The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-28

then comes down on you the wrath Oh
| typesetter and editor and owner ana pup
Usher if you do not properly arrange tne
periods and the semicolons and the exclama..
tion points and the asterisks. Plenty OF
| abuse but no sympathy. I have for many
| years stood in positions where I have seen seen
| the whole process going on, and know all
about the annoyances and the maltreatments
and the sufferings, and propose this morn, O q,
| ing to declare them, praying Almighty God
| that a word of helpfulness may come TO
many who need the help, while hope to i'm
| press the minds Of those outside the
| newspaper profession with certain facts
that will make them more lenient and kind
! in your treatment of those inside Of it.
In the first place, one Of the great trials OF
the newspaper profession comes from tne
fact that more OF the shams OF the worlo aaS
| pass before it than before any other protes.
sion. Every day through the newspaper Of
flee 20 all the weaknesses Of the world. The
vanities that wan5 to be puffed, the revenges
! that want to bs wreaked, the mistakes that
want to be corrected, the men who wantto be
set right who never were right, the meanness
that wants to get Its wares announced in the
editorial column to save the expense OF the
advertising column, the crack-brained phil
osophers who 20 through with stories as
long as their hair and as gloomy as their I'm
ger nails in mourning because bereft OF
soap, and all the long procession Of bores
who come to stay five minutes and stay an
hour 1t is a wonder to me that the editors
and reporters Of the land have any faith
left either in God, man or woman. Be-
fore no class of pc 3ple on earth do so many
pass. When I find some of them scepti-
cal do not wonder at it I
wonder they believe in any
thing If the editor or reporter had not in
his early home, or has not in his present
home some model Of earnestness Of character,
or unless be throws himself upon the uphold.
ing grace of God, he will make temporal and
everlasting shipwreck.
Another trial of the newspaper profession
comes from inadequate compensation. There
is great rejoicing ever and anon in this land,
because tho price Of newspapers has gone
down, from five cents to four, from four
to three, from three to two, from two
to one. There are men who would like
to have the price go down to half
time because it means hardship, penury, do
mestic privation, starvation. You may not
see where it strikes, but it strikes. No news
paper in the land can afford to be published
at less than five cents a sheet. Through the
rivalries of newspapers it is ne ecessary that
prices come down. but oh, what suffering it
means, what hardship, what trial. Since the
Gays OF deZleIG aHu Ouerluau anu oouu Mlt-
ton and the wall Of Grub at London, liter
ary toll has never been appreciated.
friends, friend 'D has to sit ' in the the win,
dow, because there is only one chair.
Linneus has to sell his splendid work for one
ducat. De Foe, the author of 2lS volumes
dies penniless The learned Johnson had
such shabby clothes that he could not dine
with gentlemen so he sat behind the screen
Irr,bi1 la m
side the screen were applauding his works
Butler, after throwing the world into fits OF
laughter with ''Hudibras' died for lack of a
crust. So it has always been. Manual toll
seems to have grudge against literary
toll, and it practically says: "You come
down here and shove plane and break
cobblestones and pound the shoe last,
and get an honest living like the rest Of US in
stead of sitting there idly scribbling" But
God knows there is no harder toll on earth
than literary toll. It isnota question ofhard
times: it is characteristic of all tines The
world has no appreciation Of the immense
financial, physical, intellectual exhaustion Of
literary toll, and so the world begrudges five
cents and says: "Can't you make it foucm
you make it three?" and begrudges the three
cents for a newspaper and says: "Cantyc
make It twow and grind and grind and grind,
and in that mill are ground up the bodies
and the minds and the souls of men and
women. The world dips its chalice into the
blood and says: "Aha! the rrice of news
papers has gone down." While there are
men in the newspaper profession who nave
made their fortunes, I tell you men and
women of America that to the most it is
struggle for bread Lot me say to all such
in the presence of an unappreciative world,
you had better when you 60 home at night,
worn and nervous and exhausted, knee!
down and commend your case to God who
has promised to be your God and the God Of
your children after you.
Another trial Of the newspaper profession
healthy health ~ Intelligence. int Va cry out against
the murders and the scandals to which the
newspapers give prominence. Why DO so
many Of the newspapers give prominence to
such things? Because the public taste De.
mands them. 90 into foreign city and
into a meat market, and find that the
butchers have hung up on the most consplcu'
Gus hooks, meat that is tainted, while the
fresh and the savory meat is carelessly tossed
aside. What am to conclude! unmlstak.
ably conclude that the people of that
CITY love tainted meat If there Is 80
much iniquitous literature abroad in
the shape OF book and newspaper, it is be-
cause the public taste is so corrupt it demands
it. Now, you are an honest Citizen you are
a good citizen, you are an intelligent citizen,
YOU are man Of family, newspaper comes
into your house, you open it; there ere tlree
columns of splendid written editorials, next
to it there is mean, contemplate divorce
case. Which do you read the more thor.
ouyhly? Here are the splendidly written ed
isorials evolving some beautiful moral senti-
ment, or some theory Of science. You dip
into it ana say. That is splendidly written:
that is well done, that editorial.",
Then you turn to the divorce case and read
it all, from the long primer type at the top
to the nonpareil at the bottom, and ask your
wife if she has read it. 1t is only case OF
demand and supply. Newspaper men ara
not fooS. They know what you want and
they give it to you. If the church of God,
and if honorable men Of the world, would de-,
cline to read the depraved books and
depraved newspapers they would not be
published, for the simple reason that they
would not pay, for iniquity gets poorer and
noorer and roorer and cannot afford tosupport
literature. 1t is the honest men, the hard
working men, the pure men of the world that
support the literature. If {. convention could
be called now and made up Of all the editors
and reporters of the United States, and 1t
were plainly put them, which kind OF paper
theyshould prefer topublish, and which style
of news to send forth, i think they would unan-
imously declare: eve would rather send out
elevating literature than bad literature"
say this not in apology for debauched
newspaper, but say it that you may lay
divided responsibility between those who
print and those who read:
Another great temptation to tho neWspa-
per profession comes in the allurements that
surround it, Every occupation, trade, pro-
fession has it's esq ecal temptations. 1t Is SO
with the clerical profession, with the medlcal