cess of absorbing one hundred thousand more people has been, upon the whole, so small, and the perpetuation of ideals and worthy achievements so great. As a conserving force it is only fair that large recognition be given to the press of the city for the preservation of standards that are essential to wholesome municipal conditions. If not at all times supremely wise, the daily papers have maintained their honor, which is the taproot of good service.

ENTRANCE INTO A GREAT SCHOOL

It has long seemed to the writer that in preparation for an effective ministry, an embryonic clergyman might serve himself and enrich his calling by spending at least one year in the local department of a newspaper. It does not much matter whether this be done in a large city or a small one, for human efforts, hopes and troubles do not differ with size of communities. The injunction "Know thyself" comprehends knowledge of one's fellows. In the Christian ministry, above all other callings, there is need for sympathy, reinforced by acquaintance with life. That tact is most potent which has familiarity with the problems under consideration.

I saw the validity of this theory beautifully demonstrated by the too short life work of Reverend William E. Wolcott, brother of the brilliant United States Senator from Colorado, Edward O. Wolcott, and an associate at one time on the Republican, who rendered the finest kind of service in the manufacturing city of Lawrence. Knowledge and sympathy knit Reverend Mr. Wolcott to his flock, made up considerably of toilers in the mills, with bonds exceptionally strong and tender. When, after his death, the church building burned, these friends of Wolcott risked their lives to save his portrait.

Certainly the newspaper worker who puts his best into his profession is all the time learning about people and social conditions, and the wider the range of interests he can touch, the better will be the equipment for his daily work. How much had been learned by the writer in boyhood and college was not then appreciated, for later it became plain that everything acquired will at some time come into play in journalism.

Our adventurer into newspaper life in Springfield thought it the part of wisdom to empty the mind of prepossessions, and make a new start. Delightful as had been the life in Williamstown, that chapter in a limited environment was closed. For the future he must act for himself and sit as an independent court to weigh men and affairs. Too much. deference to conventions is a handicap from which most men free themselves slowly, while some never do this to any considerable degree.

It was my good fortune to be brought into close relationship with a remarkably virile and independent personality. Samuel Bowles was a recognized leader in the high-minded and progressive journalism of his time. After Mr. Bowles's death I gathered estimates from leading journalists who had known him - Joseph Medill, Henry Watterson, Charles A. Dana, Murat Halstead, Joseph Pulitzer, Horace White, General Joseph R. Hawley, Alexander K. McClure and others—and all held him to have been in his time perhaps the brightest star in the American newspaper firmament. I have not known another man so compelling and fascinating.

In a small provincial city, Mr. Bowles was making a distinctive newspaper of national and international fame. He realized the growing power of the press and its fine possibilities, and was jealous of its dignity and good name. To it he gave undivided allegiance, even life itself, and demanded like devotion and sacrifice from those who worked under him. He was punctilious about the niceties of newspaper-making in typography and text. To him it was an art demanding the utmost attention and the most scrupulous care. In these things he was an inspiration to editors near and remote.

Fortunate were the young men who came under his instruction, and no one on the staff worth spending time upon failed to be impressed with this. Graduates of the Republican then and after went out with the stamp of the master upon them, and experienced little difficulty in finding work to do in fields that were larger, and usually less well tilled. How many men passed a longer or shorter time in that admirable but not formally declared School of Journalism! And most of them to justify their training, and to dignify newspaper work.

As a rule good sense had large play at that time in the making of newspapers. The majority of editors felt themselves under contract to serve their readers with intelligence. and good taste. It was left for a later time, with its commercial appeal for circulation at all costs, to introduce elements that were to confuse those simple standards, and to depress the tone of journalism. There was exciting fiction in vogue

older readers will remember the

Beadle dime novels well-bred boys furtively partook of - but not in the newspapers to any great extent. For people to whom Harper's and the Atlantic made slight appeal, the Waverley magazine offered innocuous fiction more or less trashy, the forerunner of a crop of modern "popular" magazines. A pink-tinted weekly paper told of criminals and crime.

But not yet had come a press that was to mix deliberately the dime novel and sensational and criminal doings for daily reading in a manner calculated to beget distorted views of life. Nor had the period arrived when newspapers strove to place a sample of all their goods on the first page, after the fashion of the shop window of an old-time Bowery merchant, who bellowed his wares and sought to compel all who came his way to become purchasers.

Old-fashioned was journalism then? It may have been when judged by some modern standards. But it was self-respecting and helpful; it paid careful regard to the rights of the reader; and it gave him straightforward service and reliable goods. One could take pride in his calling, and possess the assurance that there would be no bad taste in the mouth after the day's work was done. The continuity of news stories was preserved, with little skipping here and there over the pages of the paper or the magazine. Capitals were used sparingly. It became a saying among tramp printers most interesting of our nomads that "Only Jesus Christ and Sam Bowles were capitalized on the Republican." There was no muddle of loose sheets to flop about as