| Show newspaper life it luu is strange what curious ideas some people have of the tile way in 16 which matter for a newspaper is prepared A few days lincea reporter on this tills paper was asked by a middle aged man mancho who looked aa though he ought to know something who it was that wrote out the items lie he picked pickel up in his wanderings about the city evidently laboring under the tho impression that it w was as the reporter porter aduey duty to hunt up information Te regarding garding local matters and at night sit down and relate to some individual in with a pencil his bis days dayl experience another man remarked to one of the editors that lie thought tir tin mr must be a very industrious man to write all the articles which appeared in the tile union and american every lay adding that it was wonderful to think that one man could dobo domo do so much these two men represent quite a large class in their much confused ideas regarding the newspaper business and it is for the benent benefit of these that this article is written those who know all about the subject treated of bleed need not waste their valuable time in bersu ing this ecret A the regular writing force of the paper is is made up of quite a number of remarkably talented men in addition to whom there are regular correspondents in the leading loading cities of the state who furnish us with information regarding important events as they occur the political editor isa man who has hal mado made political economy a study from his cradle up in his big childhoods days he had no taste for the games and pastimes of boys of his age but preferred to spend his leis urel ur eStime time in reading up the history of all human governments from the date of adams adam ls expulsion from the garden of eden As he grew grow in in years his love IOTO for political matters increased hehns he has invented half a dozen well defined systems of government any one of which would astonish the world by it its completeness and success if cenvas he was allowed to put it into practice he sends his copy direct to the compos ing room and it is never scratched the news editor is an individual with large perceptive faculties and a bright pair of scissors he can ean go through a bushel basket of exchanges cha eha n in a twin twinkling klimp extracting all t the gifts newsy ow 81 items m and rejecting the trash wit with 9 un unfailing flailing precision and he lie is remarkably skilful with the scissors the matter which this gentleman prepares for ho the pa per passes under no eye but his own and that of the and proofreader proof reader until it is perused the next morning by the thousands who daily draw inspiration from our colu columns mus mug the fighting editor is a man who weighs a ton in his stocking feet his lower limbs are plated with sheet iron and he wears two breast plates he has a special permit from the police authorities to carry as many arms as he chooses her he chooses to car cai carry earry r y two besides half a dozen six shooters and a bowie bowle knife in each bootleg boot leg he never writes anything for the paper ilis lils solf self buthe but he stands responsible for what the others write the commercial editor lias has his organ of calculation so fully dove developed ve loped that all the other organs have remained in quo guo from rom the day of his birth he is an odd looking genius but a very valuable man figures are his hobby bobby and he fairly revels in statistics the articles which emanate from his gifted pen or pencil penell rather are read with tiie tile most absorbing interest the which ic 1 they appear being tho first one perused by nine out of ten of our readers the river editor was born on a flatboat flat boat he could swim when he was two years ears old and the days of his childhood were pleasantly and profitably occupied in throwing stones at fro fros frogs s and mud turtles going fishing on n which occasions lie he always ca carried d his bait in his mouth and spelling out the name of the tho river craft which dally daily passed the tho paternal mansion ab his contributions to the current literature of the day are quoted far and wide many of them having baving beensen been set seb ta to music musie for the use of the schools throughout the land our Musi musical caland and Drama dramatic tid critic is one of tha the most accomplished young men of the age ago the young ladies ladles go into raptures over his long iong ong flowing locks which are black as the cavens ravens wing whig a bucket of tar or any other dark substance he is thoroughly conversant with the tile fa ambus tho the old oid goldwa mas tens of music and ho lie kno knows ws all about the peculiar characteristics of liszt gottschalk cornstalk and other celebrated musicians asfor As for the drama lie he is fully satisfied that if lie he saw fit to devote his attention exclusively to that subject he would bo be a formidable rival for mr shakespeare but ho be is not going to devote his attention exclusively to that subject at least not at present he prepares his articles article in a carefully shaded room ills his eyes in a fine frenzy rolling with a cob pipe in his mouth lv and a sun thin so othin II 11 on the table before him the local editor has charge of the matter intended for the local pages the innocent hard work ing reporters are under his immediate supervision over whom lie exercises a sort of step fatherly care he has two grand objects in ilfe life the one being to get ahead