The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-01-31
A l5right paragranller.


lit is all right for man to publish a
i presumably humorous paper. and write
! articles presumed ably pleas Mt. but the
/ man who yearns for reputation and
fortunes exchanges with please copy
/ requests. Is an transportation unto his
! more sensila contemporary. 1t is well
! enough for fhe funny mantle most
despisabie appeilation in the language
Ito mark an occasional paragraph, in-
voivino some infere sting current discus
sion, but the practice of getting off a
good thing anil fir nliag il with blue
marks, is below TIE NAV ho actually
possesses merit. Nitia times ont of ten
man marks his waai5e. work. As
rule he is incapable ef 'llpiag. Repro
duction is not the result II fayorifism.
Favoritism may stinlueais local ceiebri-
ties, but the papers pt.e,isllsd for the
public carefully select jheir reprint
regardless of the existence of friend
ship. 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:
Il don't see why the par graphers
should not have ring unto themselves.
can aid your paper and You can aid
mine. All / need is for some one to
start my paragraphs on the rounds"
The following are a few marked para
graphs:
Coal stoves should not be used in
winter, for then we want warm stoves.
Say, is the blacksmith a forger?-Ec.
Don't know, for we are not shoe-er.
A milkman may be true, but still he
is a coward
These, YOU viii at once perceive are
Il
lation is ali they need. is in fact more
the young gentleman seems to have
pretty fair sense. For instance, he
missed an issue of his paper several
weeks ago on account of a 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.
Ii you are called upon to decide upon
the laughable merits of castor oil or
puns, render your decision in favor of
the oil. The English language has been
a 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 a time,
htful, nervous. ephemeral time. when
the punSter could secure tecturing Ell
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
ications which glow in the spirit of that
rue humor which some great writer re-
marked ripens slowly. do not want him
% camp in their neighborhood
There is difference between a para
graph and a sentence containing a /
mashed word, young journalistic gem
leman. A column of thought, a bub-
bling, boiling spring of humor can be
in a paragraph, but very
title of anything can be expressed in a
'un. Charles Lamb, Theodore Hook,
he poetic Hook, and the immortal
to say nothing of few
celebrated Americans, have made puns
lance in portrayal and amusing glee,
nut the average distorter of words can
My come to grief. Any man who
Fould be so old in attempting fun and
o overwhelmingly bucolic in the manner
f presentation as to say that in the
inter we do not want coal stoves,
1eaning cold, of course. should be COM
elled To ride lame steer.-4Aa.k. TTaU