{"id":6867,"date":"2021-03-04T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poetry.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=669"},"modified":"2021-03-04T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T06:00:00","slug":"the-old-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/the-old-game\/","title":{"rendered":"The Old Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\"><em>From <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/lccn\/sn87093407\/1913-03-04\/ed-1\/seq-8\/\"><em>The Seattle Star, March 4, 1913<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em>\n <em>By Berton Braley.<\/em>\n \n\n Oh, yes, I had quit it \u201cforever,\u201d\n \u00a0 \u00a0 The scissors and paste and all that,\n The haste and the frantic endeavor,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 The typewriter\u2019s merry rat-tat;\n I tired of the holler for \u201ccopy,\u201d\n \u00a0 \u00a0 I longed for a life that was tame,\n And my friends called me shabby and sloppy,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 So I dropped from the Newspaper Game.\n \n But something kept whispering, \u201cBilly,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 You\u2019re out of your element here.\n This sinecure\u2019s meant for some Willie\n \u00a0 \u00a0 Who don\u2019t know a scoop from a beer.\n This joint is too tied by decorum,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 This routine is always the same;\n Your clothes don\u2019t wear out where you wore \u2018em\n \u00a0 \u00a0 When playing the Newspaper Game.\u201d\n \n Whenever the newsboys would holler,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 Whenever the extras came out,\n I tugged at my unsweated collar\n \u00a0 \u00a0 And my heart-strings were tugged by a doubt,\n Till at last\u2014well, I doubted no longer,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 I passed up my cinch, and I came\n To the call that I knew was the stronger,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 And I plunged in the Newspaper Game.\n \n The typewriters rattled to greet me,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 The smell of sour paste-pots was sweet,\n I found the old \u201cmill\u201d there to meet me,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 I dropped in my battered old seat.\n The news room was dingy and smoky,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 But a shiver of joy shook my frame,\n For I\u2019d quit the \u201cgood job\u201d that was pokey,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 And was back at the Newspaper Game.\n \n Below were the linotypes clicking,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 And the smell of hot lead came to me;\n The sport man was nervously flicking\n \u00a0 \u00a0 The ash from his \u201ccigarootee.\u201d\n My typewriter acted unruly,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 My fingers felt clumsy and lame,\n But I knew I was back again, truly,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 To the joy of the Newspaper Game.\n \n You can swear you will leave it behind you.\n \u00a0 \u00a0 You can flee to wherever you will,\n But the newspaper fever will find you,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 The newspaper fervor will thrill.\n It makes\u2014or more likely, it breaks you,\n \u00a0 \u00a0 You die\u2014and leave scarcely a name;\n But not until death overtakes you\n \u00a0 \u00a0 Are you free of the Newspaper Game.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Oh, yes, I had quit it \u201cforever,\u201d<br \/>\n     The scissors and paste and all that,<br \/>\n The haste and the frantic endeavor,<br \/>\n     The typewriter\u2019s merry rat-tat;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-6867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspapers","category-the-seattle-star","tag-berton-braley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}