Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1921-05-20

was far from being the countryman |
he looked, for he "emptied in" with
amazing frequency, and his proof
showed no errors.
In the morning it developed that
"Texas Jack" had outstripped the
old guard. He ,had set a string Of
IL, 900 ems, record never touched,
for the time consumed, except by
the exceptional swift" Pocketing
his big earnings, the travelling printer
gave a farewell salute TO the jeerers
of the night before. "GOod-day,
gentlemen" he said politely, with a
country bow and graceful wave of
the sombrero, as he seemingly with
drew.
The second class of printers were
those who took up printing because
it was a good trade and regarded as
on a higher plane than some others.
Typical of this class of printers
was "Shortalize" Murray. Murray
may have been named after the
grammarian, but he was merely
"Shortalize" to us because he always
spoke of "shortalizing" words. The
first day he favored the office with
his services he broke the silence by
looking up from his case and solemn
ly inquiring: How do you short
alize secretary here?" He was told
the office style of abbreviating, but
the nickname "Shortalize" was his
from that day forth.
"Shortalize" had worked in nearly
every large printing office, except
some Of the largest cities, in the
United States and Canada. He was
thrifty. When he reached our office
he usually liked to stay for some
time, partly because the editor had
dog which helped "Shortalize" de-
feat the high cost Of living. It was
'70s, when prices after the war were
SO high they almost touched the sky
or present-day records. "Shortalize"
used to board himself. When he did
his marketing, old Rover, the editors
dog, used to accompany him. "Short-
alize," pointing to the animal, would
ask for "5 cents worth of meat for
the dog"
Rover was a large Newfoundland,
with a peculiarly hungry expression.
The dealer, after a glance at the ami
NAL, and knowing that his owner was
lone bachelor and boarded at the
sorry village "hotel," was usually
very generous. In those days a nickel
would buy enough to last several
meals, so "Shortalize" would live high
on next to nothing.
Scotsman Was q Sucker.
Alexandria Cameron, a Scotsman,
was most lovable, most irritating
and most amusing specimen of this
type of travelling knight-errant. Aleck
had been working in certain office
for some time, when he incurred the
wrath of his employer because of a
breach Of discipline.
Alexander came to work just as il
he had not received his discharge.
mo use, Aleck," said his exasper-
ated boss. you're discharged. You
can't stay another minute"
| Alexander Cameron calmly contin.
ued removing his coat and rolling ur
his shirt sleeves.
"Did you hear what said, Aleck?"
demanded his wrathy superior. "You
may go. You're discharged,
"Why, Mr.. Lenox," returned Alecl
in a shocked tone. do We think III
be mean enough to leave ye now, with
all this work? No, no, Mr.. Lenox
Ye little know Alexander Cameron il
We think that. I'll never desert ye
Mr.. Lenox, never! Just count on
Aleck every time" He stayed.
i The third and lowest class OF print
ers comprised those who simply drift
ed into the business, or who failed tt
make good at the trade. From thi.
class came the genuine tramp printer
He is still WITH US. The quality,
never very good, has been steadil,
deteriorating, and the modern traml
printer is more tramp" and les
printer than ever before. The gen
eral public too often has formed it
opinions of printers in general from
this sorry class. The old-time traml
printer was usually ian amoosin(
cussp as Artemus would say.