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Helen in the Editor's Chair

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<h2 id="c3"> CHAPTER III In the Editor’s Chair</h2> Sunday morning found Tom and Helen Blair entering a new era in their lives. While their father sped toward the southwest in quest of renewed health, they planned how they could develop the Herald. Their mother was silent through breakfast and several times they saw her eyes dim with tears. “Don’t worry, Mother,” said Helen. “We’ll manage all right and Dad is going to pull through in fine shape. Why, he’ll be back with us by Christmas time.” “I wish I could be as optimistic as you are, Helen,” said Mrs. Blair. “You’ll feel better in a few more hours,” said Tom. “It’s the suddenness of it all. Now we’ve got to buckle down and make the Herald keep on paying dividends.” Tom and Helen helped their mother clear away the breakfast dishes and then dressed for Sunday school. Mrs. Blair taught a class of ten-to-twelve-year-old girls. Tom and Helen were in the upper classes. <div class="pb" id="Page_35">[35]</div> The Methodist church they attended was a red brick structure, the first brick building built in Rolfe, and it was covered with English ivy that threatened even to hide the windows. The morning was warm and restful and they enjoyed the walk from home to church. The minister was out of town on his vacation and there were no church services. After Sunday school the Blairs walked down to the postoffice. The large mail box which was rented for the Herald was filled with papers, circulars and letters. “We might as well go back to the office and sort this out,” said Tom, and Mrs. Blair and Helen agreed. The office was just as Tom and Helen had left it Thursday night for they had been too busy since then helping with the arrangements for their father’s departure to clean it up. The type was still in the forms, papers were scattered on the floor and dust had gathered on the counter and the desk which had served Hugh Blair for so many years. “I’ll open the windows and the back door,” said Tom, “and we’ll get some air moving through here. It’s pretty stuffy.” <div class="pb" id="Page_36">[36]</div> Mrs. Blair sat down in the swivel chair in front of her husband’s desk and Helen pulled up the only other chair in the office, an uncomfortable straight-backed affair. “You’re editor now,” Mrs. Blair told Helen. “You’d better start in by sorting the mail.” “Tom’s in charge,” replied Helen as her brother returned to the office. “Let’s not argue,” said Tom. “We’ll have a business meeting right now. Mother, you represent Dad, who is the owner. Now you decide who will be what.” “What will we need?” smiled Mrs. Blair. “We need a business manager first,” said Helen. “Wrong,” interjected Tom. “It’s a publisher.” “Then I say let’s make it unanimous and elect mother as publisher,” said Helen. “Second the motion,” grinned Tom. “If there are no objections, the motion is declared passed,” said Helen. “And now Mother, you’re the duly elected publisher of the Rolfe Herald.” “I may turn out to be a hard-boiled boss,” said Mrs. Blair, but her smile belied her words. “We’re not worrying a whole lot,” said Tom. “The next business is selecting a business manager, a mechanical department, an editor, and a reporter. Also a couple of general handymen capable of doing any kind of work on a weekly newspaper.” <div class="pb" id="Page_37">[37]</div> “That sounds like a big payroll for a paper as small as the Herald,” protested Mrs. Blair. “I think you’ll be able to get them reasonable,” said Tom. “In which case,” added Helen, “you’d better appoint Tom as business manager, mechanical department, and handyman.” “And you might as well name Helen as editor, reporter and first assistant to the handyman,” grinned Tom. “I’ve filled my positions easier than I expected,” smiled Mrs. Blair. “As publisher, I’ll stay at home and keep out of your way.” “Mother, we don’t want you to do that,” exclaimed Helen. “We want you to come down and help us whenever you have time.” “But what could I do?” asked her mother. “Lots of things. For instance, jot down all of the personal items you know about your friends and about all of the club meetings. That would be a great help to me. Sometimes in the evening maybe you’d even find time to write them up, for Tom and I are going to be frightfully busy between going to school and running the Herald.” <div class="pb" id="Page_38">[38]</div> “I’ll tell the town,” said Tom. “If you’d handle the society news, Mother, you could make it a great feature. The Herald has never paid much attention to the social events in town. Guess Dad was too busy. But I think the women would appreciate having all of their parties written up. I could set up a nice head, ‘Society News of Rolfe,’ and we’d run a column or so every week on one of the inside pages.” “You’re getting me all excited, Tom,” said his mother. “Your father said I never would make a newspaper woman but if you and Helen will have a little patience with me, I’d really enjoy writing the social items.” “Have patience with you, Mother?” said Helen. “It’s a case of whether you’ll have patience with us.” “We’re going to have to plan our time carefully,” said Tom, “for we’ll have to keep up in our school work. I’ve got it doped out like this. Superintendent Fowler says Helen and I can go half days and as long as we cover all of the class work, receive full credit. The first half of the week is going to be the busiest for me. I’ll have to solicit my ads, set them up, do what job work I have time for and set up the stories Helen turns out for the paper. I could get in more time in the afternoon than in the morning so Helen had better plan on taking the mornings on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday away from school.” <div class="pb" id="Page_39">[39]</div> “It