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(where it had been carefully stowed out of sight until the auspicious moment should arrive,) demands were made upon him to read it aloud. This he was about to do when some one claimed that so important an event should not pass off so informally. "Agreeably to national usage, we should call a meeting, organize it by the appointment of the proper officers, and name an orator for the occasion. Then, and not until then, can it be said that we have properly inaugurated the important event which has transpired. The public of Port Foulke will not rest content with any less conspicuous mark of glorification over so momentous an occurrence as the establishment of a free press on this remote frontier of civilization."

To this proposal no objection was made,—indeed, it was received with much favor; and the meeting was accordingly organized by unanimously calling Mr. Sonntag to the "chair." After naming the requisite number of vice-presidents and secretaries, Mr. Knorr was selected orator by acclamation. And now there commenced a violent clapping of hands and a rattling of tin cups, mingled with cries of "order" and "hear, hear!" in the midst of which the orator mounted the locker and addressed his auditors as follows:—

"Fellow-citizens:—Called by the unanimous voice of this unenlightened community to inaugurate the new era which has dawned upon a benighted region, it is my happy privilege to announce that we have, at the cost of much time, labor, and means, supplied a want which has too long been felt by the people of Port Foulke. We are, fellow-citizens, no longer without that inalienable birthright of every American citizen,—a Free Press and an Exponent of Public Opinion.

"Overcome with the gravity of my situation, I find