50 Years Ago (or thereabout)
From the Polar Star, April 12, 1956.
16 Reams
"Some people say an editor is made out of ink,
The rich one's made out of food and drink;
Food and drink, women and song,
His mind may be weak but his staff is strong."
(Chorus)
"You write 16 reams and what do you get
two ads cancelled and a newspaper debt;
St. Peter, don't call me ‘cause I can't stop
Till I fill 10 inches in that back shop."
I was born one morning when the copy was low
(Worry over headlines has ages me so)
I wrote 16 reams with a ‘personal' touch
And the shop boss said, "That's way too much!"
I was born one morning when the press didn't roll
Those doggoned ‘personals' have troubled my soul.
Some folks dying while others are born.
Good gosh Gabriel, why don't you blow that horn!
If you see me writin' better go the other way.
Cause I'm getting fed up more'n more each day.
Some folks are mad cause their name's spelled wrong.
And others'll be madder when they hear this song.
Wirt County Journal,
Elizabeth, West, Va.
25 years ago:
From the Northern Sun, April 10, 1981
Canoeing Musician Learns French at 80
by Laurel Benson
Most 80-year-old people don't take French classes, canoe along the Yukon or hope to improve their piano playing. But Charlie Wolf isn't like most people.
Wolf, who will turn 81 in August, began French lessons about eight years ago. Because of his age, he hesitated to enter the University of Alaska, but after two years at Tanana Valley Community College, he became a student in the foreign language department.
"I first became interested in learning French when I was stationed in France in 1919," said Wolf, a spry whitehaired man. "I picked up some when I was there, but I really didn't decide to learn it until eight or nine years ago."
It was then that Wolf, who was a trombone player and band leader in the armed forces for 30 years, began playing piano for a local churchsponsored literacy school. He became acquainted with many of the French students and they convinced him to try lessons.
... But Friendship Baptist Mission does without Wolf's talent during the summer months so that he can pursue another of his life's passions – canoeing.
"In my life there has always been a struggle between my music and the outdoors," Wolf explained.
Wolf likes to spend the entire summer on the river, so he plots a continuous water route, usually beginning in British Columbia and terminating somewhere on the Alaskan portion of the Yukon. Once he paddled nearly across Canada, from Fort St. John, British Columbia, to the Hudson Bay.
... Wolf said he's planning another canoe trip this summer. He said he also hopes to improve his piano playing in the future. Wolf claimed he doesn't want to live to be 100 but doesn't intend to waste those 20 years if he should happen to live that long.
