The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1947-08-22

1eellngS, even tnOugn tneSe
might be the stories that they
wanted most to write, and the
writing of which would have
come to them most easily.
And, instead of writing about
these profound and stirring
events, they would have to do
what all weekly columnists do,
which is to search their MEM
cries and their knowledge for
stories and ideas Of a lighter
and more amusing order. They
would have to find stories with
an element of interest and at
the same time an element of
neutrality" And to find these
two elements in a single story,
elements which do not natural
ly GO with one another, is not
an easy thing to do. Some of
the funniest stories in life are
the sort that can only be told
behind the barn. And some of
the most dramatic and vivid
stories are the sort that are
best left untold, or else told in
a courtroom to a jury. And ma
terial like this, interesting
though it may be, is far from
neutral; and for every reader
who might be amused or in
terested by such stories, there
would be another who would be
angered, and an occasional fell
low who would want to go to
the law.
We have not always been sue
cessful in finding stories with
both innocent ideas and inter-
esting material. Some of our
philosophical speculations, es-
pecially, must have often seem
ed dull. Perhaps there seemed
to be an element of softness
and impracticality in u think
ing. At least a part of this was
due to the fact that we were
trying to write about neutral
things on which most people
were in general agreement. For
instance, when the preacher
says he is against sin, the con-
gregation mods its head in
agreement; when he talks about
the specific kind of sins he is
against, the well-known offend
erS grow uncomfortable; and if
finally he shakes his finger at
John Jones and says you are
one of the fellows | am talking
about" John is liable to rise
and march right out of the
church; even though John was
one of the fellows who nodded
his head in agreement when the
preacher was merely talking
against sin in general.
There are two very good rea-
sonS-perhaps a great deal more
than two but two come to mind
right now-why a country col
umnist has to confine himself
to the general proposition. One
is that a newspaper needs its
John Joneses if it is to publish
at all. Another is that John
Jones might have his own idea
of sin" and while he is not
likely to shake his finger back
at the preacher, he has no hes
itation at all about shaking it
in the face of an editor. You're
another" says John Jones. So
the country philosopher must
write to the general proposition
of vice and virtue, and keep
John Jones with him, and trust
that both he and John will
learn a little and improve a lit
tie in the process.
We have often written about
the wandering neWspapermen
in these columns. He is a breed
that interests US. and for good
reason. For we have a halfway
suspicion that every time we
look into the shaving mirror of
q morning, we see one.
Once, before we started our
own travels, we were working
with a fellow who had years of
experience and who had been
in many cities and had worked
on many newspapers. He SEEM
ed to have a horror of staying
on one paper and falling into a
rut," So he fell instead into
another kind of rut, a travelling
rut. He would never send a tap
root straight down into the
heart of any community in
which he found himself; instead
he sent out a network of little
surface feeders which could be
easily uprooted and transplant