The 19th Century Newspaper Office

By Kathryn Albright

Composing sticks, tympans, and friskets…Oh My! What do these all have in common? 

They are all parts that make up a newspaper office.

  

When I decided to write Abigail White’s story as the last addition to The Oak Grove Series, my research into the early newspaper office of the 1880's took me back to my local “living history village” where I was able to glean information on American small-town newspapers from our local historian and docent.

For a town like Oak Grove, situated on the Kansas plains, paper was ordered and arrived on large rolls by wagon or by train. Once delivered, it was cut into the desired size.

Upper and Lower Case type

Type was made of a composite of cast iron and steel. The most common were Wisconsin type and Hamilton type. Type was stored in type-cases – large drawers with many different sized compartments. The higher or upper case held capital letters. The lower case held… you got it…lower-case type.

The compositor or typesetter (or in my story – Abigail or her brother, Teddy White) – removes a piece of type from one of the compartments of the type case and places it in the composing stick. Not so difficult until you realize this had to be done working from left to right and bottom to top, placing the letters upside-down! Can you tell what this type says? (Answer at bottom of post.)

Composing Stick ~ Photo by Wilhei [CC BY 3.0] from Wikimedia Commons

The composer stick was the width of the column that would be used in the paper. The one at Midway Village was manufactured in Chicago by the H.B. Rouse Company which was a common national supplier of these devices in the U.S. The type would first be arranged in this and then transferred to a large frame. 

For pictures, the newspaper office would purchase a few etchings from a factory, and then used them in numerous ways. For example – an etching of pine trees to be used at Christmastime or a fancy United States Flag etching to be used on National Holidays such as the Fourth of July. Local companies that used the newspaper for sale announcements would have their own etchings made and supply them to the newspapers to be used frequently over the years.

Printer’s ink was oil-based, thick and tarry. It won’t spill if turned upside down. On cold days, the ink didn’t flow well and would become so thick that it would create a blob on the letters and thus on the paper if used. A blade would be used to scoop it up and spread it on a flat plate. Here you can see the round, disk-like flat plate.

Oak Grove Gazette Printing Press

The plate would be pressed against the letters and then against a piece of paper. A rhythm would start up, and if not very careful, the plate could easily smash fingers. For newspapermen, it was the middle two fingers that most often were smashed or severed.

With the linotypes of the 1870s and 1880s, “printer’s disease” was a danger.  It was contracted by working with lead in the linotype. The workers would absorb the lead through their skin and get lead poisoning. These types of printers were in the larger cities and so I didn’t make mention of it in Christmas With the Outlaw.

A “galley proof” or test copy was always made before any further papers were printed. This was to ensure that the type had been set accurately. A piece of type could accidentally be stored in the wrong case and as rapidly as the apprentice had to work, it could end up being placed back into a composing stick. The metal type, being comparably soft, could also become damaged or worn.

Once the galley proof was checked and last-minute corrections were incorporated, the type would be fixed in the frame to ready it for printing.

A rope stretched across the length of the newspaper office so that once printed, pages could be placed over the rope for drying. Once the ink was dry on the “front,” the back side of the paper could then be printed upon.

It was a dirty job and as you’ve read…could be dangerous. The large paper cutters could easily cut off fingers that got in the way! Newspaper men had ink-stained fingers and they often worked overnight to get the paper out in the morning.

In Christmas With the Outlaw, siblings Teddy and Abigail put out a weekly paper so the pace is do-able. They inherited their printing press from their parents and transported it by wagon to Oak Grove, looking for a fresh start in a growing new town. Abigail is also the town reporter and takes her job seriously.

Oh yes! And the answer to the above type in the composing stick is:  

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog and feels
as if he were in the seventh heaven of typography. 

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From Longhorns to No Horns!

by Kathryn Albright

Recently, I had to research different types of cattle here in America for my most newest story, Wedding at Rocking S Ranch that takes place on a ranch. Oak Grove was a railroad town that blossomed as a result of its location and the cattle drives from Texas. Sure, Longhorns came from Texas, but was that the kind of cattle that would be found on a ranch in Kansas? I had to know. I also had to check the history of barbed wire.

