The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1888-05-12
ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
BY mis-, ANNIE BARKsDALE OF GRENADA
Ladies and Gentlemen Of the Mississippi
Pr@ Association:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Mississippi
Prss Association:
The pleasant and honorable duty of
delivering the address Of Welcome"
having been delegated 10 me, l have &C
cepted the task with full sense my own
unworthiness, but with a determination
to do my very best, fully conscious that
He who does his best, does we'll, acts
nobly; angels could do no more.
From the red hills that girt our north.
ern ;sboder, from where Mexic's Gulf
washes with wild wave the shining sand,
from Tombigbee's pleasant banks and
braes, aud from where the mighty Mis-.
sissippi rolls with ceaseless grandeur its
turbid waters to the sounding seas, ye
have come, upon duty and pleasure bent,
and to each and every one, from North,
from South, from East to West, it is my
proud pleasure to say: Grenada gladly
greets you with a welcome warm and
true.
The sentiment of all our citizens, from
highest to lowest, from richest to poorest.
with one accord, is voiced by me when I
say: Welcome! to our honored guests,
the members of the Mississippi Press.
Your coming together in these annual
convocations, as we uninitiated under
stand it, is by NO means solely for relax
alton and pleasure, but that you may
confer and counsel together; that expe.
riences may be exchanged, improvements
discussed and ideas compared-the re-
suits be helpful and beneficial to each of
you, and finally rebound to the good of
your patrons, the good people of our
grand old State.
I believe it was King Solomon, who
was with the exception of a young COL
lege GRADUATED the wisest of mankind, who
said that: 'The way of the transgressor
is hard" and | have often wondered if he
had not the "country editor" III visw,
when he wrote "transgressor." My idea
of the Country editor" is, of course, su>
perfcial, and is mainly drawn from brief
autobiographies of him that 1 have seen
in the newspaper.
That his bed is not always one of roses,
I feel sure, for have even heard of him
sleeping on cold imposing stone, with
only newspapers for covering, and it
is to cause him to forget the trials and
tribulations through which be has to
pass, that these annual reunions are held.
Then it becomes the duty of the people
of our town, that is honored by being
selected as the meeting place, to make
life for the day as bright and CHEEKY as
possible.
We owe much to the editor. Some OF
US subscribe for years and years, but pa
tiently you wait until our own good time
to pay. Some of US never pay our news
paper subscription in money, but we are
ever ready and willing, nay anxious, to
pay it In gratuitous advice as to how the
business should be conducted. So fear
full are we of getting something for moth
ing, that often-times when our advice
and assistance are rejected we say: "Stop
the paper"
Most of you will remember the time
when Mr. Hayseed brought that
big sweet potato to your office
and proudly laid it on your
table, intimating that it was "worth
mentioning" and Low you forgot to
put in your paper next week that Mr..
Hayseed had lorty acres Of just such po-
tatoes. Soon after Mr.. H. writes you h
postal saying: II don't want your old
paper no logger" Then there was one
load OF green wood less, to gladden. your
back yard that winter. have heard that
the subscriber who pays cabbage and stale
fruit, getting one dollars worth of puff
for every five cents worth of cabbage, is
the hardest customer to please. | sup
pose you do sometimes have few cus-
toners who pay in cash. but then they
think they've bought the paper body and
soul for that one or two dollars a year,
and they expect the editor to change his
politics and religion four times a year,
and before the year Is out that editor
wishes for more cord wood and less ready
cash. There are mysteries about your
profession that the people would like to
be enlightened upon. One is, how news
paper men who have so little cash, can
have so much "pi:" another is, how you
can be so good, and associate in your of.
fee with his satanic majesty. But to
the bright side of newspaper lite. You
it is that get free tickets to the circus,
invitations to all parties and picnics. the
best seat at public entertainments, have
your pockets bulging with free railroad
tickets; you get free lunch tickets and
have a good time generally when out of
your sanctuln. If you make mistake
you can get out Of it, by stating that it
was an error of the "intelligent compos,
itor."
You get all the abnormal fruit, as well
as an occasional dish of salty ice cream.
You sometimes have to "eat crow" and
you do it gracefully. You receive a
large amount of profanity, which you
can pass over to rival paper. The ed>
itor Is poet, as well as a philosopher, a
politician and reformer.
He works while Others sleep, and sleeps
while he himself works. And now per-
nit me to say that il my remarks have a
seeming spirit Of levity, it is not because Of
any want Of respect for you, our honored
guests, or for the noble profession which
you represent. But inspired by asimple
desire to please, I have deviated from
the stereotyped path of the annual
"welcome address, I have suffered old
Mr.. Gutenberg and uncle Ben Franklin
to slumber undisturbed in their peaceful