52 THE GRANITE MONTHLY.
rough, and is now established in Laconia, in the enjoyment of an excellent practice. The younger son, Charles H., now twenty-one years of age, remains at home in Moultonborough, and is devoting his attention to agriculture.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER OF AMERICA.
BY MARY R. P. HATCH.
Much is said and written about the astounding growth of journalism, and while the early settlement and conservatism of New England precludes the startling statistics of the West, even our own state has made wonderful strides in printing and in the dissemination of news.
According to the list given by Geo. P. Rowell & Co., in a pamphlet concerning newspaper advertising, published in 1880, the United States had a total of 9013 newspapers; America, 9684, to say nothing of magazines. Of these 71 were published in New Hampshire, and all are the outgrowth of the New Hampshire Gazette, published by Daniel Fowle, of Portsmouth, in the year 1756, and which was the first American newspaper.
I have a fac simile copy before me[1] of the first issue, October 7th, and I find by measurement its size is eight by nine inches, inclusive of the inch wide margin. The old fashioned ſ is in use, and every noun begins with a capital, while at the foot of the first column may be seen the initial word of the next, acting as a sort of scout to the party foraging for news.
Daniel Fowle, who modestly styles himself the printer, promises his patrons the "Freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestick," and in confirmation, perhaps, indulges in a wood-cut, representing a bird on a tree, with a fox looking up very attentively from underneath. The bird may be an owl and the tree intended to represent the tree of knowledge, but the fox looks so sly and greedy, and withal so much master of the situation, that you feel instinctively the bird will eventually be gobbled up by the fox, just as this Fowle may have been by an unappreciative public.
This paper, he states, "may be had at One Dollar per Annum, or an Equivalent in Bills of Credit, computing a Dollar this Year at Four Pounds, old tenor," and in his salutatory he says:
Upon the Encouragement given by a Number of Subscribers, agreable to printed Proposals, I now publish the first Weekly Gazette for the Province of New Hampshire; depending upon the Favor of all Gentlemen who are Friends to Learning, Religion and Liberty, to encourage my Undertaking, as this is the beginning of Printing in this Province, so that I may go on cheerfully, and continue this Paper in a useful and entertaining manner.
Fondness of News may be carried to an Extreme; but every Lover of Mankind must feel a strong Desire to know what passes in the World, as well as within his own private Sphere; and particularly to be acquainted with the Affairs of his own Nation and Country. Especially at such a Time as this, when the British Nation is engaged in a just and necessary War with a powerful Enemy, the French, a War in which these American Colonies are most nearly interested, the Event of which must be of the utmost Importance both to us and all the British Dominions. Every true Englishman
- ↑ The property of R. P. Mardem, of Stratford, N. H., who also possesses bound copies (original) of The Boston Post, Boston News Letter, Salem Gazette, &c, all of the year 1774.
