stars. including my own village SSar
might "hide their diminished heads y
For | stood that moment holding in my
hand the first impression of the Comet.
Thus was ushered in, as we solemnly
say of the fourth of July and othel
great events, the first boys newspaper
printed in the Far West" 1t made 6