Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1889-07-04
Helena, Montana,

ties or be ranked as mugwump profess
ing independence to secure a retainer. Sc
too, must he belong to some church o
some creed, some school of art, medicine
philosophy or science, and never allow hi
advocacy of any cause to checkmate any o
the accepted canons of any Of these schools
The straw must be of specified quality.
In fact, if not in theory, every advertise
and subscriber regards a newspaper as
sort of cooperative concern, personal or
gan to play for him when he wants t.
| dance-whatever measure he wants t.
dance. He fancies he holds the issues o
| life or death with his fatal bolts "stOp my
paper" or subtract my ad." So it i
necessary that an editor should know th'
pedigree of every patron and what office h
aspires to. Straw colored taffy in sucl
cases is expected
But we have been considering this sub
.ject from the standpoint of public expecta
tion, which is often crude and unreason
able. Let us step up on to the highel
plane of duty and privilege The maj
who edits newspaper in this reading agt
of the world, when right and reason rule the
world of thought and action, holds a posi-
tion of honor, trust and usefulness, better
than any office in the land, better than the
sceptre of any autocrat or hereditary mon
archy in the world. Like Melchisedec o.
old he is prophet, priest and king in one
However small may be the size and circu.
lation of his paper, however low and mer
cenary his motives in seeking the position
the opportunity is there. 1t is the posi-.
tion lOnged for by the philosopher, who dis
covered and demonstrated the power of the
lever and declared in his enthusiasm that il
he only had a place to stand-a pOu st0-
he would move the world. 1t were little
thing to move the world of matter COM
pared with moving the world of thought.
AS Byron says:
"But words are things; and a small drop of ink
Falling like dew upon thought produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps mi ions,
think"
When one thus puts himself into COM
munication with the thinking millions
that are and are to be, he has a leverage to
move s0uiar systems and not worlds
merely.
Though there are no flaming swords to
protect the entrance of the EDITORS sane
tum, none should dare to enter but anoint-
ed high priests willing to be the medium
through which sovereign and eternal justice,
truth, love and wisdom may speak to the
waiting world.
The old Greeks of Homer's time had a
beautiful expression for speech, more ex-
pressive still as applied to the printed page
-"epea pteroenta''-"winged words;' with
the editor these wings are white ana still
frail, but they are lifted for longer and en-
during flights. Taeir powers of reproduc-
tion are endless. Steam aids both the re-
production and flight. The whole world
and ages to come is the audience Many
of these white-winged and white-robed
messengers may fall into careless hands and
perish, or seem to perish, like the winged
seeds of the lordly elm or stately maple,
whirled hither and yOn by the sportive
winds, but some will take root in friendly
soil, and, perhaps, become still nObler
trees furnish shade, shelter and fuel to
other generations in other lands.
Readers are multiplying rapidly year by
year. Whole nations become readers in
single generation, as in the case of Japan.
Steam and electricity are setting the world
in motion This is truer of the mental and
moral than of the physical and material
world. The field is being ploughed and
narrowed for the reception of the seeds of
thought. There is a commerce of the mind
as well as an exchange of products of the
soil. As the falling rain-drop unravels the
ray of light into its rainbow hues, so
thought mingling and wrestling with
thought, in passing through the brains of
othe. thinkers, takes on other hues, devel-
opes unsuspected powers, beauties and ap-
plications.
But | need not tarry to discourse to you
of the splendid opportunities presented by
the editorial profession for the exercise and
display of all the energies and talent, when
fired by the largest and loftiest ambition
But it is profitable to consider the dam
gers and temptations of our profession.
In writing so much and constantly, and
under such pressure and on such wide
range of subjects, we are in great and con-
slant peril of uttering many premature con-
ceptiOns, not intentional untruths, but
half-formed, hazy ideas, unchiseled statues,
shapeless and unclad bodies unfit to hold
the breath of life that we would breathe
into them; and worse than this, there often
comes the temptation to appear to know
something and say something, when we are
conscious of knowing little and try to cover
that fact in terms as ambiguous as the ut
terances of Delphic oracle.
1t is easy enough to frame excuses and
offer apologies, but this is the dreariest
waste of time of anything that mature men
ever engage in. Half the time spent in
making lame excuses would enable us all
to know much and do something credit
able. 1t is no sin to be ignorant of many
things; and it is more creditable to confess
it than to pretend to others or to ourselves
to know what we cannot impart iutelligi-
bly, to others.
Hasty writing of first impressions is
generally regarded as unfavOrable to sound
thought and correct expression. 1t is not
necessarily so. On the contrary, first i'm
pressions are generally the most correct, not
on details, but for general views. When
our eyes first take in the outlines of a
beautiful landscape from lofty and dis
tant point or view the first impression is
very different from that which we get as
we draw closer to the various points and
objects thus grouped but it is Just as per-
feet as whole the first moment we look
upon it, as after we have studied it in de-
tail and then returned to our first point of
observation. 1t is often remarked that in
emergencies, when fright does not paralyze
the powers of observation, that woman's
instructive judgment is more apt to be cor
rect than the halting, slOwer-paced opinions
of man, for which he can give better rea-
sons. This instinct is only a swift, concen-
trated effort of the same faculties, moving
so rapidly that details are indistinguishable
1t was profound observation of the
philosopher, Emerson, that man can do
his best the quickest and easiest About
all the greatest and best things in eloquence
and poetry have been the productions of
momentary inspiration, when production
was immediate, easy and natural.