Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-08-07
JOB B-WORK.
the Old Printer.
RY RI. RuRDETTE.

| boy. Long before any one now In Office
| had . ..sitn in newsroom, press-roOm.
the business office or sanctums and be.
fore the old man had begun to look out
at the world through spectacles and his
figure was as straight as it was tall,
the typos and the reporters used to
hear great deal Of talk about buying
lot and building q house out on the
hill, where he could have o patch Of
garden. And by and by he was going
to quit sticking type type az and E Est int, into
home nights and get acquainted with
his family. And the suit OF clothes he
bought in the fall lasted long way
into the winter, and the old man
ssrushedn more than he ever di0 again
while that dream OF home was inspir-
ing him, 1t Is an old story, this strug-
gle of printer to get home; any one
of these restless mariners Of the land,
drifting from port to port and back
again, lured by the ignis fatuusto OF SO
many cents more thousand and q
price and a half after oo'clock. and big
bills with four OF five nights work.
Never a wandering "jour" printer got
q chance to stand at the old mans case
while he was saving money for house
and lot, and the subs looked at him
with the despairing glances Of starva-
ton. HUT 1t Is hard, uphill work for
a printer to buy home. His pay IL
easily reduced and hardly raised; y
long strike means the road for him,
and If he has family and can't tramp,
he breaks his heart, puts dust on his
head, and goes out Of the union and
wearily works at the bosses rates.
So the old man worked bravely on,
as many q printer has worked before
aud since his time, and the little plant
in the bank began to grow brighter as
the old clothes grew shabbier. ~
And the boy, growing into his tenth
year, used to be seen in the office after
school, standing at his tall fathers ell
bow, learning In a very irregular, boy.
ish. unapprenticed fashion. with a
The old man intended the boy should
be printer. And he was SO proud of
him and his standing at school. And
once the boy wrote ten line account
of boy falling down stairs, that a
good-natured reporter cent in Just as
It came, although IL was a dull day
and the scribe wanted awfully to make
1t a column and put on . hanging
head. And the old man sent marked
copies of that paper to every soul he
knew in this world. ll@ sessst
But one day an unLidden guest came
home from school with the boy aud sat
down by the hearthstone in the old
mans rented home And the long
days of fever and DOCTORS bills drew
out nearly all that little home bank
account. and one black day the old
mans case was empty and the busi-
Iless office told the undertaken. that all
his bills must be paid there and he
musn,tstaherany money from the old
man. And pale, quietand sad looking
old and worn, was the printer who ,
came next day and took his old place
at the case.
The types didn't click very fast In
that alley for days after kElsat. And
sometimes the printers face would be
lying on the boxes in his folded arms,
and how pathetic looking The ehalfflljed
stick ih the clasped handS the conn
|bosiug rule fallen out Of its place, and
i1nc pieM type and leads all tumbled to-
lder More than one printer on the
way 10 empty his stick irf the galley,
wal i. long time bending down to lind
th8t3 his one followed, and more
thu Qne, looking across at the heart
brDken picture OF sorrow, ieahed close
ddN3p4o his copy to read fair writing
MI was never blurred when it came
8F q e hook, and sgrfmed his eyes with
An asteady hand. saying something
abaIE the dust or the glare Of the light.
And then. about five years after that
the boy mother, weary of the loug
lay down tO rest in cool
harbor, rooted with waving grasses
and hive violets, and awoke to kiss her
bow gaxsSs NJ ssis'