Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-06-17
CLIPPING COLLECTORS
Mystery and Romance Sometimes
Back Of Desire to Accumulate
Printed Items.

| Offhand a press clipping bureau
doesn't SAVIOR Of romance. Vanity
mostly impels patronage Of those es-
Establishments where newspapers are
carefully read and paragraphs men,
tloning patrons clipped at s cents a
clip. But there is a mildly romantic
side to this, as to most other busi-
nesses.
There is that worthy recluse well on
1 toward middle life who has a mania
for sentimental poetry such as still
findE admirers in the columns OF
Country" newspapers and certain
other publications. Saccharine senti-
mentality she Graves. Her clipping
bureau searches everywhere for poet
ry, and special reader culls selec-
tions from the harvest.
To him falls the duty Of separating
wheat from chaff. Wheat are those
| sentimental outpourings that have a
sweet sadness; chaff those with flip
pant twist. She demands this culling
and pays a special price for the selec-
| tions.
The bureau nearly lost her very
profitable patronage in the early days
Of its service, because 1t sent her
poems that treated her grand passion
in a humorous and glib sort Of way.
These she has no use for. For such
poems as she wants. however. she Is
a veritable oliver Twist in her calling
| for "morei"
Years ago this lady, who belongs to
one of New Yorks oldest and wealth.
est families, was engaged to be mar
| ried. Three days before the date set
for the wedding her fiance was strick-
en- with pneumonia and died after but
a two days illness. The bride-to-be
never fully recovered from the shock.
Now, a. partial wreck mentally, and a
complete one physically, she divides
her life as a shut-in between reading
love poems and worshipping before a
shrine of portraits Of her dead lover.
Perhaps this Is as good an evidence OF
her devotion as scattering flowers
upon his grave.
A quietly effective charity Is reveal
ed by the demand Of wealthy widow
for "all clippings referring to babies
In need Of aid in New York and West
chester counties" This woman, work.
Ing in absolute anonymity, has In her
employ, investigators who search out
and render immediate assistance to
such cases as appeal to her when she
sees the stories in print.
She works on much the same plan
as did the late James r. Keene, who
In that not very remote winter when
soup kitchens had to be opened IN
New York city to feed the starving
poor, ordered his charity messengers,
who were to distribute $4,000 he gave
to render immediate assistance,
| whether the parties were worthy or
worthless. Don't investigate too much;
feed 'em IL they're hungry, clothe 'em
II they're naked, heat 'em II they're
cold" The cases the woman referred
to finds through the services Of the
| clipping bureau are not handed over to
| any charity society, but are attended
to by her own physician, two trained
nurses, and investigators so long as
| she thinks they need immediate aid.
She does this charitable work as q
tribute to the memory Of child, who
died when less than a year old, and Its
father, whose death followed shortly
after.
Just why one man should want de-
tails of all unusual suicides" Is a
puzzle to the managers Of one bureau.
1t is hardly probable that he wishes to
| find a novel way Of self-destruction,
for he has been taking such clippings
| for five years and shows no signs Of
| insanity. On the contrary, he Is a
prosperous merchant. He is a jovial,
thoroughly likable man, with fond
ness for wholesome stories with
good laugh in them and regular at
| tendant at the best Of the vaudeville
theatres, where his manifest enjoy
ment over boisterous fun is satisfying
| to actors and auditors alike. Just why
he buys clippings Of such a morbid
character, keeping them carefully in
dexed, as he does, is therefore much OF
a mystery.
A western Pennsylvania spinister
gets from a Pittsburgh agency all the
anecdotes and poems about cats
she can secure. She has been doing
this for the last ten years. insisting
that the clippings shall come to her In
such shape that they can be neatly
pasted in my scrapbooks, with the
names of the papers in which they ap-
pear and the date Of their publica-
tion." Her country place is always
the home Of a score or more Of cats
waits and strays she picks up on the
highways in her tours about the coun-
try.
i One woman, very ambitious socially
has preserved for her all clippings re-
ferring to the social doings and life
of the royal families Of Great Britain
Germany, Italy and Spain. They &c
to her in a weekly batch, together
with publications referring to certain
families Of the old regime in France
Her order Is profitable one, as 1t in
cludes "all publications in either the
English or French language" A fire.
quent visitor to European capitals, she
is assumed to believe that these ex-
cerpts from the papers keep her ir
touch with the gossip Of the courts
and particularly their fine points ir
etiquette and dress. which she II
known to follow as closely as possible
in her social life.
Fads Of patrons who are collect
ors" are shown in orders for all clip
pings about such unusual subjects a!
walking sticks, bottles, signboards
snuffboxes, shoes, fans, and laces. On'
man takes all the clippings he can ge
about artificial flies, (used in fishing.
Another is strong for big and unusua
catches of fish," third wants TIT
rather indefinite fishing yarns" still
another "all poker stories" while
yaorpipo for "spake stories of al