1870 marked the start of the big cattle drives into Kansas. 300,00 arrived that year. The next year that amount doubled. Three-fifths of the cattle were "stock cattle" which means they were yearlings, heifers, cows and steers younger than four years old. Abilene, Kansas, Wichita and Dodge City became the towns (and later cities) that truly boomed with the transporting of cattle to market.

Many of the Longhorns didn't immediately board the train and head to points farther east, but wintered in Kansas, existing on the buffalo-grass prairie. Although barbed wire had been invented and was in use, the sectioning off of large parcels of land hadn't happened yet in Kansas in 1879 at the time my story takes place. Cattle still roamed free and had to be watched over by cowboys. At the Rocking S Ranch, the ranch-house and the crops had fences around them to keep the cattle out of the corn and alfalfa. This was known as "fenced out." Further east, a farmer would use wood and barbed wire to enclose a pasture, which was known as "fenced in."

In my story, I have the owner of the ranch looking into crossbreeding his longhorns with another breed of cattle to make a healthier, more profitable herd. He has brought in Black Angus to give this a try. Black Angus first came to Kansas in 1873 when George Grant transported them from Scotland. Where the longhorns were hardy, they were a tougher meat and had a wild-streak and could be difficult to manage. Angus had a gentle nature and were more susceptible to extremes in weather. Their meat is more tender and has a better flavor that the longhorns. Angus weigh between 850 and 1000 pounds when mature.

When Grant took his four Angus bulls to the fair in Kansas City Livestock Exposition that year, the local people didn't know what to think of them. These cattle had no horns! (Called polled, which means naturally hornless.) But Grant had the last laugh when he successfully crossed his bulls with native Texas longhorns. The calves were hardier, hornless, and weighed more. Between 1878 and 1883, twelve hundred Angus cattle were imported to the Midwest. Cross-breeding has steadily improved the hardiness of the Angus here in America.

And there are Red Angus! Red Angus occur as the result of a recessive gene. They are the same as their black relatives except they are actually more tolerant of the hot weather. At one time, The Angus Association barred the registration of Red Angus in an attempt to promote a solid black breed. Likely that is one of the reasons they are fewer in number. Eventually, The Red Angus Association of America formed when breeders searched out and collected the Red Angus from the black herds.

Although I used a lot of this information in Wedding at Rocking S Ranch, it was sprinkled in with a light touch. In historical romance, it is the relationship between the two protagonists that carry the story after all! 

When Cassandra Stewart fulfills her husband’s dying wish by visiting the ranch he loved, she plans to sell it. But then she meets his best friend. As aloof, ruggedly handsome Wolf shows Cassandra the value of life in the prairies, tenderness begins to grow from their shared pain into something more…
Maybe there’s a future for her at the Rocking S Ranch after all…

 "The plot was riveting. I couldn’t put it down even when it was well past my bed time."
Long & Short Reviews

Available at Amazon, Harlequin, and Barnes and Noble!

Where Story Ideas Come From

The other day, someone asked me where my story ideas come from. Actually, I never considered the exact source. My writing process consists of kicking back, closing my eyes, and daydreaming. 

Abagail Eldan, hard at work.

But, if you really consider the question, our story ideas can never come fully formed. They have to get into our brains, somehow. Just as a calm, clear sky does not produce a storm, neither does an empty brain. Clouds must form, grow heavy with moisture, for the thunder to strike.

The brain must have fuel to "storm."

In the same way, we pluck ideas from the very air around us, forming the makings of a cloud, a vague idea that hopefully becomes a story.

An example of this happened to me recently. For Christmas, I received a DNA kit from Ancestry.com. Someone in my family had already done a great deal of research on my father's ancestors. I knew my family came into south Alabama at an early time, in the early 1800s, and that my great, great grandfather had been married twice.

