Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-11-21
In a Newspaper Editorial Room.

ings Of the Tribune, the Herald, the
y Sun, the World, and the Times, white
! wreaths Of steam rolling up from their
roofs and from the gratings over the
! pressrooms, The press rooms extend
ed beyond the buildings under the
q sidewalk, and the pavement vibrated
with the beat of the machines, which
were already tossing off parts Of the
papers, the insides or the outsides.
: leaving reserve of space for the
news that might arrive afterward.
Where the heat had pentrated the
hard flags, some newsboys had curled
g themselves in innocence and dirt.
Others lay asleep on the steps, where
the most important and most hurried
of the larger contributors to Journal
ism kindly forebore from disturbing
them. Occasionally telegraph mes
senger diycd into the entrance Of a
building, then an errand-boy from the
post office with pile Of newspapers
and letters, and then u reporter from
some late meeting up town. AS a
matter of appearance more than any
thing else-as the last ''f9rm' admit
ting advertisements had long since
closed-a clerk sat in the advertising
office, on the ground-hoor, and drows-
ed, with the lights half down,
The two gentlemen entered one Of
the offices, and began to ascend that
long stairway by which all editorial
rooms are attained, custom and econ
omy invariably putting editors in
garret, whence they may look down,
physically and mentally, ON the world
they write about. More telegraph
boys, compostors, prootreaders, and
reporters passed the visitors on the
stairs, who, when they had explained
their business to an inky otice-boy,
were admitted into the sQnctatm sane.
torua OF celebrated morning paper.
A close, low.rooted, smoky room,
lighted by innumerable Argaud burn
ers and filled with little desks, at
which sat, STOPPING, busy men, putting
cigars or pipes, and scribbling with
pens orpencils at Lightning speed
that was the next scene opened to
them. On some Of the desks there
We're piles upon piles Of newspapers
from points as far apart and as varied
as the capitals of Europe and plaint-
i've outposts on the far w Western plains.
A little tin box shot up and down d
wooden shaft in the middle OF the
room, into which rolls of manuscript
were put by an otlicc-boy, who rushed
from desk to desk ard gathered the
sheets as they came from the writer's
hands. From time to time nervous,
sharpvoiced, imperative gentleman, in
III a very much soiled linen
duster, called to one or the other OF
the workers, and gave orders which
would have been quite unintelliglble toa
laymau, who might have mistaken the
establishment for Il slaughte- house
when he heard pale.iaced little gen
tleman requested to make a para
graph OF the Pope" "cut down Anna
Dickinson" double lead General
Grant, ''put minion cap head Oh
Peter Cooper" and "boil down the
Evangelical Alliance But making
Of the Pope simply applied
to the compression OF some news con, {
cerning HIM into the space ; "the min.
l,.. cap head" intended for the vener- {
able philauthropist meant the kind Of |
type to be used in the title of a speech
or lecture Of his ; and "ooiling down
and cutting down" were the tecbni-
calities expressing condensation. The {
gentleman in the linen duster was the c
night editor in charge, the despot OF L
the hour, and the Intermediary be- f
tween the writer's and printers, the lat f
ter being on the floor above, and the Il
little tin box in the shaft communicat- a
ing with them. t
BY three o'clock the last line OF d
''copy' must be in the printers hands, +
and from midnight until that time a t
newspaper office in the editorial de- y
Dartment Is III a state of nervous in n
.ensity and activity tor which | can u
imagine no parallel. Il
The smoke from the cigars and q
pipes rolled up to the ceiling, and the a
pens sped over the pages of manu- u
script paper. The writers bent to O
their work with tremendous earnest II
ness and concentration there was 9
not one of them who had written less Il
than column of matter that night, y
and some were closing two and three
column articles, which contained near