Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-02-25

He must write in fetid alleyways
Added to all that he must have hasty
mastication and irregular habits. To
bear up under this tremendous nervous
strain they are tempted to artificial
stimulus, and how many thousands
have gone down under their pressure
God only knows. They must have some-
thing to counterfeit 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 morning work. This is what made
Horace Greeley such a stout temperance
man. l said to him, "Mr. Greeley, why
are you more eloquent on the subject Of
temperance than any other subJect?"
He replied, Il have seen so many Of my
best friends in journalism go down I'M
der intemperance. "
Oh, my dear brother Of the newspaper
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 between teetotal-
ism and dissipation. Your professional
success, your domestic peace, your eter-
nal salvation, will depend upon your
theories in regard to artificial stimulus.
/ have had so many friends 90 down ul'
der the temptation, their brilliancy
quenched, their homes blasted, that l
cry out this morning in the words Of
another, "Look not upon the wine when
it is red, when 1t giveth its color in the
cup, when it moveth itself Alright, for
at the last it biteth like a serpent and
it stingeth like an adder,
Who breaches to Reporters7
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 loud
est when they feel the worst. They are
expected TO gather up religious proceed
ings and to discuss religious doctrines
in the editorial columns, but who exr
pects them to be saved by the sermons
they stenograph or by the doctrines they
discuss in the editorial columns: The
world looks upon them hs professional.
Who breaches to reporters and editors:
Some of them came from religious
homes. and when they left the parental
roof. whoever regarded or disregarded,
they came off with fathers henedic
tion end a mothers prayer. They never
think of those good old times bat tears
come into their eyes, and they move
through these great cities homesick
Oh. if they only knew what a helpful
thing II is for man to put his weary
head down on the bosom Of a sympa-
thetic Christ He knows bow nervous
and tired you are. He bias heart large
enough to take in all your interests for
this world and the next. Oh, men Of the
newspaper press, you sometimes get sick
of this world, it seems SO hollow and
unsatisfying If there are any people in
all the earth that need God, you are the
men. and you shall have him, if only
this day you implore his mercy!
a man was found at the foot of Canal
street, New York. As they picked him
I'D from the water and brought him to
the morgue they saw by the contour OF
his forehead that be had great mental
capacity. He bad entered the newspaper
profession. He had gone down IN health.
He took to artificial stimulus. He went
down further and further, until one
summer day. hot and hungry and sick
and in despair, he flung himself off the
dock. They found in his pocket a re-
porter 5 pad, lead pencil, photograph
Of some one who had loved him long
ago. Death, as sometimes 1t Will,
smoothed out all the wrinkles that had
gathered prematurely on his brow, and
as he lay there his face was as fair as
when seven years before he left his
country home and they babe him good
bv forever. The world looked through
the window Of the morgue and said,
"It's nothing but an outcast, but God
said it was a gigantic soul that persisted
because the world gave him no chance.
Let me ask all men connected with
lDt DlluN4uk lANSH tA'"N my "~'P -
more and more in the effort TO make the
world better. l charge you in the name
Of God, before whom you must account
for the tremendous influence you hold in
this country, TO consecrate yourselves to
higher endeavors You are the men to
fight back this invasion Of corrupt liter
allure. Lift up your right hand and
swear new allegiance to the cause OF
philanthropy and religion. And when
at last, standing on the plains Of judg-
ment, you look out upon the unnum-
bered throngs over whom you have had
influence, may it be found that you
were among the mightiest energies that
lifted men upon the exalted pathway
that leads to the renown of heaven.
Better than to have sat i'll editorial
chair, from which, with the finger OF
type, you decided the destinies Of en-
pires. but decided them wrong, that you
had been some dungeoned exile who,