January 28th.—Quotations from Dickens; Queen Victoria and her Family. Wilber S. Lenox.
February 11th.—Quotations from Holland; Readings from Carlyle on Chartism and Corn Law. John Wilkinson.
February 25th.—Quotations from Burns; Readings from the Corn-Law Poet. Joseph F. Loewi.
March 10th.—Quotations from Poe; The Ministers of Victoria. Augustus Clevenger.
March 24th.—Quotations from Holmes; Foreign Affairs of the Reign of Victoria. The Chapter.
Our Amateur Journalists Again.
I have been in the ranks of the amateur journalists about three years. I have made many friends and have gained a great deal of information. My press is a self-inker, and has a chase 3-1/8 x 5-1/8. My whole outfit did not cost over twenty-five dollars. This may not seem much to one unacquainted with the circumstances, but, you see, in the first place my pocket-book was not in a very healthy condition, and my mother a widow, and I had to save up all the stray nickels and dimes in order to raise the amount.
At first it was very difficult for me to set up the type without making pi, but I soon overcame that clumsiness. There are some editors who have plenty of money, and so they hire their paper printed by a professional, and then sneer at those who are less fortunate and call their papers "thumb-nails." According to my way of thinking, there is great credit in printing one's own paper, even if it is not so large and is not always free from errors. But taking it altogether, I am not sorry of my little venture, and hope that brother editors will have no worse experiences than I have had.
Wallace Gibbs.
Publisher The Sunbeam.
Galva, Ill.
The Sunbeam is a most creditable paper, particularly so when one learns, with surprise, as we did, that it is gotten up on a $25 outfit. Sir Wallace ought not to mention his errors in typesetting. One sees wrong letters even in great journals.