Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-02-12
JOHN PAINTE ON COUNTRY
EDITORS.
CBy John Painte Singer

newspaper. Take q paper with
paid up subscription list Of so, will
the names of say $50 on the books
and the fortune of the Editor Pub
Usher r-Owner-and-Proprietor is wei
nigh made.
Think OF the pleasure that the fu
ture holds in store for the man VIII,
can calmly sit in his Office and ex
press his individual opinion on an,
subject that may arise in the coun
ty, and when his opinion is printed
thousands of persons are expected tC
read it, with no opportunity whsteve
to reply to the same.
His opinion may be full of sophis
try, specious reasoning, or downright
rot, but the reader must tamely sub
init, or take his revenge in courst
profanity. The position Of a minis
ter in pulpit while somewhat simi
lar does not admit of the magnificent
possibilities vouchsafed to the auto.
cratic editor.
was once acquainted with an
editor who owned aud operated .
village weekly in a Virginia town
For want of a better name, we call
him John Map.
MIR. Map was printer by occupa.
ton, and he and his son did pretty
nearly ali the work in getting OUT
the Weekly Neacs. / often assisted.
the publisher when he got behind,
and for that reason was fairly well
acquainted with all departments, in
GLIDING the financial condition OF
Maps journal.
Mr.. Map at times drank whiskey
to excess, and for that reason he
often got behind-so much SO that
instead of the NetOs getting out on
Thursday, which was the weekly
publication day, we got out on Fri
day, or Saturday, and sometimes we
did not get out at all. Our appear
anoe was largely governed by Maps
physical condition-besides, type
plate matter was then &c unknown
element with which one could fiji up
the vacant column spaces when the
compositors were behind.
MIR. Map wrote the most vigorous
editorials ever read, and the drunk
er he was the more vigorous he
wrote.
Politically Map claimed to be per-
fectly independent, but personally he
was a red handed anarchistic Nihil-
ist. There was no method whatever
in his writings. He would start of
on the. subject of the need of good
roads in the county, and might wind
up on the annexation of the Hawaiian
islands. Neither political party in
the county had any use whatever for
Map, personally, but both sides iolli-
ed him IN order to get the use of his
columns in which to advertize their
conventions.
The Netos had about 400 subscrib-
ers all told, and less than fourth
of those had paid in advance.
The county advertising, a small
amount Of job printing and the
patronage of the village merchants,
including professional cards, were
the sources of income that kept the
journal going.
On one occasion. Mr.. Map, while
moderately intoxicated, wrote a leader
for his paper, copy of which I have
religiously preserved. give it here
word for word as sample of his
style:
"THE DISTRICT CONFERENCE"
"The Methodist ministers belong
ing to this district were assem- mbled in
conference for three days last week
at the Methodist church in this
town. There were present fifteen
regular ministers and possibly twenty
lay delegates-all of whom were we'll.
dressed, full of fried children and
appeared to take life easy.
"Quite a large crowd from the
rural districts came into town on
Sunday to hear the bishops sermon.
We did not attend ourselves, pre-
ferring to spend the beautiful day
catching sun perch in Jones' mill
pond. We took along our Bible, and
while waiting for bites, read David's
Fsalms and drew our own conclu.
sions rs to what meaning the scrip
lures were intended to convey.
ave do not advise any one to go
to hear q bishop preach, nor de we
advise any one to remain away; for
we recognize every man az being a
free agent to do as he blamed pleases.
So tar as we are concerned we po
fishing whenever we feel so inclined,
the bishop to the contrary notwith-
standing.
"What this great country needs is
more sun perch on the table and less
preaching on the side. The policy
OF the Ne,cs cannot be directed by a
bishop any more than lay delegate;
and the sooner the Methodist church
learns this fact the better for all
hands concerned. A bishop is no
more in our estimation than any
other man. He has two feet. two
hands, two eyes, two ears, two legs,
two arms and body. He eats and
sleeps like other animals. Then why
should We break our necks to hear
him rant on the scriptures. There
is no practical reason for us to 90
Wild over bishop or any other man.
Therefore, We did not go Wild.
"The Reacs believes in an honest
ballot and fair count, and we defy
Englsndor any other nation to dump
on the shores of this country its indi-
gent poor, whether they be laborers.
bishops or lay delegates. We are
Americans first. last and always.
81. P. MAP, Editor"
IS LIFE WORTH LIVING :?
This question has recently been
asked in the editorial columns of the