Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-01-11

the types with a dextority that | ha
never conceived of being possible, excep
III canary-bird. was either T.. or n. r
inc inarvels Of the profession grew upo
me as ! watched that deft transmits
SION or mind into matter. The spectaCl
was all the more thrilling because of tn
OBVIOUS age OF the compositor. | remem
bcr wondering whether it would be pos
slblc Tor one to achieve such extraordin
airy capacity before reaching his onc-hun
ldred-and-hftieth birthday. which | thinl
must then have been about the due o
him who | watched with bullying eyes.
But there was another sight yet NOR,
enhancing. In the far corner was tn,
miraculous printing press, with the whit,
sheets of paper held fastidiously by bands
dropping rhythmcally upon the claspet
bed OF type and remaining lust Ion,
enough to give young George Eaton tim,
to pull the lever which made history anc
guided destiny. Never shall I forget III,
leagor critical scrutiny of that printed
page by Nathaniel Eaton-or maybe il
was E.-as he carefully released it from
the types, ana then, happily finding ii
satisfactory. placed il upon the pile.
which subsequently became an edition
doubt not that many of you in this
room have experienced that same sense
! or wondering bewiderod admiration, of
very awe, which | than felt. God may
have created the heavens and the cath,
hut what was that 90 the youthful inn
arnation as compared with this marvel
Gus achievement? While now still cherish
| ing tn" impression craven upon my mind
! by that little dingy printing Office can
! not refrain from expressing the hone that
! inn I..t.
corded the great work done by the men
! of those days, the n. Ms, and the f. s
who stood 10y the case and the press. and
patiently. soberly, and conscientiousIy
worked out their lives in the service of
mankind They were true Journalists UNI
sworvlng in their devotion TO ideals faith
ful 10 tho interests of their community
and upholdcrs Of law and order, spiritual
no less than mental and political guides
Of thoir fellow mon.
EARLY JOURNALISTIC WORK.
Is IL any wonder that on my return
10 Pc7cham on that day, cvcntful to me, I
was flied with Il grim determination t.
write and to print? DO you think my
printing press at home remained long
idle? Indeed, no! ! began to wor! it
forthwith. | worked it overtime. There
was no union demanding tho cight-hour
DAY at the lever Of that machine. ] even
suffered Eloriously the penalty Of per
sonal chastiscmcnt, properly administered
for keeping the family awake nights
once ] even went so far as to weed onions
TO get money to buy ink with. / published
Il paper, of course. The name Of it can
not recall. 1t may have been Tie Peach
ann Patriot, but probably it was The
P"'cham Democrat. ANYHOW. one edition
of five copies was struck off successfully.
ANA sold successfully. 1t was the beginning
ana the cndof great Journalistic yortiIrn
Ihn ! communod with myself, and tax
ing under consideration tho commercial
aspect of the profession. / began to write
items tor the Californian. | received FIVE
cents an item, ana the most poignant
sorrow OF a minor nature ] have over cX-
pcfl"nccd was the scarcity of items. |
thnk l was reasonably humane lad, but
even 50 l cannot deny the alienation of
regret l experienced when by chance 4
COW died or a promising colt broke his |
leg. What ] deprecated most was the
paucity Of crime in that community. |
used to lie awake nights, not exactly hop |
ing that murder would he done in the |
myself that If the spirit of Cain was to
take posse sson of human soul anyway |
that was a very good time and the best of
places for it to make its appearance. It |
never did. The event nearest to a homo
-lde mat ever happened was a suicide. A |
norose farmer hanged himself from a |
after But even my fcrvid youthful im-
irnaton was incapable of conjurinr M
or the pathetic consideration of the great
'oading public any manner of complaint
n regret.
Finally | achieved my highest ambition
" obtaining job between school terms
rom the founder of the st. Johnsbury
topuhlcan. l think it was called the Re-
publican then. I am not sure. l know /
vas 10 years old, ana the man who owned
he paper lived in Bradford. lie paid me
hree dollars a week, and couldn't have
Induced IN" to play if he had tried. More
Nor, he Didn't try He had a girl in
bradford, and for some reason. inscru-
able to me at the time, he preferred her
onpanlonship to mine. Consequently, I
cry soon became all kinds of journalists
md skilled labor boiled into one.
II was joyous summer. | possessed
bsoute authority, and was free from in
difference of any kind. My staff was so
Il fed that it had not the strength to he
hsloyal. ] was the staff. The editor.
Who was also the reporter. was an enthu-
IaStc young person for whose demon
trated energy at that time, somewhat
itiated since, | Still entertain n profound
aspect. ! was that editor and that re-
oitcr. Type-setting machines were I'M {
noWn then. but the office contained an {