Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1858-10-06
gahits' 9tpartmtnt.
For the Spirit Of the Age.
An Incident in the Life Of a Newspaper
Correspondent.

- hA@Ag , - " An n 1OuE COHlh. u
l rcde ye tent t.;
A chiefs amang ye taking notes,
And, faith, he'll prent i'll
Burns.
Newspaper correspondents arc apt to |
be general favorites-especially with the |
ladies. This fact ought certainly to be a
source Of some consolation to the slaves of !
the quill ] have said that they are apt
to be f~ayorites with the ladies, (please now, /
my friendly reader, do not understand me
to say that l am a ~fayorite with the sweet,
dear creatures-no no / would not be
guilty OF the "base i~nsinuation" for the
worldD and believe that they are; but
why the gentle sex should look upon them
with a "partial eye" ! am quite unable to
tell; unless we may attribute it to their
1.-THE newspaper correspondents, not the la
dies,) disposition to fatter or it may pos
sibly be-knowing the propensity Of iitera-
~ men to iove-because that they are
proud Of the attentions Of the famous ca
or what is more probable still, it is perhaps
owing to their (the ladies) acknowledged
superior discriminatiVe powers! Upon
the latter one Of these Hsuppositions" /
build my faith.
But Notwithstanding the fact that news
paper writers are general favorites, it not
u~nfrequently happens that their penchant
for printing" what may chance to fall
under their observation, gets them into
scrapes TO extricate themselves from
which their best wits are often called into
active exercise. Their wonderful facility
OF turning things to account" however,
generally brings them out, like gold seven
times tried. Your correspondent, "Merrv
Andrew" has had the misfortune to get
into several nice little dilemmas of this sort,
one Of which | will relate
Once upon a time, / happened to the
good fortune to get an ~'invite" to a fishing
party, and Of course the slime and place"
found inc 'thar." Like most other young
folks, would, | suppose, have done upon an
occasion OF the kind, we ished and frolick-
cd, laughed, chatted, and SLEW around' as
much as we pleased, until the evening
shades beginning to "lengthen across the
lea" admonished Us ofthe approach of night:
when the party "broke up" About the
time OF our dispersion, l incautiously OBJ
served to some one that ! intended writing
out and having published the "doings' Of
the day. And from this little remark the
rumor went abroad that | was going to
have the "party all put in the newspapers
or, as some one expressed il, ain the neaUs''
creating no little excitement in the coun-
try round about. Some laughed at the
idea, Ito many of them quite a novel one,
while Others grew very indignant, and
threatened rue with the infection of sundry
punishments if put their names in the
''papers"-none OF which threats, however,
reached my cars until after the disciples OF
Faust had already transferred my expose
from my manuscript to the columns Of the
cage"
An incident or two will serve to give my
readers some idea of the "huttering' anC
Vermont which tho reception of this ru
NOR caused among the ex. members of tn,
party. A friend of mine came up with
young lady a few days after the party. an,
observing that she looked somewhat "ou
of sorts" asked her what was the matter
Shetold him that she had heard something
My friend asked her what terrible thin
che could have "heard" that could thu
weigh down he's usually buoyant spirit
She would not tell him at first, but aftC
many earnest entreaties he finally succeed
cd in getting her to %unravel the mystery
"Don't you think" said she, at length
"that that 1ndre0 has has gone and az
UertiSed the fishing party ~
ale hasn't, has he Z"
"Yes, it is sol have it from good a
thority."
ale hasn't got my name in it, has he
"Yes he has Miss - told me tn,
she heard him read the piece before it W
sent on, and every one Of our names ace
IN IN
as it possible We'll, WE'LL" %continu
my friend in a %jocular manner, ~ cou
not have believed that Merry Andre
would have been guilty of the like"
"Nor either, but he has, and if | ev
sec him again | will tell him what | thi
of him-that will " By-the-bye, | ha
not seen my fair friend since, but presul
that after seeing and reading nv "adv
tisement' her choler somewhat abated. n
perhaps ere now, "a change" may hs
come "over the spirit of her dream"
mote it BEL
will relate one more incident out
the many similar ones which transpired
on the occasion: A gentleman, whor
will call Captain O., was heard to say
some one during the interval which clap
between the "party" and the appcars
Of my "%notice," that if l had put his ma
in the papers he would, upon sight, {
me a h-ll Of a thrashing. By.the-l
as par parenthesis, a friend of mine sent
captain word that he would have to fir
bigger fool than Merry Andrew before
name got into the papers
But time passed on and, after the |;
of "many days" Ito the anxious expect
almost an age,) the paper containing
awful communication found its wav TO
country post office. We will imagiI
scene The mailbag is handed in
opened. Such a rush alas the
come Y as it published" elias
fishing party come out 7" "What do
sayf" 1.-THE fishing party ~ Quick!
us, has it come r. "The Spirit of the A,
were a few of the many hurried eiac
tons which incontinently fell from the
of the eager crowd, who had crammed
jammed themselves into the little roo
which the business of Uncle Sam