tionately.

"Nort, my boy," he said, "we're printing a newspaper."

"We are, Cap'n," responded Nort heartily, but with a glint in his eyes.

I saw the swift, grateful look that Anthy gave him.

But the old Captain's mood suddenly changed. It is in the time of
triumph that we sometimes find our sorrows most poignant. He began to
shake his big shaggy head.

"Ah, Nort," said he, "one thing only takes the heart out of me."

"What's that, Cap'n?" asked Nort, though we all knew well enough.

"If only the Colonel had not left us, I could put my very soul into the
work. I could write wonderful editorials, Nort."

If there was one subject besides flying machines and Democrats--and
possibly woman suffrage--upon which the old Captain was irreconcilable,
it was Colonel Roosevelt. He had never followed or loved any leader
since Lincoln as he had followed and loved Roosevelt, and when the
Colonel "went astray," as he expressed it, it affected him like some
great personal sorrow. It went so deep with him that he had never yet
been able to write an editorial upon the subject. "Why," he had said to
Anthy, "I loved him like a brother!"

"Never mind, Cap'n," said Nort. "Some of these days you'll tell us what
you think about the Colonel."

The Captain shook his head sadly.

"No, Nort," said he, "it goes too deep, it goes too deep."

With that he turned to his desk with a heavy sigh and began opening the
week's exchanges, and we knew that he would soon fall upon Brother
Kendrick of the Sterling _Democrat_ and smite him hip and thigh. If the
Colonel were no longer with him, still his head was bloody but
unbowed--and he would fight on to the end. But the seed dropped by
Nort--"You'll tell us what you think about the Colonel some of these
days"--did not fall on wholly barren soil. It produced, indeed, a growth
of such luxuriance--but of all that, in its proper place.

Well, we disposed of every extra copy of the paper we had printed, and
actually had to run off some reprints and slips containing the Poems of
Hempfield, of which we also sold quite a number.

How we all need just a little success! To the editors of a country
newspaper, who publish week after week for months without so much as a
ripple of response, all this was most exciting and interesting--yes,
intoxicating.

Considered as a business venture, of course, or measured in exact
financial returns, it may seem small enough. Indeed, Ed Smith said----
But can we ever