62 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



editorial labors, although his well-knit frame and com- 

 pact form showed no more sign of weariness than did his 

 mind. The Argus said: ''Pneumonia wrestled the life 

 out of this Scot, they say. Doubtless it did; 'twas pneu- 

 monia of which he died. But how came his constitution 

 to take it? Through cold? Why, he had summered for 

 years in water knee-high, or waist-high, putting up jobs 

 on fish. Why, he had repeatedly slept on the floor of lum- 

 ber cabins o' winter nights, his feet to a fire and his head 

 under an open window, in the Michigan woods. He had 

 the conquering will that defied wet and blasts. Did his 

 prolonged labors undermine his constitution? Emphat- 

 ically no! He was ever strongest in harness. When he 

 went to press every day he went to bed every night to 

 sleep the easy-breathing, refreshing sleep of a boy. 

 Knocking off work unsettled this man's strength. Labor 

 was a tonic to him. He would have lived through sheer 

 love of labor had he remained a scalp-taker every day, 

 armed with his keen pen and keener thought. None can 

 be blamed. He quitted work because he said he wanted 

 to quit it. He thought that lessening the tension would 

 enable him to play in the youth of old age. And he loved 

 to play. But work was his best play. Then he played 

 with thunder." 



Only once did Mr. Dawson hold public office. He 

 was postmaster of Albany from 1861 to 1867, at a time 

 when his pen was most actively engaged in the patriotic 

 work of upholding the integrity of the Union. But he 

 did not stop at writing editorials and equipping his eldest 

 son for the army. He publicly announced that he would 

 pay to the families of any six printers who would volun- 

 teer $4 per week during the time they remained in the 

 United States service, and he did it. One of the six, 

 Charles Van Allen, of Bethlehem, Albany county, went 



