Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-12-22
SAY WHAT YOU MEAN.
How the Elder Bennett Taught a Young
Reporter a Lesson.

How abe Elder Bennett Taught a Young
Reporter a Lesson.
There should be a rule in every
newspaper Office prohibiting the use Of
certain phrases and expressions. " said
ms friend, the old war correspondent,
as lie threw down a paper in the ele-
waited car. 1T distresses me to see
poor, old, hackneyed, worn out express
sions kept at work daily when they
should have been retired long ago.
Why should a reporter always refer to
a mans immaculate linen,' when he
means to say that the man wore a clean
Shirt And why in heavens name
should a man or woman be described
as well groomedr Here they are both
in one paragraph, and just beside them
is the man who, according t o the re-
porter, is always saying something real
devlish with a twinkle in his eye, and
the other fellow who made this or that
remark AS he lit a fresh cigar
There should be a cemetery for
senile and used up words and phrases
that have outlived their usefulness.
if they ever were useful, and about "A
thousand Of them should be laid away
in quicklime at one and never resur
rected.
Speaking of cemeteries, why should
a man, as soon as he is dead, be re
ferred TO as poor Here | read of a
railroad conductor, who was killed in
a railroad collision. Yesterday he was
the genial Conductor Brown today
he is poor Brown The word seemed
20 be applied especially TO men who in
life were good fellows, and also to
those whose death was caused by vio-
leuce. Ii is not used in connection
with great men. You never read or
hear of poor Napoleon, poor Shake
speare' or poor Frederick the Great,
DO yous
Il do bot expect the reporters to re
form 50 long as their employers allow
the use of such idiotic words and
phrases. When / was younger than /
am today, and thought knew about as
much a. an ordinary man could be ex
pected 10 know this side of the grave. /
was reporter on The Herald under the
elder Bennett. Mr.. Bennett sent for
me day. He said Young man, ]
notice that in your efforts 70 find men
whom you have been instructed 10 in
tsrview you v enter a hotel
Never enter a hotel, Mr.. Bennett
! said.
NO, sir; you invariably write that
you 'drifted' in and when you do drift
in you never meet the man.
Never meet him.
No; | observe that in every case
after drifting in you either run against
OF stumble across the object of your
pursuit. l wish 'thgt in future you
would simply walk into the hotel and
meet these people. That's all sir
Il was angry, for | prided myself
on my English and on my literary
style. | said. Mr.. Bennett. / have been
writing now nine or ten years and have
worked on a number Of newspapers as
good as The Herald. | fatter myself
that know something about the Eng
lish language, and =
Young man, interrupted Mr.. e
net, did you Eve read Of how a man
once boosted 70 Sidney Smith that the
stick he carried had been twice around
the world, and how Smith took the
stick and, after carefully examining it,
said, And yet-and yet, it is only a
stick after all.
What did YOU saw to that Is | asked
my friend, the war correspondent.
Il maintained a tumultuous silence,
and-no, / did not drift out went
out of the room. -. Annoy Knox.