Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-11-08


am associated, which really Is the ON
nearest to my heart. and that IS II
Prs Weekly | may tell you genale
men that | am rather ashamed o
having called a journal 1T. Pr
weekly Oaughter) it looked to mt
as wanting in reserve and modestJ
and almost decency (1aughter); but
| will tell you the history of thai
title and of other titles of newspa-
pers with which | have been asso-
ciated.
| remember very distinctly the first
time I heard myself described as "T.
Pr The man who SO described me
has long since passed away. He was
a u member of parliament at the
time. as / was myself, and | was liv-
ing in rooms in one Of the inns of
London. / call 1t rooms" in order
that / may not use the somewhat sor-
did term of "attic" or "garret'-
though, perhaps, if l wanted to be
absolutely realistic and accurate, at
tic or garnet is the term l should APP
ply rather than rooms. (Laughter.)
But that is where L was anyhow, and
I remeber hearing this gentleman
calling me out ST. p" and is struck
me as rather peculiar, but as rather
a god name by which to be known. A
short time afterwards / took part in
a controversy then raging strongly in
the house of commons, namely,
whether the late Mr.. Charles Brad
laugh should or should not be admit
ted to the house of commons without
taking the oath, which was then COM
pulsory In all classes except upon the
Jews; and in the course of that con-
troversy / came into somewhat Sc
we're collision with an Irish member
of parliament of that period who has
long since disappeared, and then !
found myself called for the first time
''Tay Pay" (Laughter.) I did not
quite like that SO we'll (laughter);
to tell you the truth, l do not quite
like it now. / am constantly called
that by people, but when l was so
described at a meeting Of Irishmen
In Great Britain once, l laid down
the lines upon which l wished to be
addressed as in these words: That
| was called "T. P" by my friend
and "Tay Pay by my enemies.
(Laughter.) So, as l know that /
have none but friends here, I think
/ understand by which of these two
designations l shall be known in this
room. (Laughter).
Well, I started a paper some years
ago under this title, and n of the
features of this paper was what has
come to be now recognized as a per-
manent feature of the journalism of
Great Britain, namely, a book review
called by the title of 1.-THE Book of
the Week" l had a very good friend,
who was my assistant editor at the
time, of whom it was said that he al
ways wrote to you a letter of two
columns in order to explain to you
why he had not written an article of
one. (Laughter.) On this occasion
he was true to his traditions, be-
cause 1t being the first number of this
new paper, he appeared with the ar
ticle just about twenty-five minutes
before the paper had to go to press.
I resolved then that l would better
trust to myself for the production of
this article in the next number.
When l had written my review, |
couldn't think what name / should
put at the bottom of it or whether !
should put any name there at all,
when suddenly it struck me that, as
everybody knew me as II. P.," that
was about as good a name as / could
adopt. In fear and trembling and
with a feeling of burning shame, l
put the letters "T. p" at the end of
the article. l did not seek more than
was necessary the society of my fell
lowmen for some weeks after l had
signed the signature (laughter), be-
cause I thought everybody would be
pointing out to me as the first fell
low who had been indecent enough
to sign a literary article with his in
itials. But l got accustomed to my
shame, and in fact I found that / had
rather correspond to public taste and
the public demand in signing my ar
ticle with my initials. And out of
that grew a paper called "T. P.'s
Weekly" and out of "T. P.'s Week
" will in due time come ST. P.'s
Magazine" which is one of my pro-
jects for the next year.
Well, now, when I started ct. P.'s
Weekly" I had a good many kind
friends and some trade rivals, who
gave me that encouragement which
you always receive in such circum'
stances from such friends. l pro.
duced the first number of "T. PA
Weekly" in which this "Book of the
Week" was the most prominent fea'
ture. and I was told by n of these
kind and sympathetic friends that In
a weeks time the circulation would
fall to thirty thousand a week, and
in fact he bet me a hat to that eff
feet, which hat / haven't yet re
ceived. Well, 1t has never fallen tt
thirty thousand nor to anything like
that; and l felt very proud, apart
however, from the happiness of being
commercially successful-a kind o.
-. t. .o ,u1{1H rar1 ne nc fc sanfiy0