downright man upon whom so many leaned, who told me there was no hope of recovery.

Doctor Smith had lived only half a century when his work ended December 26, 1880; how young that seems and how far away the event! The night of his departure, when there was a consultation of eminent physicians, I went to the hotel to inquire about him, and not many hours later came word of his death. The office room that had been set apart for the elder Bowles remained unoccupied after his death. Into its seclusion I retired to write a story of noble service. The sheets were wet when Doctor Smith's obituary went to the composing room. To Doctor Frederick W. Chapin, Doctor Corcoran, Doctor Wallace H. Deane and many others of his calling hereabout and in Connecticut, Doctor Smith remained an inspiration.

On the day of Doctor Smith's burial, "Billy" Collins, the liveryman, afterward surveyor of the port of Springfield, drove a hearse for the first and last time. With the doctor's horses he carried the body of his friend to the grave, for in this wise. was David P. Smith loved.

So many worth-while men and women come to mind, deserving the slight perpetuation mention here may give, that the situation becomes embarrassingly impossible. Take the bankers, with F. H. Harris at their head, who was an expert in finance, politics and men. His was a patrician figure when after banking hours on pleasant afternoons he rode his dainty thoroughbred horse. Henry S. Lee, helper of all needing assistance, radiated an active good will

Never forthputting

throughout the community. for himself, he is a blessed memory. Charles Marsh, valedictorian of the Class of 1855 at Williams, all his life a reader and student, was Mr. Lee's chum in service of his church and the community. James Kirkham was a shrewd banker and useful citizen. The sons of Harris and Kirkham carried on the family tradition. Other bankers and men in other lines of business merit record it is impossible to give in this already too wide-sweeping backward look.

The paper manufacturers formed a fine group, albeit their mills were outside of Springfield. O. H. Greenleaf, who gave the nucleus of Forest Park, John H. Southworth, Charles O. Chapin, Henry A. Gould, Julius H. Appleton, E. C. Rogers, W. N. Caldwell, Charles H. and E. Courtlandt Southworth, are well-remembered figures. Horace A. Moses was yet to come with his large plans for helpful coöperative work in agriculture.

Of the business men, Andrew B. Wallace was on his way to becoming Springfield's greatest merchant. Perhaps Nathan D. Bill was already dreaming of the time when by benefactions he would link the family name with the city's future. George Dwight Pratt, too, always helpful in public matters, must have had thought and hope of the large community work to which he was to grow, including leadership in giving us the Municipal Group. G. W. V. Smith was making the great artistic collection that is now one of the city's most widely-known attractions. And hundreds of others, each in his place, were making ready to become leaders in the larger Springfield.

XIII

GROWING INTO THE LIFE AND WORK

THE adequate reporter and editor is forever putting himself in another's place. He will find sympathy opening the way to understanding in every job and encounter. It is not easy business to get at all sides of a matter, but it is interesting and absorbing, and leads to an intimate knowledge of men and life that is necessary for the best service. It is the application of intensive cultivation. Greatly to be respected is the patience artists put into their work, which is a thing of infinite pains and detail. So of great novelists, the writing of history worth reading and all fine literary work. It is more difficult to hold one's self to the level of his best in the rush of journalism, but it pays young men to come as near to that as may be amid the distractions of the newspaper office. It is the man keen to spare no pains who gets trusted.

That doctrine was fundamental in the Republican school. So was the idea that young workers should not be permitted to harden into ruts. We youngsters needed a great deal of shifting about, and we got it. Each change stimulated growth. Behind James Gordon Bennett's famous "shake-ups" were possibilities of benefit to the New York Herald.

I had quite an experience in city and desk work and the reading of newspapers before Mr. Bowles began to send me out of Springfield on special duty. A great variety of writing and oversight came to me, political conventions, city news, charge of western Massachusetts news, head of the local department. When the Chief was away I had his cherished Weekly to make up. He promised me a year or two in Washington, but that was put off as office responsibilities increased. When, in 1877, we moved to a new building built for us by the Five Cent Savings Bank, Mr. Bowles had "General Editor" painted on my door. That meant larger editorial oversight. Upon the death of the senior Bowles and the departure of the managing editor, Mr. Clark, the writing on the door was changed to "Managing Editor", which designation remained until my retirement in 1919.

It had been my theory that the reporter who handles conventions and large news happenings is best qualified to make editorial comment upon them. This was put in practice so far as conditions permitted. The editorial writers had each his special subjects, and they were expert in them. In this way a vital editorial page was maintained. Men wrote because they had something to say.

During my tutelage one was always on call when any gap came in the staff. All the while, too, we were taking note of the Chief's ways, the methods that, each in its place, were fine art. He ranged over the paper. Until his death he was the dynamo speeding up our efficiency, enthusiasm and morale.

In newspapers of this time no such full individual oversight is possible. There must now be far more division of responsibility in order to obtain proper results. Authority must be given to department heads.

I recall a comment on the chief's watchfulness. Gordon M. Fisk, editor of the Palmer Journal, met William S. Robinson (Warrington) coming out of the Republican building, who said, "I've just left Sam Bowles upstairs wearing his life out looking for a turned letter in the Republican." That was one way of looking at the matter. The other aspect sees Mr. Bowles gladly exercising the eternal vigilance that was the price of producing America's best provincial newspaper.

Mr. Robinson was the paper's famous Boston correspondent who wrote incomparably searching letters. Mere politicians and official incompetents feared his trenchant pen. It always seemed to some of us that Frank B. Sanborn, who followed him, strove after the pattern set by Warrington, even in his wonderfully informal literary letters. Mr. Sanborn was one of the most widely educated men I have known. His name is linked with the Concord school of philosophy.

The Republican office was a hard school. Judge James T. Robinson, editor of the North Adams Transcript, about that time told my parents they were very foolish to let me remain where Sam Bowles could kill me with hard work. I wrote in reply that if our cousin, the Berkshire judge of probate, would send his own boy to the Republican it would be for