The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1899-09-06
THE COUNTRY NEWSPAPER.
a City Subscribers Apostrophe to
The gress- Roads Press.

The country newspaper. Life
without you would lie a dreary waste.
Your weekly visit is anxiousiy
awaited, and should the mail carrier
fail to bring you on the day expect
ed my heart is sad.
Fifty two times year you bring
me all the news from home. You
faithfully chronicle the deaths,
births aud marriages Of the neigh
borhood. You keep me posted on
parties, church socials and village
gossip, and yon tell me what the
prospects are for good or poor crops,
as the case might be. If family is
away or newcomer moves into
town, know it the next week If
Farmer Jones, of the Ridge road.
brings a prize pumpkin TO your
office. know all about it, although
hundreds OF miles awayas soon as
some OF his neighbors. You keep
me posted on the improvements that
Farmer Brown, of the Labe road,
contemplates to make on his barn
''in the near future" And when
Farmer Smith, of the Lexington
road started cheese factory at
Kidd's Corner, l knew it here in
Chicago the day after its publica-
ton.
o, country newspaper. Well may
/ say that '.life without thee would
be dreary waste" Once a week
you are to me an oasis in the desert
of this hurly- burly life in great
city.
The city man who does not take
his ''home" paper, providing he was
reared in the country, does not know
what real enjoyment he misses.
The news | get out of one Issue is
worth more than the yearly sub
scription. ] devour every line Of
the local gossip and neighborhood
correspondence, and when | lay the
paper aside / praise the country
editor for giving me this privilege.
Letters from home are very well
come, but one doesn't get as much
news in hundred letters as he does
in one issue of the home paper.
And letters are so uncertain. Won
sometimes have to wait sis months
for reply to your last one But it
you are subscriber to the country
paper, it comes to you regularly
every week rain or shine. You may
be in arrears but the country editor
sends the paper along with the hope
that you will some day settle up
matters.
old home every year or two the pc
rnsal of his home paper is almost as
good as trip to boyhood scenes.
He reads where the little freckle-
faced girl that sat behind him at
school was married to a city chap
who holds .slucrative position with
a street car company'-probably a
motorman; he is informed that the
boy who was known as the bully Of
the school was arrested for wife de-
sertion and is ''incarcerated in the
county bastile;;" he learns from the
home paper that "the Thornton
family will hold reunion" and the
news is also conveyed that "Aunt
Eliza Robertson will be ninety. three
years old next Tuesday week" an
event which the city man wishes be
was able to be at home to celebrate
If midnight marauderss steal
seventeen chickens from Jake Beck
er's coop, it is nicely told in the
country paper, and the editor would
be driven out Of town il he failed to
make note Of the benefit party at the
Odd Fellows hall for the NJ. e.
church, which was 'sa grand success
socially and financially The re-
ceipts by the way, amounted to over
seven dollars"
| am interested in the personal gos-
sip of my old home, and it is with
feelings of genuine pleasure that
learn "Mr. and Mrs. Fred Myers
wheeled over from Edinboro last Sun
day." or that ssMiss Ida Wheeler is
for few days With friends
at Keepville." The presence in town
of Mrs. Frank Conley (nee Baxter, of
Buffalo, formerly a resident of our
burg is duly chroniclcd, with the
additional information that she is
accompanied by her two-months old
baby boy" The burning of sHank"
Edson's barn is piece Of news, as
sit is the most disastrous confiagra-
tion that has visited this section since
the Fire King destroyed Brown broth
er's cider mill in 1879"
If you are sick, the country editor
writes a nice paragraph about your
illness, and he trusts that you twill
soon be able to appear upon our streets
again." If your wife dies he tells Of
her many good traits of character, and
that she Shore her last illness with
Christian fortitude. If your son
gets married, the country editor tells
what a promising young man he is
and what an "estimable and charm
ing young lady, is the bride.
If the crops are bad the country ed
itor sympathizes with the farmer, and
if the harvest is good he rejoices. He
gives away hundreds Of dollars worth
of advertising every year for which he
scarcely receives polite thank you.
He is looked upon by many people as
an object of charity, and when they
pay their subscription they say to
themselves: ''Well, it will help TO
keep him out of the poor house for a
while. He works harder and puts
in more hours at labor than any man
in town-if he didn't he would be in
the poorhouse.
O. country editor! Dear friend, /
derive much happiness each week
from reading your paper, and wish it
were in my power to make your BUSH
ness tenfold better paying than it is.
May your advertising increase until
you are compelled to print a larger
paper, and may your subscribers come
to the Office or send you by mail the
money dine you. May your days he
full of happiness aud at night, when
you sit around the family hearthstone,
NAV yOllr thoughts he those of sweet