The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1881-01-13
NEW sPAPRR WRITING.
Baltimore Gazette.

Tho majority of people imagine
that it IL the simplest thing in the
world to edit a newspaper. A msu
may have grave doubts about his
talents for public speaking; may
freely admit that he cannot turn a
tune or recognize one When turned
by anybody else; may confess that
be is no poet, not much of a scholar,
aud nothing Of 40 artist but there
is no creature SO poor>sPirited as to
avow his incapacity to edit news
paper. On the contrary, this is a
work to which every man has a
manifest call. No matter what bis
actual business may be-preacher,
lawyer, physician, banker, butcher
or candIestck maker he has SO
cret fancy that if he only had a
chance he could make newspaper
little bit spicier and livelier than
anything IN the shape of public
journal that has ever come in his
way. This Is one of the most
amusing and universal weaknesses
of modern times The number OF
people who are infected by it 10
known only to publishers, just as the
extent to which opium eating is
practiced is known only to druggists
and physicians. The drawers and
waste baskets ofevery leading news
paper office in the country overflow
with evidences of the ambition and
harmless vanity Of the vast public
who scribbIe stealth, and patiently
toll over reams of composition which
nobody can be- induced to print.
Il must be admitted that there is
something enticing and enviable in
editorial life, as it appears to the
outside world The delight of get
ting into print for the first sine is
one of the keenest enjoyments.
What, therefore, both men and wo
men reason to themselves, must be
the pleasure OF that hsppy man who
daily feasts the public with his wis
dom, and whose smallest scribbliog
finds its way into type without crit
cism or delay But this reasoning
is altogether .unround. The editor
does not look at things exactly in
the same roseate light. The bright
colors seen by other eyes have be-
come to his little clouded. The
freshness, the exquisite charm of
seeing his reflections in print has
long since vanished. He writes
sometimes painfully and under pres
sure, often harrassed by a thousand
petty vexations, and not unfrequent-
ly with aching head and wesry hand.
His work is, of all work, the most
wearying, the most exhansting both
to body and brain. The call for
copy is memorable and cannot be re-
fused. He must write he must
also endure the most contemplate
and continued criticisms, but bear
patiently "to be esteemed dull when
he cannot be witty, and to be ap
plauded for wit when he knows that
he has been dull" Every block
bead who buys his paper feels that
he has purchased a right to dictate
the manner in which it shall be con-
Quoted, to criticize sharply every
thing that appears in it, and to "ele'
vate its tone' with his own carping
lucubrations, fairly written out aud
enclosed in note for immediate
publication, signed IA Subscriber"
San Old Patron or can Earnest
Well Wisher." If you we're to ask
this modest friend to cut you coat.
or measure you for pair of boots,
he would Indignantly reply that that
was not his trade; that he knew
nothing about it and would not at
tempt it. Blu. the diffidence which
shrinks from the shears coyly draws
back from the awl and lapstone,
boldly grasps the pen and uuder>
takes to SO illuminate and instruct
the world. Brooches and shoes re-
quire art, experience, reflection, 10
their making !; political essays flow
spontaneous from the most added
pate, or can be pumped out of it by
sheer hand labor, without the vulgar
appliances of study, thought and
knowledge. Such is life !