The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-01

Practical journalism is one of the lat
est elective courses in English at the
women's colleges. At Vassar this de-
partment has recently raised its stand
ards and made rapid advances under
Professor Laura ]. Wylie, a Vassar
graduate, and one of the first feminine
doctors of philosophy to receive the
degree at Yale.
The freshman begins by hayine, tv-
pical pieces of description read to her.
She notes and criticises the Distinctive
methods and noticeable points OF the
author and is then asked to write on
similar subjects until she has mastered
typical methods OF description and log
zeal order in composition
/ She is not given dry topics, but is told
| to choose something Of familiar inter-
est in her daily life. for instance, a
painting in the art gallery, the lake in
the sunshine, the glen in d snow furry.
/ the girls dancing in the gym" all
! everyday scenes. All these are critic
| ally noted by the student with a view
| to writing her strongest impression,
and to carry the scene most graphically
in black and white to some one else who
has not witnessed it.
DETAILS OF THE TRAINING.
Paragraph writing is also made a
strong point; how to construct para
| graphs dealing with all manner of sub
jects and for all varieties Of publica-
lions, as paragraphs have become the
| necessity of the present epoch of hur-
ried living and hurried reading.
| Much emphasis is laid upon simplic-
/ ity, conciseness and cOncreteness. and
| exercises are given the student to in
/ duce her to express her Impressions by
| q single word or phrase
By continuing in this practical
schooling through the different pre-
! scribed and elective courses, the Vas
sar girl who makes up her mind to a
! journalistic career after graduation,
takes hold easily Of the many knotty
problems that cOnfrSnt the young nov
ice in letters, and finds her pathway
immensely smOOthed down for her.
This is demonstrated in the excellent
work already being done along journal
lstle lines by such NaSSar graduates as
Margaret Sherwood and Nancy V. Nc
Clelland, who have been saved the ex-
periences of the green and salad be-
ginner.
AT MOUNT HOLYOKE.
Glasses in journalism at this college
are excellent examples of professional
and up-tO-date training for newspaper
and magazine writer's. Aspirants to
journalistic fame begin at the very be-
fortunateS suddenly thrown upon their
own resources and were trying to earn
bread and butter by becoming reporters
or contributors to magazines.
This winter groups of these journals
tic girls, attended by their professor.
VIII visit the offices and composition
rooms OF neighbOring newspaper. to
be shown through the various DEPART
ments where the writing. editing and
printing of a paper are in progress.
They will be allowed to ask all the
questions they can think of and gather
practical points as to what sort of copy
it is wiSeSt to offer to the different as
sociate editors of newspaper. and
how il is usual to approach these busy
perSOnages: also how they conduct their
work, in case any of the girls should
be offered a position as a department
editor and needed to comprehend the
modus operandi
FOR DIFFERENT PUBLICATIONS.
These classes in Journalism at
Mount HOlyOlle are electives for jun
Tors and seniors, who have already
passed through the preliminaries in
English. They are first put at writing
reports for the papers. For instance,
they We're told last year to write up
things of interest 10 the small town of
South Hadley in which the college is
situated, such as the question there of
license or no license, or some of the
college affairs, and to write Just as
if they had been asked to contribute
such matter to the local paper
Then. each member of one class was
given the topic The Opening Of Col
lege," and instructed to prepare her
article for some special publication.
such as the New York Sun, the New
York Journal The Independent. Har-
per's Bazaar, Harper'S Weekly, Nc
Clure'S Magazine, Life, and half a.
dozen others varying in character and
kind.
After drilling the daily newspaper.
they advance to the weekly journal
and magazine, the different pubIica-
tons being classified into groups and
studied to find out their Characters
tics. also the style and method of the
contributors, which the girls initiate
for practice. Students select different
types-PrOfessOr John Fisl1e and Rich
ard Harding Davis, Mrs. Margaret z.
Sangster. and Mrs. Ruth McEnery, as
one class is studying the structure oS
fiction.
The girls are also taught proofread-
ing and correcting, so that when they
arrive at the stage of having their
own manuscript proofs to look ever,
they can correct them professionally.
They can also be prepared in this way
to become professional proOfreaders.
~ OAil AMI he CO-ILDN.
AT Smith college the practical
courses are progressive and effective
in developing the news instinct and
journalistic turn of mind of the bevy
of fair collegianS who are striving to
qualify themselves to enter the field
of journalism. That the process is =
successful one the numerous recent
Smith graduates already working for
number of prominent daily and 9TH
err publications are a convincing tes-
timony. Among these are Miss Anna
HemStead Branch. who took the Cen
fury prize for the best poem; Miss
Alice Katharine Fallows. who has
made a reputation for herself as 4
paragraph writer and whose article
in Scribner's Magazine on her alma
mater brought her into immediate
prominence; Miss Olive Dunbar. Miss
Bertha Lee Bennett, Miss Ellen 3.
Sherman, and a host of others.
The girls at Smith also are CORE
spondents for daily papers. usually
receiving the regular rates of pay
ment.
At the co-educational colleges good
preparation along Journalistic lines is
offered the enterprising 'co-eds. and
a proof that it is a wise and popular
innovation is that the
girls take to it as a duck does to water
and are deeply interested in all its
believing that even if
they do not adopt literary career the