The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-11-08

paper offices and | was so busy tina
didn't notice it. The old supersti
tion that reporter should be a gooc
mixer and hence competent drinker
had died the death. A red nose wal
no longer a recommendation wher
one applied for a job in a newspaper
office. So, when, at the ripe age Of
forty-five, | found myself in thai
bleaching institution at Kansas City
| slowly realized that was worse thar
down and out. was back number
a has-been. And / no longer had the
resiliency of youth. | was feeling
very old and humble and useless.
| wrote to editors everywhere, de-
scribing my circumstances, and offer
ing to work for any old wage that
would assure me a place to sleep and
meal ticket. went to daily news
paper in Kansas City and offered to
write the whole editorial page fol-
twelve dollars a week. But there was
nothing doing. My reputation for I'M
reliability was against me. Those
were sickening days, when every mail
brought replies from editors, explain
ing why they couldn't give me work,
kindly trying to let me down easy
There seemed to be no place for me
anywhere.
Then one weary day picked up an
old magazine and read an article by
William Allen White. 1t was a good
article, so full of humor and kindli-
| ms, tbo+ 7 +bouob+ ba ,uoc n n,op
who might understand. So | wrote to
him, asking if he couldn't give me
some little job on his newspaper to
carry me along until could get some
thing else. ..L -
In few days l would have to leave
the boiling-out institution and had no
place to go. Mr.. White was in Colo
RADIO, and my letter had been forward
ed to him, so there was a delay in
getting a reply. Somehow, | had
counted on a favorable word from him,
and as day after day went by, and the
mail brought nothing, my hopelessness
became absolute. Then, when l had
ceased to expect reply, there came
long, generous letetr, telling me to
go to Emporia and make myself use
full until he returned home, and then
we'd discuss ways and means togeth-
err.
/ believe that was the gladdest hour
of my life. You have to be down and
out and well stricken in years, and
ashamed that you are alive, to under
stand the joy of having one more
chance.
And so, one October evening, as
the sun was slowly sinking behind the
western. hills, solitary horseman
might have been seen pushing his
jadded steed into Emporia. The next
morning l reported for work at the
Gazette" office, and a small corner
was cleared for me in Mr.. Whites
private Office.
/ have said that l had reputation
as "a hog for work., and lived up to
it now. Work had become sort of
passion with me. 1t enabled me to
forget for while that | was forty
five and dead broke, and starting in
again at the foot of the ladder, in
worse shape than when first entered
a newspaper office. l was a super
fluffy in the Gazette" office; there
was no real place for me; place had
been made, just to give me chance,
and of course the wages were small
But wrote so much stuff the print
ers were in panic; and | was at my
job by sunrise, and worked at it in
the evening by lamplight. After two
or three weeks Mr.. White came home,
and III never forget his hearty greet
ing. l had never seen him before,
but he acted as though l were the
long-lost Charlie Ross.
you've been writing wonderful
stuff, Walt" he cried. "Come up to
my house tonight. want to have
talk with you"
/ went and we had the talk, and my
wages were raised, and l was assured
that there was a place for me on the
Gazette" as long as l wanted it.
This was balm in Gilead.
A heart-breaking time followed. In
my days of riotous living had piled
up a mountain of debts. They had
never troubled me when had been
stayed with fiagons; but when my
creditors heard that I was working
and earning money, they came down
on me, not as single spies, but in bat
talions. There were lawyers and bal
lifts and collectors hot on my trail
all the time, and / saw that it would
take me ninety-nine years to pay them
all, and the weight of discouragement
oppressed me again.
Had it not been for the CHEEKY
sympathy of Mr.. White IN those
dreary days, I'd have given up trying.
His sympathy wasn't the easy stuff
that exhausts itself in words. In fact
he never talked about my worries;
but | knew he understood them, and
he let me know he was ready to help
me out in any way, at any time. But
he preferred to see me work out my
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