Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-06-07
REPORToRIAL GENIUS.
Flashes of UumOr and Dashes of Pic
torial Strength in Ordinary News.

Flashes of Uumor and Dashes of Pic
toriaI Strength in Ordinary News.
Did you ever think about the vast guam
tity of genius annually wasted on the
newspapers by merely local reporters who
are not paid for originality or style, but
merely to write it upy' Probably not,
but | have, and tell you there is enough
of it if saved in book form to make literary
fame for a hundred men. And let me tell
you another thing, there are men of liter
airy fame who steal good deal of it and
sell it for money as their own.
When a friend shows me bit OF good
work, either in prose or poetry, and tells
Me that he just "threw it OF" last night l
praise him openly to his face, while secret
ly doubt his word, and if the composition
is extremely good | suspect that 1t IS due
to the oil and the toll of many nights and
the thought of many days. But when there
is only one evening between the deed and
the printed story Of it then l know that
the writer of the story threw it oil last
night, and give him credit accordingly;
As. for instance, the account OF yesterdays
election which | find in this mornings
paper. and which l thank the reporter for
presenting to me in a well fitting dress,
with flowers Of humOr and fancy in the
buttonhole and embroidery Of rhetoric,
where such adornment ought to be.
Like dash Of Worcestershire sauce ona
tender steak, is the sarcasm, pungent and
refined which eXcites my appetite when l
read that the voters of a certain ward,
COLLECTED to Cooper because he wore silk
hat and went into good society" What
further description Of that ward is neces-
saryg | see its alleys and courts and
saloons as in a photograph, and | know
without looking at the returns what be-
came Of Cooper.
So there is equal pictorial strength and
saving of words, too, mind you, for which
economy, am told, the reporter gets no
nav. in the description of a winning candi-
date, who proud and victorious, tramped
down Ashland avenue, with his big red
face divided by triumphant smile. T"
There is high art in that, for know with
out looking that the victorious candidate
is a saloon keeper, and | see him laughing
clear across his face from ear to ear His
face divided by a smile" is humorous
poetry, worthy Of Butler, and | maintain
there is no more expressive line in Hudi-
bras. Peaceful as a tramp in hay
stack, :" said of the Twenty-third ward, is
a picturesque description that saves null
titude of words. | cannot imagine any
thing more sleepy, quiet and careless than
a tramp in a haystack, and the comparison
is pOetical too
OF a certain candidate notorious for his
expansive liberality on election days
learn that "about o'clock he went to his
house on Twentieth street and laid in a
new stock Of campaign arguments in small
denominations" No coarse and ugly dead
wall statement there, but delicate and
! genteel euphemism which tell it all in a
| vivid and effective way 1t is the bright
rapier instead of the duh club The mu-
nifcence of that candidate is made visible
/ in the same artistic style, so delightful to
read and so easy to understand, thus
/ "Then he went to the saloon of Jan Novak
/ and put up for a new freshet of beer
which soon had the neighborhood in slop
by condition"
Not kegs of beer, nor barrels of beer as q
commonplace reporter would have had it
but "freshet" of beer, and the poetica
exaggeration is ingeniously corroborateC
by the further testimony that the neigh
borhood was made sloppy" with beer, anC
by this evidence the fact of the freshe
proved.
| have read, in another paper anothe
account of that same election. 1t contain
lust as much information as the one | hav
spoken of in these comments; but there i
no yeast of witty imagination in it t
raise" it and make it light and easy o
digestion. 1t is dull, soggy, inelasti
dough, and altogether too much Of it.-M
NJ. Trumbull in Open Court