The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-01-13
A LONDON EDITOR.
News of The World.l

parted. As they went Lynn caught the
words, "Ihe new SUBJ and their use of the
contraction jared upon him. He began to
feel the situation growing irksome. The
clicking sound from the telegTaphic instr,.-
ments next door continued; the hoist ratified
inside its pillar, vainly jerked up and down
by impatient hands above, and the sepulchral
voice at intervals called "Copyl" down the
tube. Then the rafting and tie calling
ceased, ana there appeared thin. dark,
melancholy man in his shirt sleeves. He
ga2ed tixedly at Lynn whosat doing nothing
turned over the papers on the table, seized
some OF them and departed, mutteriag gloom
lily. This saturnine individual, as Lynn
afterward found, was the foreman printer
ravenous for manuscript, so that he might
make good start with the Settling" of the
paper. Atlast when Lynn had been seated sol
ltary in the room for about twenty Minutes
which seemed sixty, a man rushed in, hot and
breathless. This was Mr.. Sugden, who had
come late, and was eager to make up for lost
time You are Mr. Lynn he painted. /
shall show ycu-abGut the work-bY and by.
Eve been kept behind time a bit, you see, and
ii will be a big paper tonight Gladstone,
you know'-he shool; his head and sighed as
he said this great speech at l.. There
will be a terrible crash. must send some
thing up to the men at once, but---'-'Copy!'
moaned the voice. Nh. Sugden said no more,
but sat down at his desk, and went to work
upon pile of manuscripts before him. Lynn
watched him closely as he worked, but could
not understand what he was doing, He lifted
a pile of broad, rustling sheets, glanced over
them, wrote and scored on them with pencil,
then packed them into the hoist and sent them
flying a:oft. He seemed to skim through
masses Of manuscript with Il rapidity that
was nothing short of miraculous. 1t made
lynn almost giddy to watch him. Sheet
after sheet was crumpled up and tossed intC
the waste-basket, bundle after bundle was
unfolded, its contents read, and apparently
altered and condensed, and so dispatched up
waId Very soon the table was partially
cleared. Lynn had sat for nearly an hour
silent, idle and wondering. Keep your hand
well on the copy, Sugden,' said a peremp
tory voice behind him. Lynn turned and
saw MIR. Mallory. 'Sug,len, give MIR Lynn
something to do, win you, by-and-b by; some
of the paragraphs What are you getting ?
Gladstone. He's coming in on two wires,
said Mr.. Sugdea going ON steadily with hi,
his work Naughan's at him, he added
'Ah, all right What are they taking in the
next roomE Crisis in Paris Very good.
Tn going to write about that Tel them t,
send it to mo. Now, remember. Sugden, tie
measurement is high already; sit well down
on the copy. Just keep him going, that's ell
Keep your hand on it. Dir. Sugden, tC
whom this injunction was delivered mghtlY
answered no word, and the editor depart
10 his room. Lynn was struck with the .iG
ference between Dir. Mallory mame
within and without the Office. Without, h,
| discoursed in q style Of slow voiuhility ans
treated his listeners, to what might he tcrg,r
a species Of ornate mpertineuce. Within, h
cschewed the e! igrammatic; was curt, unaf
facted and thoroughly practical He spois
sharply AMI quickly, and even dis
pensed with arching his eyebrows
Look here, Blr. Lynn, said Sugdep, afte
time. you might take these "finsies
and cut them down about a half Put then
right, you know, and give the different para
graphs headings. Don't bother oEer them
they aren't worth much to lIs Ven IN al
I an TO improve the STYLE if l can, an.
abridge thana Just so We've got t,
| boil everything down to the bare bones to
night. Fire ahead cut and capye-you'I
soon come into the thing Lynn took tn
| "fimsies' thin, gray rustling sheets o
| kilograms. which he had seem Sug,ien is
| posing of with such apparent ease He de
| ciphered them with extreme difficulty. TIL
! composition was certainly wordy AM
sloveuly. Lynn questioned if if wcr
| possible to correct and Condense ii
! paragraphs without rewriting each, an
! plainly, there WAS no tine for that HOY
| Sugden could deal with these sheets as he di
seemed inexplicabe to Lynn. How long
! tool! him to read, correct, and curtail thes
| 'fimseS, ne never knew; but he knew tina
| he had never had such a hard time in his lift
| before And this was sub-editiug; this wa
| journalism! in none Of his visions had Lynn
| ever pretigured anything Ike this Lynn a
| last returned the paragraphs to Sugieh wit
! some ditfidence-I don't know if they ar
right, yet, he said ooh. you'll soon
| that said the sub-editor quite cheer
| fully; you'll drop into it. You ar
| too particular, yOu know. We havon'
| time to cut the stuff down that way Her
! Sugden took one of the paragraphs, dre'
! his pencil down half the sheet, wrota tw
/
other, which Lynn had almost entirely II
written, and that with no small care, he ha
the pleasure If seeing confined to the FMS
| filing basket. with tie remark that it We
| worth nothing at al Sugden gave hiI
another batch Of 'himsies, with which h
! suffered and toiled as he had with the former
| Now and then a reporter would enter an
| talk to Sugden, who answered without raj
ing his head or ceasing to ply his pencil FL
the conversation distracted him gr'ievously
"'Overset' means when more matter
composed than the paper will hold. Dow
| came the night foreman, frantic and persl
ing his shirt-sl3eves rolled above his elbow
THE paper is oversett' he cried. You sc
what You have done. Now, then, what al
to do? Tel me- How am to get TO pres
l knew how it would be, the way the Cop
has been coming up! DO you want this pl
per out tomorrow or do You not? Whi
am / TO take Off? When are you coming U
to show me- Then the editor entere'
You've done it again. he said. You've goI
and over set the paper. l hope you're happ
now Get down all the copy tn ats gone ou
of this room i'll the last half hour! CT
it down at once. l say, and cut
to piecesl Tear that copy into ribbon
Sugden Put every one of your id par
graphs into linesl do you understand literal
into lines. How is he to get to press if yC
go on in this way This is not sub-editin
Sugden; u ploughman could sub-edit as we
with q pitchfork Haven't been telling yC
all night to sit well down on that copy2 II
monstrous-simplT monstroIsn Mr.. Sugdel
than whom an ADLER s1b-editor never sat
desk, and who was not, in point of fac
responsible for the overseeing Of the pape
rose with an unmoved face and proceedt
upstairs to see what he could take of
The foreman followed still prophesyiI
dark things. The editor continued to re-
against his staff in general, in terms whiC
showed equal disregard for Lynn'S presen
and for the religion Of humanity
Boston Transcript: Confidence is a pla
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