The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-05-09
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HINTS FOR CoRREsroNDENTs.-A
contemporary lays down the following
pithy code ofnewspaper bylaws. They
are the best we have ever seen drawn
up.
l., Be brief. This is the age of Tel
egraphs and Stenography.
Q. Be pointed. Don't write all round
subject without hitting it.
3. State facts, but don't stop to NOR
alse. It's drowsy business. Let the
reader do his own dreaming
q. Eschew prefaces. Plunge at
once into your subject, like a swimmer
in cold water.
S. If you have written sentence
that you think particularly fine, draw
your pen through it. A pet child is
always the worst in the family.
6. Condense. Make sure that YOU
really have an idea, and then record it
in the shortest possible terms. We
want thoughts in their quintcsscncc.
Z. When your article is complete,
strike out nine. tenths Of the adjectiycs.
The English is strong language, but
won't bear two much reducing"
8. Avoid all high flown languasc.-
The plainest Anglo,Saxon words arc
the best. Never use stills when legs
will do as we'll.
9 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 a
spider half drowned in ink. We shan't
mistake any one for a genius, though
-he write as crabbedly as Napoleon.
AN ANCIENT CITY.-Thc famous
city of Petra, in Arabia, has been a
theme of admiration and astonishmcnt
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 a
greater number of apartments cut out
of the solid rock It is said that in
many of them the walls we're 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 aressupposcd
to be more than twelve thousand of
such habitations in Bamccan, but the
natives who arc Mohommedans, enter
tain superstitious prejudice against
inhabiting such homes. They have old
traditions which declare them to have
been the first habitalion Of mankind,
and that strange city is casually men.
toned by some of the classic authors;
yet by whom it's rocky abodes were
excavated, who were its inhabitants, or
what their history-all have passed
from the recollection of the world, and
exist only in fabulous or uncertain tales.
Force OF CHARAcTER.-Man i'm.
putes to himself the ability to be con.
slant by his own proper force, and pla.
ces his honor in that ability. A man
of his word, and man Of honor, are
synonymous terms. He who can en-
brace purpose and persist in it, who
can act from resolve, unsupported by
present inclination--nay, even in oppo
:sition to present inclination, emotion OF
passion--of him we say, "IIe has O
.character?' ''He is o man." We
despise the man who is always only
what things, accidents, circumstances
make him; the fcklc, the inconstant, tho
wavcring. We honor him who can re
sist objects and tho impression whicl
they make upon; who knows how tc
maintain himself in the face Of them
|, who lets himself be instructed but no
,charged by thcm.-- Il. II. Jaco6r
k k FIying Leares."