The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-06-05
IN PRAISE OF THE
COUNTY PAPER

Someone who mas 10 do with the puo-
lication Of Walk over Shoe Prints, a
trade publication issued by the big shoe
company. was reared in small town.
and his happiest thoughts today ale Of
the old home village.
lie subscribes to the old home paper,
and ''be IL ever So humble, there Is
no paper Ike that Of the old home
town. This Is what Shoe Prints says:
The country newspaper, Life with
out you would be "a treary waste.
Your weekly visit Is anXiously aV ait
ed, and should the mail carrier fail 20
bring you on the day expected my
heart Is sad.
Fifty-twO times a year you bring ne
all the news from home. You faith
fully chronicle the deaths. births and
marriages of the nelghborhoOd. You
keep me posted on parties, church So
eials ard village gossip. and you tell
me what the prospects are for good or
poor crops, as the case may be. IT a
l family moves away or a newcomer
moves into town | know II the next
week. If Farmer Jones on the Ridge
Road brings prize pumpkin to your
office | know all about IT, although
hundreds of miles away. as soon as
some of his neighboIs. You keep me
posted on the Improvements that Far
mer Brown. of the Lake road, c0ntem-
plates to his barn ''in the near fu-
ture." And when Farmer Smith, of
the Lexington road. started cheese
factory at kidder's Corners | knew it
the day after publication.
o, country newspaper Well may
say that life without you would be a
dreary waste. Once week you are
to me an oasis in the desert of this
hurly-burly life in great city.
The city man who does not take his
''home" paper, providing he was
reared in the country, does not know
what real enjoyment he misses. The
news | get out of one issue is worth
more than the yearly subscription.
devour every line Of the local gossip
and neighbOrhood correspondence, and
when lay the paper aside praise the
country editor for giving me this prlvl-
lege.
Letters from home are very well
come. bat one doesn't get as much
news in hundred letters as he does IN
one issue of the home paper. And let
ters are SO uncertain; yon sometimes
have to wait six months for a reply to
your last one. But if you are a sub.
scriber to the country paper it comes
to you regularly every week, rain or
shine. You may be in arrears, but the
country editor sends the paper along
with the hope that you will some day
settle up matters.
To the man who cannot visit his old
home every year or two the weekly
perusal of his home paper is almost as
good as trip to boyhood scenes. lie
reads where the little freckleface girl
who sat behind him at school was mar
ried to city chap who holds 'lucra-
tive position with a street car com
pany"- probably a motorman he is
informed that the boy who was known
as the bully Of the school was arrested
for wife desertion and is 'incarcerated
in the county bastle;" he learns from
his home paper that "the Thornton
family will hold reunion" and the
news is also conveyed that "Aunt
Eliza Robertson will be ninety three
years old next week Tuesday, an
event which the city man wishes he
was able to be at home to celebrate.
If midnight marauders" steal
chickens from Jake Becker's coop it is
nicely told in the country paper, and
the editor would be driven out of town
if he failed to make note of the benefit
party at Odd Fellows hall for the NJ.
+. church, which was "a grand sue
cess socially and financially The re
ceipts. by the way, amounted to over
seven dollars.
am interested in the personal gos
sip Of my old home, and it is with feel
ings of genuine pleasure that | learn
"Mr. & Mrs. Fred Myers wheeled over
from Edinboro last Sunday" or that
Miss Ida Wessler is sojourning for a
few days with friends at Keepvile.
| The presence in town of Mrs. Frank
| Cooley (nee BaXter), of Buffalo, for
merly a resident of our burg, is duly
chronicIed with the additional informa-
tion that she is accompanied by her
two-months- old baby boy" The burn.
ing Of Hank" Edson's barn is big
piece of news, as 1T is the most disas-
trous conilagration that has visited
this section since the Fire King des
troyed Brown Brothers cider mill in
| 1879.
If YOU are sick the country editor
writes a nice paragraph about your H.
ness, and he trusts that you will "soor
be able to appear upon our streets
again" ;" if your wife dies he tells OF
! her many good traits Of character anC
that She bore her last illness with
Christian fortitude - if your son gets
I married the country editor tells what
| promising young man he is and what
an 'estlmable and charming young
| lady is the bride.
| If the crops are bad the country edi.
| tor sympathizes with the farmer, and
| if the harvest is good he rejoices. He
gives away hundreds of dollars worth
| of advertising every year for which ht
| scarcely receives a polite thank you ;
| he is looked upon by some people as al
| object of charity, and when they pay
| him their subscription they say tC
| themselves, "Well it will help to keel
Il him out of the poorhouse for while
he works harder and puts in more
4 hours at labor than any other man II
\ town if he didn't he would be in the
/ poorhouse.
O, country editor, dear friend, de
rive much happiness every week from
reading your paper, and wish it wer,
i in my power to make your business
Il tenfold better paying than it is MAJ
Il your advertising increase until you art
\ complete to print larger paper, an,
4 may your subscribers come to the oitc,
i or send you by mail the money due
Il you. May your days be full of happi
| ness, and at night when you sit arounC
II the family hearthstnne may Won