Thence he tramped it to St.Louis, where he heard there was a German colony, and found work on a coal barge.
It was here that the journalistic instinct dawned upon him.

He began to carry river news items to the Westliche Post, which presently took him on its staff of regular reporters.
The rest was easy.

He learned to speak and write English, was transferred to the paper of which Hutchins was the head, and before he was five-and-twenty became a local figure.
When he turned up in New York with an offer to purchase the World we met as old friends.

During the interval between 1872 and 1883 we had had a runabout in Europe and I was able to render him assistance in the purchase proceeding he was having with Gould.

When this was completed he said to me: "You are at entire leisure; you are worse than that, you are wasting your time about the clubs and watering places, doing no good for yourself, or anybody else.