Chapter III: The Outlook Encouraging

Next morning, after going to the printing office and looking over his equipment, Harry noted that there was one item missing that he would require; that was a board on which to spread the ink. It would have to be eighteen inches long, as the ink-roller was fourteen inches long and there would have to be a few inches margin at each end. It ought to be as wide also, so he decided to have it made eighteen inches square. Pine boards, double thickness, covered with zinc, would do, and he went out to Mr. Merwin’s carpenter shop, told him what he wanted, an ink-board, and explained how he wanted it made. The carpenter told him he would make it for him.

“I’m in no particular hurry for the ink-board, Mr. Merwin,” said Harry, “as I won’t need it till I start to print, which will be a week from next Friday. But I want it to be ready then, so I came to you to have you make it for me, for fear I might forget it, and the printing of my paper be thereby delayed.”

“All right. I’ll have it for you by to-morrow.”

“Thanks, Mr. Merwin, and by the way, I am just starting out to solicit advertisements for the first issue of my paper. Wouldn’t you like to have an advertisement in it?”

“My business doesn’t need much advertising, as my work is my best advertisement. However, as I have a shop here on the main street, an advertising card would be logical, so you may put one in for me. Just say: ‘James Merwin, Carpenter. House-building and repairing, and bench-work at my shop on Main Street, Coalville, Colorado.’ How much will that be per week or month?”

Harry wrote the advertisement down in his notebook, and then asked: “How much space do you want the advertisement to occupy?”

“Oh, an inch or two.”

“The price will be ten cents per inch, single column, or twenty cents per inch, double column,” replied Harry. “That will be twenty cents per week.”

“Make it a little larger and charge me a dollar per month,” said Mr. Merwin. “I’ll run it steadily, to encourage you for having started a paper here; besides, it may bring me some work that otherwise I might not have secured.”

“True,” said Harry. “Thanks, Mr. Merwin,” and he went out, returning to his printing office, where he placed the copy for the carpenter’s advertisement under the planer on the imposing stone.

“That makes me think of something,” he murmured, as he went out and downstairs to a hardware store a few doors distant. “Have you any copy files?” he asked of the proprietor, who came forward to wait on him. “I want the kind that you can hang on a nail on the wall, not the ordinary base-and-spindle kind that you place on a table or desk.”

The man nodded. “Here is what you want,” he said, producing one of the kind that Harry had mentioned.

“How much is it?”

“Twenty-five cents.”

“I want two.”

The man produced another.

“You needn’t wrap them up,” said Harry. “I haven’t far to carry them, only up to my office upstairs over the Gebhart grocery store. I have a printing office there, and these are to file copy on, one for ‘live’ copy, as it is called when it hasn’t been printed as yet, and the other for ‘dead’ copy, as it is called after it has been printed.”

“I see,” said the man, looking at Harry with some interest. “Are you really going to start a paper here? I heard that you were going to do so.”

“Yes, sir, and I am just starting out to secure advertisements for the first issue; You’ll want an advertisement in the paper, won’t you, Mr.----”

“Warner’s my name, Thomas Warner. Yes, I might give you an advertisement. How many copies of your paper are you going to print?”

“Twenty quires--that’s four hundred and eighty copies.”

“What is your price for advertising?”

“Ten cents per inch, single column. That’s the rate. You can have as many inches of space as you want, and in whatever form--single column, double or triple-column, or a square of so many inches. You can suit yourself.”

The merchant tore off a piece of wrapping paper, took a pencil from behind his ear, and wrote a few minutes, then handed the paper to Harry who read what was written there:

“Thomas Warner, Dealer in Hardware. Lowest Prices and Courteous Treatment of Patrons.”

“I’ll take ten inches of space,” said the merchant, when Harry had read the advertisement. “Make it single or double column, just as you like. I don’t doubt it’ll be seen.”

“I’ll make it double column and five inches in length,” said Harry. “That’ll be ten inches of space, and it is a large enough advertisement so that it will look well in a double-column space. There isn’t much composition, but I can set it in larger type and make it look well. Thank you, Mr. Warner, for the advertisement.”

“That’s all right, young man,” with a nod of the head. “I hope your paper will be a success. Our town is big enough to have a paper. That’s what we merchants have often told one another.”

“I’m going to do job printing, too,” said Harry. “That will add to the earnings of the office and help to make my business a success. If you need any letter-heads or envelopes, or statements, or business cards, or any kind of job printing at any time, let me know, and I will do it promptly and at a fair price.”

