It was the June of 1993 and the Amalgamated Printers’ Association Wayzgoose was in Keithsburg, Illinois. A very small, rural community on the Mississippi River. So small, in fact, that there were no motels/hotels within a half an hour’s drive. The deal that year was that folks could come and camp, or rooms and cabins in town would be rented out for the weekend to the adventurous. Nearly everyone went that route.

Friday evening two old gentlemen show up from Minnesota because they had heard about the event. They had not registered and had no rooming accommodations set up. The older of the two was in his nineties and the younger one (who did the driving) was around eighty-five. Both former letterpress printers. I had rented a trailer-house for the weekend and already had two others staying with me, but we had room for these two as well and they took us up on my offer to stay with us.

Saturday morning was the big swap meet and after it was over we were all comparing notes. One of the things I picked-up there was a Star make-up rule. I was thrilled to finally have one. The older gentleman takes all of this in and finally says “Let me show you something.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a shiny Star make-up rule. He then tells us the story.

When he was a very young man he got a job in a print shop. The foreman asked him if he had his own make-up rule. He did not. The foreman went somewhere in the shop and came back with a Star make-up. He gave it to him and said the cost would come out of his first paycheck. He simply glowed as he proudly told us that the make-up rule he held in his hand was that very same rule! He said he kept it in his pocket every day of his life since  and always considered it his badge that he was a compositor.