Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-07-28
r,c Va, q, ,bc niue Pencil.

Characteristic OF him and the atmosphere
that he breathes. expresses the opinion IN
reference to n recent editorial OF ours
that the editors must share with CORE
spondeats the responsibility for springs
letters not being as original. bright. and
taking" as formerly. He inclines TO
the opinion that the blue pencil Is used
too freely. Perhaps so. Editors often
err. This they sometimes find out ior
themselves; but when they fall in so DOING
they have friends who delight to Keep
| them informed.
1t IS doubtless fact that many gems
OF thought OF purest ray serene are
| doomed to be unseen In print, especially
Il they are hidden beneath illegibly-writ-
| ten MSS. or are befogged in involved
| sentences.
Knowing what we DO about editors, We
would advise every correspondent-no
matter whether he writes from city or
town. village or cross-road, seaside or
Observation-Disclosures he thinks that ne
has q good thing to publish to write IL
I out plainly and correctly. Yes; take
pains with the penmanship Gf you can't
"typewrite" your letter.. and II Sou nave
any doubt as to whether it is legible or
not, submit Il 10 some friend OF yours,
10 whom your writing Is not very IA
miliar. Use pen and ink where they are
procurable in preference to a lead pencil
Avoid the extremes Of too bold and TOO
small writing. Always remember that
some one who has never seen youv hand-
writing before may have 10 edit your
MS, and that your letter may be laid
upon his table with twenty others, four
out Of five Of which have TO be edited
corrected before they can he put into the
printers hands, So. read over what you
have written and correct 1t carefully. IL
YOU don't do this the editor will have 10
do IT for you, or else deny you the benefit
OF print altogether.
The,day Of the Horace Greeley sort OF
Mss. has passed for writer's generally.
only the owner OF the paper and his chief
assistant are allowed to write 'bad
hands" All the others are forced to use
the typewriter machine. unless they can
make plain, easily-read copy" with their
pens
Nowadays most newspaper type-settng
Is done by type-setting machines. An
expert operating one Of these machines
is expected TO do at least four times the
work that he could do by hand; but to
accomplish this he must have good
copy" He can't make headway with
his work II he ia puzzled 10 decipher
every other word. Hence he growls might
liz at bad copy"
Thus. we see why the blue pencil u
so frequently used on letters; not springs
letters alone. but upon all sorts OF MSS
sent 10 newspaper office. Nor do typo
scrlpts always escape. Many Of tn III,
including some containing messages that
have come long distances by telegraph,
have 20 be rejected and cast aside be-
cause OF faulty composition; sentences
that can't be understood, words 'bulled"
or omitted. Not all the copy sent US by
telegraphers IS as good as it ought to be.
lie Of the blue pencil IS man OF pa
thence. with a wide acquaintance with
human character. as exhibited In MSS
and typoscripts: but the most hopeless
eases that he has to deal with are those
Of persons whose writings he laboriously
and skilfully edits (corrects), and Hcss
into shape, and who, upon reading the
print. haven't the sagacity to see that
any improvements have been made In
their PRODUCTIONS On the contrary, II is
pleasant for the man Of the y. p. TO find
that a correspondent mo matter whether
from city or country profits by his cor
rections. and week after week comes
nearer and nearer to being the ideal cor
respondent.
Now. TO intimate that this much-abused,
but genial and gifted. man OF the b. 7.
doesn't know a good piece OF writing when
he sees II, IS TO put him down
nrettv low in the scale OF intelligence.
lie not only knows it when he sees it,
but he takes as much delight IN clothing
II in type for presentation TO the world
as n fond mother docs in dressing a beau
tiful daughter for great ball. See
how he discovered and brought out
THE Idle Reporter" and the Lady Of
Alton. and the Comorn correspondent
and scores Of others, who are constantly
DONG HNlu hOl -iiifii anu NNAt-N'' 'f''N.'-
portraits we should Ike to print, so that
the public may see II its imagination
has correctly pictured these genluscs,
whom they know so well through their
writings.
But let us say right here that we are
not quarrelllng with our much-esteemed
Blue Ridge correspondent. or any other
correspondent Not at all. We are but
indulging the gauulity Of age, and vaunt-
ing the "reminiscences Of our youth. We are
but insistlng-rather we were last sunday
that the springs letter-wrtting OF these
times Is not what 1t used 10 be IN our
halcyon days. In like manner, we
might argue that there is no such bread
as our old. black Aunt Dinah used 10
bake-no such buttermilk as we foraged
for in Confederate campaigns, not caring
II the gilded youth Of this, our bicycle
age. should sneeringly say. "Old fellow.
the bread and milk Of our day are as good
as any that ever were; the trouble with
YOU is that you no longer have the Ape
lite Of youth"
A Business Legislature.
The doctrinaires and others who. for
IL