and a crush of words. There was no other
printing office nearer than Albany, and it was impossible for him to
rearrange his types for the paper that week. But his paper must come out
at all hazards, on account of the legal advertisements on the first
side. He therefore hit upon the expedient of publishing his paper with a
blank page, inserting in large letters, '_Omitted for want of room_!'

But, after all, when it is considered of how many separate and minute
pieces of metal a book form or the page of a newspaper is composed, the
wonder is that errors of the press are not far more numerous than they
are. A single page of one of our largest papers cannot contain less than
150,000 separate pieces of metal, each of which must be nicely adjusted
in its own proper place, or error and confusion will ensue.

But to return from this long digression of the early newspaper press of
New York. A paper called the _New York Chronicle_ was published during
the years 1761-'62, and then died. The _New York Pacquet_ was next
published, in 1763, but how long it lived is not known. In 1766, Holt
established the _New York Journal, or General Advertiser_, which in the
course of the year was connected with Parker's _Gazette_, the _Journal_,
however, being printed as a separate paper. John Holt edited the first
Whig paper published in New York; nor, as in the case of Hugh Gaine, did
his patriotism come and go as danger approached or receded from the
city. In 1774, Holt discarded the King's arms, and took that engraving
from the title of his paper, substituting in place of it, a serpent cut
in pieces, with the expressive motto, 'Unite or Die.' In January, 1775,
the snake was united and coiled, with the tail in its mouth, forming a
double ring: within the coil was a pillar standing on Magna Charta and
surmounted with the cap of liberty: the pillar on each side was
supported by six arms and hands, figurative of the colonies. On the
body of the snake, beginning at the head, were the following lines:

'United now, alive and free,
Firm on this basis Liberty shall stand;
And thus supported, ever bless our land,
Till Time becomes Eternity.'

The designs both of 1774 and 1775 were excellent--the first, by a
visible illustration, showing the disjointed state of the colonies; and
the second presenting an emblem of their strength when united. Holt
maintained his integrity to the last. When the British troops took
possession of New Y