FNP 51 Page 9 the figuring. I said, I can figure out a way to make this thing work if you'll do the spelling and the writing for me. At that time, she was teaching [English] here in Madison. So [she] got up and Bartow was the first place we stopped. It was not S. L. Frisbee's Polk County Democrat. It was another place there, and we didn't stay there but just a minute. Apparently, he was transported from way up somewhere else, because he didn't have any southern hospitality at all towards my idea, and I didn't find that much of anywhere else. They were real friendly and nice to me [at all the other places], but they'd just tell me right quick that new newspapers don't last. Then, when I'd tell them, well, there's another paper there that's been there for probably 100 years, then they'd assure me that it couldn't go. I said, well, my idea was that we'd start mailing it out free for the first several years. Of course, it just got deeper. So, everything I suggested I thought was a good idea, nothing seemed to [do anything except get worse]. The only person, we came on back [home], Carr Settle in Monticello that had the Monticello News. I went in and introduced myself to him, and he said, I can tell you right now, it's going to be the toughest thing you ever tried, but you're not going to be happy till you can look back and says, at least I tried it, so why don't you go on and try it, get it out your system. Then if you make it, fine, if you don't, you will have tried it. I left there thinking, and I said, you know, I guess he gave me the best advice because all this other stuff didn't do anything except drove that nail deeper. The more they told me I couldn't do it, there was just something, I don't know, it was like crosswiring a battery, I guess. From there, I went over to Live Oak to Mr. Wadworth over there that had the Suwannee Democrat, that was personal friends with both of the Mr. Merchants here in Madison. [Mr. Wadworth told me I was absolutely crazy to think could make it. He was right. I was crazy.] I knew the instant I told him, before I got back to Madison, the word would have gotten back. At this point, no one on this planet knew except my wife and I. Our mothers and daddies didn't know. Nobody knew. So, when we got back two or three days later, a day or so later-we didn't stay gone long because I didn't have that much money-I came straight back, and, by then, I already was working on a little old office space uptown that my daddy had. I told him I wanted to fix it up, and he said, fine. I guess he thought I was fixing it up to rent. Then we went to Jim Thompson up in Callahan, Florida, and told Mr. Thompson up there that we wanted to put out a newspaper and we understand he had a printing press, but we didn't want anybody to know about it. He [said], well, have you decided if you're going offset or letterpress? I said, well, Mr. Thompson, really, we hadn't made our mind up. He looked at me and he [said], you don't know the difference, do you? And I [said], no, sir. He [said], you two kids are just out for a good time. He says, yeah, we can print you, and the [printing] world [prefers] offset, so let me tell you what you're going to need. So, he took us to a restaurant, and he made out a list there on the napkin of things I needed to get, to get into the newspaper [business]. I understand he's in bad health now, but that man was the one [who] helped me get the list put together on what we needed, because I really thought about the only thing I was going to need was one of these old- timey Linotypes and I didn't know where to go about getting it, which, that was the farthest from the truth because that was the last thing I needed, you know, not if we [were] going offset. Anyway, he got us set up [with a list of companies and items], got on