Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1843-04-28
vy.hat becomes Of the Old Editors :
nv THE RED NOsED MAN.

There fell under my OOsetvdtioHs one
rainy afternoon, an obituary notice in some
old nc wspaper. which went on to say -
!. Departed This life, on the Mr..
Timothy So and-so, for several years edl
,or at The - Gazette Up to this
,eriod. had maintained an opinion some
hing similar 10 ,Ia, held by Mr.. Weller,
junior. relative 10 pos.-boys. when ne ex
j pressed his firm conviction that they never
died al all. but rode out of The world III
some superstition, manner on the back Of
an old donkey. similarly constituted; | had.
in fact, arrived at the conclusion that the
old editors aud old newspapers evaporated
in pairs, in some such manner. nobody
knew where. But here was the faith OF
many long years staggered in an instant;
here was the fact staring me in the face,
tina. an old editor had shuilled off this NOR
tai coil just as everyday people do, had
written his last paragraph, and had gone
to have his preof revised in another world.
Well, it was long time ere could get
into my old train Of thought. True had
heard Of editors dying. but they were not
editors at the time Of their demise; they
were not summoned directly from the paste,
scissors, and the quill. Some had. by
some means or other, got into the Legis>
lature, either State or Na,ional-olhers IL
gain had taken to porting over Chilly or
other authorities, of octave size, bound in
law calf--some had laid down The pen and
taken up physic some the pulpit. and not
few the poor>house. They could not be
said to have gone out of the world EDIro
RALLY, having gone back into obscuriy
among the great mass of the pubIlc-a
body TO which editors are constantly ap-
peaIing, but from which. in my mind. they
are totally distinct. Neither can book
makers. either prose or poetry. review
writer's or pamphIeteers, be comprised in
the category; they come under the desig-
nation of authers that class of men who
are Prone of living to garrets, and are Civ
ell to wearing paper dckies poor devils!
But your Editor. the man who writes
the leader. complies the ondits, and says
cutting things of "our contemporary in
the daily newspaper. is different sort of
being altogether. He occupies, as it were
an isolated position and like Alexander
Selkirk, is 8. monarch of all he surveys"
Does The President of the United States,
the Queen of Eng land, or the Ottoman
Porte commit any covert act" and who
but the editor IS handles them without
gloves" Who is it but the man who ed
its The newspaper that takes in his hand
some half mi lion of people at time,
and tells them that they are logged.
wrong headed and ill-condlioned set of
beings. who are going to their ruin as fast
| as their blind delusion can carry them g.
Who has the daring TO say SO to those very
people every morning as they read his pa
per over toast and coffee? Who but he
has the temerty to say that public opin
ion may sometimes be wrong, and more
over, who acts godfather, sponsor, and
guardian to an unhedged "opinion" that
obtains in the community? Who but the
newspaper man ,ake.h upon himself to
cut up huge quarlos; crticisc, and express
his opinions in plain English. Of scribbling
divines. doctors, poets. and pun makers :
Who shall say that, as the editor lives a
literary potenlale. he may nevertheless
make his exit from this great earthly stage
like the pegasus he bestrides, the "pub
lie :" l, for one, can't bring myself to
believe it.
II is very common thing to see in pa
per some such notice as" Owing To the
illness of the editor, our readers must ex-
cuse the lack Of editorial matter in to-day's
paper" Some may argue from this that
as all editor is subject TO The . ills which
flesh is heir to,' he also experiences The
ultimate moral inconveniences therefrom !;
but fortunately for my theory, it invariably
happens that some brother editor few
days afterward. announces in three line
paragraph that the said editor. he is 'lIap.
py to say, has entirely recovered from his
late illness. and has resolDed his editorial
chair. 1t is always the case-one notice
is as sure to follow the other, as day is to
succeed night. They never "make die
of it,
Now what in the world has become of
the old editors the newspaper men of
yes,erday-ihe ancient REGIME? No Old
Mortality living has seen anything relative
| to their whereabouts on the tOmbslones-
the parish records are silent on the subject.
and the ves,ry books say nothing abou, il.
Ask any of the Oldest inhabitants wha, has
become of the editor of such and snch
paper. and they shake their heads and tell
you they dolt know-he moved away,
and that was the last they heard of him.
One of two things must be the fact, either
that these editorial monarchs become wea-
ried Of pc wer after time. write pa,ie,.
ic farewell address 10 their readers. then
quietly abdica,e. go TO hoeing cabbages,
and writing "le,,ers from under bridge"
IL, .un,ds n..l n.