226 THE ISLAND OF NANTUCKET. 



ance, under the management of Tannatt & Tupper. 

 It is related that one of the wealthy old Friends of 

 that day paid half a dollar for the first copy that came 

 from the press. The enterprise doe's not appear to 

 have met with much encouragement. The Gazette 

 was published weekly, but collapsed after a dozen 

 issues, evidently for want of support. It was a fair 

 specimen of the average newspapers of the time; but 

 journalism has since made such strides that we are 

 inclined to wonder, at the present day, how our grand- 

 sires could tolerate anything so stupid, even for a 

 dozen weeks. 



The Nantucket Inquirer, started in 1821 by J. T. 

 Melcher, was more successful, and became a perma- 

 nent institution. Under the editorial charge of Sam- 

 uel II. Jenks, — who assumed the control of it soon 

 after its establishment, — it grew to be a power among 

 the journals of the day, and acquired much more than 

 a local reputation. Mr. Jenks was a live editor, a 

 ready and vigorous writer, and an earnest and fearless 

 advocate of what he believed to be the right side of each 

 current issue. Among the progressive movements to 

 which the eft* orts of his pen largely contributed may be 

 mentioned the abolition of the practice of imprisonment 

 for debt, and the establishment of common schools in 

 his native town.* 



The Inquirer had a rival in 1826 and 1827, the Nan- 

 tucket Journal having been started by the friends of 

 Hon. Barker Burnell, then a candidate for Congress. 

 But the Journal did not long outlive the local issues 



* Mr. Jenks was not a native of Nantucket; see page 112. 



