LONG WEDNESDAYS

Another account of a rural weekly newspaper is reminiscent of It Happens. Every Thursday (Macrae-Smith-1951) particularly in its consistently insolvent condition and the experiences of a country editor harassed by obsolete equipment and devilled by printer's devils. The Tamarack Sentinel which went to press on Wednesday night and could still be found there two days later was partly the victim of its community- on the way to becoming a ghost town until Chapin's fight for a new road opened up new business as well. His opposition of Pilkey, the wealthiest retailer but a crooked operator, cost him his best account and the competition of a rival sheet; the expense of a new linotype was followed by that of a new press with the breakdown of old Betsy; but the Sentinel survived all these occupational hazards and Chapin had his own (doubtful) reward with his election as Mayor in an unsuspected write-in campaign... Not much news value here, but a relaxed account of trial, error and achievement.