The Washington herald., 1911-02-05

Friday should have been accounte et
one of the mileposts in the annals o
American journalism, for it marked th'
centenary of the birth of Horace Greeley
probably the biggest and most interesting
figure in the history of the craft. In the
chaotic days prior to, during. and immc-
of the eos no personality stood more
imposingly before the public eye thar
the great founder and editor of the New
York Tribune. At this time sketch of
the career of the tramp printer who be-
came a maker of history should be most
appropriate.
Horace Greeley, like Jackson and Grant,
was of Scotch descent. enriched and
softened with blend of Irish. And like
| these famous men. he was, if not a typi-
cal American, of a type that America
alone has produced.
He was born in the little hamlet Of
Amhersts n. H., amid poverty verging on
destitution, and grew up half-clad, i'll
uourished, overworked, apparently puny,
and really tough and remarkably efficient
lad. At fifteen he was apprenticed to a
printer, receiving his board and eighty
CcHlS d "cth 1of "oIh VI teH " lOuI lcCh
hours a day, and managed to find time
to do a good deal of studying on his own
account At twenty he was released from
his apprenticeship by the failure of his
employer. and after wandering few
months .out West" through New York
as far as Erie. Pa, pursuing the way
ward and aleatory calling of tramp
jour- printer. he reached the city of New
York with less than SO in his pocket and
and all his other earthly possessions
hanging in a handkerchief over his shoul-
der.
But he had two possessions of inesti-
n,able value on which he was to build
fame and fortune that would have been
ample had he cared to retain it. % He
had a good trade and was master of it.
He was an accurate, rapid, intelligent,
and tireless printer. D He was a born
journalist, with a capacity to grasp the
needs and opportunities of the time and
place. a deep and keen interest in what
was going on in the world, an interest
still deeper and keener in what could be
made to go on in the direction Of the
OF the world, and knack-
nav, a need-of putting his own person
ality into all that he said or did or wrote
that drove every undertaking he entered |
OIL like dynamo.
Hard Time Getting . Job.
The first trial he faced was in getting |
work He was awkward, '.gawky,"
though not shy, grotesquely ill-dressed. |
bsent-fninded. and to the last degree |
He was turned away from |
one place after another until finally q
printer with q touch Of malice. put him |
to work at polygiot Testaynent in
minute and varied type. q job without |
4 flavor Of "phat'' in 1t. When the day
closed he had done more. and more DIM
,ult work, in better style and more
quickly, than had ever been known In
he shop. From that moment there
lever was day in which he could not
plenty Of work 1t current pay. |,
70 long az he lived incidentally, II may 1
V mentioped here that hlS living e that
line was wretchedly poor: that he spent
y little ~ possible on food and even Len |,
N raiment. and nothing on induIeenca |,
ave on his besetfng luxury Of lendlng |,
. giving. Il was puxzle to his com Ii
ede.. who liyed freely On the same v1es
mo Yees steady Industry
An fne hard oder acnmpoign ef ~ Il
y onaestook IL puh,lcatioa of Tha Leg u