St. Landry democrat., 1884-06-28
The Travelling Type-settins.

| He walked silently in. We knew him
the moment we raised our eyes and saw
him standing there. In fact we had
| been expecting him he nearly always
comes when we are in just such a
straight and needing him. He always
wears the same style of clOthes-cOat of
one kind and pants OF another, he hasn't
any vest, his shoes are worn and run
down at the heels, and his hat is bat
tered and dusty. There are spots of
| ink about his shirt which hangs DER his
waist band, and his new paper collar is
the only fresh, white thing about him,
and=it looks as though he had just put it
on with soiled fingers. He is pale,
weak-eyed, and pTematurely gray
haired he looks as though he had new
er known regular hours, either for
sleeping or eating, and he must have
come thousands of miles and been COM
ing ever since he was boy. His start
ing point was so far away, and so long
ago, that he has almost forgotten when
or where it was; but we have an idea
that it must have been when his mother
white boyish throat, put on his little
straw hat and sent him barefooted to
ask for place to work in the printing
Office. How proud he was when he
went home that first night and showed
his new brass rule and tells mother he
has learned all the boxes and has free
ticket to the circus next week, and the
editor gave him big piece OF wedding
cake, a part of which he has brought
home for the baby. and if he sets up
column in one day hext week he can go
fishing on Saturday. Yes somewhere
about there was tho commencement of
his long journey, and here he is now,
perhaps tsF8-8hirds op the way, He
asks us "Whats the show for sit z"
We give him case, and by and by he
says he feels faint, and asks us If we
can't lend him quarter, he hain't had
any breakfast yet. We know his weak
ness, and, as we need his work, we go
with him and order some breakfast for
him at the nearest restaurant. When
he comes back he looks happier and
better able to work. In the evening
whed he goes to distributing his case,
he recounts the history of his last places
of employment. He knows the circu-
lation and amount of business of every
paper in the State, and just why the
Dispatch suspended, and why the Adj
vance sold out to the Courier. He. is
well acquainted with the unknown edi
tUE OL III0 i 1HuHu6ICLS anu 4ldS lA1OuuS
on the editorial force of all the leading
journals of the country. By-and-by he
whistles low an air from the Italian
Opera, and in reply to question an
swers with a Latin quotation. He stays
with us week and we grow to like him
more and more every day he has read
everything from Shakespeare and Rus
kin to Mark Twain and Bill Arp, he
knows more about our laws, national
and State, than the best lawyer in the
city /; he is well acquainted with the
lives of every eminent person of the
age, and is a perfect encyclopedia of
current events;but we cannot afford to
keep him any longer, so pay him off and
he again starts on his long road that |
Ieads-not to home, for he has none /;
not to the society of intelligent people
ike himself, for outside of the printing
efice he is unknown; maybe back to
on some citv daily, or, if
90 worn and old for that, rapid des-
cent from one country Office to another,
With whisky and laudanum for COM
1aniOns to an unmarked grave by some
onely wayside.