This unlucky newspaper was a thorn in the side of every patriot of Carlow

County. It was a poor paper; everybody knew it was a poor paper; it was so

poor that everybody admitted it was a poor paper--worse, the neighboring

county of Amo possessed a better paper, the "Amo Gazette." The "Carlow

County Herald" was so everlastingly bad that Plattville people bent their

heads bitterly and admitted even to citizens of Amo that the "Gazette" was

the better paper. The "Herald" was a weekly, issued on Saturday; sometimes

it hung fire over Sunday and appeared Monday evening. In their pride, the

Carlow people supported the "Herald" loyally and long; but finally

subscriptions began to fall off and the "Gazette" gained them. It came to

pass that the "Herald" missed fire altogether for several weeks; then it

came out feebly, two small advertisements occupying the whole of the

fourth page. It was breathing its last. The editor was a clay-colored

gentleman with a goatee, whose one surreptitious eye betokened both

indolence of disposition and a certain furtive shrewdness. He collected

all the outstanding subscriptions he could, on the morning of the issue

just mentioned, and, thoughtfully neglecting several items on the other

side of the ledger, departed from Plattville forever.

The same afternoon a young man from the East alighted on the platform of

the railway station, north of the town, and, entering the rickety omnibus

that lingered there, seeking whom it might rattle to deafness, demanded to

be driven to the Herald Building. It did not strike the driver that the

newcomer was precisely a gay young man when he climbed into the omnibus;

but, an hour later, as he stood in the doorway of the edifice he had

indicated as his destination, depression seemed to have settled into the

marrow of his bones. Plattville was instantly alert to the stranger's

presence, and interesting conjectures were hazarded all day long at the

back door of Martin's Dry-Goods Emporium, where all the clerks from the

stores around the Square came to play checkers or look on at the game.

(This was the club during the day; in the evening the club and the game

removed to the drug, book, and wall-paper store on the corner.) At supper,

the new arrival and his probable purposes were discussed over every table

in the town. Upon inquiry, he had informed Judd Bennett, the driver of the

omnibus, that he had come to stay. Naturally, such a declaration caused a

sensation, as people did not come to Plattville to live, except through

the inadvertency of being born there. In addition, the young man's

appearance and attire were reported to be extraordinary. Many of the

curious, among them most of the marriageable females of the place, took

occasion to pass and repass the sign of the "Carlow County Herald" during

the evening.




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