The story, how much is true I do not know, had been told to me of a young widow who walked along the dirt road in front of my ancestor's house. This was shortly after the beginning of the Civil War, and this young girl's husband had been killed in one of the first battles.

My great, great grandfather, it was said, had recently been widowed and had a houseful of children. He invited this young woman to be his wife, and she accepted.

This has always struck me as a sad situation. This poor girl had nowhere to turn and ended up on a stranger's doorstep. She made a marriage in exchange for a roof over her head. Knowing the offspring of this great, great grandfather, I believe he was a fine man and did the right thing. The marriage, I believe, was a happy one.

However, this is not even the most interesting part of the story. On my family tree I notice something unusual. My great, great grandfather is listed as the father of this young widow's daughter, born before my ancestor's first wife died!

Several explanations can be formulated for this. This young widow may have had the daughter before traveling down that dirt road. My grandfather, compassionate man that he was, may have claimed his wife's daughter as his own. And, yes, that's the explanation I've most comfortable with. 

But other scenarios present themselves, story ideas waiting to be explored.

Time to find the hammock, to close my eyes, and daydream of the endless possibilities!

Abagail's latest book, Melly, Unyielding, will be free tomorrow, for one day only. Grab your copy tomorrow! Melly, Unyielding is book 4 in the Lockets & Lace series from the authors of the Sweet Americana blog!

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BONE-SETTERS & A SHORT HISTORY OF CASTS

By Kathryn Albright

   
In books or movies of the Old West, someone with a broken leg or arm will often have their injury splinted with sticks for immobilization. Usually this is “out in the bush,” but for my next book in the Oak Grove Series, The Prairie Doctor’s Bride, this method wouldn’t work.
   
When a cantankerous mule at the livery kicks Wally Brown, Doctor Graham must set the fracture of his lower arm in his home office. Now, Doctor Graham was not a lay doctor or bone-setter (a barber or in a pinch, the blacksmith.) He attended a prestigious school back east in Boston, and then had several years of experience, employed by the Kansas-Pacific Railroad Company to attend the men building the railroad. So, I had to find out a little more about the history of care for fractures.
   

The earliest known care for a broken bone (after resetting) dates back to the early Egyptians of the 5th Dynasty (2400 B.C.) Hippocrates, a physician of the 4th century BC, wrote about immobilizing the bone to let it heal and also having the injured person do specific exercises to prevent atrophy of the muscles. His writings spoke of using cloth soaked in resin and wax. A little later on, starch was added to assist with quicker hardening. Throughout the next 1500 years, different solutions and pastes were used, such as egg whites, clay, and gum mixtures.If a person had a broken bone, they did a LOT of laying around.

Plaster of Paris had been used as a building material for centuries, but in the early 19th century, it became widely used for immobilizing broken bones. The injured limb would be reset and placed inside a wooden box and then the plaster poured over it, encasing the leg or arm in a rigid sleeve. This was heavy and made it impossible for the injured person to move.

Then in the 1830s, Louis Seutin, a doctor in the Belgian army, used strips of linen and carton (or pasteboard) splints that were wet and molded to the limb. The limb was then wrapped in bandages and coated with a starch solution and allowed to dry.

GAUZE COATED WITH PLASTER OF PARIS

Building on Seutin’s work, Antonious Mathijsen, a medical doctor in the Dutch army, found that strips of coarse cotton cloth into which dry plaster of Paris had been rubbed, could be applied and then moistened with a sponge or brush. The cast would harden as it was rubbed and would dry in minutes. Another version of this would be to very carefully dip the dressing or cloth into a bucket of water, so as not to dislodge the plaster of Paris already rubbed into the cloth, and then apply it to the limb. This lighter-weight, smaller cast made it possible for a person to move about while a bone healed.

WALKING CAST

Mathijsent wrote about his method and it was published in 1852 in a medical magazine, Repertorium. This became the standard for setting broken bones until 1950 with only a few minor changes—ie: the use of shellac to make the cast water-resistant. And alterations such as this picture--with a stub to enable walking and yet keeping the cast dry and clean.

