The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-12-18
EDITORIAL Writer'S

One coillul dag : fair average ON
{ the New YORK press for an editorial wri-
ter. and this could be written in a few
/ hours, willie three articles per week Is
Tne usual stint for the leader writers on
the London Times.
Horace tirseley's literary labOrs. vast
aN they WeFe,;la u1t occupy many hoGrs.
and nluch OF ais time was consumed in
seeing visitors, reading and travelling;
and even then he died Of OverwOrl1. as
did Henry J. Raymond, though he, too,
I always took long periods of rest after
his spasms of severe work.
Samuel Bowles, by the aid Of n stem
Ographer, gets through full days stint
/ of editorial writing and correspondence
i'll a few hours daily
c. Dana is at the sun office from about
10 to ), while much of this time is given
TO receiving visitors, and other light
work. Whitelaw Reid, and Louis ].
Jennings edit their respective papers du-
ring the two hours of each afternoon,
and three or four hours at night.
Parke Goodwin, ID. G. Croly and Ma
jor Banday, who al! three have charge
of afternoon papers, limit their Office
hours usually from nine O'Clock to four
at the most, which includes an hour for
luncheon.
As a sample of the daily life of an ex-
ceptiOnaIly hard-working journalist, the
following account given by Henry Wat
terson, editor of the Louisville Courier
Journal, may be interesting. It Is taken
from an unpublished letter, and it should
be remembered that it is written by a
man who is partly blind:
II wake az ten o'clock in the morning,
and, after Il cup OF coffee, l write for
two hours in bed. get up at noon and
have plunge bath. and take breakfast
with my family, who thea have taken
their lunch. 90 TO tile Office afterward
and remain there till seven. prepared TO
see everybody that calls During the
same time the work OF the day is plan
ned out, andeverybody begins it Ithen
90 home and have supper and spend the
evening until ten o'clock there, usually
listening to reading by my wife, or hay
ing little music. At ten o'clock ain
back to the Office again, where remain
TIL two O'Clock. | am only able to write
two hours = day myself; and the rest is
done by dictation. | read but little nv
sell. but glance through the exchanges,
in order to get an idea of things having
Important articles read out loud to me.
| have no time for exercise. and do not
care for riding, all the exercise / get be-
ing in walking 70 and from the Office"
As an example OF literary productive
ness of some of the most brilliant and
steady writers for the press, | may add
that John Hay only writes two hours
day, usually in the afternoon, though
his favorite time of composition is be-
fore breakfast He writes rapidly, but
his daily average is only one column of
Tribune BREWER. The other members of
the Tribune staff - HaSsard, Noah,
Brooks, Bromley and Congdon-dO about
the same.
The average amount written by the
staff of the Times is about the same.
Two of the hardest literary workers in
America are Edward Everett Hale, and
James Parton. Yet the former is at his
desk but three hours each day, and al
ways insists Oh having nine hours sleep,
which is the same amount that President
Grant requires; while Mr. Parton calls
MS daily work four hour composition and
three hours research, or about seven in
all, and never exceeds th;; ljinit-N Y
World