The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-03-03

barber of his legitimate means of gain
ing livelihood; no driving mother
and sisters into the woodshed for fear
OF disturbing your mighty think-tank
you are to write without any special
preparation, and without reference of
any kind. If you will follow this rule
conscientiously you will find it of
much value.
l am going upon the hypothesis that
you actually possess some journalistic
ability and the determination to fight
for place. When speak of journal
ism, l do not refer to him of the scis
sors and pastepot, for he is in no sense
a journalist, not in this year of our
Lord 1893. Space will not allow me to
dwell upon each rung of the ladder up
which you must climb. | assure you.
however, that not more than one in
fifty ever reaches the first landing, and
scarcely one in thousand higher
level. If, after years of earnest appli
cation, you become a regular" on any
OF the leading dailies, you will have
done we'll indeed.
Imagine yourself told, at 8 P. NJ. to
turn in by midnight, from four to six
columns, upon the salient features of a
presidential message. Your desk is
one in a row of twenty, and you will
enjoy about as much quietness as if it
was located in boiler shop. You will
have scarcely got seated, before, there
at your elbow, stands that imp of
satan, "Copy." He is the bette nolr of
your existence, the nemesis of every
sin and folly of your life. A soft an
swer has been known to turn away
even the wrath of tailor. or a too
confiding landlady; not so with "Copyv'
for he is as implacable as death, com
posite of hunger, thirst and the tooth.
ache.
But, you say, will be widely known,
through the press, and be looked up
to as molder of public opinion.
Nay, nay, my friend; the elevator man
will have larger circle of acquaint-
ances and the bartender at 'Stewart's'
will be demi god compared to you.
The average pay of a hack writer is.
about $40 per week. You may-if you
have the ability-add to this by doing
"space work." which pays from to So
per column. There are some hack.
writer's who earn considerably more
than this amount, but they are few.
There is no class of intellectual
workers so poorly paid as newspaper
men and none who work harder. This.
OF course, is very meager outline, but
consult any journalist who has worked
his way up from the ranks and he will
tell you that it is true. There is not
one newspaper writer in a thousand
who acquires competence and many
OF them die in poverty. l have in mind
one of the brightest newspapermen l
have ever known, who died a few years
ago, in Belleview hospital and was
buried as a pauper before his fellow
workers had missed him.
There are, certainly, some bright
spots along the paths of journalism.
but they are disproportionaI to the
dark ones. The same ability and ap-
plication devoted to some other pro-
fession will, I am sure, bring better
reward. You must win solely upon
your merits, superficials "don't CO..
there. This is not written with the
object of discouraging anyone from
entering the lists of journalism, but
rather to point out the necessity of
taking into it both knowledge and
pluck, if you would make even a very
little mark while you live, for when
they "rattle your bones over the stones"
and some bystander asks, "who was
he ?" the reply will come, "Oh! only one
of those fellows who write for the
papersp' Hop SING