1898.]
How should a young man be equipped' to enter newspaper life ?
A man who takes up medicine gets along pretty well if he knows
his medicine thoroughly, or the engineer if he knows his engi
neering, or the lawyer his law. But he makes the best news
paper man who has some information on every subject; who can
write an account of a new electrical contrivance without mixing
up ohms, volts, and amperes; who can at a moment's notice write
an obituary of a man known in political or literary life; who has
mastered the intricacies of law to such a degree that he can so re
port an argument that the lay mind will comprehend it; who
can talk to distinguished or obscure foreigners in their own
languages. The more encyclopedic his knowledge the better.
There is no information, however small, that the newspaper man
can afford to spurn. As a foundation of all his work he must
know how to express himself simply and plainly in English. On
this point I shall quote a man who has long experience in training
novices.
" It is remarkable how many of the graduates of our colleges
write like schoolboys," he said recently: " Young men who are
able to read Latin and Greek at sight fail lamentably when they
try to write a column of their own language in an hour. They
jumble their pronouns and mix their tenses. They write involved
sentences and weight them down with adjectives. The new man
who can make a simple statement of facts well is a rarity."
The press, as it is popularly called, is a wide subject, and when
one starts discoursing thereon it is hard to stop. However, when
the alarm clock is set for six-thirty, and the neighboring church.
clock is striking one, it is well to cork up the ink bottle and lay
down the pen.
4 4 S AY, Jack, throw away those books and get your bike. The
fellows are going out for a spin."
" Really, Jim, I can't," responded the person ad
dressed. "I've got to get out this stuff for the exam. to-
A Cycling Episode
EPISODE
A CYCLING