Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-04-26

TYPE. reading and correcting PROOF
sheets and folding, directing ana mai
ing his paper.
The Passport Sentinel was an0thef
paper read with interest. and the back
numbers of the Maine Farmer from
the first issue were borrowed from
| neighbor. one year at a time, ana
| closely perused On a visit to Belfast
assisted in lighting candles IN me
| windows of The Journal Office for an
| illumination to celebrate poitcai
: victory, and was much elated Wheh
Editor Moore noticed my efforts ana
| asked my name, etc. The Office was
| then in The third story of the NcCllh-
took block. corner of Main and High
streets. and this was my second visit
| To q newspaper establishment.
| The habits of observation formed IN
wandcrings afield. the knowledge OF
| the sea and ships which came TO me
| naturally, the study of art, the object
lessons of the local printing office and
| a wiue range of reading, which must
| often have carried me beyond my
| depth were all fitting me, uncon-
sciously to myself. for what vas to he
my future calling.
When attending the Lewiston Falls
Academy in Auburn in 1856 / boarded
with c. b. StetSOn, editor of the Demo-
| cratic Advocate, weekly newspaper
TO which some of the students contrib
uted, and among them Charles c. Cur
lis, whose tastes then were military,
and who for some years has been an
| officer in the United States Army and
who is the author of several successful
books. MY school life was cut short in
the spring Of 1857 by the offer from IA
relative, Major Henry Prince,
paymaster u. S. A., then
stationed at San Antonio, Texas,
of the position of paymas-
ter's clerk. | soon started South, go
ing by rail via Niagara Falls to Cairo,
H., then down the Mississippi by boat
10 New Orleans, across the Gulf OF
Mexico by steamer 10 the Texas coast,
thence inland by government mule
train. ! wrote up the trip for the
Machias Union, following with letters
from San Antonio 10 the Union and
| the Democratic Advocate. The first of
these letters, preserved in Il scrap
book, bears date of May, 1851, from
which month and year | date the be
a year or more spent in Texas Major
Prince was Orderer to join the End
division of the Utah army at Fort
LeavenwOrth, Kansas Che Mormons
We're then in rebellion), and the voyage
across The Gulf of Mexico. the trip
up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers
and the journey across the plains were
duly written up for The Advocate, ap-
~,
ton of utah Army Correspondence"
1t is worth recalling that AT this time
the only railroad west Of the Missis-
sippi river was line from ST. Louis to
Kansas City.
The winter of 1883 | spent in New
Orleans, writing, among other things
letters on music and the drama for
the Boston Post, my first appearance
in daily journalism, and soon after /
settled down to regular editorial work
without an apprenticeship at the case
or experience as a reporter, the usual
stepping stones 10 success in Jour-
naliSm.
Although never holding the position
OF reporter, ii has been my lot to re-
port many things of more or less i'm
portance, among them agricultural
fairs in Canada, Maine, Maryland and
louisiana; prize fight (Billy Edwards
and Sam COllyer), the Democratic con-
vention in Baltimore that nominated
Horace Greeley for the Presidency;
the second Inauguration of President
Grant. the Inauguration of President
Hayes; the opening of the PimlicO
race track in Baltimore; an aquatic
carnival in Halifax. Nova Scotia
which included Single-Scul and four
| Dared races for the championship of
the World,-fCr the New York World,
New York Clipper, Boston Journal.
Halifax Evening Express and Frank
Leslie's Illustrated Weekly OF some
OF these events, and of ten years QS69-
49, spent in active newspaper work i'm
washington, ID. c., much might be
said, but that would call for a book
rather than newspaper article
May Is, 1879. I assumed editorial
charge of The Republican Journal, al
though the name of w. H. Simpson
appeared as editor and proprietor until
October. 1880, when The Republican
journal Publishing Co. was organized
MT. simpson was the editor of The
journal for p years and next month I
snail complete % years Of continuous
service IN That capacity. with % years
prior experience in other fields Thus
The Journal has had but two editors
IN me past fifty Years. which seems to
be fact worthy Of tone
While | may have written some
things that | should now be glad 10
blot from the record, | can honestly
say that ! have never written ANYTHING
l dld not believe at the time to he
true; ana ! have never refused In
make a retraction when shown To be
IN error. or IN make the fullest renara-
non possible in case of an iniustica
uhwlttingH done I" an Institution or
individual
How we'll or i'll, I have performed
my part III the past rs years is for nv
readers and my contemporaries ia
say,-When my earthly task is done
Personal Notes.
Mrs DOvUia in, Vow,