Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-01-15
weary les. CAV. than hins q Ii. sru.a.

weary is. gave then hint Il tAs trus s.As
Of tha casa
Law mare than once the man Who Thoughts
70 etncA IN accspeAnos Il his mater BY CIV
hg me- long sxplanaf5m of hb article, end
IL valus TO this o. thas htHue I bad ths
travelar from Distant landz. Who wanted %
tell In print ov9 again What be bad ssea !
received copiss II vWseA accompanied by
modest notes from tbs senda8 that they
might End q place I'm sums cornGn OF the
paper. Twas beset by deluxioui<s who bad
Q theory for doing away with death and who
iafs me, q be said, to prefer death and die
In my dns, because told him bad really
no desire TO obtain Information On the sub
jsct
Then I had tho space grabber' to deal
with-the poor fellow who wrt.eI to live ct
% much per column, who tries TO writs -
many columns Is possible, and half OF who's
mind while writing Is working more 70 nn
up bis columns with words rather than idaaA
But our modern system Of elephantins jour
nalism d In . measure responsible for ths
space grabbing tendency since our daily
and weekly journalistic mamnoths and
megatheriums cape ever for l. IRE and more
matter. There is 90 much space which must
be filed, and II not filled stuffed Every de
mAnd brings some sort Of supply, and as the
paper must be stuffed, the space grabber u
developed to stuff II
Ihad also TO cope and meet with the III
erary rehasher Tho rshasher Is anothar
journalistic brother who writes the same
story, experience, description, ETC., over and
over again in different ways He wrote It
yenrs ago. 1t proved a success He has been
writing it ever luce He serves 1t up roast,
baked, boiled, broiled, fried, stewed
These processes may endure for several
years Then be shoves it on your table, COW
cred with a thin disguise-a gravy. so to
speak-of his more recent opinion or expert
ence. But il is about the same dish The older
and more experienced journalistic nose detects
it by the same old smell Finally it comes up
as hash, plain hash, dry hash, wet hash.
baked hash, but after all the same old hash.
Our papers and magazines even today
abound with the work Of the rehasher. II
10 just as good for the young readers Every
ten years generation comes along for whom
the rehash is quite new They do not know
that it Is tho same old hash written and read
years and years ago by people dead and gone.
The pretentious magazines dish up more or
less Of this hash 1t is served up in style,
garnished with sprigs Of fine language and
sentiment and has often q dressing" Of ele-
CANT illustrations poured over it. But it's the
same old hash for all that. II you look over
the magazines for u period say of twenty
years, you will find these rehashes-articles de-
scriptive Of Rome, Egypt, London, the Bay
eaux tapestry, travels in countries worn foot
sore by travellers for generations, the essay on
Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe. As for the
frontier romance and Wild Injun" story,
that has been ground and reground into hash
50 fine that it has become spoon victuals,"
and Is eaten only by the young md callous Of
the reading brood.
literary colleague, friend and iend Of
mine, who commands an editorial chair, says
that he allows his rehashers to serve him the
same article four times, providing the gar
nishing and dressing Of the dish SHOWS artistic
cookery. But he shuts down after that
This is not only charitable on his part but
possibly great benefit to the rehashe-, for
II he Is allowed to go on unchecked, the
mental rehashins process will become auto
matte, the result Of which will be the uncon-
scious rehashing Of the same article through
all eternity
This experience gave me, in certain respects,
an entire change Of heart l will never think
hard again Of an editor though he does not
return my manuscript even If | send
stamps will still continue to think kindly
Of him though he declines with thanks"
For | realize now that the editor" who
would do his duty must have nerves Of steal
and q heart of stone.
PRI:;TICE MILFORD