Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-03-15
Editorial Slavery.

Probably there is DO profession that
requires so much thankless drudge
work as the fourth estate" Let
lawyer imagine himself having a case
to plead in court every working day the
year round, besides attending to his
Office business, looking up authorities
giving advice, making out papers, &c. /;
let a doctor imagine half a dozen
garrulous old ladies 10 his Office at
once. telling, with needless multiplica-
ton Of words, of their own and their
families ailments, Wdile be keeps the
pestle moving, compOpnding a pre-
scription for some one else, and knows
that five miles away IN different direc-
tions two good customers are dying
and need his help and they may get
some idea of the constant vexatiOns of
editorial life. Captain Maryatt thus
describes them lit IS not the writing
Of the leading article itself, but the OBJ
legation to write that article every day
(or week) whether inclined or not. in
sickness or in health IN affection, dis
ease of mind, winter and summer, year
after year tied down to the task, re-
naming on the spot It is something
like the walking of thousand hours.
I have a. fellow feeling, for I knOR how
a periodioal will wear down ones ex-
isteuce. In itself it appears nothing
the labor Is not manifest norris il the
labor, but it is fthe continued attention
which it requires. Tour life becomes,
as it were, the publication. One days
Cor weeks is no sooner corrected and
printed than on comes another. Tic is
the stone of Slsyphus ; an endless rep
elton of -toil, -eepstaDf weight upon the
intellect and spirits demanding all the
exertions of your faculties, at the
same time that you are compelled to do
the severest kind of drUdgery To
write for a newspaper Is very well, but
to edit one Is TO condemn yourself TO
slavery" Yet MaTyatt was only an
editor of a Inagazinc-a comparatively
easy task. He never sat at his table
with uuprepared copy before him, and
had a lOng-winded visitor insist upon
spinning some Iutermlnable yarn or
laying down in detail some theory on
subject of no particular importance,
entirely oblivioUs Of the fact that the
paper must go to press in two hours,
and somehow or other that copy must
all be gone through carefully, put into
the hands of the cOmpOsitor, transferred
type and the proofs read and corrected
before the press can start. He never
udu BGQUl1 4lftl huaAAAy AAAAa5LaAAI AIS auAAG-
tum for a readiDg-rOom, occasionally
reading aloud choice extracts from pa
pers which he has already perused
and thrown by. He never received
calls from idiots who wanted to know
whether such and such an article
means so and 50, aud, If so, whether be
was willing to make suitable retraetiiOn
and explanation. But an editor of a
daily paper has to endure this and
much more.
One of the most yexatioDs things is
the imperfeetion of manuscripts. Du- !
ring the past three years have not come
into this Office half dozen manu-
cripts-eveu from regular paid CORES I
dents who have written for the press
for years-that were fit to put into the
hands of the compositor. There are
historical errors, geographical blum
ders, bad rhetoric, bad grammar, bad
smelling, words inadvertently omitted,
incorrect paragraphing and pUnctua-
ton. to a greater or less extent, scat
tered all through them. An editor
has to 90 carefully over every page,
pencil in hand, aud make corrections
and when the letter appears in print,
of course the credit all goes to the
correspondent whose signature is attach
ed-none to the editor. The most
invariable fault of manuscripts is in
the punctuation, which in many cases
is positively fearful. Yet the rules Of
punctuation are simple, and all found
ed on principles easily understood
and there is less excuse for bad pune
tuation than for bad spelling. The
most common error is In punctuating
too much Don't punctuate your COM
uOsitiOn to death-ROChesfeT Demo-
Crdt.