Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/73

Rh Ireland he was being educated for the priesthood in the Roman Catholic church; but having one eye destroyed by a stone thrown by a playmate, his plans for life were changed and he learned the trade of brush and broom maker. He followed that pursuit for a number of years in Louisville and other cities, and at length made his home in Lexington, Ky. Possessing a studious disposition, he put in all his spare moments in reading and studying music. On June 20, 1849, he was married to Miss Virginia Fayette Putnam, a sister of Charles F. Putnam, a printer, who came to Oregon in 1846. Mr. Lyons crossed the plains to Oregon in 1853 and settled in the vicinity of what is now the town of Drain. In the spring of 1854 he went to Scottsburg. His eyesight having become seriously impaired, a change of occupation became necessary. Then he acquired an interest in a hotel owned by Captain Levi Scott, the founder of the town, and with the aid of his wife managed that business successfully.

About this time Captain Scott, being very anxious to exploit his embryo city, bought a second-hand newspaper plant in San Francisco which had been used about two years, and caused it to be shipped to Scottsburg, with William J. Beggs in charge as printer. Beggs brought a few exchanges with him from San Francisco and these were read to Lyons by his wife, and selections were thus made. Lyons dictated editorial notes and his wife wrote them out. On the first page, in the first column, was a poem entitled "Now-a-days," which I copy in full in order that those who hanker after the "good old times" to which our seniors are so fond of alluding, may see something of the changes which have taken place in the past sixty years:

"Alas, how everything has changed

Since I was sweet sixteen,

When all the girls wore homespun frocks

And aprons nice and clean;