Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-11-08
Political Speeches Vowed RepetOr-
tally,


Now that the great political strife Of 1872
is over, newspaper reporters VIII have
chance to breathe. No one ontslde OF
newspaper work can form any just concep'
ton of the labor and money which has
been expended during this campaign, IN
order that newspaper readers all over the
land might know what the Hon. TINS, ana
Gen. that, and Col. something else, have
had to say aDout the Constitution-"that
glorious bulwark Of our liberties "-the late |
war, the fearful extravaganza OF the. hep-
ublican party, the corruption OF the Demo
cratic party, together with the peculiar Ut
ness of the speaser's favorlte Tor this posi-
ton or that. In our large cities, there nave |
been speeches by well known poltical iead-
ers published almost every day in the week
for months past, at an expense, io1
the mere reporting OF from - 10 slZ
per c5lumn-that is where the WORK was
not done By the regular force on the paper.
But it is with the regular force that thls az
ticle proposes to deal. Ii there Is any one
thing a shorthand man dtsllEes 70 DO,
above anything and everything else, 1t IS 10
report q political harrangue. Usualy, thay
are made in the open air, the conVenlenceS
for reporters are very few, the cro"o IS
frequently large and always NOISY, the
lighrs flare aud spulter in the wind, moths
attracted by the fame, gather about tne re-
p1rters head by the dozens, crawl down
b back, into his ears and over MS note
h,olx- and ne. utterly unable to defend
himself, is compelled TO grin and pear II,
for # he stop but an instant to brush the-n
away, he loses the connection ana theh an
entire sentence. In the majority OF cases,
- ., oh, or T1dnpH fhA
whole of it and no one would seriously
suffer, but he is aware OF the fac5 thas
nasr him sits Jones, the reporter OF a rival
paper, and that the two reports VIII DC
| comm tred in the morning, and woe unto
| him if Jones has succeeded IN getting any
portion Of the speech which he mas IoSI'
| The rauorter's fingers fly over the Sunny
| TUNED papers, and after an hour ana HaI''
| or usrhays two hours OF Wrlst-achln9 "orA,
lie thanks mis- good fortune that the speak
or is evidently drawing his remarks 10
close, but Just st this point, hall dozen
| idiots who always attend puohc gatherings
because they have no business OF their own
to attend to, shout ''go on! ''go on q
request with which the speaker always
coInplies, and he viii spout away 1or Dali
an hour longer, advancing no new lueas'
simply reiter&ging what he has SAD Dei9T7
| and probably repested several tlines' ne
takes his seat at lsst, to be followed oyl Air'
| Smith, or some other brilliant local LgnI,
the poor devil of reporter wishing anu
hoping and praying Qf he IS th&I Hlnu Oh q
man-but the chances arc tEat ne Is hoV)
that the platform might give way, IRE
break uus in the vicinity, the speaker Dc
suddenly taken with tit OF choiera- morOus'
or anything else happen which would nave
the effect of bringing his long-wlndeu Cis-
course to a close. But everything on tIi!s
earth must have an end, and, thank heavens
Smiths Grafton is not an exception. AZ II
o'clock p. NJ. the speaking is brought to Z
close and the crowd disperses, our reporter
gathers up his pencils, puts his note qGok
in his pocket, and starts for the once mere
be finds a seat in q room when mas peer
fearfully heated ap by dozen gas jets ano
2. roaring FIRE, and h sets aoou'
the task of transcribing the platl,
tudes, grandiloquent sentences, Sno
well rounded periods, which he ma
been taking down, and ne snudderS as u
sees the number of pages he has niieu
The air is heavy and foul with tooaccc
smoke, and in addition to the Other writers
in the room, who have something 10 say
occasionally, dozen good fellows drop Il
and insist upon talking a5Out the speecne'
and the political situation generally, or els
sit down and make themselves comiorIa
BILE looking over the exch&nges--c2f[-yTII.i w
orev with them the most valuable. VIII
these surroundings our reporter goes L
work His wrist aches and SO does hi
head, but these are matters o. sucn Irequeh
: nccTTrance that he has become sccustCme'
= | 1, chnfa his eve
ond ears 10 the outside world, as fs
as possible, and until three ocioc
tho next morning be scribbles ava
4 as though the safety and prosperity OF tn
. nation depended upon his having put i
: print that morning every word OF the Dull
) connie speeches delivered the night prev
ons. But it does not; occasionally some
thing happens which prevents the speeche
> being published in full. Under these CT
: cumstances an apology is made by the pC
= Iitical editor, but, strange as it may appea
q the world wags quietly along, seeming l
;, he undisturbed by the failure to puolls
! the Honorable BuncOmbe's harrangue l
n full.
These rare occasions when the reporte
a ia told to 'cut down" form bright oasf
=. In the dreary desert of his life, for he is TIT
: enabled to HE him away to his little 0ed l
: the third story Of a cheap board
q ING house at an earlier hour than
: otherwise would, and he drops off
sleep with visions floating through b
!. mind of torches, drums and fife
f a mass of upturned faces, and above all II
q excited tones of the speaker, and his dream
h (which otherwise would be as peaceful al
;. 6uiet as those of child), are disturbt
2 With vague fears that Jones, the rival IT
porter, has got ahead of him after all.
n This has been the every day life of tt
: reporter on Our large dailies for the last fol
months. HIS existence has been so embi
i tered that life has become a burden an
9 although naturally free hearted, blithson
r youth, innocent of guile and disposed
take bright view of things IN this Worl
he has become cross and taciturn with SUI
4 gloomy and misanthropic ideas that his be
- friends carefully avoid bis company. l
L Won wonder that he rsjoices now that Il