The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1883-03-01
An Omen Letter.

an Op6u 16gt6rs
81 want you to tell me how to begin newspa-
per correspondence, modestly demands an as
pfring young woman. Il live in q small town
where there is nothing but sewing for women
TO do--for pay. believe / would make good
newspaper correspondent Ny stories. the few
have sent TO magazines and papers, are gen.
orally accepted and paid for want TO go TO
Florida. but cannot afford to. unless / can get
an engagement as correspondent"
Now the person who regards news
paper correspondence as a trade by
means of which she Eay be able to ego
to Florida" or anywhere else, has not
the faintest element of capacity for it.
1t requires certain creative type of tai
ent to be an acceptable newspaper
writer, whether IN correspondence or
any other line, and the woman who
wants to turn from sewing, because it
doesn't pay. to writing, because it does
pay, shows herself utterly unapprecia-
i've of the work. Newspaper CORE
spondence is not trade, mechanism,
an industrial pursuit to be chosen on
the ground of its being a remunerative
vocation. Like all forms of literary
work, it chooses its votaries, to a large
degree, rather than waits to be chosen
by them. If a woman is born with a
talent to write she will write-there is
no possible doubt about that. That she
elves in small town" has nothing to
do with it. The size of ones native
village does not necessarily determine
the size of ones intellectual capacity.
The person who feels conviction of a
certain destiny does not require to have
that conviction propped up by admiring
and miscellaneous encouragement. Ii
a woman s'believes she would make a
good newspaper correspondent, T" let her
proceed to business forthwith. What's
to hinder? There isn't newspaper in
the country that wouldn't welcome the
fresh writer who had anything to say.
If she has any ideas there is every pos
sible opportunity for expressing them.
And if she has anything to express, she
will quietly do so and not inundate
strangers with anine-page letter written
on both sides of the thinnest possible
paper, soliciting their approval or admi-
ration. Worth is proved alone by work.
What can one do? Probably she does
not know herself till she tries, and how
can she expect an entire stranger to cast
her Horoscopes? The successful people
are those who, if they feel conviction
of certain line of talent, follow that
line and make of it an art, not trade,
a religion, not an industrial pursuit.
The girl who begins newspaper CORE
spondence because she loves it, because
it is to her joy, an expression, an in
tellectual necessity, viii very likely in
time work it up to a remunerative pur-
suit. But it will undoubtedly require
some time. The one who seizes it to
relieve the emptiness of her pocket in
stead of the fullness of her mind had
far better save her postage stamps. If
this should appear unsympathetic, the
reason lies in the fact that the miscella-
neous desire to earn money is not an af-
fair that enlists profound sympa-
thy. Newspaper correspondence, rightly
viewed, is an art. The special CORE
spondent of a journal has an influence
and a place second only to that of the
editorial page. If she does not hold
her work above the level of mere local
chronicle, of the exclusive narration of
transient and trifiing events; if she does
not bring to bear on it her best work,
and refresh her resources from the finest
thought and widest suggestion of the
day, then is she unfit for the RESPONSE
bility that is intrusted to her. News
paper correspondence should be work
of significance, and the woman who re-
CARDS it as an easy way of earning
money has of its scope too little com
prehension to invite further discussion.