“That quite explains things,” agreed the stranger. “I’m Charles King of Cranston, state superintendent of schools, and I’m making a few inspections around the state. If you’d like, I’ll see you again before I leave and tell you what I think of your school system here.”
“I’m sure you’ll thoroughly approve,” said Helen. “Mr. Fowler, the superintendent, is very progressive and has fine discipline.”
“I’ll tell him he has a good booster in the editor,” smiled Mr. King. “Now, if you’ll be good enough to direct me to the school I’ll see that you get a good story out of my visit here.”
Helen supplied the necessary directions and the state superintendent left the depot.
The nine forty-five, with its combination mail and baggage car and two day coaches, whistled out and Helen returned to the Herald office.
She found a farmer from the east side of the valley waiting for her.
“I’d like to get some sale bills printed,” he said, “and I’ll need about five hundred quarter page bills. How much will they cost?”
Helen opened the booklet with job prices listed and gave the farmer a quotation on the job.
“Sounds fair enough,” he said. “At least it’s a dollar less than last year.”
“Paper doesn’t cost quite as much,” explained Helen, “and we’re passing the saving on to you. Be sure and tell your neighbors about our reasonable printing prices.”