The evening times., 1898-06-17
THE WOMAN JOURNALIST.
Said to BE the Most Imperfect Re.
ing I'm the World.

Said to Be the Most Imperfect Be-
ing in the World.
There was once a girl who entered a
newspaper office for the first time in her
life to have the editor ask her: well
Miss Blank. and what are your special
ties?' II was a poser. The girl thought
over the many. many things that she
couldn't do; her ignorance upon how to
make a tea gown out of Winter ul-
ster," her inability to cope with such
problems as what to do until the plum
ber comes" the higher education of
cockroaches'' and '.how to make fruit
cake out of bread and water not TO
speak of all the things constituting the
bverage woman writer's ''specialties."
Then she had an Inspiration. "Well,'
said she. I'm funny"
Such 4 speciality or such an experience
as this Is not mentioned in the little
book. Journalism for Women" lately
issued in England. Perhaps this is be-
cause the little book claims TO be "a
practical guide and does not design to
consider ev-n impractical incidents. The
book starts out by saying it is only
Stevenson who can say Il never remem-
Der being bored but before very many
pages the reader is convinced that Stew
enson himself would have been bored
had he read this book. The Fundamental
principle under which the book is based
is as follows: That the woman journalist
is, on the whole. the faultiest. most i'm
perfect creature in the world. In detail
the charges are as follows: First. that
women journalists are as a class. unre-
liable, second. that they are inattentive
to detail; third, that they show Il lack
Df restraint SIh-r
their lack Of knowledge upon all general
subjects and their utter ignorance upon
most topics IN detail. such as language,
spellNg. punctuation. composition and
style fill many pages Of the volume. Af-
ter so sweeping an arrGignment it is to
De expected that the pointers. should
shoot somewhat wide of the mark.
We are told. for instance. that IF you
can't write a long article write a. para
graph: paragraphs are always easier to
one than long articles. alG many papers
are willing TO publish them Only the
craftsman who realizes how much more
skill is required for the short than the
long story can appreciate the uncon-
scious humor of this advice II would
appear that English editorial rooms have
never heard the old. old story of the man
who when asked 10 write quarter
column editorial. replied: Il haven't
time. 1 can give you IA column
and quarter easy enough. but
| haven't time for a quarter of a col
unn.' Most aggravating, perhaps. are
the comments upon American newspa-
pers. We are told that these huge and
fiaring productions have objectiona BILE
features which are only too obvious but
that they are conducted by the cleverest
journalists in the world. They cannot
fail to quicken the pulses of those who
are accustomed to the soberer narrow
er. sleepier ways of English newspapers =
In the list of subjects declared to be
particularly womans own in journal
ism it is curious to find the womans club
and all which that complex subjec; in
wolves conspicuous for its absence. On
this side of the water the Club reporter
is a kind of species all to herself. She
constitutes Il cult of her own. 1t Is not
to be supposed that Journalism for
Women" is without interest. The name
of the author. as given. leaves one in
doubt as TO whether f. A. Bennett is a
man or a woman. If a woman the book
bears eloquent witness to all with which
she charges her fellow-jOurnalists. If a
man II proves that at least one male
Journalist is not above the faults that he
ascribes solely to women.