Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-05-29
The Old Printer.

And so the old printer was dead. OF
course, when man, has been sticking
type until his Head is winter than rag
paper, and he counts the years of his
work by the boxes in the lower case,
you expect him to turn his rule almost
any day. And yetthe empty. case at the
old mans window looked terribly lone
some, next day. A great many times
that day the boys, who were unusually
quiet, looked over at his case. and won
Tered if the Old man wouldn't miss it,,
and the high stool. and his old stick and
the big solemn looking spectacles he
used to wear. OF course he'd get along.
but for so many years those things had
been his daily companions, the boys
wondered if the old man might not miss
them just a little bit, at first. l think
indeed, that Slug Seven said: ''We'd
ought to OF sent them with him; we
could of buried them with the old man,
anyhow he said You see. Slug Seven
was a good printer and good man,
but he used TO work on a sage brush
and alkali paper down in New Mexico
and out in Arizona. and he had whole
brain full of 'heathenish Indian ideas.
He wanted the boys to put on subs that
night, SO the regulars could 90 out to
the cemetery bone- yard,' Slug Seven
called it, and burn the stool, case. and
tile old shoes that served for the old
mans private hcll-boX, on the old print
er's grave.
The old man had been on the paper
longer than any of us. He used to shake
his head when the boys stopped at the
stone to jeff before they went down
stairs. k'.'Twun't do, fellows" he would
say; give been there, and l know
Night of the 9th of November, 1914, 1
came into this town blin'. not cent
in my pocket, and enough tamarack in
my head to get me a nights lodgin',
and slept in the cellar that night with
my legs on the ground, my back on a
bundle Of paper and my head ION an
ink-keg. And the next day T caught on
to this very case, and l says: ''How
long can keep this job, boss?" And
the old man looked at me, and he was
lookin' at the raggedest, ornariest
tramp-printer that ever struck him for
grub-stake, and he said: Long rs you
stay sober, young fellow" And he
kept his word. and here I've been ever
since, and where's all the boys that
started even with me and away ahead
Of me- 1t don't pay. young fellows
There's beer down stairs and there ice
water in the pail in the corner. One
costs money and tothef'sa free; one
makes tramp-printers and 'tother saves
en-. Stick TO the saloon in the cool
corner. fellows, drink 1t the sign of. the
tin dipper, and you'll have eyes and
nerves to stick type when you're sew
enty." $50
Somehow the boys always enjoyed the
old mans homely little temperance
lectures, and in the forty years he stood
ct that case and preached, if he wasn't
quite so eloquent as Cough, every now
and then he coaxed some typo away
from the sign of the glass mug to the
sign of the tin dipper. And sometimes.
the old man used to stumble little
himself, but that. was king ago. He
would be gone a day or two. and come
back very quietly, very penitent, and
very o5livious to the occasional. re-
marks of mysterious character who
would drift up and down the alleys.
But this didn't often ,happen, because
the boys always nked'Sh old man,ahd
folt sorry for hin. and. they respected