The independent., 1907-04-18

fifth birthday comes next week Alert
and active. he is as busy today as he
ever was, and the back room on the
second floor of his washington house,
which he Uses as his workshop, bears
all the looks of one.
Octogenarian as he Is, he is not
white-haired. His hair and beard are
iron gray. The hair is retreating over
his massive head, but there is plenty
Of 1t, enough to make many man OF
forty envy him. Under his big dome
of forehead his large light eyes look
out kcenly, and twinkle at a joke. He
talks in a rapid, easy-running flow.
So he talked last week to the Wash
ington correspondent or the Times;
looked back over his eighty-five years
and reviewed them, with suggestions
for the younger generation, drawn
from that experience. His talk
abounded in warnings against provin-
eialisri, which he seems 70 consider one
Of the besetting sins of the nation.
That t'-is is big country, worth
knowing, nd that its citizens do not
take he trouble to acquaint them
selves with those portions of it in
which they do not live, is the burden
of q good deal of what he has to say.
New York he considers main offender
in this way; it is a provincial town,
he says, and it's provincialism Is re-
flected in its papers. He was driven to
subscribe to Chicago paper to get
wider view He commends the London
Times for its wide view of the earth,
and subscrbes TO it for the sake Of its
large amount of space given to nat
ters not local.
IL n
Boyhood,' /" said DR.. Hale, II have
given quite a full account of my early
training. My school education was
conducted at the Boston Latin school,
which takes pride in its history be-
cause it dates back to an earlier per-
iod than any other school now exist
ing in America. From that school
went to Harvard college, and in "A
New England Boyhood' are my impress
sions in some detail as to the college
life of that tine. Unfortunately for
me-" added Dr. Hale laughingly, "the
was to be published was the day in
which the head Of TIE publishing firm
disappeared with the funds of the .irm,
and in point of fact my poor little bio
graphy of myself was never really
standard edition of my works.
Probably of more Importance in the
makeup of my life afterward was my
good fortune that | was Graded in
the sheets of a newspaper My father
who was the proprietor and editor of
the Boston Daily Advertiser for half a
century, conducted through much of
that time the largest printing house in
Tn bn nffino therefore | was
able before | was twelve years old to
learn how to set type, how to make
up 4 form, and how to work the hand
press of that day. I am rather proud
now 20 say that | could earn my living
as 4 journeyman in some country Of
flee where they have not yet intro
duced the modern improvements"
And he looks as If he could. The
brightness of his eye and the rapidity
of his talk and the general alertness of
the man suggest that If he ever went
back 10 the case in that country office
the Younger printers would have to
look alive.
More than this. and better than
this" continued DR.. Hale, Il was
trained in the newspaper work of that
dav. This involved shorthand among
other things. which the young gentle
men Of this generation are apt to de-
spise. but which | have always found
a great convenience ia active life.
Dn Eale, In fact has no patience
with The modern reporter who looks
down on shorthand. Whenever he finds
one OF taese the reporter is treated Il
a piece OF his mind, He calls II th'
FIRST requisite Of the newspaper bust
ness 10 be able 20 make quick and ac'
curate notes. and IL scornfuF OF th'
contention VI the latter-day reportei
that he can be quick and accurat'
without knowledge ef stenography
vrhla. however" he resumed, III
only one detail l regard The habit o
thinking while YOU write and writlni
while YOU think as very importan
habit II can hardly be acquired II
any other way 50 surely as II is nc
aulted when you are writing late a
nlaht with b0y waiting for you
sheets az copv which you are never I
apo again
I'm ndslsha young cleFgSn'en l al
AFR 10 sr4 hmm a. form tho habit g
apeakinc estempoFe wi;a ease that !.
*. hah5t 81 thinking un0n your feet