Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1888-07-12
FOR YOUNG WRITERS.
Advice That should Not he Sighted b.
Aspiring Journalists.

Advice That Should Not He Sighted by
Aspiring Journalists.
1t is almost superfiuous to say that
| in the profession of literature the
first requisite is ability to see, to feel
and to think, and great part of this
| ability is education. Without educa-
| ton no one can expect to become a
writer, and the more education the bet
| ter, provided it be of the right sort.
There are two objects to be attained
by education. The first is knowledge
and the second is accuracy. Accuracy
is the power of distinguishing the
truth and of expressing truth as it is.
1t makes little difference what are
| the peculiar branches of study that are
pursued in the process of education,
provided that the pursuit is such as to
train and fortify the power of distin-
gushing the truth and the faculty of
stating it accurately. But the more
extensive and varied the studies Of
youth, the richer will be the stores Of
| information. and the more numerous
the points of contact with the infinite
ly varied world of men and things
in after life. No one ever learned any
branch of knowledge which was wholly
useless, and no one ever cultivated any
faculty that did not bring it's reward.
In the pursuits of literature and the
profession of writer these maxims
have a truth of their own.
Reading, omniverOus and universal,
is of the greatest utility; but thinking
must always go with it. Food without
digestion is useless.
The best school of writing is news
paper Office, with intelligence at the
head. No other college is possible
where the discipline of rhetoric, of
taste and of knowledge is so effectually
applied.
The first rule of good writing is to
use always the simplest and plainest
words. State the fact or express the
point or principle which you desire to
convey so that every reader will I'M
derstand it exactly as you intend it to
be understood. Have only one idea in
mind at a time, and be sure that You
have expressed it clearly and intell-
gently before you go to another.
Above all avoid affectation, and the
worst affectation of all is the affecta-
ton of wit. The highest intellectual
gift is the power to know the truth.
Next to this is judgment; next wit,
and the greatest of all intellectual
qualities is imagination. The writer
who possesses imagination may be-
come immortal.
But the possession of these glorious
endowments is granted to but few, and
where they are not conferred by
nature, the effort to attain them is
vain, and the result tedious. Yet
every one can possess the faculty of
simplicity, of truth and of accuracy,
each and all of them priceless treas
ures, Indispensable to successful
writer.
Moreover, the intellectual and arts
tic qualities of writing are not all.
The moral quality is quite as impor-
tant, perhaps more so. First, you must
believe in something. Principle, con-
viction, primary truths must live at
the bottom of your mind. or you can
not make them live in the minds of
others. He who believes nothing. who
has no ideas, to whom the future offers
no hope. and no prospect of more gen.
erous destiny for mankind, whose
country is not as dear to him as his
own heart, can never be more than a
plodding and mechanical writer. and
the greatest success he may attain will
wither in his grasp.-C. a. Dana, tn
Writer.