Mr. Stanton began his newspaper career as a country editor in the town
of Smithville, Georgia. Mr. Harris, then a member of the
"Constitution's" editorial staff, began reprinting in that journal
verses and paragraphs written by Stanton, with the result that the
Smithville paper became known all over the country. Later Stanton moved
to Rome, Georgia, becoming an editorial writer on a paper there--the
"Tribune," edited at that time by John Temple Graves, if I am not
mistaken. Still later he removed to Atlanta, joined the staff of the
"Constitution," and started the department which has now continued for
more than twenty-five years.
Joel Chandler Harris used to tell a story about Stanton's first days in
the "Constitution" office. According to this story, the paper on which
Stanton had worked in Rome had not been prosperous, and salaries were
uncertain. When the business manager went out to try to raise money in
the town, he never returned without first reading the signals placed by
his assistant in the office window. If a red flag was shown, it
signified that a collector was waiting in the office. In that event the
business manager would not come in, but would circle about until the
collector became tired of waiting and departed--a circumstance indicated
by the withdrawal of the red flag and the substitution of a white one.
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