tient labor and research, and a much larger space than the limits
of the present work will permit. There are few subjects more attractive
or more worthy of consideration than the history of this wonderful
invention, which seems more like a romance than a narration of facts.
The historian who should essay the task would be required to carry his
reader back to the darkest ages of the world, and, beginning with the
stamps used for affixing hieroglyphical characters to the now crumbling
ruins of Egypt and Nineveh, trace the gradual development of the
beneficent conception from the signets of the Israelites, and the stamps
used by the Romans for marking certain kinds of merchandise, through the
rude process of the Chinese, Japanese, and Tartars, to the invention of
Johannes Guttenberg, and, finally, to the wonderful lightning
steam-presses of to-day.

In these pages it is not proposed to offer to the reader any such
narrative. On the contrary, the story of the printing press will be
taken up just as it was on the point of reaching its greatest
perfection, since our subject concerns only the man who brought it to
that state.

This man, RICHARD MARCH HOE by name, was born in the city of New York,
on the 12th of September, 1812. His father, Robert Hoe, was a native of
the village of Hose, Leicester, England, and the son of a wealthy
farmer. Disliking his father's pursuit, he apprenticed himself to a
carpenter. When only sixteen years old, the elder Hoe purchased his
indentures from his master and sailed for the United States. He was
almost penniless when he reached New York, and in this condition entered
the store of Mr. Grant Thorburn one day in search of employment. Mr.
Thorburn manifested a sudden and strong liking to the youth, took him to
his own house, and when he was prostrated with the yellow fever, during
the epidemic of 1804, nursed him tenderly throughout. Setting to work
immediately upon his arrival in New York, he made friends rapidly, and
prospered in his trade so well that when but twenty years old he was
able to marry. His bride was a daughter of Matthew Smith, of
Westchester, and a sister of Peter Smith, the inventor of the hand
printing press, which bears his name. With this gentleman and Matthew
Smith, jr., his brother, Robert Hoe entered into partnership. Their
business was that of carpentering and printers' joinery; but after Peter
Smith had completed the invention of his hand press, it gradually grew
int