The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-07
MISSION OF REPORTERS
MIR. PARRISH THINKS THEM DIVINE
LY COMMISSIONED TOILERS.
His Sermon Newspaper Men-Rev.
Mr.. Hayt at MayfIOwer.
Church.

A sermon about newspaper men was
preached by Rev. +. G.. Parrish, pastor of
the South-street Baptist Church, last night
The text was from the nineteenth chapter
of the first chapter of Revelation, which
reads: Write the things which thou hast
seen"
1.-THE Isle of Patmos," said Mr.. Parrish,
is not remembered account of its varied
scenery, but because of the man who lived
and wrote there. The man John is an UNI
usually interesting character because he
represents a class of men whose work in
these modern times is of such worth as to
be incapable of overstating. 1t is to call
attention to the unnoticed and unappre-
eiated hero of the pencil that have taken
this subject tonight. In my judgment no
more truth-loving, conscientious, persistent,
energetic, interchangeable workers are to be
found in any field of human endeavor than
in newspaperdom. They are men of rare
worth. of sterling integrity, of unpur-
chasable honor. In fact, to do the work of
the men Of the pencil the best type of man
and the highest quality of manhood is re-
CURED. l want to register my protest
against the soulless notion that the news
paper man delights to carry the putrid
carcass of scandal to the feast room of his
fellows. He is bent on other business. He
is faithfully recording the daily, hourly
history of these stirring times in a most
impartial and truthful manner. He is MAX
ing a portrayal in lfelike realism of the
multitudinous acts Of men. Let us not con-
slider the newspaper man a pestiferous,
malevolent creature, but the heroic servant
OF civilization, well worthy of the title pub
lie benefactor.'
John was told by God to write what he
had seen. To the newspaper men l say:
You are divinely commissioned toilers
Yours is a work upon which God has set
his SEAL To the world you should say, L
have a message from God; am divinely
sent"
Mr.. Parrish went on to say that while
the church fails to reach the masses the
newspaper, reaches all. While an eloquent
minister reaches a few thousand the best
newspapers reach hundreds of thousands.
Inere is no force among men, he said,
whose purpose is to so unerringly carry out
the message of God as that of the Journals.
without their aid no pulpit could succeed.
Many newspapers are preaching SOunder
gospel than many men in the pulpit whose
heads have received the amounting OIL The
pulpit should hail the press as a fellow
laoorer, with no less authority and with
greater power. The speaker said that ne
hoped that soon discriminating public
Will show a greater appreciation of the
work of the newspapers. AS surely as God
had a mission for Moses, Daniel, Elijah and
Paul, He has sent the of journalism
70 write the things which they have SEEM
Mr.. Parrish went on to speak of the news
paper work itself
THE REPORTERS LIFE.
He said, THE conscientious reporter
touches the life of public men, he sep
arates truth from error he finds the true
men. The man in Office who is serving him
self alone is deferred by him from commit
ting the worst offenses against the public
interest. The common reporter is the faith
full bearer of truth to the public, and rare
ly, if ever. is the verdict of a reputable
newspaper unjust in it's estimation of a
public man. Upon the journal the voter
must depend for his knowledge Of how to
vote, and right well does the reporter do
his duty. While the rest of us are Sleep
ing in our beds, or are resting in some quiet
nook, ne is on the trail of the traitor TO
public trust, untiring, never impatient, and
the greatest man quivers as he feels the
reporters thrust
The speaker then spoke of the work of
the correspondents who reported the prog
ress OF the events of the war and said that
it only illustrates the work of newspaper
men in general. He said, mo Drawer man
went to the front than the plain, reticent
war correspondent He did not go out for
summer excursion nor to write literature,
but to give the news to an irresponsible
public. Where will you find the man of the
pencil when missiles Of death are vomiting
rain is baptizing the soil of the tropics and
the lives of the American soldiery are
poured forth like water? Will you find him
in the rear, sneaking away from the bull
let's, doing out to the public old stuff, of
interest and value to none? No; he marches
withsJoe Wheeler and his warriors into the
jaws of death. He is with the firing line,
rewriting the bloody pages torn from his
grasp by the. bullet. He is going through
the plague-infected hospital, taking the
names of the sick that the mother and
sister may know that the loved one is safe.
Then when the bloody work is ended and
the brave soldier goes to his sleep the CORE
spondent starts for the telegraph office,
twenty or thirty miles away, unconscious
of fatigue. The desire to get the news and
give it to the public is the one emotion of
his soul When the soldiers came home they
came as conquering chieftains, while the
newspaper man was unnoticed. Of himself
he was reticent, but of the courage of the
man in blue he was eloquent
THE newspaper is the power of our civ
iliZation All honor to the men whose zeal,
spirit and energy have given to America the
proudest position in the galaxy of nations"