The Lincoln County herald., 1872-04-04
mark Twain as EdttOr.iu.ChieC.

Mark Twain, in his new volume.
"Roughing It," gives his experiesce as
local editor Of the Virginia City (Nevada) J
Daily Enterprise, and incidently credits
the "Ieading writer's" Of daily journal in
q manner ss rare as it usually is deserved.
In the case mentioned Mark had tired Of
his labor as local editor. He says:
I wanted variety Of some kind. 1t
came. Mr.. Goodman went away for q
week and left me the post of CHIEF editor.
1t destroyed me. The first day | wrote
my leader in the forenoon. The second
day had no subject, and put it off ill
evening, aud then copied an elaborate
editorial out of the American Cyclopedin,
that steadfast friend Of the editor all over
the land. The fourth day l "fooled
around" till midnight, and then fell back
on the Cyclopedia again. The fifth day
I cudgeled my brain till midnight, and
then kept the press waiting while l
penned some bitter personalities on six
different people. The sixth day I labored
until far into the night and brought forth
nothing. The paper went to press
without an editorial. The seventh day
resigned. On the eighth day MIR Good.
man returned and found six duels on his
hands my personalities had borne fruit
Nobody, except he who has tried it.
knows what it is to be an editor. 1t i,
easy to scrbbls local rubbish, with the
facts all before you; it is easy to string
out correspondence from any locality ;
but it is unspeakabe hardship to write
editorials. Subjects are the troubles
the dreary lack Of them, I mean. Every
day it is a drag, drag, drag--think and
worry and suffsr--all the world is dead
blank, and yet the editorial column mus
be filed. Only give the editor subject
and his work is donc-it is no trouble &c
write it up, but fancy how you would
feel if you had to pump your brains dry
every day in week, City two weeks in the
year. 1t makes one low spirited to think
Of it. The matter that each editor of 9
daily newspaper writes 10 the course of ,
year would gil from four to eight bulk )
volumes like this book. Fancy what I
library an editors work would make aftel
twenty or thirty years service. Ye
people often wonder that Dickens, Scott
Bulwcr, Dumas, etc, have been able ,t
produce so many books. If these au
thors had wrought As voluminously a
newspaper editors do, the result woult
be something to marvel at indeed.
How editors can constitute this trc
mendous labor, this exhausting consump
tion Of brain fibre (for their work i,
creative, and not mere mechanical lay
ing up OF facts like reporting), day afte
day and year after year, is Incompetent
sible. Preachers take two months holi
day in midsummer, for they find that t.
produce two sermons week is wearing il
the long run. In truth it must be 80, an
it is SO; aud therefore how an editor ca
take from ten to twenty texts and bull
upon them from ten to twenty pains tax
ing editorials week and keep it up al
the year round, is further beyond com
preheusion than ever. Ever since hav
survived my week as editor l have foun
at least one pleasure in any newspape
that comes to my hand; it is in admil
ing the long columns Of editorials, an
wondering to myself how in tho mischie
he did il,