The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-11-21
oYsTER.cAN EDITING.

county.
oYsTER.CAN EDITING. ~
A Y Dung MANS Sad Experience ON q
Western Newspaper.
Correspondence Cincinnati Cornmereiall'.
You claim that there Is class Of per-
sons who do not seem to comprehend some
Of your Jokes. This, asyou might express
1t, is sad. If there is anything in thislife
calculated to envelop man in the black
ness Of dispair, and to make him pray that
death may come and relieve him Of bis
suffering, 1t is for him to pull the trigger
on right good joke, and then have some
noodle ask him what he Is aimingst. But
there never was an editor Of q buoyancy
OF mind who did not have occasionally
an excellent hit hang fire, owing to the
muggy intellectual atmosphere by which
he Is surrounded.
Ideyoted some Of the best endeavors
Of my young manhood to q newspaper at
Peoria, Illinois. It was not one Of those
princely concerns, where the whole ma
chinery Is run by one ponderous engine,
as 1t were; where every article, before it
goes into the paper, Is submitted to Old
Infallibility, who reads il over several
times scrutinizingly, then meditates, then
reads 1t backwards, then upside down,
then examines 1t with microscope, then
holds II Of and looks at 1t through q
field glass, so as to get all Its bear
ing; but It was q sort OF one.horse, free
and easy, democratic apparatus, and every.
body around went in on his overlook.
When the mailing-clerk got an origi.
nal idea Of public events he wrote
out his own views and ,pubhshed
them as a. leader. When the er.
rand boy went in swimming in the day
time, and was chased bys policeman, he
didn't 60 blubbering of home, but
straightway attacked the Mayor and his
police force through the paper. From
the "sanctum," In which we wrote when
we could find room there, leading up two
srories to the composing room, was an
elevator by which heavy editorials were
hoisted: II consisted Of 10 pulley wheel at
the top, and over 1t cord, to either end
OF which was tied an oyster can. What.
ever got into these oyster cans went into
the paper, for as soon as the foreman OF
the composing room heard the rattle OF
the elevator, he went to the box, cleaned
it out and hung the contents on the copy
hooks for the printers. This he did with.
out close inspection, for he was also proof
reader, and got 10 see the news In the
performance Of his duties In this respect.
BE hadn't much Of . literally appetite,
anyhow, ,z-a.. s.tsg
This arrangement gave tone to the pa
per. Everybody said there was not q
Journal in the country that could be com.
pared with ours. The proprietor wrote
occasionally, but the bent of his mind
was rather In the line Of job work. Asa
Journalist, he was devotedly attached to
lob work-so much 80, We sometimes
thought, as to bias his mind-because all
a man had TO do to secure press indorse-
men, was to get little printing done. ]
am not sure but this reciprocity policy 10
carried out in other newspaper offices
throughout the length and breath OF this
fruitful land. To tho credit OF this Jour,
nalist be 1t said, however, he never read
AsI was saying, the oyster-can dummy
was the editor.in.ch chief. Whenever any.
thing offensive was printed and fuss was
made about 1t, We smoothed 1t over by
saving aome outside rooster had been fool.
ing with that dummy. These detestable
fowls were continually coming around TO
make suggestions and write something.
And go they would write poetry and poll.
tics and financial articles, and cut out ia.
bles OF figures from the big dallies and
sparkling gems from the country week
lies, and Il nobody was in, scoot them up
the elevator. Thus an old fellow once
brought to the Office paper containing
Andrew Jackson's first inaugural address,
and in his hurry to slice 1t out and send It
up before any one came In, missed the cut
and rouced out column treatise on DR..
Henfy's great pile remedy, which duly
appeared next morning, with the editorial
comments, which the old snoo2er had
pasted on top. In like manner We once
published q complete set Of rules for the
successful playing Of whiskey poker,
which boy placed In the box, and tackled
on TO the manual was an extract from the
published sermon Of one OF our local
preachers. remember this made some
OF the people mad. They could not see
the point Of the Joke, and we lost o num-
ber Of subscribers.
Among the merchants Of Peoria II Is
the custom to pile up empty boxes on the
sidewalks, and TO hang out pantaloonsl
hoop skirts, hams, poultry, Goldfish, &c
10 lure trade. One morning reporter
{ with an eye TO reform) got of the squit
that the merchant who, whenever he goi
in a little bill Of goods would advertise
the same by hunting up all the old empty
; boxes 10 the back yard and piling them In
the street, carried on his shoulders some
excellent material Tor making boxes. The
joke was an agonizing one, and the per
petrator should have been taken I'M
mediately into the woods and shot; but \
was neither malicious or dangerous, and
there was no occasion for the general In
Q dignation which enSued In financial cir
}. cles. Complaints were made during the
day to every man employed OF
tho paper, coupled with threats o
withdrawal Of patronage. 81
Q we oil tried our hands at o molliner, ant
Q the paper bloomed the next morning Will
n yariously hued explanations. The report
er said that man was 0 fool TO get MAJ
0 at Joke; the book keeper explained tha
D the reporter was drunk when he wrote Il
the pressman laid 1t on the sdummy;" th
heavy man wrote leader on the sublec