Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-12-02
OUR BIRTHDAY.
The HOnored Founder o the Gazette
Sends Greeting to the Office.
sIxty-secOnd Birthday OF an
ArkausaW Newspaper
VIM. L. Woodruff; Sr.
Little Rock Gazette. ial

Little Rock Gazette, sal
Sunday morning, Dir. Dean Adams,
proprietor of The Gazette, received a
magnificent collection OF flowers, beau
tifully interviewer and spread upon a
waiter. On one side a card lying on
the floral presentation was the inscrip-
ton, Compliments to Mr.. Dean
Adams, proprietor Of The Arkansaw
Gazette and on the other side was
written the following: November
20, 1881. Best wishes to The Gazette
from its original proprietor, William
L. Woodruff, ST."
Yes, Sunday was the Gazette's six
ty- second birthday. Sixty-two years
ago the founder Of this paper, an en-
terprising boy, landed at Arkansas
Post, a small trading point on the
Arkansas river. Few men, OF even
few boys, would have thought Of es-
tablishing a newspaper at such a place,
A few rude cabins and a few rude in
habitants composed the town. A
deep wilderness, whose waving
branches made shadow here and sun
light there;" a long, yellow sheeted
strip Of water splashed by the fat
boatman's oar or lightly dipped by
the Indians fragile paddle; the howl
Of tho wolf and the cry Of the panther
at night-such was the neighborhood
Of tho place when William Il. Wood
ruff established the Arkansas Ga.
zitte. The first issue appeared
with the sun. No carrier boy threw it
over into door yards; no skulking
thief stole it from doorsteps; no law
yer in dressing-gown and slippers sat
by the dining room stove reading its
foreign dispatches. Laying aside his
ak, the woodman sat on a log aud read
tho first issue Of the curious little pa
per. The trader sat on his deer skins
and perused the vigorous lines, and
the Indian, with grunt Of surprise,
wondered why the sudden introduc-
OF 'specked" paper should so claim
the white mans attention. The young
editor, vigorous in mind and body, ad-
vanoed the spirited Improvement. The
Post began to grow. immigration was
attracted by the voice Of The Gazette.
The paper grew. The editor bent him
selfto study. His articles attracted at.
tention in the States. When the esp
ital of the territory was removed from
Arkansaw Post to Little Rock, Mr..
! Woodruff followed the seat Of govern
ment. The paper was, from time to
time, enlarged, until it became a pow
err in the land. When Arkansaw was
admitted into the Union, the Gazette
was the acknowledged organ cf the
State. Just before the war, Major
Woodruff retired from the paper, an
old man, rich in experience,
with a large fortune, and
with the gold Of all riches
a large and prosperous family
Now, the old gentleman, in his
eighty-ifth year, is a patriarch indeed,
With firm step he still treads the path.
way of life. he has e e nearly all o.
his early acquaintance 60 into the
cemetery. Old graves here and therl
old slabs aud Wondering mounds
to him are the monuments of time
honored association. He regards Tit
Gazette as one of his children-as hi
Oldest child. 1t would not be in tn
order of nature for him to wines
many more birthdays of this early off
spring. A man is near his God a
eighty FIVE. But there will be no darl
clouds when the last night comes
The stars will shine and the mOol
will smile.
The young proprietor returns thank
to the Old for his floral remembrance
That vigorous life infused into TIL
Gazette in its little log Office, ava
down the river, is still remembered b
the old sheet, though she is higher u
the stream. Now, in the days Of pros
perity, when its readers number ten
Of thousands, The Gazette, who's
strength is greater and greater as tn
years roll on, looks back with pride
the nobility Of its origin.