“All right, I’ll remember you when I need any printing of that kind,” and he turned to wait on another patron. Harry went out with his copy-hooks and advertising copy and made his way up to his office, where he drove two nails in the wall near the imposing stone and hung the copy-files on them. Then he stuck the two advertisements on the hook that he intended to use for the “live” copy.

“That’s a start,” he said, with a look of satisfaction. “I believe I can get enough advertising to make it pay me pretty well. If the people subscribe for the paper, as I hope many of them will, and I succeed in getting quite a good deal of job printing, I ought to do pretty well.”

Harry put in the rest of the day soliciting advertisements and explaining that he was prepared to do job printing also. When evening came and he looked at the advertising copy hanging on the hook a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face. He had secured advertisements from nearly all the merchants in the town, and taking the copy and blank piece of paper and a pencil, he figured up the total advertising. He found that he had secured one hundred and eight inches of advertisements. This at ten cents per inch would amount to ten dollars and eighty cents.

Of course this was for the first issue, but he did not doubt that most of the merchants would keep right on advertising, using about the same amount of space continuously. Ten dollars and eighty cents per week for display advertising, as the large advertisements are called, would amount to from forty-three to forty-five dollars per month, and after he had gotten out the first issue of the paper, he would be able to get quite a lot of what are termed “pay locals.”

These are small advertisements in paragraph form inserted among the regular news locals. For these he would charge eight and one-third cents per line, or three lines for twenty-five cents, and most pay locals are about three lines long. He would thus increase his advertising receipts about twenty dollars per month, which would make the total amount about sixty-five dollars per month. With this promising start he felt encouraged and believed himself safe in expecting to make a success of the printing business and of the publishing of a newspaper in Coalville.

Hanging the advertising copy back on the hook, Harry put on his hat and went out, locking the door, and went downstairs and out to the street. Just as he came to Mr. Merwin’s shop doorway a girl of about sixteen years emerged, coming face to face with him.

“Elsie!” he exclaimed. “Why, Elsie Vaughn, how does it happen that you are here?”

“Harry!” she said. “Harry Weston, I’m glad to see you again. How does it happen that I am here in Coalville, you ask? It’s simple as anything, for the answer is that I live here. And, Harry, my name isn’t Vaughn. My name is Merwin--Elsie Merwin.”

“But,” said Harry, a puzzled look on his face, “how did you come to be residing in Allentown, where I made your acquaintance, when I was taking care of my invalid uncle?”

“I wasn’t residing there,” with a smile. “I was merely visiting with my Aunt Lucy, that’s Mrs. Vaughn, and with the rest of the family. I knew you thought I was a member of their family, and intended to tell you I wasn’t, but your uncle died and you were busy helping with the funeral and I didn’t bother, and you went away the next day after the funeral and I didn’t see you again.”

“Well, well!” exclaimed Harry, with a pleased smile. “This is a pleasant surprise to me. What do you think of my having put in a printing plant here in your town, Elsie, and of my having turned out to be a fellow-citizen?”

“I think it’s just splendid, Harry!” with a bright smile.

“Well, I’m glad you think that way.”

Mr. Merwin came out of the carpenter shop at that moment. He had heard their conversation while putting on his hat and coat. He smiled and nodded at Harry in a friendly manner, and said:

“Elsie told me about having known you in Allentown, and that you supposed her to be a member of the Vaughn family residing next to the home of your uncle. She said you’d be surprised when you met her and learned her name and that she resides here in Coalville.”

“Yes, indeed, and a pleasant surprise it is!” said Harry.

“Come around and see us, any evening,” said Elsie. “We reside not two blocks distant from where you board--one block east and one-half block north. It’s the brown-colored house, on the west side of the street.”

“Thank you,” said Harry. “I shall take advantage of your invitation some evening, after I have gotten over the big lot of work that I will have to do between now and Friday of next week. That’s when I expect to get out the first issue of my paper. It’s to be ‘The Coalville News,’ Elsie, and I hope you and the rest of the people in Coalville will like it.”

“I’ll like it, I’m sure,” she replied with a smile. “I can’t speak for the rest of the people, but I hope they’ll like it.” She nodded adieu and with her father went on down the street, while Harry made his way to his boarding-house, feeling very hopeful about his new venture.