Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1854-04-05

der both 60 clerk and devil how he can remember
them but upon all his visitors they drop IN a.
the rate Of one n,iIiute bestoWs klndoi CIVIL
though non-committal. If be must know who q mar
is he says q Let me see how you do spell your
name pm And this sort of manceuyering is strictly
necessary For considera yslng gentleman a wne
last comes to the city and calls upon the editor -
that Young gentleman the insertion of his . Lines
was an event, an His soul bounded WITHIN nm
when he saw them in print he showed thela eA VI
tngly to his mother, sent cepyto his sweetheart,
and handed them round on the stoop" of the VII
lage store, and has thought better Of himself ever
since To the Editor the printing of those lines was
no event at all He has forgotten them and their
author. Yet that Young gentleman leaves the office
under the full conviction that ne IS dear TO the
rial ewes and--worst mistake of allwelcome to the
editorial sancturm This is brought about by no ny
pocrisy on the Editors part. Broad and general
civity does the business and does it quickly.
Knowing everybody both helps and hinders the
Editor 1t keeps him supplied with facts and ideas,
but it cramps the free expression OF MS opinions.
Can an Editor write quite freely of an author or ar
fist or a politician whom he cordially shook hands
with Yesterday and will meet at dinner this even
ing? Human nature is human nature That the
Editor is utterly incorruptible by money we know,
but he is not proof against the greater potency OF
friendly pity which is pity.
and persons in the light of material for articles "A
catastrophe which makes the town shudder, IS TO
he is panied to announce" but he is not-as an
Editor panied in the least; more than an under
taker is panied to bury in the highest style of
fashionable anguish His business is with the grave
and It is his business to do it g1avcy. The editor
anon, is Rejoced to be able to state" or has had
the "extrcme satisfaction of ascertanng beyond
doubt" and in such assertions his sincerity is per-
feet for the pride and joy and glory of the Editors
heart is to be the first to communicate to the pub
lie an important piece of intelligence. Eagerly he
the rival Sheets to see if they have any ink
ling of the matter, and how sure he is to let his
readers know, that in "our last number we
nounced in advance of all our contemporaries" and
with what ferocity of delight 'all our contempt
rics!' authoratively to contradict the state
ments which ostentatiously paraded in
morning paper"
The Editor rather stumbled into his profession,
than chose it. No man has been brought up to the
business. 1t is taught at no school. No father
says, Lo. my shall be Editor. But the
duck takes to the water, the Jew takes to money
lending, the gamecock takes to fighting, so the
destined Editor takes to types and paragraphing
and the impulse which bore him into the profession,
never ceases to act strongly upon him He is full of
his occupation, and never ashamed of it. He per-
ceives the promise of paragraph from atar off He
snufis it in the air. He sees it in window. IIe
catches it in the night, and prays Heaven he may
not forget it in the morning If he takes pill, he
thinks Pill Taking in the United States would be
magnificent subject" and so it would. If he cuts
himself with razor it suggests observations the
Beard movement And he is prone to ask, whether
you have any objection to his giving publicity to
that remarkable fact. Yet the Editor, desperate
he is to tell the public something it don't know al
ways keeps back part of his information and there
is an undrr-current of highly interesting inte
lgence" that seldom gets into print. Editors of the
audacious species have made their fortune by tap
ping this turbid, but fertilizing stream.
The Editor has his decisions as we'll as the Sub
Editor He thinks he creates public opinion; where
as, he only reflects it. The who runs ahead of
an advancing throng seems to lead it. and does lead
it, long he runs chcre they 'eant to CO. but let
him turn corner where they do not want to turn,
and lie finds himself running alone. No one CONVEX
SAINT with political history be ignorant that
IN influencing votes, papers are signally impotent
and particularly the papers which very ably
Quoted. Another deluSiOn of the Editor is, to sup
pose that the eyes OF the country upon his pa
per. He little thinks that the loudest thunder that
ever dcafencd New York, died away among the Jer-
sey hills, and was only heard of among the High
lands The Editor, too is subject decisions with
regard to his circulation. He hugs the thought,
that if his circulation is small it is select and that
he goes freely in the Fifteenth Ward, and is read
under chandeliers, and lies centre tables which
latter, perhaps he docs occasionally.
In the olden time, when Kings demi-gods
hedged about with splendor, which at once revealed
their consequence and concealed their persons it
happened, now and then that peasant became the
inmate of court, confronted majesty face to face;
saw him cat drink, and so forth heard him talk,
swear, snore, sneeze, ct cctera. Extreme used to
be the astonishment of the peasant, after he had
in some degree, the inspired by the
august presence, to discover that the pussant mon
arch of a realm, in whose hands were the issues of
life and death, whose smile was wealth, whose frown
was ruin, whose word moved armies and whose
whim decided the fate of natons-was really after
all, very much like people in general Not less is
the amaZement of the {" constant reader" when
chance makes him intimate with King of the mod
ern kind-the responsible editor of leading news
paper.
Learned, he is not. The printing flee sends ten
to the editorial throne while the college sends
one; and there editors in this country prospe-
rous and renowned, who know grammar only by
instinct, who owe their spelling to the compostor,
and have no idea on what map to look for Kamts-
chatka. Nor is the editor wiser than the average of
men, given to reflection, nor more likely to
be correct in opinion. If he were, he would be in
constant danger of turning that awkward Just
referred to, and finding himself without followers
He would be ever tempted to tell his readers what
they ought to be told whereas, the art of editing
consists solely in telling them what they want to be
told. Hence, there are but two editors likely to
achieve striking success.
One is the man, who in his opinions, habits and
tendencies, represents large class and the other is
he who utterly sink the man in the editor and
devote his undivided attention to the study of the
public, whose prejudces he fatters, whose desires
he anticipates, whose opinions he echoes Do you
blame him How long would you continue your
subscription to paper which neither spared your
prejudces, anticipated your desires nor echoed
your opinions. Upon the whole the editor is good
fellow. He has his faults, like other men, But gen.
orally speaking, he works hard and late, does
truth as his readers will let him. and above all, he
produces what the world could not exist without
The Newspaper. Then, refuse him not his fayorite
adjectiyes, which are able /" g genialn public
spirited, and g whole souled"