Waterbury Democrat., 1902-02-18
NEWSB0YS.

A newsboy always reminds me Of cricket He chirps cheerily night ana day. Rain or shine, you hear his shrlu voice on every street and in every ave nue. No cricket was ever more actlve or more musical. Tn early morn, at high noon, or late at night, his cries fill the air like the notes of restless ln> sects. Indeed. the neWsboys may well be termed the crickets of journalism.
 Fifty years ago in the city of New York there were only scores where there are to-day hundreds of them. They were fully as merry and joyous then as they are to-day. Whether darting over the chains i'll the City hall park or slzylarking in Theater alley they gave the same zest to life i'll the city that the music of the locust and the grasshopper gives to life i'll the country. You found them nightly fill ing the pit of the theater, and they were always in evidence on holidays, when no newspapers were issued.
 There were many waifs among them. Very few had homes. They lived like locusts, grasshoppers and crickets. Tn the hot days of summer and in the en- chanting hours of autumn it was happy life, but when wintry blasts filled the air and the little fingers and toes were numbed with cold, there was 8 pathetic twinge to the struggle. for existence. On chill winter nights, after the theaters were closed. groups of the little fellows covered the steam gratings in the streets near the news paper offices. With chattering teeth and shivering limbs they huddled to- gether like chickens seeking warmth. Some curled themselves in sleep, while others retailed city gossip and specu- lated on the events of the coming day.
 One night Horace Greeley, while de scending the iron steps leading to Tri- bune editorial rooms, saw a shivering group hugging a grating i'll Spruce street With hands in their pockets and ragged tippets over their ears they were stamping their feet in an effort to keep warm. The air was icy and the wind keen and piercing. They told him that they were waiting for the printing of the extra edition con- taining the news from Europe. In those days the newspapers issued eX- tras on the arrival of European steam CTS after the morning edition had gone to press Horace's sympathies were aroused.
 He ordered the doors of the press room thrown open, and the boys were quickly enjoying the genial warmth of the steam boilers. The Tribune press room became a nightly rendezvous. This was really the first newsboys' lodging house on the continent But Horace did not stop here. He took an active interest in the efforts to irn- prove the condition of these waifs. and today they are more costly housed than are many who enjoy the comforts of home
 One New York newsboy who won success in life was Tom Mcguire. who found his way to California in the early days and amassed a fortune. He was the owner of .Maguire's opera house. one of the finest buildings in San Francisco thirty years ago. Hoey and Mcguire were newsboy chums n the old days. John once said that Ma guire never learned to read or write After he became q man of wealth and influence this was a source of great modification to him. He was in the habit of standing in front of his opera house every sunny day. with a cigar in his mouth and copy of the Alta Californian in his hands, apparently deeply interested in it's contents
 One day Eph Horn, n we'll known negro minstrel. surprised him in this attitude. Knowing that Mcguire could not read, he started back in great astonishment, exclaiming: 'sHello! see there'e big storm at sea av' "Where?" inquired Mcguire. s.Ships upside down in the paper" was the re- sponse, and both broke in a roar of laughter John Russell Young. once United States minister to China. began life as a newsboy in Philadelphia. He afterwards became managing editor of tue New York Tribune, and accom- panied General Grant on his trip around the world. Young was one of the most brilliant newspaper writers in the country.-F From . recent ad- dress of Congressman Cummings