The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-10-07
NeWSDRperS.


--%N-
Newspapers.
There are, comparatively, but few
people who really appreciate the
newspaper as it deserves to be ap-
prcciated. The merchant and the
mechanic, as they glance over its
pages, while slipping their morning
coffee, or pore over its contents,
when the evening repast has been.
finished and the family have gathered
around their cosy fire-side; the dealer
in ''stocl1s and other securities, us
he runs his eye down the long
columns of figures; the handsome
maiden as she drinks in some
pleasantly told but improbable love
tale-drea1n not of the toll and
trouble, the care and expense which
the sheet before them has cost The
first may cast it aside as old rubbish
when ne has read it, or value it for
its capacity for wrapping paper; the
second may condemn it because it's
figures were not more full or salts
factory to his views of the markets;
and the third may tie up her "nut
brown hair in curls with it, as she
rctires to rest.
But they do not appreciate it ac-
cording to its merits, Or the labor
which has been bestowed upon it.
They think not, and, perhaps, care
less, Of what the proprietor has to
contend with-how patrons forget or
neglect to pay up-how incurring bills
must be met and paid without delay
how paper and ink must be procured,
and all the necessary paraphernalia
of the Office kept up; of how much
the editor racks his brain to supply
the daily leader, or pores over ex-
changes and ponderous tones by the
midnight lamp; of the wear and tear
Of the ubiquitous ''local's" limbs, as
he goes hither and thither, now here,
now there, seeking the news of the
city; of the poor printer, as his nim-
bic fingers pick up the little type, one
by one and secures them in their
proper place and straining
his cye-sight beneath the heat and
glare OF the gas-lights, or nearly
freezes his fingers and thumbs with
the cold metals which he has to han
die; or of all the other little troubles
and trials which beset the attaches of
q printing Office. OF course, they care
for none of these. tits none of their
business. If those concerned find
the burthens too great, let them throw
those burthens of. The reader, we
suppose, pays for his paper, and he
has right to do with it as he pleases.
But he ought to have some regard
Tor 1t-for those who prepare and
supply him with it, He ought to
treat it with more respect than if it
were a mere piece Of waste paper.
1t comes to him daily-becomes, as
it We're, one of his household institu-
tlons-conveys to him the news from
all quarters Of the globe-places him
now in almost instant communica-
ton with call the world and the rest
OF mankind" and saves him, per-
haps, hundreds if not thousands of
dollars IN his business transactions;
builds up great men from very small
foundations, and communities from
slender premises. It is o record of
passing events, Il review of current
news, history of the times, worthy
Oh lnlmeolate respect and future and
constant preservation.
But there is bright side to the
picture as we'll as q dark one, and it
cheers up all hands in the perform
ance of their arduous duties. There
is for the proprietor increasing sub
scription lists, overhowing advertis-
ing columns, and quantities of Job
work; there is for the editor, boquets,
wedding cakes, free tickets to the
shows, samples of eatables, drink
ables, and wearables, and the express
sions of satisfaction on the part of
subscribers; and there is for the
printers, the weekly instalment of
greenbacks for services rendered, and
an occasional mint-julep or "hasty
plate of soup from some neighbor-
ing restaurant.
SO, after all, the agreeable and the
dlsagreeable are pretty well balanced.
And If the patron is only satisfied
that he or she has got his or her
moneys worth, the proprietor ought
TO be satisfied with his share.
augusta Press.