Daily inter mountain., 1900-02-09

to tell A great deal which girl labOri-
Ously learns at college is of absolutely no
value to her beyond its walls except as
It may have trained her in three particu-,
Lars; that is, if she has resolved to en-
ter journalism.
| Girls often leave college with wish
to enter the drawing room car of jour-
nalism, disdaining the climbing process,
which is usually inevitable. Il prefer the
writing Of book reviews" they say, fait-
ing to comprehend that a wide experience
of life and maturity Of thought as we'll
as omnivorous reading, must fit one for
the Office of critic; failing also to under
stand that they are asking for dessert be.
fore they have even tasted the soup.
The girl who is in dead earnest will, SO
to speak, lay aside all desire for ease and
at once accept any offered assignment,
going where she is sent, doing as she is
hidden, behaving precisely like SOL
dier on duty, and taking whatever space
rates her paper pays with grateful
heart.
BY degrees the young woman who is
always on time, whose work is clean and
intelligent, not slovenly and confused, and
who has an ear and an eye for whatever
IS interesting, will win her way. In these
days the news, foreign or domestic, is
gathered according to organized system,
; and the young reporter must rather write
charming and clever paragraphs about
people and incidents than be on the watch
for happenings outside her sphere of serv-
ice.
A woman needs firm stock Of health
IL she is to be a journalist. For she may
have late hours and long ones, and she
must work hard and encounter every sort
Of weather in the calender. She must
possess common sense and dress prop
erly for her work. A short skirt, thick
boots, a trim small hat, business dress
as well as a business air are requisites of
the newspaper woman's outfit. Feathers
and picture hats and tags and fripperies
are out of place for her.
/ She will do we'll to have speciality
i if she wishes to become known and trust
ed. There are advantages in being iden-
titled with certain line, SO that when
the editor wants clubs or conventions or
woman's congresses written UP he can
turn at once to a woman who has the
especial movement at her fingers ends.
! If a young woman selects fashion or
society as her speciality she must be care
full to do no sloppy work; clear-cut. thor
ough and trustworthy information is
wanted. She must be honorable. A.
young journalist can succeed without be-
coming a spy or doing anything of which
she ought to be ashamed.
The posit.one open for successful wom-
en- journalists are, as rule, depart
mental. No woman has ever assumed
the exclusive charge as editor-in-c chief
OF great daily newspaper. She might
as well aspire to be rear admiral or a
major general. When she assumes the.
oversight of a department, even though
1t be q womaa's department, she will
find herself somewhat handicapped by
the, fact that women's departments in
newspapers are seldom the expression Of
feminine IDEAS. e. q
Men, the publishers. the managing edi-
tors and the others in authority fancy
they know what women wish to read,
and they insist on having their ideas car
ried out. Thst is why 50 many women
find the wcman's part oe their paper
rather unsatisfactory.
A girl Often does well to have an all
round training on a country paDer be-
fore she comes to town. She must not
come to town without little money
pr people in the BACKGROUND ready to help
her. Space rates are s-ral,. One has
to walk many miles and write many
words to make board and lodging on
these. Fifteen, twenty, twenty-five or
| fifty dollars covers the average weekly
earnings of successful woman Journal
II list. The woman editor who makes more
than fifty dollars weekly is rare. though
there are exceptions whose salaries range
from sixty to one hundred dollars a
week.