Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet

H
 G
.
In the history of journalism, Horace Greeley must, for all time, hold a
position in the front rank. As it is well-known he is a self-made man, being
born of poor parents at Amherst, New Hampshire, on the 3rd day of
February, 1811. His father was a farmer. The Greeley ancestors enjoyed a
reputation for 'tenacity,' which was clearly shown in the pale-faced, flaxen-
haired but precocious lad of fifteen, who presented himself and was
employed at the office of the 
Northern Spectator
, at Poultney, Vermont, in
1826; having walked from West Haven, his home, eleven miles distant. He
was to remain an apprentice until twenty, and received in money the
princely sum of forty dollars a year 'with which to buy clothes and what
was left he might use for spending money.' Why he lived to found a great
paper the reader can easily guess, when it is learned that Greeley used the
greater part of said forty dollars each year for buying books.
He joined a local debating club where he became the 'giant' member, a
tribute paid to his intellect. Most of the members were older than Greeley,
but knowledge proved a power in that society and he was invariably
listened to with marked attention despite his shabby appearance. Especially
was he fond of political data; he followed the exchanges in the 
Spectator
office with increasing interest. His parents removed to Pennsylvania, where
he visited them during his apprenticeship as "printers' devil," and general
assistant at Poultney, walking the most of the way, a distance of about 600
miles. The 
Spectator
having collapsed, young Greeley, with his entire
wardrobe done up in a handkerchief, once more visits Pennsylvania, but not
to remain idle; he soon obtained a place in a printing office near his home,
at eleven dollars per month, and later still he obtains employment at Erie
where he receives fifteen dollars per month. Soon after this, not yet content,
he is enroute for New York, where he arrived August 17, 1831.
His appearance in the metropolis was ludicrous in the extreme. One can
imagine from accounts given of him how prepossessing he must have

---

looked; flaxen locks, blue eyes, his hat on the back of his head as if
accustomed to star gazing, must have given him the appearance of one
decidedly 'green,' to say the least. As is a noted fact he was, to his death,
exceedingly indifferent as to his dress and what are known as the social
demands of society. Indeed he could be seen on the street almost any day
with his pockets stuffed full of papers, his hat pushed back on his head like
a sailor about to ascend the rigging, his spectacles seemingly about to slip
off his nose, his boot heels running over, and we doubt not that he was as
likely to have one leg of his pantaloons tucked into his boot top while the
other was condescendingly allowed to retain its proper place. In fact it is
hardly probable that he would have impressed any one with the idea that he
was indeed a great editor of that city. But we return to his first visit; office
after office was visited without avail but that hereditary 'tenacity' did not
forsake him, and at last he met an old friend, a Mr. Jones whom he had first
met in Poultney. This friend, although not a 'boss,' printer fashion set him at
work on his own case. When the proprietor came in he was dumbfounded at
the specimen of a printer he beheld, and declared to the foreman that he
could not keep him. Fortunately, however, for young Greeley, the job that
he was on was setting small type,—a most undesirable one. The foreman
shrewdly suggested that as Jones, who was a good workman, knew him it
would be a good policy to wait and see the result. As it was a very difficult
job no wonder that Greeley's proof looked as though it had the measles, but
as he was retained he must have done as well if not better than was
expected. When the job was finished he was thrown out of employment,
and he shifted about for some time doing odd jobs; in fact it must have been
very discouraging, but finally he obtained employment on the