The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-07-14

takes HIM. Sometimes it leads over rough
and stony paths, which We must tread
! with bleeding feet. There j help 10 IT,
Lad, TO be sure, from without. The coun
sci Of the wise and prudent l. TO be priced.
but after all the light within i The final
| arbiter before which all questions must
he settled.
There are papers know which echo
/ only the voice OF others, but these are
not worthy to occupy . place IN the pro
fession. There are others still which move
and have their beng Tor the money they
can make for their owners, but they arr
not those at which this discussion Is ann
cd. am sorry to say that there are
newspapers in North Carolina with bright
men IN their offices which sometimes cx-
hibit q painful lack OF faltn.ulness IN the
makeup OF their editorial matter 1t j.
cisheartening to pick up a paper when
! you are hungry Tor a helpful suggestion.
and turning to the editorial columns yoa
are greeted with Letter from Washing
ton or Bill APPS Letter." or 'Zuno
Zephyrs,' or 'Thomdsvllle T1dlngs,' or
'Edenton Echoes Every editor ought
to put the imprint OF his soul IN the
columns OF his paper every week. | 90
not refer to the dailies IN tins connection,
tor they are obliged to discard plate mat
ter in their editorial columns or their
readers Will soon discard them, but you
weekly brethren whose papers go TO ten
North CaroLnlanS where the Gaines reach
one-you ought week by week TO put brain
and heart and blood into your work. Tins
j. not concClt. Why should 1t be 80 Ie-
gardcd? Suppose your preacher should
announce on Sunday morning that owing
to the multiplicity of his engagements
1,~ 49, ,.l,l. ~, $40. ,l,oI1, - ,,r,..
4 sermon, and 50 he would read for the
instruction OF his hearers a sermon from
Nj Talmage or Mr.. Parker. Why should
an editor whose business it is to help his
hearers be any the less faithful IN the
discharge Of his duties.
| shall not call names here, bat there is
a paper in this State which has a limited
circulation and which is printed in a
small town, twice a ", elk, upon whose
utteranceS | have learned to lean. 1t IS
not making much money but 1t IS making
men. 1t does not Wat to hear what the
big dallles have to say on a subject, but
expresses It's own opinion with
clearness and power, and IN q few short
paragraphs occupying hardly two columns
it covers the leading events which nave
transpired within the past Two or three
days IN a way so luminous and direct and
vigorous, that a reader lays it down with
his appetite entirely satisfied On the
other hand many of our papers edited by
capable men show SO little evidence of
thought and care in the preparation of
the matter, that it is thrown away With
disappointment if rot disgust.
But faithfulness to others demands that
we put the very best that there IS III US
into our work. We are teaching thou
sands of men and women and little chill
dren all they know OF the great world
around us Into many homes only the
local weekly finds its way. What it says
is accepted and believed as if it were
law and gospel. The very spirit IN which
the matter is written Is Incorporated IN
the plastic minds of the simple children
of nature upon whose hearts il falls.
Faithfulncss to these who follow us week
by week requires that we should ever
have IN our minds in making tho paper
the uplifting and enrolling of those who
read our words. For after all, nCtwith-
standing the cheap jlbeS and sneers OF
those who berate the fidelity of the news
papers, they do believe in us and they
dc trust Us. Every editor ought to be IL
believer in God and in his fellows. 1t is
no place for a Skeptic nor a Scorner. 1t Is
a pulpit which thunders week by week,
and Its congregations are the countless
multltudes that throng our cities, our
towns and our country districts. We
are sentiment-makers. We are guides and
pilots. We are eyes for the blind. Let US
not abouse the great trust committed to
our hands.
We must be faithful to the weak. Oh,
how utterly unworthy that newspaper
which is not a friend to the poor, the
blind, the halt and the helpless. Thank
God the newspapers of North Carolina
have been faithful to the weak. There
IS not an o~rphanage III all the State that
has not felt the force of the press, and
where might rises up to Cypress weakness
and money Is set IN deadly array against
them, where vice clother in soft raiment
Wculd strangle righteousness in rags,
there has ever sounded from these faith
ful sentinels of the Peoples rights d storm
Ct protest that quickly throttled evil and
saved the cause of right. This has been
done ten thousand times in North Caro-
lima and | pray that our Journalism may
never be subsidized by the devil, nor
overwhelmed by the shining tide of gold
IN the hands OF the great and strong.
We must be faithful to the old State.
1t is a glorious heritage a kind Provi-
dence has given us, this good old North
Carolina we love so well. [ confess l am
tired of hearing from fervid orators that
North Carolina is a great State ard
worthy of our love because of the treas
ure she possesses IL forest, in mine, in
tleld and factory, III railroads, and, even
schools and churches. These are all bless
lngs for which to be grateful, but, breth-
rem, | would love North Carolina if the
rugged sides of her mighty mountains
were bare and naked to the blazing sun
if every plain in all her Piedmont region
were arid and sterile; if the ocean broke
along all her coast on desolate stretches
OF cleaning sand; | would love her still
because she IS my home, And this home
OF ours ought always and everywhere to
be the object of our jealous care and OF
our courageous defense. | am everlast-
lngly tired OF hearing this State spoken
OF as poor old North Carolina. She is
not poor and if she were as poor as
Lazarus would not own it, We are set
Tor the defense of North Carolina. That
is our chief business. They saw that after