The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-10-23

was one of ten children. His father
 died when Thomas was seven years
 old
 Young Spellacy earned his first
 money at the age of twelve, when he worked during the Christmas vaca-
 ton for E. J. Mulcahy, Outfitter. MT.
 Mulcahy was great display adver-
 User. The old Hartford toll bridge
 was covered with his advertisements,
 and Spellacy did some of the paint
 ing. In those days stores kept open
 every night until ten o'clock and Sat
 urday until midnight. For his first
 weeks work Spellacy received two
 silver dollars. He still remembers
 with pride and pleasure he sprinted
 home at midnight and handed those two silver pieces to his mother.
 When fourteen years old, MT. Spell
 lacy while in the Hartford High School, started grammar school
 magazine which he christened School
 News" The first month the maga- | zine was published he printed 5000
 copies and gave one to every gram
 mar school pupil in Hartford above
 the fourth grade With the maga-
 zine went an envelope offering a sub scriptiOn price of thirty-five cents for
 ten issues of the magazine, provided the money was enclosed in the en- velope and handed to the teacher within the following month. The early business ability of the publish
 CT was demonstrated by the fact that the envelope carried an advertise ment of local business college. That and the advertisements in the maga- zine netted a sufficient sum to pay
 the costs of publication and a profit of s12.50 although the magazine was
 given away and a horse and wagon
 had to be hired to enable the youthful publisher to distribute his papers.
 Printers skepticaI.
 Publication and distribution of the
 magazine, however, was no easy task, The printer wanted a guarantee that
 his money would be forthcoming. Ev- cry other printer in Hartford seemed to be endowed simultaneously with a similar idea. Shoe leather did not cost so much then as it does now. but what Spellacy lost in leather as he vainly sought credit from a print CT he gained in experience. The problem of publication was solved bv l borrowing the money from a bank. | the Connecticut Trust & Safe Deposit | Company. the president of which, MT. | Meigs Whaples, seemingly being inn pressed with the ardor and enthusi- i asm Of the prospective publisher. Whether the money was loaned by l the bank or whether MT. Whaples | personally took the chance MT. Spell i lacy does not know. With the cash in hand the publisher looked for the lowest bidder instead of requesting the favor of credit.
 The ma gazine consisted of eight pa- ges without cover. To distribute it required the consent of the Board of f school Visitors. The board had a rule against the distribution of adver- Using matter in the schools. The men members of the board were deaf to the arguments of the would-be | publisher. There was, however. on i the board one lone woman, Mrs. Dav who took up the cause of the youth- ful pleader. MT. speuacy at the time did not realize the righteousness of the task assumed by Mrs. Day when she told him she would help. She sue- i however, and the rule was relaxed in l. favor of School News for the first and only time in the history of Hartford.
 The task of convincing principals and teachers was comparatively easy. School News was circulated in every grammar school in Hartford-public parochial and private
 Paid Way to College.
 The response of the children was encouraging, one in every five of the free copies yielding a subscriber Spellacy, after his interviews with the printers of Hartford, understood { the importance of credit, and his first { from subscriptions and ad- II Vertising were carried to the bank, where his indebtedness soon was n l quldated and his credit with that in ] stitution established.
 The following month the magazine f was enlarged, and a colored cover. ap \ proprlately illustrated, was added. increased. With youth Y ful zeal Spellacy persuaded many per- 4 sons of national fame to become con- i tributors.
 The magazine became an institu- 2 ton in Hartford. It was a money ma V ker. But it required so much of the Y publishers time that he neglected at f tendance at school. MT. Spellacy 2 soon left the high school for Miss Burbanks private school in Asylum 2 avenue and there he prepared for col . ege. By that switch he was enabled . 10 do two years preparatory work in f one, and he entered college one year i earlier than he otherwise would have 4 done.
 The little magazine was responsible 1 c directly for one school reform which f was so important and far reaching e hat it alone justified the Qualification. n When MT. Spellacy was in grammar school, and for all the years that pre- ,eded his school days, the walls of every school room were glaring white. s broken only by a picture or two, an a occasional map and the blackboards n hat surrounded the room. t
 That impressed the youthful Spell I acy as something which should be a ,hanged. He went to Charles Noel F Flagg, at that time a leading artist, | ince deceased. With youthful ardor le explained his theory to MT. Flagg a vho agreed with him, although It was d he artistic sentiment which appeal U 'd most to MT. Flagg, while it was !, he practical which moved Spellacy. dr. Flagg wrote an article for the ! magazine advocating the tinting Of chool walls to beautify the class i' ooms and thus to incuIcate into the minds of the children a sense of the and a corresponding devel- )pment of their characte I
 ~ n