Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1884-06-17
l.S7KINc FOR A HOME.
tn" Old Printers struggle 60 nay Q
House aud Lot.


lBurdette in Burlington Hawkeye
There was wife and there was
hey. Long before anyone now in tbs
otiice had sit in news-room, press
Room. business Office or sanctum, ai Il
before the old man had begun {,
look OUT at the world through specta
cles. and his figure was as
straight as it was tall, the Tvs
and reporters used to hear great d IL
of talk about buying lot and build Il
a house ont on the hill. where he con d
have patch or garden. And by an
by lie was going to quit sticking type I
Get into something that would let hi II
stay no i.e at night and get acquaint. /
with his family. And the suit of clothes
he bought in the iall lasted long way
into the midsummer, and then they
came out again in the winter, and the
old man rushed" more than he ever
did again while that Dire N of home wa.
inspiring him.
1t is an old story. tins struggle ola
printer to get home; any one of these
restless mariners OF the land, drifting
from port to port aud back again, lured
by the ignis fatuus OF 80 many cents
more o thousand. and o price and a
half after , o'clock. and big bills with
four or five nights work. Never wan.
dering journeyman printer got 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 dis
pairing glances OF starvation. But it il
hard, uphill work for printer to buy
home. His pay is easily reduced and
hardly raised; long strike means on
the read for him, and il he has
family and can't tramp, he breaks his
heart. puts dust ON his head and goes
out of the union and YEARLY works at
the b. sses' rates. So the old man
worked bravely on, rs many a printer
has worked before and 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
elbow, learning. in Q very irregular,
boyish, unapprenticed fashion, with q
cataract of questions, to stick type The
old man never intended the boy should
be o printer. And he WAS SO proud of
him and his standing at school. aud
once the boy wrote ten-line account Of
o boy falling down stairs, that o
good-natured reporter sent in Just
as il came, although it was a
dull day, and the scribe wanted
awfully to make il q column and put Oh
a hanging head. md the old man sent
marked oopiss OF that paper to every
soul he knew in this world.
But one day an unbidden guest came
home from school with the boy and 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 &C.
count, and one black day the old mans
case was empty and the business Office
told the undertaken that ell his
bills would be paid there, and
lie mustn't take any money from
the old man. And pale and
quiet and sad, looking old and worn.
was the printer who came next day and
took his old place at the case. The
type, didn't click very fast in that alley
for days after that. And sometimes
the printers face would be lying on the
boxes in his folded arms. and how pc
thetc looked the half.filled stick in the
clasped hands. the composing rule
fallen out Of its place, and the
pied type and leads all tum.
bling together More than one printer,
going on his way to empty his stick
in the galley, was q long time
bending down to find the take his one
followed; and more than one, looking
across at the heart.broken picture OF
sorrow, leaned close down to his copy
TO read fair writing that was never
blurred when il came off the hook, and
grimed his eyes with an unsteady hand,
saying something about the dust or the
glare of the light. And then about five
years after that, the boys mother,
weary Of the long pilgrimage, lay down
to rest in cool arbor, rooted with
waving grasses and blue violets, and
swoke to kiss her boy.