OCR Text |
Show AN EDITOR'S QUALIFICATIONS A young man asked us our opinion about entering the newspaper field; we answered this wise: If he can listen with a smile to tiresome things he's heard ofttimes before; if he can refuse to do what three or four people, ask him to do without making them mad; if he can write in a way to make people laugh when he feels like cussin', or in a way to make them weep when he feels like cracking his heels together to-gether and laughing out loud; if he can remain silent when he feels like he'll burst wide open if he does not talk; if he can argue without getting get-ting mad or making the other fellow mad; if he can refuse a woman's request re-quest for free publicity without making mak-ing all the members of her set mad at the paper; if he can react to the loss of a good news story and catch a better one on the rebound; if he can explain a typographical error without using up more than thirty minutes' time; if he can concentrate and write intelligent copy while three different conversations are going go-ing on around him, several typewriters type-writers clicking away and the telephone tele-phone ringing and the subdued hum of the presses in the next room j drumming on his ears; if he can explain ex-plain why Mrs. Jones' poem on "The Sylvan Depth of October Woods," did not appear in the paper without her husband stopping his advertising; advertis-ing; if he can take a four'-line story and spread it to a column, or take a two-column story and condense it to two paragraphs; if he can read proofs without overlooking an error and write headlines without murdering murder-ing the king's English; if he has a nose for news, an itch for writing and an inclination to work fifteen hours a day, then we'd advise him to get into the game. Mineral Wells (Texas) Index. |