The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-12-20
Whitworth Beacon.
A School Girls Idea ofNewspapers.
A COMPOSITION BY A YOUNG MISS
IN ONE OF OUR MISSISSIPPI FE-
MALE COLLEGES.

rrv LOT tins momentous occasion; and
have at last fallen upon the New.
an paper. | have been told, and hay
read it in some newspaper, that whe
.ed a man fails in everything else if lif
vas nc can turn into preacher or ia
w. oack on newspaper. If this is tru
81 why may not school girl, afte
VI having exploded the whole arcana O
ell literature, and failed to find suita
io' bic ~Sheme for composition. hi
NJ upon newspaper ? If any bod,
can publish a newspaper why may
of not any body write about a news
ad paper
We l am rather partial to the news
st paper-think it is big thing-was
I'd once small fraction of an editor
g. myself-one of a hundred who CON
T trlbuted to small eight, PACED Col.
O. lege monthly, and l have felt to a
o. feeble extent the divine inspiration.
y the embryo conception Of greatness.
~ " Therefore | feel privileged in giving
~ some of my views on newspapers,
" and In pointing out certain improve
: ments that ought to be made.
u II there is anyone here, tonight.
y who Is out of work, and, therefore,
J, contemplates starting a newspaper,
l let him listen to me Spare, oh,
< spare the Leader A newspaper
leader, as everybody understands, is
) a dull, dry, numbering, and useless
column of platitudinous and oppres-
sive wisdom, calculated to strike
terror to the stoutest of school girl
hearts. 1t is generally built up with
a design to expose some deep trick
in politics, or to enlighten mankind
upon some hidden mystery of agri-
culture. In nine hundred and nine
ty nine thousand cases out of every
million the leader is skipped; but
have editors no compassion for the
one in million who considers that
he must read everything in the
paper, even the advertisements and
the leaders !! The literary taste t
OF this age don't run in the direc-
tion of lea'ders-at least that has
been my observation in the class of
AteTatj among whom l have mingled ,
the school girls. / have known \
many talented and brave class i
mate, but | never knew one with
moral courage enough to 90 through -
a newspaper leader. l consider
leaders nuisance, 4 waste of space Il
and an imposition upon the public, h
l will offer another suggestion to l.
the newspaper tyro, if he accident n
ally happens not to know more than m
anybody else when he starts out, and
is in Il position where a suggestion W
can strike him. Don't overgorge
your newspaper with politics. Re i'
member us school girls. We are an wi
factor in this world. 1t tit
IS very necessary to the continued de
harmony and success of the world Us
that we should be pleased. We have h,'
got some rights and we are disposed 10,
to assert them. Do you expect us ha
TO be able to read your dry politics, an
ii your sleepy sermons, or your ter
tavoress diatribes Do you want NJ
% make life uncomfortable or kill us me
I'll outright? Abolish leaders es- tire
1ccially, and abolish large per anC
entum Of your politics and homi- the
les; and give us stories, poetry, .dor Il
acy descriptions of balls, weddings, VIII
icnics, moonlight fetes, with a mo
enerous sprinkling of gossip. II
DON'T be so overpowcringly cable" It kne
ut mix in little of the raciness of nhii lJtii
lark Twain, the drollery of Josh "
filings, the absurdty of Mrs. Par II
ngton, the frivolity of Fanny Fern, ol ,,aa,
nd the sublimity of Eli Perkins. faT' SUi
Iany Il newspaper has been con WIN
emned in my literary circle without him
hearing, on account of its tremen- MAJ
)us ability. There is no use for yer
much ability. Versatility is the hnV, ,I,i
ing. A newspaper ought to enter that
in and amuse. 1t ought to be this
lie to bring out q laugh once in hav'
vhlIe,instea6 of putting everybody soou 100
sleep who has the sublime pa frSt
,nce to read it. ink,
Newspapers are classified into ag. like
cultural, scientific, religious, liter sket'
Y, political, and patent outsides. ao4H al gu
lie patent outside or inside" as SOM 40 NJ,
2 case may be, is the latest i'm to ra
Dvepent in journalism-the per- contr
tion of journalistic excellence. featu
Il not undertake here to say why lllaIi, MAJ
,se sides" are called patent" moi, i",T
lether patent has been regularly fund
ued from the patent Office at thus
Ishington for this improvement pictu
-he dissemination of knowledge. I0T m e
o not know; but if it has not H. = 4.
n ! think it ought to be. | glory the m
| newspaper that has patent has il
tside" or "inside" to it. because Demo
ways find on the patented side
lgs which are readable and inter
ng. A patented "sidc" is gen
ly made up with matter which ,,',T UT',
gone the rounds of the press sromn
stood the crucial test of criti leans
/. 1t is an admirable system of who 5
iensation of the inoffensive the ca
,lng literature of the dav. or. linS "
laps, | ought to say, of the last nlacci
4, and places it within the reach ingtnr
he leanest pocket and within in the
of the noorost who,
Ilert /, tho ,o,,,,,r,. tralizC
- ,N..I!' may ride r
"lIhouI Tue sllght- ernme
ear Of finding anything in it to forgot
ld or-tO instruct The stories giving
have already run the gauntlet; i ava ,
okes have been tried and proved -, : uon on
the news has been fortified by scefio,
luaht confirmation. You can look f
be misled or corrupted by can tn
ut side, and, therefore, | recon-
d a newspaper which has a pa T., ~ ny,
side TO it as perfectly harmless son Al