St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1906-01-10

Tor keeping the 1anllly dWdhe ul5Hl
Once even went so far as to weed onion
!" to get money to buy ink with. I publishe
a paper, of course. The name of it ca
II not recall 1t may have been The Peach
y am Patriot, but probably it was TIL
g. Peacham Democrat. Anyhow one editio
\ of five copies was struck off successfully
and sold successfully. 1t was the beginnin
. and the end of a great journalistic venture
re Then I communed with myself, and tax
,e ing under consideration the commercial
aspect of the profession, began TO writ
items for the Caledonian. I received fv
cents an item, and the most poignan
! sorrow Of a minor nature 1 have ever eX
: perienced was the scarcity of items.
/; think | was a reasonably humane lad, bu
even so 1 cannot deny the alienation OF
regret [ experienced when by chance g
COW died or a promising colt broke his
leg. What I deprecated most was the
paucity of crime in that community.
used to lie awake nights. not exactly hop
ing that murder would be done in the
peaceful region, but frankly admitting to
myself that if the spirit of Cain was to
take possession of a human soul anyway
that was a very good time and the best of
places for it to make its appearance. 1t
never did. The event nearest to a homo
eide that ever happened was suicide.
morose farmer hanged himself from a
rafter. But even my fervid youthful i'm
aginatiOn was incapable of conjurng up
for the pathetic consideration of the great
reading public any manner of complaint
or regret
Finally 1 achieved my highest ambition
by obtaining a job between school terms
from the founder of the st. Johnsbury
Times. l know | was Is Years old,
and the man who owned the paper
lived IN Bradford. He paid me three |
dollars week. and couldn't have
induced me to play if he had tried. More
over, he didn't try. He had a girl in
Bradford, and for some reason, inscru-
table to me at the time, he preferred her
companionship to mine. Consequently, I
very soon became all kinds of journalists
and skilled labor boiled into one.
II was a joyous summer 1 possessed
absolute authority, and was free from in
reference of any kind. My staff was so
i'll fed that it had not the strength to be
I was the staff. The editor,
who was also the reporter, was an enthu-
Siastic young person for whose demon
Strated energy at that time, somewhat
vitiated since, I still entertain a profound
Dol ter. Type-setting machines were I'M
known then, but the office contained an :
exceptionally light and airy composing
room, which was occupied by thorough
~ capable force. l was that compositor.
1t was non-union office; | was the nom
union. The press room was the best in
he building; so was the press. The power ,
which moved the machine was more earn
EST than electrical, but it was sufficiently {,
Effective to meet the requirements. l
vas the motor.
The utmost ingenuity of the human
mind could not conceive a greater har-
nony of working interests. The effec-
.iveness of what is termed in the sports
mans world team-play could not have
lad more favorable test; and yet, in
ne interest of Veracity, l am obliged to
Idmit that the demonstration proved
ess satisfactory to the owner than the
onditions might have led one to expect.
1t the expiration Of few months the
ublic was startled by the announce
nent that the proprietor of the brilliant
ournal had sold out. 1t was a kindly
of falsehood. He did not \
ell his paper he did not even give it
way; he paid somebody to take it.
Whence that proprietor came or whittier
e went 1 know not, but my conscience
as never been troubled by the suspic-
m that he received less than his just
le from a long suffering and helpless 7
lblic.