Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-06-21
BUDS COPY.

Dlu you Seo uhttU sVOly' O"ii0VOh no
asked.
"Carletons not in yet, Mr.. Howard,
one of the men replied. ''He"-
But the door shut with a bang to
open a minute later, when the same
worried voice inquired:
Where's Bud? No; l suppose he
isn't to be found either! Did any one
ever know him to be on hand when he
was wanted? Here Bud, " as the grimy
faced galley and general utility boy in
question came in with his proofs, 'go
down to the foot of F street and find
Carleton There's q wreck off the point,
but it won't do us any good unless he
gets here with that copy pretty soon.'
We go to press at o'clock-in just two
hours. Bud'-
He stopped with half smile, for the
boy was already part way down the
stairs on his way to the street.
None of us knew exactly why we gave
the weird, shriveled specimen Of boy
hood the name of Bud. Possibly it was
because of the certainty we felt that he
would never become blossom. He was
thin shouldered, sunken chested little
fellow, small even for his IL years, with
sharp featured, unchildish face, and
the suggestion of eternal Group in his
voice. He had drifted into the office one
stormy night about a year before the
time of which | write and although his
request for "a place" had been prompt
ly refused he had calmly staid on and
become fixture. He was not communl-
cative about himself, and we were not
particularly curious. One of the women
proofreaders discovered before long that
the gray rat under her desk was not
more constant habitue of the office than
was Bud He spent the hours between
the time that the paper went to press
and the arrival of the day men at II
O'Clock sleeping ON pile of empty mall
sacks in a dark corner Of the engine
room, but from that time on he was
alert and ready for business.
AS "understudy'' for Frank, the reg
ular galley boy, he was fast picking up
a knowledge of printing and had oc-
casionally displayed a surprising amount
of information regarding the general
makeup of a newspaper. Strongly i'm
bued with the idea that all things were
secondary in Importance and must be
subservient to its requirements, moth
ing pleased him so much as an errand
of the kind just given him by the city
editor, and we all knew he would re-
turn ON time if he was alive.
Carleton was a new man on the pa
per, little green in the business, but
with "nose for news" and sense OF
honor and the eternal fitness of things,
coupled with reliability Of statement.
Mr.. Howard had looked over his staff
that night before giving the assignment.
"Get to that wreck Carleton" he
said testify "You are the only man
here who can write it up without hav-
ing the waves roll mountain high.
And the new reporter had torn thick
section from the block of copy paper and
hurried away.
Bud found no difficulty in locating
the wreck, although he could see It's
dark spars outlined against the SKY
much better by running along the wa
ter front as far as H street. The storm,
which had been raging for three days
and had finally caused the disaster, had
subsidized trifle, and from his distance
the great, black hulk seemed resting
easily upon the waves. On account OF
the hour there were but few spectators
only the hurrying life saving crews.
the patrolmen and the inevitable groups
of ragged wharf rats. And Bud observ
ed. with delight, that not another paper
had reporter ON the scene He looked
around for Carleton, and some one told
him that the "chap' that had been writ
ing there for long time sitting ON an
overturned small boat, had at last rlght-
ed the little craft and set OF for the
half submerged ship.
''He hadn't oughter either, the
man continued. 'This water ain as
peaceful as it looks. We had hard pun
gettin in the last trip with the passen-
gers and the wind is risin higher every
minute
1t was true that the clouds had begun
to roll again, while the lightning threw
ever sharper and more jagged fangs
across the sky The crew on shore made
hasty preparations TO put ont. There
were still many people aboard the wreck
"a number of them women and chill
dren. Bud was the first one in the boat
Come out of that, youngster' SAID q
sailor. "Be quick with you'll"
I'm goin," cried the boy. i've got
to see Carleton-I've gott 70, tell your
The sailors hand was ON his collar
but Bud clung TO the seat with desper'
alton. the muscles in his little hands
standing out like gladiator's
1--we got 20 get something for the pa
per-" and his voice rose to shrill
scream
The man lifted him out. sat him-not
nngently-down ON the wet sand and
pushed on the boat With fierce cry
the boy was after him, clinging like
monkey 10 its side The sailor loosened