The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1883-02-16
A Bright Photographer.

It Is all right for Il man to publish q
presumably humorous paper. and write
articles presumably pleasant, but the
man who yearns for reputation and
tortures exchanges with "plcase copy"
requests, is an evaporation unto his
more sensible contemporary. 1t is well
despisable appellation in the language
to mark an occasional paragraph. in
volving some interesting current discus
sion, but the practice of 'getting off q
good thing" and framing it with blue
marks, is below the man who actually
possesses merit. Nine times out of ten
a man marks his weakest work. AS
rule he is incapable of judging. Repro
duction is not the result of favoritism.
Favoritism may stimulate local celebri-
ties, but the papers published for the
public carefully select their reprint
regardless of the existence of friend
ship. A young gentleman, evidently
graduate of some college. who publishes
small paper in a western town, marks
every paper he sends to this office. On
the margin of recent number he says:
II don't sec why the photographers
should not have ring unto themselves.
l can aid your paper and you can aid
mine. All l need is for some one to
start my paragraphs on the rounds"
The following arc few marked para
graphs:
Coal stoves should not be used in
winter for then we want warm stoves.
Say, is the blacksmith a forgerp-EI.
Don't know, for we are not shoc-er.
A milkman may be true, but still he
is a coward.
These, you will ut once perceive are
very fine fragments of humor. Circu-
lati0n is all they need. is in fact more
than they deserve. In several respects
the young gentleman seems to have
pretty fair sense. For instance, he
missed an issue of his paper several
weeks ago on account OF q rush of Job
work. In this he displayed ability, for
job work pays better than 'humor."
If you are requested to choose between
puns and job work, take the job work.
If you are called upon to decide upon
the laughable merits of castor ell or
puns, render your decision in favor of
the oil. The English language has been
great sufferer. Verbs, nouns, and
pronouns have been twisted into the
corkscrews of lingual distortion.
The punster's day of greatness is
gone, young man. There was time. o
fitful, nervous, ephemeral time, when
the punster could secure lecturing en-
gagement, but now he is neglected and
is compelled to work or tramp for his
living. When punster is particularly
worn out he may secure a position on
the London Punch, but American pub
locations which glow in the spirit of that
true humor which some great writer re-
marked ripens slowly. do not want him
to camp in their neighborhood.
There is difference between para
graph and sentence containing a
mashed word, young journalistic gen.
tleman. A column of thought, bub-
bling. boiling spring of humor can be
expressed in paragraph, but very
little of anything can be expressed in a
pun. Charles Lamb, Theodore Hook,
the poetic Hook, and the immortal
Shakespeare, to say nothing of few
celebrated Americans, have made puns
dance in portrayal and amusing glee,
but the average distorter Of words can
only come to grief. ANY man who
would be so old in attempting fun and
SO overwhelmingly bucolic in the manner
of presentation as to say that i'm the
winter we do not want "coal" stoves,
meaning cold, of course, should be com.
pelled tn ride n lame staar AL T,-o.,