CHAPTER XXIX. IN THE PRINTING OFFICE
"Harry," said the professor, after breakfast the next morning, "I findwe must get some more bills printed. You may go round to the officeof the Centreville Gazette, and ask them how soon they can print me ahundred large bills and a thousand small ones."
"All right, sir. Suppose they can't have them done by the ready tostart?"
"They can send them to me by express."
Harry had never been in a printing office; but he had a great curiosityto see one ever since he had read the "Life of Benjamin Franklin." Ifthere was anyone in whose steps he thought he should like to follow, itwas Franklin, and Franklin was a printer.
He had no difficulty in finding the office. It was in the second storyof a building, just at the junction of two roads near the center of thetown, the post office being just underneath. He ascended a staircase,and saw on the door, at the head of the stairs:
"CENTREVILLE GAZETTE"
He opened the door and entered. He saw a large room, containing a pressat the end, while two young men, with paper caps on their heads, werestanding in their shirt sleeves at upright cases setting type. On oneside there was a very small office partitioned off. Within, a man wasseen seated at a desk, with a pile of exchange papers on the floor,writing busily. This was Mr. Jotham Anderson publisher and editor of theGazette.
"I want to get some printing done," said Harry, looking toward thejourneymen.
"Go to Mr. Anderson," said one, pointing to the office.
Harry went in. The editor looked up as he entered.
"What can I do for you?" he asked.
"I want to get some printing done."
"For yourself?"
"No; for Professor Henderson."
"I've done jobs for him before. What does he want?"
Our hero explained.
"Very well, we will do it."
"Can you have it done before two o'clock?"
"Impossible. I am just bringing out my paper."
"When can you have the job finished?"
"To-morrow noon."
"I suppose that will do. We perform to-morrow at Berlin and they can besent over to the hotel there."
"You say 'we,'" answered Harry, amused. "I take tickets, and assist himgenerally."
"How do you like the business?"
"Very well; but I should like your business better."
"What makes you think so?"
"I have been reading the 'Life of Benjamin Franklin.' He was a printer."
"That's true; but I'm sorry to say Franklins are scarce in our printingoffices. I never met one yet."
"I shouldn't expect to turn out a Franklins; but I think one couldn'thelp being improved by the business."
"True again, though, of course, it depends on the wish to improve. Howlong have you been working for Professor Henderson?"
"Not long. Only two or three weeks."
"What did you do before?"
"I was pegger in a shoe shop."
"Didn't you like it?"
"Well enough, for I needed to earn money and it paid me; but I don'tthink I should like to be a shoemaker all my life. It doesn't give anychance to learn."
"Then you like learning?"
"Yes. 'Live and learn'--that is my motto."
"It is a good one. Do you mean to be a printer?"
"If I get a chance."
"You may come into my office on the first of April, if you like. One ofmy men will leave me by the first of May. If you are a smart boy, andreally wish to learn the business, you can break in so as to be usefulin four weeks."
"I should like it," said Harry; "but," he added, with hesitation, "I ampoor, and could not afford to work for nothing while I was learning."
"I'll tell you what I'll do, then," said the editor. "I'll give you yourboard for the first month, on condition that you'll work for six monthsafterwards for two dollars a week and board. That's a fair offer. Iwouldn't make it if I didn't feel assured that you were smart, and wouldin time be valuable to me."
"I'll come if my father does not object."
"Quite tight. I should not like to have you act contrary to his wishes.I suppose, for the present, you will remain with Professor Henderson."
"Yes, sir."
"Very well. Let me hear from you when you have communicated with yourfather."
Harry left the office plunged in thought. It came upon him withsurprise, that he had engaged himself to learn a new business, andthat the one which he had longed to follow ever since he had becomeacquainted with Franklin's early life. He realized that he was probablymaking immediate sacrifice. He could, undoubtedly, make more money inthe shoe shop than in the printing office, for the present at least. Bythe first of April the shoe business obtain employment. But then he wassure he should like printing better, and if he was ever going to change,why, the sooner he made the change the better.
When he returned to the hotel, he told the professor what he had done.
"I am glad you are not going at once," said his employer, "for I shouldbe sorry to lose you. I generally give up traveling for the season aboutthe first of April, so that I shall be ready to release you. I commendyour choice of a trade. Many of our best editors have been practicalprinters in their youth."
"I should like to be an editor, but I don't know enough."
"Not at present; but you can qualify yourself to become one--that is, ifyou devote you spare time to reading and studying."
"I mean to do that."
"Then you will fair chance of becoming what you desire. To a certainextent, a boy, or young man, holds the future in his own hands."
Harry wrote to father, at once, in regard to the plan which he had inview. The answer did not reach him for nearly a week; but we will so faranticipate matters as to insert that part which related to it.
"If you desire to be a printer, Harry, I shall not object. It is a goodtrade, and you can make yourself, through it, useful to the community.I do not suppose it will ever make you rich. Still, I should think itmight, in time, give you a comfortable living--better, I hope, than Ihave been able to earn as a farmer. If you determine to win success, youprobably will. If you should leave your present place before the firstof April, we shall be very glad to have you come home, if only for aday or two. We all miss you very much--your mother, particularly. Tomdoesn't say much about it; but I know he will be as glad to see you asthe rest of us."
Harry read this letter with great pleasure, partly because it broughthim permission to do as he desired, and partly because it was gratifyingto him to feel that he was missed at home. He determined, if it was apossible thing, to leave the professor a week before his new engagement,and spend that time in Granton.