The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-05-09
nlisecllanp.

HINTS FOR CoRREspoNDENrs.-A
contemporary lays down the following
pithy code Of newspaper bylaws. They
are the best we have ever seen drawn
up. es5 ii s5 :sla
OH Is BE brief. Thisis the age Of Tel
tegraphs and Stenography.
svi2.Bo pointed. Don't write all round
a subject without hitting it.
4f3. State facts, but don't stop to NOR
alise. It's drowsy business. Let the
reader do his own dreaming
d. Eschew prefaces. Plunge at
once into your subject, like swimmer
in cold water.
rs. If you have written sontcn
that you think particularly fine, draw
your pen through it. A pet child is
always the worst in the family.
%. Condense. Make sure that you
really have an idea, and then recordzit
in. the shortest possible terms. We
want thoughts in their quintcsscnce.
.lia7. When your article is complete,
strike out nine tenths of the adjectivcs.
The English is strong language, but
won't bear two much "reducing.''
IiasS. Avoid all hi gh flown language
The plainest Anglo.Saxon words are
the best. Never use stills when legs
will do rs we'll.
y. Make your sentences short Ev-
cry period is mile stone, at which the
reader may halt and rest himself.
10. Write legibly. Don't let your
manuscript look like the tracks of
spider half drowned in ink. We shan't
mistake any one for a genius, though
he write as ,crabbedly as Napoleon.
Am ANCIENT CITY.-Thc famous
city of Petra, in Arabia, has been a
theme of admiration and astonishment
. to all the tourists of recent times; but
another town, apparently far more an
cient and of greater extent still, exists
in the north of Affghanistan, and is
known throughout the east by the name
Of Bamecan. The city consists of
greater number of apartments cut out
Gofithe solid rock. It is said that in
many of them the walls were adorned
with paintings which look still fresh,
after centuries of desertion and solitude;
some of them are adorned with the rich.
est carved work. There areasupposed
to be more than twelve thousand of
such habitations in Bamecan, but the
natives who are Mohommedans, enter
tain a superstitious prejudice against
inhabiting such homes. They have old
traditions Which declare them to have
been the first habitation Of mankind,
and that strange city is casually men.
toned by some Of the classic authors;
; yet by whom its rocky abodes were
..excavated, who were its inhabitants, or
what their history-all have passed
from the recollection of the world, and
aexist only in fabulous or uncertain tales.
-e~ FoRcE OF CHARAcTER.--Man i'm
putes, to himself the ability to be con-
t,stant BY his own proper force, and pla-
scesI his honor in that ability. A man
,.ofhis word, and man Of honor, are
synonymous terms. He who can EN-.
brace q purpose and persist in it, who
can act from aresolve, unsupported by
present inclination--nay, even in oppo.
sition to present inclination, emotion or
spassion --of him We soy, "He has a
.oharacter?", 'SHe is o man. We
ssdespise the man who is always only
what things, accidents, circumstances
make him; the tickle, the inconstant, the
'twavering.7 We honor him who can re-
g5ssist objects and tho impression which
they, make upon; who knows how tc
/. maintain himself in the face Of them
B who lets himself be instructed but moi
acharged by thom.- r. II. JacoMs
:sEss :sE Flying .Leares."