of rival papers in the way of city news and iund the other to properly train traill the tal tais s anted young men under his charge so that they may develop into the bright shining literary lights nature designed them to be the reportorial stass staff is made up of college graduates the favorite sons of wealthy parents they aie ale are young ng men of grand expectations and promising future they toil toll daily from sheer sheen love of work and not because they are afe compell compelled dd to they choose to remain in a newspaper office in the character chai acter of reporters because of their innate love iove for truth as an abstract principle which with them amounts to a passion they find that the associations ciati clat ions lons ons and influences connected connected with their present position are such as to tend to fix and confirm them in their desire to rival washington in his reputation for truth telling mark twain says that a reporter has to lie a little or he willbe will be discharged it Is the high alm aim of the reporters on this paper to convince the world that twain himself liim seif self prevaricated pre in making this statement our reporters perambulate up and down the streets during the day dayl filling their little notebooks note books with interesting items and meeting with varied experiences forin forlain stance in the morning they will interview state officials minis ministers medical students and other gentlemen of standing later in the day they attend the tile police pollee court where they are brought in contact occasionally with the scum of the city repairing to their favorite free lunch establishment at noon they partake of their frugal repast in the afternoon they visit the workhouse where they see many familiar faces the jail the coroners office run after der mer shene sheney when a fire alarm is sounded break for a crowd when they see one collected hoping that a fight is in progress a man had a fit or something of that kind in khz the evening they attend and report lectures on all sorts of subjects always making marvellously correct reports closing their days labors by writing up the contents of their notebooks note books which keeps them jury busy until a late hour they write a great many brilliant articles more than the public generally know anything about owing to the fact that the local editor holding his own peculiar views regarding their articles consigns some of them to the was waste de basket it is possible that such will bethe be the fate of this screed and if it does not appear in in print the tile public will know whom to blame but let us not be too severe on the local let us rather look upon his errors of judgment with a lenient eye and let us ua drop a pitying tear over oyer his 1 lack ack of discernment cern ment in literary matters but tilo tile most important man in the office is the intelligent ent compositor he hd it is who determines aeter determines mines hov hof the matter appear r when it comes out in print this man recognizes izes no lawf law human or dr divine bum bul but t is influenced entirely by the impulses of the moment the proofreader proof reader is supposed to control his big vagaries to some extent but owing to his long experience ho he is skillful enough to outwit the proofreader generally he 14 the chap who has a playful way of substituting words and sometimes sentences for those thoo in the copy car ciro intent fully extracting those the writer intended should appear with the tile most astonish astonishing ling result no doubt the intelligent compositor is pl pleased e ased with the article as it appears but it looks odd it certainly looks look sodd odd for instance there was a nian win who wiio wrote we will hallow hargrave her grave with our tears 11 after passing through 0 li the hands of the intelligent compositor those beautiful lines read wo we will harrow hallow her I 1 gravo grave with our steers although the poor poet in this cace case ca hung himself with his hiss own hand the intelligent tell igent compositor is the real murderer and the day is coming when wilen ho he will have to answer for that manyd mans line life and that is not all he is brin bringing gitig the raven black blek locks of our own poet our musical critic in sorrow to thomra the grave ve lan aage is not able to express the guage beep eap and ind acute an anguish which that talented youth sunni suher elp cip when he attempt attempts to read his carefully prepared articles after they have bave been wrestled with by the genius of the composing room he always smiles miles and says as ho lie passes one thin hand band across his Ms expansive brow itis no matter mattor it is nothing atall at all ail but tho those z e who love him best ate able to penetrate thi this thin disguise of assumed indifference and us as they look upon his attenuated form and see the hectic flush upon hui his punk en cheek they turn aside and alil whisper e r aids alas alis alas and he be too jaust us g go 0 I 1 As for the rest of af u as we are not of or such sensitive temperaments we dont care much about it we are satisfied that on many occasions ofir pen would have been as as abominable in our own 9 ight as in that 0 of f our readers IF the intelligent compositor had nol nou altered amended and substituted words which were necessary to make our fusions ef both readable and intelligible telli gible and a as 9 we would be forgiven sa wo wei forgive nashville union and american amerie ameri Amerl can |
