Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1873-02-08
In a Newspaper Omce.

into q New York Office tells us the fol- 1
/ lowing story: In the city editors room /
| are some ten or fifteen or twenty desks /
as the case may be. At half of these |
are men, nSte-b5oks beside them, serib- |
bling rapidly and busily. One, as the /
| guide points olt, is transcribing his /
shorthand notes. Hehas been attend |
/ ing the meeting Of the Bar Association, |
and after standing in a crowd for an |
hour or two, unible to obtain a seat, |
and forced to tale his notes as best he |
could, is preparing the speeches which |
were delivered, TO be read connectedly
on the morrow. Another is engaged in
apparently the SINE employment: He
is one of the law reporters, has been at
the General Tenn from ten A. NJ. until
four P. NJ, taking Photographic notes
of the evidence md the legal declama-
tions in the caseof the People VS.. Ed
ward S. Stokes, hndis just finishing his
report. mercy a matter of time and
drudgery, preIume ?" says the visitor
"Well, you kn,w," the reply is, Sin
order to report egal technicalities, it is
necessary to hive some acquaintance
with them beforehand. And though a
lawyer, or eveIa judge, sometimes errs
from misunderstanding, report must
not contain mistake" Just beyond
are two youngmen hard at work as the
rest. One is describing the scene at
the ruins of tie terrible fire ia Centre
street, where excavations for the buried
victims are in progress; the other is
writing out" TIN testimony taken at
the Coroner's inqust ON the single body
VIII ch had been fond.
In an alcove adjining the room are
two desks. The lager is covered with
manuscripts. At tie left is tall iron
spindle on which an impaled the vari-
GUS reports which hive come i. during
the day which are lot already in the
hands of the competitors. Large sheets
of foolscap written oosely with an ac-
: count of the proceedings of the Cham
Der of Commerce; lage sheets of yell
low manifold tissle-paper containing
The reports of the CITY Sanitary Inspec-
;. tor and the Fire Marshal; smaller ones
! of white from Jerey City and West
t chester and Long island; reports of the
: meetings of tn Brooklyn Bridge Com
+ pany, and the rial of DR.. Irish, and so
on seemingly iterminably. Before this
5 desk sits the ely editor, pencil in hand,
: deep in massof copy" which to the
n visitors surprie the guide says some
times appears quite different shapes
from that in witch it reaches the desk.
"You see" heexplains, "all reporters
= are not thoroug journalists, and BIASED
e or partisan statments might creep into
. their reports. So it has to be edited
with some care Besides, its Importance
- has to be casulated, not abstractly
= merely, but in citation to the rest of the
, matter which tie morrow's paper is to
= contain, and it length and prominence
10 determined accordingly. Then it has
~ to be headed and 'subheaded' and
- made attractivan that way" In an
= other room are p number of sage and
~ sedate editoria writer's commenting
. learnedly upon he news brought in by
~ reporters and IL wires. At one end,
II with mass of freign papers and peri
70 odicals covering his desk and lying
about his chair, its the foreign editor,
~, watching for dtails of intelligence
" whose outlines oly have been transmit
y, " ted by cable. Ner l i n is the exchange
II editor with a stoclt domestic journals
u reaching curly tolis head beside him,
~ each of Which NUT be carefully exam
~ ined. Opening cor the privileged
II two enter the library where sits the lit.
,s erary editor surrou1led by the latest
ro magazines and book, of which he is
u doing his best to SAL something kind
~ ly. Passing by the door of the man
70 ag ng editors room and that of the
40 editor-in-ch e'-to witch none are APP
~ to gain admission rlless urgent bust
~ ness requires it, but whose occupants
-. the guide might exEain-are engaged
IT, much in the same w8 as the generals
81 of an army are supposed to be on the
u, eve of battle; and erering another de
II partment-supposint the hour to b.
w. late in the evening-5he busiest scene
"a of all is met with. The men at the diff
= ferent desks are tb night editor il
o. charge, the night ne7s editor, the sum
w marizer, an editor wlose duty it is t.
~ comment upon intelligence received III
to the hour of goingto press, and ont
or two others to be N hand in case O
emergency. The ni'ht editors desk il
IN covered with proofs. which he ponder
e. with no little perpbxity, endeavorint
of to perform the dific,lt task of putting
ne twelve columns of natter into six col
e. umns of ''form." FG, full as the waste
Is baskets are of uninportant news, anC
of carefully as condemnation has been per
ne formed, there is almys too much which
j. Unjust go in" and tie "turtles" are no
ne elastic.
,h At the night news editors desk DIES
es patches from all ovr the country ar
as being constantly received, written il
I'd all sorts of styles md chronicling al
e. sorts of events, which need at once tn
ly most careful and the most rapid prepare
he can be tolerated, Of curse, and at FIRE
as quent intervals the dice boy comes i
gn from the foreman d the composing
w room with the news hat the copy-des
ne is out of copy and tie insatiate nav g
o. the compesitors cannot cease it's grind
H. ing. BY the time the tour has bee
I'd partially made, and hastily made with
o. al, and before the ctmposing-room @
an the press-room or the folding-room. c
tx the mailng-room has peen visited, til
it. visitor will hardly failto recognize TIL
ut Justice with which the 'orce of dali
in newspaper is comparable an army, pr
IS Yates and .non-commiSioncd officer
r. obeying lieutenants andcaptains, thes
en- receiving the orders fromcolonels whic
o. the latter receive from generals, VIII
in turn are commanded ly the genera
in-chief. He will be apt, too, to realiz
that newspaper does not appear b
magic, but by means of work.
~, How Ii happened.