FLETCHER'S OPINION OF HARRY WALTON.
In two weeks all the business arrangements were completed, and
Ferguson and Harry became joint proprietors of the "Centreville
Gazette," the latter being sole editor. The change was received with
favor in the village, as Harry had, as editor pro tem. for two
months, shown his competence for the position. It gave him
prominence also in town, and, though only nineteen, he already was
classed with the minister, the doctor and the lawyer. It helped him
also with the weekly papers to which he contributed in Boston, and
his pay was once more raised, while his sketches were more frequently
printed. Now this was all very pleasant, but it was not long before
our hero found himself overburdened with work.
"What is the matter Harry? You look pale," said Ferguson, one
morning.
"I have a bad headache, and am feeling out of sorts."
"I don't wonder at it. You are working too hard."
"I don't know about that."
"I do. You do nearly as much as I, as a compositor. Then you do all
the editorial work, besides writing sketches for the Boston papers."
"How can I get along with less? The paper must be edited, and I
shouldn't like giving up writing for the Boston papers."
"I'll tell you what to do. Take a boy and train him up as a printer.
After a while he will relieve you almost wholly, while, by the time
he commands good wages, we shall be able to pay them."
"It is a good idea, Ferguson. Do you know of any boy that wants to
learn printing?"
"Haven't you got a younger brother?"
"The very thing," said Harry, briskly. "Father wrote to me last week
that he should like to get something for ----."
"Better write and offer him a place in the office."
"I will."
The letter was written at once. An immediate answer was received, of
a favorable nature. The boy was glad to leave home, and the father
was pleased to have him under the charge of his older brother.
After he had become editor, and part proprietor of the "Gazette,"
Harry wrote to Oscar Vincent to announce his promotion. Though Oscar
had been in college now nearly two years, and they seldom met, the
two were as warm friends as ever, and from time to time exchanged
letters.
This was Oscar's reply:--
"HARVARD COLLEGE, June 10.
"DEAR MR. EDITOR: I suppose that's the proper way to address you now.
I congratulate you with all my heart on your brilliant success and
rapid advancement. Here you are at nineteen, while I am only a
rattle-brained sophomore. I don't mind being called that, by the
way, for at least it credits me with the possession of brains. Not
that I am doing so very badly. I am probably in the first third of
the class, and that implies respectable scholarship here.
"But you--I can hardly realize that you, whom I knew only two or
three years since as a printer's apprentice (I won't use Fletcher's
word), have lifted yourself to the responsible position of sole
editor. Truly you have risen from the ranks!
"Speaking of Fletcher, by the way, you know he is my classmate. He
occupies an honorable position somewhere near the foot of the class,
where he is likely to stay, unless he receives from the faculty leave
of absence for an unlimited period. I met him yesterday, swinging
his little cane, and looking as dandified as he used to.
"'Hallo! Fletcher,' said I, 'I've just got a letter from a friend of
yours.'
"'Who is it?' he asked.
"'Harry Walton.'
"'He never was a friend of mine,' said Fitz, turning up his
delicately chiselled nose,--'the beggarly printer's devil!'
"I hope you won't feel sensitive about the manner in which Fitz spoke
of you.
"'You've made two mistakes,' said I. 'He's neither a beggar nor a
printer's devil.'
"'He used to be,' retorted Fitz.
"'The last, not the first. You'll be glad to hear that he's getting
on well.'
"'Has he had his wages raised twenty-five cents a week?' sneered Fitz.
"'He has lost his place,' said I.
"Fletcher actually looked happy, but I dashed his happiness by
adding, 'but he's got a better one.'
"'What's that?' he snarled.
"'He has bought out the paper of Mr. Anderson, and is now sole editor
and part proprietor.'
"'A boy like him buy a paper, without a cent of money and no
education!'
"'You are mistaken. He had several hundred dollars, and as a writer
he is considerably ahead of either of us.'
"'He'll run the paper into the ground,' said Fitz, prophetically.
"'If he does, it'll only be to give it firmer root.'
"'You are crazy about that country lout,' said Fitz. 'It isn't much
to edit a little village paper like that, after all.'
"So you see what your friend Fitz thinks about it. As you may be in
danger of having your vanity fed by compliments from other sources, I
thought I would offset them by the candid opinion of a disinterested
and impartial scholar like Fitz.
"I told my father of the step you have taken. 'Oscar,' said he,
'that boy is going to succeed. He shows the right spirit. I would
have given him a place on my paper, but very likely he does better to
stay where he is.'
"Perhaps you noticed the handsome notice he gave you in his paper
yesterday. I really think he has a higher opinion of your talents
than of mine; which, of course, shows singular lack of
discrimination. However, you're my friend, and I won't make a fuss
about it.
"I am cramming for the summer examinations and hot work I find it, I
can tell you. This summer I am going to Niagara, and shall return by
way of the St. Lawrence and Montreal, seeing the Thousand Islands,
the rapids, and so on. I may send you a letter or two for the
'Gazette,' if you will give me a puff in your editorial columns."
These letters were actually written, and, being very lively and
readable, Harry felt quite justified in referring to them in a
complimentary way. Fletcher's depreciation of him troubled him very
little.
"It will make me neither worse nor better," he reflected. "The time
will come, I hope, when I shall have risen high enough to be wholly
indifferent to such ill-natured sneers."
His brother arrived in due time, and was set to work as Harry himself
had been three years before. He was not as smart as Harry, nor was
he ever likely to rise as high; but he worked satisfactorily, and
made good progress, so that in six months he was able to relieve
Harry of half his labors as compositor. This, enabled him to give
more time to his editorial duties. Both boarded at Ferguson's, where
they had a comfortable home and good, plain fare.
Meanwhile, Harry was acknowledged by all to have improved the paper,
and the most satisfactory evidence of the popular approval of his
efforts came in an increased subscription list, and this, of course,
made the paper more profitable. At the end of twelve months, the two
partners had paid off the money borrowed from Professor Henderson,
and owned the paper without incumbrance.
"A pretty good year's work, Harry," said Ferguson, cheerfully.
"Yes," said Harry; "but we'll do still better next year."