The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1845-10-09
EDITORIAL ROOMS.

LII 1 Gag.
Persons u%nconnected with literary pursuits
have quite as much curiosity TO see the in
side of an editorial room as the boys who
fight double combats with laths in front ofthe
Bowery Theatre have TO view the arrange
ments behind the scenes. The imagination
makes both places sacred, and endows them
with many mysterious attributes which, in
reality, they do not posses. We can well re-
member the time when a look at an actor or
author, off duty, was a sight, TO US, worth the
living for. ga little more than a man." was
the thought that fitted through our mind up
on seeing one of these pieces of public prop
erty. "Every thing they possess thought
we, sis of immense value. Their books,
their clothing, their household gods, their
painting, music, &C., are all of a different
style from those used by persons in the eve
sands of individuals who, at this moment, en-
entertain the same notions. Ask ten men 10
describe the supposed appearance and condi,
lion OF an editors room, nine of them will
picture it as filled with rare pictures, covered
with fine carpets and hangings, adorned with
luxurious articles of furniture, stocked Tin a
corner cupbard) with a few dozens of appro-
we'd wine, and a box of the best regalias, and
rendered Intellectually agreeable by a select
library ofbooks, writing materials of a most
costly description grace a beautiful table, and
in an easy chair covered with red morocco,
Tolls the editor, who is approached by the at
tdcheS ofthe establishment with awe and rev.
erence. "Ah!' signs the uninitiated, after
viewing the picture, "what a happy man is an
editor!l" Is he? The picture is air-drawn
and like the dagger Macbeth fancied, s'the
handle towards bis band" Editors room:
are the most uncomfortable dens imagina
able. We can liken them;to no place save
c~oal-hole, which is different somewhat, mas
much as it is much the neatest looking con
Germ. To each daily paper there are, gener
ally, about twelve compositors, and as man
persons engaged in the business department
The shabbiest looking man among them il
the druge editor; he who writes from three
TO four columns daily, who must go TO every
fire for "particulars,' feeds modestly at side
table at a public dinner while he makes /;
brilliant account of the proceedings, peram
bulates the streets at midnight for a true anc
particular version of the last accident, suicide
or murder, and picks up all the sparkling
jokes that season the toast at breakfast, anC
prevent the coffee from SCATTERING yournerves
The shabby man is put into a little six b.
twelve room apportioned offfron the printin!
office, by a ricketty partition of pine scant
ling; and here, breathing the vapors of
smoky lamp, he scrawls his articles upol
such waste paper as he can purchase for
mere song. The cell contains nothing bu
an old in~k-spotted coverless table and a fee
bic chair. From such holes emanate all III,
disquisitions which charac terize The indepen
dent press ofNew York. Those shabby mel
toiling for day laborer's wages, enrich you
gentle reader, by the notices they give you
business. They, with their written morality
cultivate the minds ofyour children, and carv,
out their moral destinies. They foster gen
Jus, bring 10 notice and usefulness new in
ventions, make Presidents, set 70 rmard or re
tard great enterprises; in short, they sway
power that is almost absolute for either goo,
or evil. Reader, those little rooms devoi,
as they are ofall enticements for the optics
are holy. They are protected from s%acrileg
ious defamation by the pride of power which
their shabby, poverty-stricken tenants feel
and you are right in entertaining a curiosity
with regard to them. ''The pen is mightie
than the sword" and itmay render sacret
even that despised depository of anthracite
'yelept a coal hole.-Noah'S Messenger.