will work out better for her, too,” went on Tom. “Many of the big news events happen over the week-end and she’ll be on the job Monday morning. I’ll have every afternoon and evening for my share of the work and for studying. Then we’ll both take Thursday afternoon away from school and get the paper out. And on Friday, Mother, if you’ll come down and stay at the office, we’ll go to school all day. How does that sound?” “Seems to me you’ve thought of everything,” agreed Helen. “I like the idea of doing my editorial work in the mornings the first part of the week and I’ll be able to do some of it after school hours.” “Then it looks like the Herald staff is about ready to start work on the next issue,” said Tom. “We have a publisher, a business manager and an editor. What we need now are plenty of ads and lots of news.” “What would you say, Mother, if Tom and I stayed down at the office a while and did some cleaning up?” asked Helen. <div class="pb" id="Page_40">[40]</div> “Under the circumstances, I haven’t any objections,” said their mother. “There isn’t any church service this morning and you certainly can put in a few hours work here in the office to good advantage. I’ll stay and help you with the dusting and sweeping.” “You run on home and rest,” insisted Helen. “Also, don’t forget Sunday dinner. We’ll be home about two or two-thirty, and we’ll be hungry by that time.” Mrs. Blair picked up the Sunday papers and after warning Tom and Helen that dinner would be ready promptly at two-thirty, left them in the office. “Well, Mr. Business Manager, what are you going to start on?” asked Helen. “Mr. Editor,” replied Tom, “I’ve got to throw in all the type from last week’s forms. What are you going to do?” “The office needs a good cleaning,” said Helen. “I’m going to put on my old apron and spend an hour dusting and mopping. You keep out or you’ll track dirt in while I’m doing it.” <div class="pb" id="Page_41">[41]</div> Tom took off the coat of his Sunday suit, rolled up his shirt sleeves and donned the ink-smeared apron he wore when working in the composing room. Helen put on the long apron she used when folding papers and they went to work with their enthusiasm at a high pitch. Their task was not new but so much now depended on the success of their efforts that they found added zest in everything they did. Helen went through the piles of old papers on her father’s desk, throwing many of them into the large cardboard carton which served as a wastebasket. When the desk was finally in order, she turned her attention to the counter. Samples of stationery needed to be placed in order and she completely rearranged the old-fashioned show case with its display of job printing which showed what the Herald plant was capable of doing. With the desk and counter in shape, Helen picked up all of the papers on the floor, pulled the now heavily laden cardboard carton into the composing room, and then secured the mop and a pail of water. The barber shop, located below the postoffice, kept the building supplied with warm water, and Helen soon had a good pail of suds. Tom stopped his work in the composing room and came in to watch the scrubbing. “First time that floor has been scrubbed in years,” he said. <div class="pb" id="Page_42">[42]</div> “I know it,” said Helen as she swished her mop into the corners. “Dad was running the paper and Mother was too busy bringing us up to come down here and do it for him.” “He’ll never recognize the old place when he comes back,” said Tom. “We’ll brighten it up a little,” agreed Helen, as Tom returned to his task of throwing in the type. Helen had the editorial office thoroughly cleaned by one o’clock and sat down in her father’s swivel chair to rest. Tom called in from the back room. “You’d better plan your editorial work for the week,” he said. “I want to run the Linotype every afternoon and you’ll have to have copy for me.” “What do you want first?” said Helen. “Better get the editorials ready today,” he replied. “They don’t have to be absolutely spot copy. Dad wrote the first column himself and then clipped a column or a column and a half from nearby papers.” “I’ll get at it right away,” said Helen. “The exchanges for last week are on the desk. After I’ve gone through them I’ll write my own editorials.” “Better have one about Dad going away,” said Tom and there was a queer catch in his voice. <div class="pb" id="Page_43">[43]</div> Helen did not answer for her eyes filled with a strange mist and her throat suddenly felt dry and full. Their father’s departure for the southwest had left a great void in their home life but Helen knew they would have to make the best of it. She was determined that their efforts on the Herald be successful. Helen turned to the stack of exchanges which were on the desk and opened the editorial page of the first one. She was a rapid reader and she scanned paper after paper in quest of editorials which would interest readers of the Herald. When she found one she snipped it out with a handy pair of scissors and pasted it on a sheet of copy paper. Six or seven were needed for the Herald’s editorial page and it took her half an hour to get enough. With the clipped editorials pasted and new heads written on them, Helen turned to the typewriter to write the editorials for the column which her father was accustomed to fill with his own comments on current subjects. Helen had stacked the copypaper in a neat pile on the desk and she took a sheet and rolled it into the typewriter. She had taken a commercial course the first semester and her mastery of the touch system of typing was to stand her in good stead for her work as editor of the Herald. <div class="pb" id="Page_44">[44]</div> For several minutes the young editor of the Herald sat motionless in front of her typewriter, struggling to find the right words. She knew her father would want only a