The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1858-11-11


has created, or the imaginations of the beaevo-
lent conceived, from the days of Plato to those
OF Fourier.
The Editor.
We think the members Of The editorial pro-
fession will agree'wih writer on this subject
who remarks that few cinpioymrnts are so un-
favorable ,ocareful readiag mature reflection
and eleg ant composition, as those of an editor
especially an editor of a daily paper. The
public has no mercy for the shortcomings of an
editor. He isexpected to be wise, vet witty;
learned, yet ,eloquent-prcfound, yet imagina-
tive. HI. must always be accurate, vel never
delay hisjudgement foran instant. The pnlpi.
| orator prepal es his sermon in the quiet OF his
closet. He may refer to his library for a
doubtful fact, and yet revise his composition
in later hours. Even the lawyer has usually
, the respit, of night in which to collect his
! thoughts and arrange his arguments. But the
editor must speak on the spur, of the moment.
He cannot stop to fortify his memory. or digest
his tpnion, or polish his style. He filings off
his sheets as the news comes in, and clanors
for" copy" increase; in few hours tits before
! the eye of the public, for better or worse, and
the editor is again hard al work upon the same
| treadmil round, and like a thorough-bre in a
desperate race. he is under the whip and spur
from the starting point to the goal-aad then
| if he makes 5lrinder, how wise the ocritcs
grow over some Typographical or other er or
/ The clergyman not only has his time to pre-
pare hls composition, but should ha ever blum
der in his rhetoric or stumble in his grammar,
! his effort is addressed to the ear alone, and is
waited off IN the thin air, and usually escapes
detection. Not so :he labor of the editor
| His blunders If he commit any, are printe ],
and there they are before the eye, to be the
Jest of the critics, who perhaps speud twelve
months in writing as muchss the editor is COM
PEELED 10 write in twelve hours.
But this is not the whole. ,, The editor must
write. not merely without mature reflection,
ont often when anguish or sorrow prevent his
rejecting at all. His bones may be racked
4, with cold, his head may throb with pain, his
,ousne may be parched with fever, his nerves
! may be unstrnng by excessive ana uuwearied
( labor, ye; he must write, write. He is chain
led to wheel that revolves perpstually. He
must deny himself he pleasures of society aud
social intercourse, and write, write, write,-
! He must leave the wife of his bosom upon her
! sick bed; he must leave the coffin Of his dead
child, and with heart full Of anguish,
1 write, write. write. Oh!if the public bn.
| knew With what suffering. at what expense of
to'turIng agony it is often served. If the Sc
crets of but a single day OF newspaper life in
our great cities could blaze out in letters of
fire behind the ordinary type, there would be
revealed the most startling revelations of men a!
torture and physical pain, falling nerves and
,wearied eyesght, often pecuniaIy distress and
positive want. szpIiae s3i B. aas sdi
The tables of mortality show that the life of
! an editor, compared with other men, is short.
he wears out b. fore his time. The exactng
toll he pnrsuss, rarely broken bv al day of re-
taxation, skaters his nerves and exhausts his
at work in close room, surrounded by the
sitting odors Of damp newspapers, and the
binding glare Of the gas-light, and his consti-
tuition must be adamant II he does not break
down before he sees fifty years. Nothing but
great success and ability to tighten his toll by
assistants, viii save him from tins
irresistible doom. True, there are exceptions
in obscure newspapers, whose editors consult
their wn ease, more than they do the wants
of their readers, but no editor who possesses
the ambition to be up with the times, can en-
pect to live out the full measure of his days.
And yet, notwithstanding the labor, the toll
the anxiety of the editor, and his cons an,
efforts to please, his patrons often find fault
with him for some unhicky word. or for ex-
pressing his honest opinion upon sos,e subjects
readers. Snch is human nature, So many and
so various are the characteristics of men with
whom he, is thrown in contact, that no editor,
can escape fault-fading. He learns to expect
it, and takes 1t philosophically when il comes.
although some men seem TO imagine that he
can be easily aanihi.ated with the breath OF
heir nostriis, oy the mere expression of dissent
at his independence, with the words-"Stop
my paper.n But they find him takethe matter
with the utmost in,lifference, as nothing bat
the most ordinary transaction in the world,
and keeping, right on his course the same as
before. Irate patrons would not be astdnished
at this, if they knew how " used TO il f" the
editor has become. Times.] "A
- In 1856 the, total va.ue Of the. Slave
States va. 9, 500, Ooo, 000-that Of the Free
States s s. 500, 900, GEO. lsa9i ie ,g7iHrp2
t-Ex- President Fillmore announces his
withdrawal from political life. '<' 2