The age-herald., 1900-07-18
HAPPY EDITORS
 TWENTY YEARS AGO
BY LUCIEN JULIEN WALKER


 Association attended by this slave of the | graphite pencil was at Tuscaloosa in April,
 1880; when so far as both age and experi-
 ence went, he was perhaps the most youth
 full member. Major William Wallace Screws
 of the Montgomery Advertiser was presi-
 dent of the association, and General James l Berney Stanley of the Greenville Advo-
 cate the youths master, was secretary. | There were then three daily newspapers in
 the State the Montgomery Advertiser, the
 Selma Times and the Mobile Register; and about eighty-seven weeklies, including the | Birmingham Iron Age, the forerunner of | The Age-Herald. There are now twenty
 one dailies and more than two hundred weeklies. Some weeklies that were infu-
 ential then have ceased to be published,
 amongst them being the Troy Inquirer, | the Tuscaloosa Clarion, the Union Springs | Monograph, the Clayton Courier, the | Selma Argus, the Prattville Signal the | Jacksonville Republican, and the Evergreen | Star.
 l Two only of the editors present at Tus-
 caloosa ever held high public office in the | State: Major Screws, who was Secretary
 of State, and Colonel Willis Brewer, editor | of the Hayneville Examiner who was State
 Auditor and is now member of Congress. Several have held minor offices, such as
 membership of the General Assembly For
 example, William D. Jelks, then of the | Union Springs Herald, Is State Senator, | and likely to be president of the Senate;
 and James H. Nunnalee, then of the Tus- | caloosa Gazette, is also Senator. Isaac | Grant, then as now editor of the Grove Hill | Democrat, and Lon Grant of the Jackson l vile Republican, have since likewise served | as Senators of the State. The late Charles | R. Mccall, afterwards a distinguished edi- | tor, was present at the Tuscaloosa meet | ing, but was not a member of the associa- | tion. He was subsequently, United States Consul, was MT. Walker, then of the | Greenville Advocate. Major Screws of the
 Advertiser and L. H. Grubbs of the De- | catur News were subsequently, postmasters | of their respective towns. John L. Rapier of the Mobile Register, afterwards post master of Mobile, was not at Tuscaloosa. | Chappell Cory was then a student at the | Alabama University.
 Screws, Stanley, Blan, Meeks and Grubbs are the only men prominent in the Tus-
 caloosa meeting who are still "doing busi- | ness at the old stands" Colonel Brewer | long ago quilted newspaper work. Colonel | Richard H. Powell of the Union Springs | Monograph is dead, is his newspaper. l Frank P. Glass, then fresh from Prince | ton, was editing the Bibb Blade at Six | Mile. Subsequently he and H. L. Mckee | acquired the Selma Times, and made it the | best newspaper in Alabama. Father | Mathews, the wild Irishman of the Blount 1 County News" is dead; though his step l son, J. H. Ketchum, "the Kid" is now l with the Oneonta News-Dispatch. Harry G. Mccall and John c. Jemison, then in- | terested in law publications, are not now | in newspaper occupation. Jemison is a l wealthy man, and practices law at La | ,Fayette. William D. Jelks, now retired; | Frank Mccall, now of the Montgomery | Journal, and Edward H. Cabanss, lawyer | of Birmingham were then owners and edi- l tors of the Union Springs Herald. The | Birmingham Iron Age, then edited by A. | o. Lane, afterward Mayor of the city, was l not represented The late James E. flaw l kins, solicitor represented a Birmingham | weekly newspaper, the name of which is | forgotten. Horace Hood, now of the Mont l gomery Journal, was editor of the Monroe | vile Journal. J. Wellington Vandiver, lec- l turer, represented one of the Taladega | papers, and Judge Knox Miller another. | Mont l. Burton represented the Tuscaloosa | Clarion, both now dead. Lawrence Breck- l enridge Musgrove represented the Jasper | Eagle. The Opelika News was represented | by Ben H. Kaiser, now dead. D. W. Me | Iver was then editor of the Tuskegee | News.
 | Burwell B. Lewis, who had resigned his place as a member of Congress to accept | the presidency of the university, was the | president in 1880, and he gave the associa- | tion reception at the presidents official residence. The editors were entertained at | luncheon in the mess hall of the university, | and the dessert was strawberries and l cream. The students practiced self-denial | for a week or two on account of the feast | John M. Martin, afterwards a member of | Congress and a citizen of Birmingham, was | professor of law; Colonel T. c. McCorvey l was commandant, and Professor Meek and | Dr. Wyman were shining lights of the fac
 ulty.
 Tuscaloosa did everything possible l desirable for the pleasure of it's visitors,
 and they had the best of all good times. 1 One curious feature of the entertainment | was a sermon by a young preacher, whose | name and church are alike forgotten. For | some reason or no reason, and by some | means the men and women who composed | the association meeting attended this ] young mans church. Like millions of per- 1 sons before him and since, he instructed | the editors how to edit their newspapers | The only feature of his harangue now re- | membered was his absurd punning on the l names of the newspapers. Frank Glass declared punning to be a low order of wit l At least young man there present, | perhaps the youngest and most ignorant, 1 and who has been ever since trying to for | get all he thought he knew then, was very l indignant at the callow young preacher for | trying to instruct "us in our great work" | to which that particular i've" had de- l voted a few months.
 | But that meeting at Tuscaloosa a score l of years ago was one of almost perfect