From the Pennsylvania road he went to the _Philadelphia Press_, which in those days was a veritable cradle of authors. Here his literary instinct took hold of him. It had taken hold of him once before, in Huntingdon, one vacation, when he had worked as printer's devil in the office of a weekly newspaper, and, as often happens to "devils," had been stricken down with what may be called typographical fever. The great are not alone in the enjoyment of authorship. We believe that Mr. Stephens's first literary offering, an article describing the joys and woes of budding printers, appeared in that Huntingdon weekly. That, however, was a mere juvenile spasm. It was nothing like the powerful impulse that came to him just previous to his début as a writer of theatrical notices for the _Press_. He showed so marked an aptitude for this employment that within a year he was virtually in full charge of the paper's important dramatic column. Stephens's career on the _Press_ was as varied as that of the average newspaper man, and, consequently, as interesting and precious. For the patience that, like the steam-drill, bores its way through every obstacle; for accumulative industry, for tireless zeal, for unaffected modesty dashed with power, for knowledge of the overt and covert ways of men--for such a unique mixture of crude virtue and wisdom combined commend us to the enthusiastic journalist. Stephens unconsciously heeded Stevenson's caution and retired from journalism before its hypnotic spell had taken complete possession of him. One of the reasons for his retirement from journalism was the singular rule made by the _Press_ that members of its staff must not write for any other periodical. Stephens had been fortunate in placing his extra work, and naturally he felt that the rule shut out promising opportunities. Besides, in 1889, he had married--Mrs. Stephens was, before her marriage, Miss Maude Helfenstein, of Chicago--and there were other reasons for his practical view of the situation. There was no risk in the retirement, for he had made many friends while on the _Press_, especially among the inhabitants of the theatrical world. He received and accepted, in 1893, an offer to become general agent for a firm of theatrical managers.