The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-06-02
COLUMBIA, SC.
Wednesday Morning, June 2, 1875.

Wednesday Morning, June 2, 1875.
JorRNALIsM.-The Richmond Enouirer
has good idea of modern journalism.
1t declares that the popular notion that
oimost amy man with fur share of
brains an good English education can
make himself an editor after little
practice, is a mistake that sometimes
mlsleads IN unwary youth fresh FROM
academic groves" especially ii he has
the reputation among his fellows of being
''a tine writer" 1t is one thing to indite
an essay at college, or, in later years, to
prepare an article now and then on some
subject of interest to the author, and it
Is quite another thing to write regularly,
ON all sorts of questions, in all sorts of
styles, for all sorts Of tastes, from day to
day, through the winter, and the spr;nr.
and the summer, and the fall And it is
not the writing only--it is judging what
to touch, and what to leave untouched.
with the editorial stylus that is so deli
cate n weapon to WELD; in judging what
to print and what not to print of the
thousand contributions that come; in
keeping the policy of the paper clear,
and consistent, and right, and true. A
man may write like Junius, or Gibbon,
or Macaulny, or Irving, and yet he may
DO not only unfit for the editorship of a
daily paper, from the want of the proper
judgment and experience, but he may
not have that ever-recurring, eyer-recu-
perating creative capacity 80 vigorously
required. The editor of a daily paper
can sympathize with Sisyphus in rolling
that famous stone from the bottom of the
hill to the top, when it would always
come rolling back again. What we have
said was suggested by an article in the
Philadelphia Press, referring to offers of
editorial assistance made by professors
nnd students; Of colleges, with view to
Intellectual amusement and improv cment
during the summer months. We make
The following extract from it:
1T has often occurred to us TINT. were
the duties and the difficulties of journal
ism more fully appreciated and under
stood, there would be fewer volunteers
ut the portals of the sancto,n, and did we
feel competent to the task, we should do
our correspondents a real favor by seek
ing to enlighten them MS to the true
nature of the work they would under.
take M a pleasant summer pastime But
there are one or two points to which we
venture to call the attention of our we'll
n cd Il
have considered, and which NAV serve
to show them why their services are not
called into requisition. It is not be-
cause they hack scholarship or abilities,
or qualities Of good sense, that they are
not wanted in journalism, but because
they have no training for its duties. The
difference between a college man and the
practieed Journalist is the difference be-
tween the raw recruit and the trained
soldier. Journalism is now universally
recognized as a profession, and it il a
procession which requires a long and
thotough training for the proper per-
fornpance of its duties. It is not merely
n pleasant occupation for summer vaca,
ton, but q calling Of the highest aud
most arduous character, for which years
of study and practical training are pre-.
requisites. We hardly think any of our
correspondents who think they could be
of qse In newspaper work, would tender
their services for the summer to the sur
geot to help. him saw OFF legs, or to help
thes lawyer along in his complex cases
before the courts, yet the offer would
really be but little more presumptuous
in the one case than in the other
The mystery OF young Casper Hauser
Mt one time ngitated Europe equally with
th"t of tho Iron Mask. The New York
Sunday Mercury claims that the boys
idshtity has Mt last been established, and
bases its article, which we publish this
morning, upon the revelations of the
Frankfort Gd,ette, which have made an
immense sensation in Germany and
caused the paper to be prosecuted by
powerful mobiles, who are Interested in
keeping the truth OF Casper Hauser
buried in his grave. If the statements
of the Frankfort GazeAe are founded upon
fnct, and the mystery is mystery no