So – knowing this – I could finally write the scene where Doc Graham took care of Wally Brown’s arm and actually used a plaster of Paris cast! I hope you find this interesting. I do – but then I have always been fascinated with the history of medicine.

If you are interested in more information, here are a few links to check out:

http://hankeringforhistory.com/history-of-the-cast/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5420179
https://janeaustensworld.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/setting-a-broken-bone-19th-century-medical-treatment-was-not-for-sissies
   

* * * * * * * *

Coming in December! 

    Nelson Graham has had every advantage in life.
Is it possible for this Boston-trained doctor and a woman who “lives off the land”
to find any common ground?

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Behind the Book ~ Gloria's Song

by Kathryn Albright

What do the famous songwriters Irving Berlin, Ira Gershwin, Oscar Hammerstein II, George M. Cohen, Cole Port, Jerome Kern, and Scott Joplin all have in common with my latest story, Gloria's Song?

They all found their way to Tin Pan Alley during their musical careers.

Tin Pan Alley, NYC (Wikimedia CC)

Now days, music popularity is determined by how many times a song is streamed from the internet. Back before CDs and vinyl records, a songs popularity was determined by how many sheet music copies it sold.  From 1880 until 1953, Tin Pan Alley was the absolute center of the sheet music publishing industry in New York City. It was located on West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.

When vaudeville singers would perform in NYC, they would often stop by Tin Pan Alley to find new songs for their acts. Musicians, Broadway singers, songwriters, and song pluggers found their way to Tin Pan Alley. Song pluggers were pianists and singers who were hired by the publishing company to familiarize the public with new songs and hopefully make the song a hit. George Gershwin got his start as a song plugger.

Gloria's Song is set in 1889. At that time, the popular songs coming out of Tin Pan Alley were ballads or comic novelty songs. These are the types of songs Colin McDougal, my character was trying to write. "Where Did You Get That Hat?" was a popular song of the day and one that I mention in my story.

Colin McDougal helps manage a tavern in a small town along the Potomac River. He has a knack for playing the piano and can play a tune easily after only hearing it once. He brings in a lot of business to his family-owned tavern, but secretly he hopes that one day, one of the songs he composes, will make it big on Tin Pan Alley.

At the same time, the growing piano-making industry likely gave song publishers a boost in sales. Several large furniture factories moved into the piano-making business and suddenly upright grand pianos became affordable for the middle class. It became the epitome of "class" to have a piano in your home and if you had a daughter, for her to learn to play.

Gloria, in my story, is such a daughter from the upper class. Outside of Tin Pan Alley, the popularity of classics and romantic music continued strong. Romantic composers wrote between 1815 and 1910. I envisioned some fun scenes between Gloria and Colin that incorporated their clash of music types.

One last thing that sparked my interest in writing Gloria's Song...  As some of you may know, I dedicated this book to my mother and I set the story on the Potamac River where my mother's family originates. My mother took years and  years of piano lessons and is a marvelous pianist, yet she has often remarked how her sister can sit right down and play anything at all simply by sight-reading it. To be able to "sight-read" something means that you can play it quite well without any practice. That was the seed of the idea for my story, Gloria's Song.

And now you know!

You can find Gloria's Song in ebook and paperback HERE and all the other wonderful stories of Grandmother's Wedding Quilts HERE.

Gloria Palmer has always done the proper thing expected of her as the daughter of a shipping tycoon. The approval of her family and friends mean everything. And yet, when the perfect suitor offers for her… she hesitates.

Colin McDougal has little use for those living on the fancy side of the trolley tracks. He’s too busy managing the family pub and, in his spare time, writing down the lively tunes in his head. So, when Miss Palmer asks for his help to prepare for a music audition, he is flummoxed. What does he know of highbrow music?

But with each practice session, their feelings for each other grow. When it comes time for Gloria to make a choice between what is proper and what she desires, will she realize that if music can cross class lines—and the trolley tracks in town—perhaps it can also harmonize two hearts.