The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1881-04-28
EDITORIALS AND EDITORIALS.

Questionable length. And indeed some
very witty and amusing bon'mots have been
fired at us therefor, no one relishing them
moro than ourselves. For instance, Il two or
three column article has been designated as
our editorial brevity = at another tine, we
are advised that our '~'treatise might serve
as valuable reading for Methussleh in
the evening Of his old age;"
again we are informed that we
unjust be very fond Of linked sweetness long
drawn out;'' again, If we undertake to address
"a few words TO Governor Roberts," the
query is propounded, "where would the edi-
tor have stopped had he desired to address
the old Alcslde at length?" again, one
journal suggests that 1.-TWO column
article ought to be made into two hemis-
pheres and then.better- halved and quartered"
and SO on. To all which criticism we listen
very kindly and very affe~ctiorately, and then
straightway again pursue.the even tenorof our
way under the very vivid recollection of that
excellent, and daily applicable fable
of our old friend, Esop'
who relates that once upon a time an old
man and his little boy were driving an ass
before them TO the rext market town where
it was to be sold. The first passer-by COM
planned to the old man that he madet the poor
boy trudge on foot, %whereupon he put the
boy on the ass. The next person they met
denounced the boy as a lazy young rascal to
thus ride and allow his old father 10 walk,
whereupon the latter mounted the animal
when two women, a little later on, ex-
claimed, "for shame! to make the little fellow
walk" Both then rode, when the next
traveller met remarked that the riders
were better able to carry the ass than the ass
was to Gerry them. So, finally discouraged
and disguised they tied the ass legs to a
long pole, and the two shouldering
the burden trudged along under
the weight. We learned that lesson
when very young from one of the Greek
readers, and 1t has served US many a useful
purpose.
The truth is, as must--appear to the ordi-
nary mind, the length of an editorial, like
the length of anything ELSE, is of relative ad-
measurement and adj ustment; it must be de-
termined by and fitted 10 the subject matter.
The size of the shell ought to be proper
Tomato to the quanium of meat which 1t
envelopes, and the value of the RELATIVELY is
to be determined by a proper comparison.
No Procrustean rack of language should be
made to cramp and distort the thought. 1t
is the reversal of the rules OF common sense
to urge it. When st. Patrick found thai his
burial box for the last SER
pent on the banks Of Killarney
was large enough to let in all but the tail
end of the "varmint," he cared not a whit,
he had secured the body but he'd it been too
small, Ireland might to-day be full OF
snakes he made a case for a goodly sized
captive and not a lizard. We remember
having heard a tailor contend that the non
fitting coat made for the boy was because the
boy was too small for the coat possibly
some of our csptious critics are in the condi'
ton of the small boy. While in this era OF
quick transportation, close condensation and
rapid evolution, a writer should seek to com
press his thoughts in as few words as
possible, it is as absurd to measure the
volume or length of the latter by a yard"
stick, regardless of the ideas to be contain ed
as It would be for a builder to erect all his
buildings two and a half stories high, regard
less of the inhabitants to occupy it; or for a
farmer TO work one hundred acres of land
respective of his laborers, implements and
live stock; or for a man to eat just, so much
DINER regardless OF the requirements Oh his
stomach. A local report q foreign or
domestic communication on some subject
may just as senaibly be circumscribea by the
foot.rule or the inch measuring tape, as an
editorial. And so of the sentences and words
themselves; so of the size of a book or
the copy of a newspaper. The principle
involved in these few out of numberle's pos
sible illustrations is the same.
Sometime since, the Chicago Times pro-
posed SO TO arrange its issues, that the sizs OF
its sheets should be adjusted and regulated by
the quantity of mstter it might have TO pub
lish. The idea is marked by common sense
from any stand point. To-day the various
details of the country often enlarge or
contract special editions, the Sunday columns
Of the metropolitAns running several columns
wider and a few inches longer. This is as it
should be. In the haste and hurry of our
modern, and more especially American life,
we lean too much toward superficial
skimming and 30 are running the chances Of
= loss Of balance and the force Of the impulse.
the present. style may too much exceed the
l-ridma,e and safe demand. II is conceded
TIA, as lsngsgs is the vehicle OF Thoughts we
ought 10 reduce the friction and inertia 80 hs
10 begst the fullest efficiency tut this is not
THE question. II Is, Whist is the amount Of.
weight and value Of The cargo thsi the train.
Of thought is Transporting and transferring
For = fluent writer 'in hne frenzy rolling