Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-07-09

y legged chicken.
i Another contemporary has PEN
o chant for personals. He publishes
g every arrival and departure, and
Il then to be impartial mentions every
body els, for the use of whose name
: he can frame the slightest excuse.
l Ii you salute him on the street YOU
3 get your name iu the paper. One
/. might have reason to suspect that
/, the names of"COl. Blankety Blank,
/, our popular and much esteemed
: toWnsman," and "the beautiful and
accomplished Miss So and So,v are
! stereotyped and thrown into the
: forms wherever there is q lack of
J other matter. 1t cannot be denied
J that the majority of people like to
see their name in the paper. They
may deny the soft impeachment or
: even express disgust al such pub
i licity, but in SO cases out of 100 such
denial is sheer affectation. When,
!, however, personal mentions become
!. so cheap that anybody and every
body gets benefit, they certainly
should, if they do not, be greatly
lowered in the public estimation.
The personal column is legitimate
and useful feature of a newspaper,
but we must all admit that it is un-
conscionably abused.
4 Some country journals depend al
most entirely upon their rural cor
respondents for local news, and they
get it with vengeance. Time will
not permit me to do the average
rural correspondent justice. He is
unique in his methods, indefatiga-
BILE in his labOrs, terrible in his inn
portunity. He only needs eneour-
agement to be always on hand. /
pass him by, for he deserves to be
made the special subject of pa
per.
There is class of papers that are
| in one respect identi' al. / refer to
the "patent outside or inside" as
the case may be. am not gcing
to inveigh against these papers.
Some of them are among my best |
exchanges. have this to say how
ever: think the system a bad one. |
| think its tendency is not to elevate |
journalism. The demand for pat
ent outsides is based upon wrong |
] idea.
l had infinitely rather edit a
| five column paper than to edit half |
OF ten column paper. 1t is mis-
take to suppose that large paper is
essential to marked success. Some |
of the very best papers get are
small papers. A few of them are /
model country newspapers, and
each one contains more good and
well digested matter than two or
three of other journals. J. might
name, that are twice as large. If
were called upon to start new pa
per in town, upon limited means,
would print all of my paper ut
home. even though it were small,
no matter what the competition
might be. would endeavOr to the
best of my poor ability to pit quail
tyagainst quantity, knowing that if
fell in the struggle ii would only
be because could not furnish the
quality of work that is essential to
well deserved success, and not be-
cause quality will not win in the
long run.
Some journals, and excellent
journals too, have d strange and al
together an unnecessary practice of
sandwiching reading advertise
ments with their local news items,
and even in some instances with
their editorial paragraphs. What
can be gained by this / am unable
to see. 1t is only demanded by adj
vertisers when they are taught to.
expect it. 1t certainly disfigures
paper, and sc0mpels the reader to
fish industriously for his local news.
| don't think it is best for the adj
vertisers. 1t certainly is not for the
readers. The reader should be af-
forded every facility for getting at
the meter he wants to read. The
classification of matter is the best
and only means to this end. / like
to read advertisements. They are
very interesting and profitable read
ing. But when | want to read news
/ don't like to be beguiled into read
ing about Mr.. Smiths ribbons, or
reduced prices of Mr.. Jones' cabbage
seed.
In this connection let me mention
class of advertisements that have
become common, and which are nu-
isances. / refer to the reading no.
tices of patent medicines, etc., ,
which must, in accordance with the
contract, be made to follow regular
reading matter. Many of those no
tices have attractive heads, which
delude you into the belief that they G
are readable news items. You think
you are reading choice paragraph,
only to find at the close that DIR. I
cure-all is just the thing
for the itch. You naturally feel
that it is an imposition, and that a
YOU have been treated badly. :
When / buy any patent medicines
will buy from the man who adver- r
tises in the regular way. The man a
who tricks me into reading his no. :
tices shall not have chance to trick q
do not mean to imply that every one =
who adopts this style of advertising
is trickster; far from it. l only
say that l condemn the method, /,
and don't care how soon the pub q
lie rebels against it. q
In this rambling, hastily prepar- a
ed paper, l have dealt chiefly with n
the editor, and have not refer Il
red at length to the business man of h
the paper, most important person. n
age, upon whom the success of the n
paper largely depends. Whether :,
he be editor or not his work de- 4
mands a thorough, practical knowl- +
edge and skill. The best edited pa
per will be of little value without
neatness. Many an
9ditor has seen his work wasted on
4 badly printed paper. Without
'killful management, which brings :;
he money, the editors occupation =, =,
s gone. g
In throwing out these observa- -
ions trust / may not be misun- - :.
lerstOod. IL / have INDUCED in y
iome criticisms and pleasant exag- -
,eratiOns of what may be regarded -
ts sOmG of the faults and fOibles of a.
it is not because am ~
lilly enough to affect any superior =
knowledge or ability, nor that l de. cs s
ire to assume the Office of censor. =;
indeed it is not improbable that ~
lave hoist myself with some of my =
,wn petards. owe too much to -
ny contemporaries, and am too sim ., .,
ere an admirer of their eXcellencie5 ="
o be guilty of any such folly. Ever <,
ince | entered the profession of -:
have been an earnest y, =,
md faithful student, perhaps slow ., .,
and the best teachers l have ~
lad, and those most valued and es-
have been my bright faced,