The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-07-04

ined he had seen Sumter and Marion and
Light Horse Harry Lee. And there was
| a scroll that toll odf the first blood of
| the Revolution shed at Lexington, and
not a line of the first blood of the Rev
| olution that was shed several years be-
| fore at Alamance, North Carolina. And
| there was the Mecklenburg Declaration
of independence made year before the
| Declaration at Philadelphia, and across
! it the boy had scrawled the legend, Eyer
| can't come this over me-" And in the
middle of this self-same bran-b box stood
| Abraham Lincoln, on pedestal that had
| been used for George Washington. And
| at his side, on a horse that the boys
| father thought was Traveller" sat
! Ulysses s. Grant. 1t was museum from
| Boston-was the boys brain-box.
Several years ago committee of South
! erners realizing that our children were
! growing up with a sneaking suspicion
| that their fathers who wore the gray
were traitors waited on Mr. Johnson, in
Richmond, and asked if something could
| not be done. Mr. Johnson, who had al
ready grasped the situation, said, Some
| thing shall be done" And 1t has been
done. Today--thanks to the B. F. john
| son Publishing Company-there is whole
series of textbooks in which the honor
| of the South is as jealousy guarded as
the honor of the whole country. And this
has been done without Partially or Bit
| terness. x
GIANT STRIDES.
| U,or,, NIortb Carol;pion is moro mr. less
familiar with the johnson school books.
but there are few who have any concep-
| ton of the magnitude of this great
institution or of the giant strides it is
| making in the commercial world. The
story of its wonderful progress reads like
a romance. Its history" says the Man.
ufacturers' Record, like that of every
great enterprise, is the history OF the
| genius of a man. Whether that genius
| takes the direction of molding mobs into
| armies and ends in the establishment of
| empires, or whether it takes the direc-
| ton of untiring intelligent labor to sup
/ ply some great popular demand and ends
| in the founding of a dynasty OF merchant
princes, the conditions are much the
| same. Every great movement has owed
| it's success to some great man, and the
account of the development of the work
| of the Johnson Publishing Company is
! little more than the record of President
Johnsons early struggles and discourage
ments. of his tireless efforts and hope
| full perseverance, and of his final and
| splendid success.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS.
1.-The B. F. Johnson Publishing Com
pany" was established in Richmond. Va,
| in 1876, before the president, Mr.. B. f.
Johnson, had attained his majority. He
rented a little room on the third floor
| in Goddin Hall, on the corner of Eleventh
| and Bank Streets, at S. per month. This
| room was used also for a living room
| IAN improvised bed being on the boxes OF
books. 1t was in this building that the
| foundation was laid for what bid fair
| to be one of the greatest publishing
! houses in the United States. At first the
| head OF the house was manager, cor
| respondent book-keeper, packer, janitor
| and everything else. In those early days
| he ate at a boarding house one square
meal day, and his other meals were
| made out with cheese and crackers ana
| such things as could be cheaply picked up
| at the grocery stores. Early and late he
| toiled, looking after the trade during
the day and packing and shipping books
| and corresponding at night, frequently
| working until and o'clock in the morn
| ing A prominent lawyer, Chastain White
| Qong since dead, occupied an office i'm
| mediately under Mr.. Johnson's, and
| through courtesy permitted an impecuni-
| GUS old gentleman to sleep on the lounge
| in his room. This gentleman was greatly
| disturbed by the noise made by the en-
| bryo publisher, and every few days he
| would go down to the office of the real
| estate agent (the late Wellington Goddin)
| and complain that that man kept coop
| er's shop upstairs, and made barrels
| all night long. l am reliably informed
| that Mr.. Johnson for weeks and months
| at a time used to work steadily from
| sixteen to eighteen hours a day. But for
| being the fortunate possessor of an almost
| iron constitution and vigorous health,
which he has been most careful in pre-
serving (never having been i'll in bed
| week in his life), he could not possibly
have stood this strain, and yet at forty
| three he is vigorous and hearty. the
] very picture OF health. and says that he
| feels that he is just beginning his real
! career as a publisher
"Mr Johnsons success has had some
| Interruptions but his house has been
pushing steadily on to the front. In
prosperous seasons it handles nearly half
| a million dollars worth of books annu
| ally but not satisfied with past success,
| the company is pressing forward, hoping