few simple sentences about his enforced absence from his duties as publisher of the paper. Then Helen got the idea she wanted and her fingers moved rapidly over the keys. The leading editorial was finished in a short time. It was only one paragraph and Helen took it out of the machine and read it carefully. <blockquote> “Mr. Hugh Blair, editor and publisher of the Herald for the last twenty years, has been compelled, by ill health, to leave his work at Rolfe and go to a drier climate for at least six months. In the meantime, we ask your cooperation and help in our efforts to carry out Mr. Blair’s ideals in the publication of the Herald. Signed, Mrs. Hugh Blair, Helen and Tom Blair.” </blockquote> After reading the editorial carefully, Helen called to her brother. “Come in and see what you think of my lead editorial,” she said. <div class="pb" id="Page_45">[45]</div> Tom, his hands grimy with ink from the type he had been throwing into the cases, came into the editorial office. He whistled in amazement at the change Helen had brought about. The papers were gone from the floor, which had been scrubbed clean, and the desk and counter were neat and orderly. “Looks like a different office,” he said. “But wait until I have a chance to swing a broom and mop in the composing room. And I’m going to fix some of the makeup tables so they’ll be a little handier.” Helen handed him the editorial and Tom read it thoughtfully. “It’s mighty short,” he said, “but it tells the story.” “Dad wouldn’t want a long sob story,” replied Helen. “Here’s the clipped editorials. You can put them on the hook on your Linotype and I’ll bring the others out as soon as I write them.” Tom returned to the composing room with the handful of editorial copy Helen had given him and the editor of the Herald resumed her duties. <div class="pb" id="Page_46">[46]</div> She wrote an editorial on the beauty of Rolfe in the spring and another one on the desirability for a paved road between Rolfe and Gladbrook, the county seat. In advocating the paved road, Helen pointed to the increased tourist traffic which would be drawn to Rolfe as soon as a paved road made Lake Dubar accessible to main highways. It was nearly two o’clock when she finished her labor at the typewriter. She was tired and hungry. One thing sure, being editor of the Herald would be no easy task. Of that she was convinced. “Let’s go home for dinner,” she called to Tom. “Suits me,” replied her brother. “I’ve finished throwing in the last page. We’re all ready to start work on the next issue.” They took off their aprons and while Helen washed her hands, Tom closed the windows and locked the back door. He took his turn at the sink and they locked the front door and started for home. “What we need now is a good, big story for our first edition,” said Tom. “We may have it before nightfall if those clouds get to rolling much more,” said Helen. Tom scanned the sky. The sunshine of the May morning had vanished. Ominous banks of clouds were rolling over the hills which flanked the western valley of Lake Dubar and the lake itself was lashed by white caps, spurred by a gusty wind. <div class="pb" id="Page_47">[47]</div> They went down main street, turned off on the side street and climbed the slope to their home. Mrs. Blair was busy putting some heavy pots over flowers she wanted to protect from the wind. “Dinner’s all ready,” she told them, “and I’ve asked Margaret Stevens over. She wants to talk with Helen about the sophomore class picnic tomorrow.” “I won’t have time to go,” said Helen. “We’ll be awfully busy working on the next issue.” “You’re on the class committee, aren’t you?” asked Tom. “Yes.” “Then you’re going to the picnic. We’ll have lots to do on the Herald but we won’t have to give up all of our other activities.” “Tom is right,” said Mrs. Blair. “You must plan on going to the picnic.” Margaret Stevens came across the street from her home. Margaret was a decided brunette, a striking contrast to Helen’s blondness. “We’ll go in and eat,” said Mrs. Blair. “Then we’ll come out and watch the storm. There is going to be a lot of wind.” <div class="pb" id="Page_48">[48]</div> Margaret was jolly and good company and Helen thought her mother wise to have a guest for dinner. It kept them from thinking too much about their father’s absence. There was roast beef and hashed brown potatoes with thick gravy, lettuce salad, pickled beets, bread and butter, large glasses of rich milk and lemon pie. “I’ve never tasted a better meal,” said Tom between mouthfuls. “That’s because you’ve been so busy at the office,” smiled his mother. “We were moving right along,” agreed Tom. “I got the forms all ready for the next issue and Helen has the editorials done.” “Won’t you need a reporter?” asked Margaret. “We may need one but Helen and Mother are going to try and do all the news writing,” said Tom. “I mean a reporter who would work for nothing. I’d like to help for I’ve always wanted to write.” “You could be a real help, Margaret,” said Helen, “and we’d enjoy having you help us. Keep your ears open for all of the personal items and tell Mother about any parties. She’s going to write the society news.” <div class="pb" id="Page_49">[49]</div> “We’re getting quite a staff,” smiled Tom. “I’m open for applications of anyone who wants to work in the mechanical department.” “That’s not as romantic as gathering and writing news,” said Margaret. “But just as important,” insisted Tom. The room darkened and a particularly heavy gust of wind shook the house. From the west came a low rumbling. Tom dropped his knife and fork and went to the front porch. “Come here, Helen!” he cried. “The storm’s breaking. You’re going to have your first big story right now!” <div class="pb" id="Page_50">[50]</div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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