The Press: Ring Out, Mild Bells

"Be handsome if you can, witty if you must, but be agreeable even if it kills you." So goes the maxim that often uplifts the front page of the most determinedly bigtime, small-town weekly newspaper in the U.S.: Grit, published in Williamsport, Pa. (pop. 46,000), by a bald, conservative optimist named George Lamade. By being aggressively agreeable, plain-looking, plain-spoken Grit has built up a national circulation of nearly 900,000 in 48 states, this month will celebrate its 75th birthday as the paper "that rings the joy bells of life."

Pealing for all it's worth,...

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