Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-03-08

The Philadelphia Age has the following:
The mass OF people fancy that il is the sim
plest thing ia the world 10 edit q newspaper. A
man may have grave doubts about bis talent Tor
public speaking, may freely admit that he can
not turn a tune or recognize one when turned by
anJ body else, may confess that he is no poet not
much OF a scholar, and nothing Of artist. but
there Is no creature so poor spirited as TO avow
his incapacity TO edit newspaper. On the con
trary, that is a work 10 which every man has a
manifest call. No matter what his sctual bust
ness In this world may be-preacher. lawyer.
physician, butcher. baker. or esndle-stick maker
he has a secret fancy that il he only had q
chance be could make newspaper a little bit
spicier and liveler than anything in the shape
OF a public journal that has ever come in his way
This isSne of the most amusing and universal
weaknesses OF latter times. The number Of peo-
pie who are infected by il is known only 10 pub
fishers, Just as the extent to which opium eating
is practiced is realized only by druggists and
physicians The drawer and waste baskets of
every leading newspaper Office overflow with evil
dence Of the ambition and harmless vanity of the
vast public who scribble by stealth. and fondly
and patiently toll over reams Of composition
which nobody can be induced to print
Ii must be admitted that there is something
euticing and enviable in editorial life, as il ap-
pears to the outside world The delight of get.
ting into print for the fret time is of the
keenest enjoy ments of life What, therefore, we
reason, must be the pleasures Of that happy man
Who daily feasts the public with bis wisdom and
whose smallest scribbling finds it way into type
without criticism or delay. But this reasoning
10 altogether unsound. Lite bows who cherish
the solitary biz of mint-stick which a chance
penny enables them to buy, who enjoy every
bite with keen relish. and feel their appetite for
the sweet morsel keener than ever when il has
melted away. fancy that the lad in the candy
shop who lives in bower of sweets. and has
every variety OF CONNECTIONS from which to choose
and as much of each as he wants, must be the
very happiest lad in the world How grievously
thew mistaken. To that unfortunate youth,
ever since the beginning of his apprenticeship.
when he s.ckened a surfeit, the sight of the
sbapely sticks and dainty drops and balls is utter
iy loathsome His day dreams are of pickles
candies are his nightmare.
AS with candies so with editorials. Ii is en-
chanting to write a lucky one which friendly
publisher puts in fair type in his leading column.
lou have written il at your leisure. crossed eve
~ {. dotted every /, inserted every comma. read
IL In manuscript TO half dozen sdmiring cron
les. and the sight Of the delicious periods and the
well turned phrases staring you in the face from
the second page Of the city daily. is certainly
one of the most thrilling and exhilarating Of
spectacles in the world. You carry that paper
about With you. Hourly, yea oftener, in sweet
stealth you read the dear effusion and wonder if
there is such mortal ass extan. as to deny that
/. is about the most pointed and elegant piece of
newspaper writing that he has ever seen. You
dream and dote over that sheet till il is black
and tattered. This is one OF the most innocent
and blessed of human pleasures. IL is the soil
tary mintstick which whets your appetite for
sweets.
But The editor. that envisble nan who feeds
on the candy which you have only cot taste
IL in truth as unhappy and surfeited person as
that pickle craving lad who weighs out the bon
bon. The freshness, the exquisite charm Of
seeing bis reflection in print. has long vanished
He writes painfully. and under pressure-often
times hsrassed by thousand petty veIations
with a gsbble of a score of idlers in bis
with aching head and weary hand. bis work is,
OF all works, the most weayering and vexations
IL il tread mill dFudgery II exhausts body and
brain.
The call for cspy il memorable ard cannot be
refused He must write. He musE mature the
most contemplate and continual criicism-must
bear patiently "to be esteemed dull when he
cannot be witty, and to be spplauded for witty
when he knows that he has been dull" Every
blockhead who ever spends a dime for hs paper,
feels that be has purchased thereby an indefeas-
bleright 10 dictate the manner ia which il shall
be conducted, 70 crliicise sharply every thing
that appears in it. and to elevate It's tone
~ish his own asinine 4ucubrations fairly written
oct and inclosed in 4 note demanding their in
slant publication. signed "a paying subscriber, +"
'.one who buys your weekly" or. "A former pur
chaser Of your campaign
IL you were to ask this modest friend to cut
your coat or measure you for pair of boots lac
would Indignantly reply that that was not his
trade; that be knew nothing about Il, and would
not attempt il. But the difhience which shriuks
from the shears and coyly draws back from the
awl and the lap stone boldly crssps tie pen and
undertakes to Instruct and illuminate the world
Breeches and shoes require art, experience. re
hection in their making-pohtical essays how
spontaneous from the most adjled pate or can
be Pluned out OF il by pure hand labor. without
the aid OF The vulgar appliances Of study. kuowl-
edge aud thought
There IS smother vieN ~ editorial lie suggest
I'VE OF much amusing reelection. which want 81
space cogpels us "a reserve for another paper
That 'siiItIc STORY"
n 49,