The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-09-21

Rev. Matt H. Moore is a Halifax
county boy of real gifts. Before leav-
ing his native North Carolina for the
great northwest. he published a valua-
BILE volume On the Early Methodist
Preachers in North Carolina. He has,
we trust, been we'll appreciated in "the
wild and woody west" and has done a
good and lasting work for the Master.
He is a fine spirited young mamie
has been gone ten years and is now
probably forty-and is blessed with a
good mind and a warn heart. We only
knew him at his fathers home when
he was a little boy. Not long ago a
copy of the Statesville Christian Ad-
vocate came to our address. It has a
"St. Louis Letter" from Mr.. Moore. It
is Of the reminiscent kind. He writes
t~ouchingly Of his past in his native
state, and remembers kindly some who
appreciated and helped him. Among
other pleasant things said we found a
reference hat was gratifying to us.
We make no apology for copying the
following as it shows a proper under-
standing of the unremunerative char
acter Of journalistic work. You pour
out in daily stream what you know and
think, and it is forgotten so soon as
read. Your work is as ephemeral as a
shadow, and dies with h day, unless
perchance o offend some one of your
1870 or 10000 readers, and are set
upon in the regular Comanche Indian
style Of warfare with the devil in the
heart and blood on the tomahaw. Then
you are remembered with ~malediction
and perhaps lied upon without mercy.
It is a thankless office, that of a pro-
fesssional journalist. No son of ours
should ever take to it with our consent.
You would better plough or dig roots
or follow any honest a%vocation than to
fill such a thankless, pitiless place, rare
ly receiving sympathy or applause, but
quite IRE to be denounced and tipped
on every hand by the Astounding Solo,
who forget daily more than you
know, and who could teach you how
Ito run a newspaper" If they could
only have your place they would max
and the visage Of genius take on a
few additional wrinkles. The world,
and North Carolina especially, is filled
with undeveloped journalistic geniuses
who only need fitting arenas to win
a name beyond all the journalists of
this very journalistic age. Some of
them would prove quarter hoses no
doubt, for we have known such. But
what a. huge loss there is to the world!
Every day some deliver judy
ments, mostly Of condemnation. On
what the journalist writes, and feel
how if opportunity were offered to them
they would electrify humanity and
make the age groan with envy. OF
these great undeveloped journalists, in
embryo, it might be written as it was
said Of another scribe:
He scorned the game by meaner
hunters tore,
And dipped his talons in no vulgar
gore"
DA O0A 49, oxAO yAAAR0I4CN1
friend in the west should be heard
from without further delay. for be
knows whereof he writes:
Say what you please about fear Of
punishment, hope of reward, or cold,
stern sense OF duty, there are some ns.-
lures which find love to be the might
lest constraining power in this world.
We can preach better to a sympathetic
congregation; WI can endure more for
an appreciative people; we find our
noblest traits called into more lively
exercise by sympathy and appreciation.
For that reason I am sorry for you edi-
tors TIE words Of good cheer are so
few in proportion to the work done.
You have so little personal knowledge
OF the results of your labor. o. I am
sorry for you! In fact I have had ex-
perience enough to know how to SYM
pathixe with you. / did some hard
work for North Carolina. Aeth0diam