The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-03-04

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an intelligent man. and a paper comes
into your hand. You open it, and
there are three columns of splendidly
written editorial, recommending some
moral sentiment or evolving some
scientific theory. In the next column
there is a miserable, contemplate di-
vOrce case. Which do you read first?
You dip into the editorial long enough
to say, We'll, that's very ably writ
ten" and you read the divorce case
from the long primer type at the top
to the nonpareil type at the bottom,
and then you ask your wife if she has
read it. Oh, it is only a case of supply
and demand Newspaper men are not
fools. They know what you want.
and they give it to you. l believe that
if the church and the world bought
nothing but pure, honest healthful
newspapers nothing but pure, honest
and healthful newspapers would be
published. If you should gather all
the editors and the reporters of this
country in 4 great convention and
ask OF them what kind of a paper they
would prefer to publish, | believe they
would unanimously say, We would
prefer to publish an elevating paper"
So long as there is an Ubiquitous de-
mand there will be an lnIQuitOUs sup
ply. | make no apology for a de-
bauched newspaper, but | am saying
these things in order to divide the re-
spOnsibility between those who print
and those who read.
Another temptation Of the newspa-
per profession is the great allurement
that surrounds them. Every occupa-
ton and profession has temptations
peculiar to itself, and the newspaper
profession is not an exception. The
great demand, as you know, is on the
nervous force, and the brain is racked.
The laundering political speech must
be read well for the sake of the party,
and SO the reporter or the editor has
to make it read we'll, although every
sentence were a catastrophe to the
English language. The reporter must
hear all hat inaudible speaker who
thinks it is vulgar to speak out says,
and it must be right the next morning
or the next night in the papers, though
the night before the whole audience
sat with it's hand behind it's a in vain
trying to catch it. This man must go
through killing night work. He must
go into heated assemblages and into
unVontilated audience rooms that are
enough to take the life out of him. He
must visit court rooms which are al
most always disgusting with rum and
tobacco. He must expose himself at
the fire. He must write in fetid alley
ways. Added to all that he must have
hasty masticatiOn and irregular habits.
10 bear up under this tremendous
strain they are tempted to ar
tificial stimulus, and how many thou
sands have gone down under the pres
sure God only knows. They must have
something to %cOunteract the wet, they
must have something to keep out the
chill and after a scant nights sleep
they must have something to revive
them for the mornings work. This is
what made Horace Greeley such a
stout temperance man. | said to him,
mfr. Greeley, why are you more elO-
quent on the subject of temperance
than any other subject?' He replied,
Il have seen so many Of my best
friend in journalism go down under in
temperance"
Oh, my dear brother of the newspa-
per profession, what you cannot do
without artificial stimulus God does
not want you to do. There is no half
way ground for our literary people be-
tween teetotalism and dissipation.
Your professional success, your do
nestle peace, your eternal salvation,
will depend upon your theories in re-
gard to artificial stimulus. | have had
so many friends go down under the
temptation, their brilliancy Quenched,
their homes blasted, that | cry out this
morning in the words of another,
Look not upon the wine when it is
red, when it giveth its color in the cup,
when it moveth itself Alright, for at the
last it biteth like a serpent and sting
eth like an adder"
WHO breaches TO REPORTERS.
Another trial of this profession is
the fact no one seems to care for their
souls. They feel bitterly about it,
though they laugh. People sometimes
laugh the loudest when they feel the
worst. They are expected to gather up
religious proceedings and to discuss
religious doctrines in the editorial col
umns, out who expects them to be
saved by the sermons they stenograph
or by the doctrines they discuss in the
editorial columns? The world looks
upon them as professional. Who
breaches to reporters and editors?
Some Of them came from religious
homes. and when they left the parent
al roof, whoever regarded or disre-
garded. they came off with a fathers
benediction and a mothers prayer.
They never think of those good old
times but tears come into the eyes, and
they move through these great cities
homesick. On, if they only knew what
a helpful thing it is for a man to put
his weary head down on the bosom of
q sumnathetic Christ. He knows how