The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1900-11-20
A CHANCE ACQUAINTANCE

A CHANGE ACQUAINTANCE
Yesterday the editor went to Omaha
on short business Tip. On the train
he met a tall, well preserved, we'll flesh
ed man with mild brown eyes, man
who looked as if he had been used to
easy living and the good things of the
world. In our minds eye weplaced him
as the we'll o-do young son of a wealthy
father who had had but little contact
with the rough side of life. What was
our surprise to find that this quiet rest
full sort of man was a war correspond
ent for great New York 'aily. He
had been on special duty in Turkey and
in Africa, had been through South A
merica, reporting political conditions
and semiannual revolutions; he had
traversed Central America and was one
of the Herald's chief correspondents
during the Spanish war and
he was now on his way to Hong Kong
to relieve the Heralds Chinese cores
pondent and to keep tab on the cratic
Empress, the Boxers and the consulta-
ton ct the powers. He did not give us
this information in chunks like man
who is used to telling about himself
and Dragging, but the information
came out piecemeal and in the course of
more than an hours conversation We
may frankly say that we envied the
man and his world wide experiences:
While other men are remaining in the
quiet of their homes, he is always at
the nerve center of the struggle Of civ
ilization wherever the great forces of
the world are contending, where there
is strife and intrigue, where great
minds struggle for the mastery there
is the war correspondent, one Of the
the greatest products of modern jour
nallsm. 1t is a noticeable fact that
these veterans of the newspaper world
are never Journalistic" they are news
paper men" 1t is left for the writer of
sensational stories about nothing to
style himself journalist. More and
more our great newspapers are becom-
ing the chroniclers of mere gossip, it is
not the facts they wish to obtain but
any little story which has in it some.
thing of the startling, something which
contains that which the modern iourn-
alists style human interest. The ideal
cosmopolitan newspaper has not yet
been attained; when it is, it will con
tain fewer column stories of peculiar
suicides, sensational murders and ro.
mantle weddings and will give an out
line of the daily history of the world in
every country and in every cline.
Our chance acquaintance is type of
that matter-of fact style of journalism
which has in the past few years been
largely supplanted by the sensational,
and it will only be when our great
dailys get back to the matter of fact
publication of news and drop sensation
alism, that they will attain to their
highest perfection. We admitted to
our friend that it had always been our
ideal in life to be on the staff of a New
York Daily, and he in turn told us that
he was confident that it was the ideal
of half of the newspaper boys in New
York City to own a country newspaper.
Thus it is in life that no one is entirely
satisfied with his condition. There are
doubtless hundreds of square pegs like
ourselves who think themselves perfect
ly fitted for round holes and hundreds
OF round pegs who think some square
hole would be just the thing for them.
We trust that our friend will have a
safe journey to the Orient, and that he
may come back with his head on his
shoulders and as jolly and good natured
as when hei started. If our readers
should chance upon magazine article
signed Harrington" they may know
it is the non de-plume of the lazy look
ing, wide-awake New York Herald war
correspondent in China,