The Adventures of Bobby Orde

inted out all his interest in the shape of cards for friends and relatives, did not an incident spur his failing enthusiasm. The littl

r. Daggett's," he advised.

ing outside a square wooden store building and for

e on which rested forms made up. Shelves filled with stationery, cans and the like ran down one side the room. Beyond the table were two presses, a big and a little. In one corner stood a table with a gas jet over it. In another was an open sink with running water. A thin man in dirty shirt-sleeves was setting type from one of the cases. Anoth

e boy said something to the man at the table. Th

character this head was like that of a Jove condemned through centuries to long hours in a dark, unwholesome atmosphere-the grand, square, bony structure, the thick, upstan

e ink of you," requested Bobby,

and, opening it, tested with his finger the

s so,"

shelves and opened a can as b

"will you ever

d-bladed knife, brought up, on merely i

is it?" as

Orde's little boy, are

s,

ll right, then.

his massive head. "Please," ventured Bobby, hesitating, "p

d Mr. Daggett. "Stay

ed up. Bobby was still there standing in the middle of the floor, staring

inting press?"

"it's only a little one-to

like p

nthusiastically, "it's

," said Mr. Daggett a flash of amu

pocket and gravely

Rober

Prin

s pretty well done. I didn't know you could

ke ready'?"

ession so that all the le

time," sighed Bobby. "

it go?" asked Mr.

the pasting of t

that?" asked Mr.

just thou

r. Daggett had showed him everything. He explained how in the type-cases the capital letters occupied little compar

largest and is right in the middle. And here is the a near

looking; how he used the leads to space between the lines. His hands flew from one compartment of the type case to the other and the type clicked sharply. In a moment the stick was full. All three walked over to the "composing t

e automatic ink-rollers were a revelation to him. All the boy had to do was to insert and withdraw the paper and push down with his foot. And the pressure was so exact and so delicate and

finished, so he moved on to look at the coloured inks and

ld him their names and sizes-nonpareil, brevier, agate, pica, minion and a dozen others which Bobby could not remember but which he found exot

aggett gave him a s

d font of script. It's old and too wor

A A A-then the Bs, and so on. It differed from his own font. The one that came with his press had just three of each letter-large or small. This varied. For instance, there were twenty ss, and only two qs. Bobby proc

red his father at lunch a few

l one," broke out Bobby. "It's

like toys, eh! How about the engi

ny more, either," in

fe. "Of course then you won't want them any more:

obby with genuine and a

osing stones, the roller moulds and compositions, the patent gauge-pins, the lead-cutters, the slugs. And page after page he ran over the type in all its sizes and in all its modifications of form. These things fascinated him and held him with a longing for them, like revolvers and razors and carpenter's chisels and peavies and all other business-like tools of a trade. Their very shapes were the most appropriate and romantic shapes they could possi

like to be a printer like Mr

e-no money in it here-and you'd have to stay in the hous

" repeated Bo