When newspapers were fun to read
Funny what turns up when you're doing spring cleaning. We've been tossing out years of accumulated stuff for a month in preparation for some new desks -- work stations, actually --that are being installed in the newsroom right now. (The ones being moved out were perfect back when when we used Royal and Underwood typewriters.)
One thing that was saved from the trash heap was a Sept. 13, 1899, editon of The Greensboro Patriot, one of our ancestral newspapers. It's all of two pages, with ads for doctors, dentists, lawyers and architects down one side of the front page. The first item listed on the page? "Mr. S.B. Norris has returned from a trip north."
A selection of others:
"The tallest stalk of corn we have ever heard of is on the farm of Mr. J.G. Gamble of Summerfield. It is fourteen feet and three inches in height and has on it one large ear of corn, which is eight feet from the ground."
"Mr. R.S. McClamroch was aroused from sleep one night last week by a noise out in the yard. He got up and secured a revolver in time to see a man's hand reaching through the slats of the window blind. Mr. McClamroch did not wait for his noctural visitor's next move, but fired immediately. He is quite sure the burglar was struck by the bullet, thogh no trace of blood could be seen."
"All the boy readers of our paper will note with pleasure the generous offer of Rankin, Chishom, Stroud & Rees. See their ad. for particulars. We wish to say that we have examined the knife shown in the advertisement and it is a thorough, first-class production -- not a cheap little nothing, but a good, substantial knife -- one that any boy will be proud of."
And my personal favorite:
"John Robinson's circus got in early this morning from Winston, where it exhibited yesterday."
(Some of you might say that John Robinson's circus never left.)
At any rate, if you have tried unsuccessfully to get through to your favorite reporter, it may be because some phones are disconnected and being moved. Leave a message and the reporter will get back to you.
Comments (4)
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When my big-city sister visits and reads the N&R, she always comments that the big cities have forgotten what newspapers are supposed to be about, that is, the news of the local community. To her (and she reads the WaPo and NYT every day before 8 am), there is little local news, except traffic problems. We read about the City Council, County Commishes, families needing help, profiles on volunteers, and more. Although we usually have to get a Times for her by 3 pm or she gets the shakes, she nods approvingly when I tell her that I read the obituaries because I know the people in this town.
Newspapers are still fun to read. I just wish the N&R was longer; more pages; had more local news.
Posted on October 4, 2005 4:48 PM
Me, too, Sue. Me, too.
Posted on October 4, 2005 5:17 PM
I love stuff like this. I called my mother up and read her the cornstalk one in my fast-talking-olde-newspaper-man voice.
This was even funnier because, in the tiny town where my mother lives, their daily newspaper actually ran a front page story about someone growing a bananna tree in their garden like a year ago. I picked on it mercilessly, for which she hated me.
Posted on October 5, 2005 3:12 PM
and there's plenty more where that came from - it can be an vast and fascinating time sink, to visit the past.
You might think about working toward getting the old N&R archives scanned in under the
National Digital Newspaper Program.
Posted on October 5, 2005 3:49 PM