The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1905-06-29
THE LAST WORD.

Editor Manning returns next week
from his Western tour, and SO We
must make our parting bow 20 the
public and prepare to retire to the
humble walks OF privite life. This is
positively our last appearance. We
make this emphatic statement III
order here and now to prevent the
useless pleadings of clamoring pub
lie. With this week . issue our con-
nection with the GOLD LEAF terml-
mated and hencefOrth we are but a
plain citizen, shorn of editorial privl-
lege and journalistic hOnOrs. We may
no longer pose as a molder OF public
opinion or further food the town
with happy suggestions and gratul-
tous advice One thing we have
learned in our months term OF office.
The functions Of an editor and
preacher are not altogether different.
Both address the public; both have
to do with the common veal; both
seek to expose error, to champion
the right, to beat down evil and ia lse-
hood, land to disseminate truth. Their
sources of inspiration differ and they
approach their task from different
bases, and employ different methods;
yet their respective functions have
many points OF contact and their
ultimate object is largely the same.
They seek to promote the welfare OF
the individual and of the community.
The editor has to do primarily with
the temporal and with the social
body as a whole, while the preacher
deals with the ''spiritual' and the III
dividual. Yet who can distinguish
between these things? The commun-
ity is simply Il collection of individ-
uals and must deriveits quality from
the individuals that compose it.
While the spiritual is but the eternal
form of the temporal, whose " let
it SO largely is, and whose zap it
bears always upon its face. fvthaps
after all there is no difference, and the
distinctions drawn between secular
and spiritual and between temporal
and eternal have 10 existence outside
the minds that make them. In very
true sense the ''temporals" are etern
al; and what indeed are secular things
but concrete expressions of the spirit
ual forces that pervade and animate
all life.
''Earth's crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God.
But only they who see take off their
shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck black
berries
The editor is then a preacher, and
the preacher at least resembles an ed
itor in that his tongue should be as
the pen of a ready writer.
Nor is the analogy between preach
srs and editors confined to the nature
and scope of their mission. 1t also
extends to their limitations. They
both belong to the human race; the
genus homo, the species man. They
have all the failings and imperfections
that inhere in the genus and abound
in that particular species. They also
must acknowledge the limitations
common to humanity. They do not
know everything and they are liable
to all the errors and mistakes of fall
IDLE men. Even editors have been
known to make erroneous statements
and it is entirely possible that they
may at times champion a wrong
cause. And yet they may not be al
together fools or villains for all that.
One limitation OF a preacher that
we have found to belong also to the
editor is his dependence upon the
ordinary channels of information.
Now everybody knows, for instance,
that a preacher has to be told before
he can learn that somebody in his
congregation is sick or in trouble and
needs his pastoral care. SO when
people want their pastor they send
for him. Having confidence in his
fidelity to his charge, if he fails to
appear when he is needed, they at
once understand that he has not been
told. SO nobody feels sighted or
grumbles. Now it is fact, men and
brethren. that editors live and labor
under exactly the same physical linn
itations. Their eyes do not possess
the powers either OF the telescope or
the x-ray. Nor can their ears catch
items ofnews from distance without
the aid OF telephone with an oblig-
ing tongue at the other end OF the
line. They are just like other people,
being men subject to like limits as
we are. They have to hear and learn
things as ordinary mortals do. There
is a moral to this Read, reflect and
regulate yourself accordingly. If
there is news you know and think
Others would like to know it too, or
ii there is some local happening that
you are personally concerned in and
would like to see in your town paper
go tell the editor. ii you have an
idea and think it is worth publishing;
II fragment of the broken image OF
Truth has been washed upon your
shores; if you have a message for the
community or a bit of information
that your fellow men are in need Of
carry it to the editor. He may, it is
true, not publish it. He is supposed