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| Benton Bushnell Jones, editor and publisher of the Cortland Democrat. |
THE EDITOR OF A LOCAL PAPER.
If any position demands genius, and will be
satisfied with nothing short of it, it is the position of editor of a local
paper.
In the first place, he must know everybody's
peculiarities, and be cognizant of all their faults and failings, and the
faults and failings of their grandfathers, and grandmothers, and cousins, and
aunts, and mothers-in law, else he will be liable to get something into his
paper which will hurt somebody's feelings.
He must print everything sent by an old
subscriber. The man who subscribes for the paper claims a right to give his views
on hen raising, and pig-killing, and theology, and the moral aspect of dancing—no
matter if he cannot spell pig correctly, and does not know of a single case where
some beautiful young lady dropped dead in a ball room.
The local editor is expected to give every man,
and every man's business a gratuitous puff. If Mr. A. is painting his house, it
must be mentioned in the paper, and if Mrs. B. has a calla lily in blossom, she
wants the momentous fact set before the public in printer's ink, headed with
capitals.
When Jones kills a hog weighing four hundred
and fifty, that must be chronicled: and when Brown dispatches another, weighing
four hundred and sixty, that must be put in type and so on thro' the list of
all the other big porkers in town.
When there is a wedding, the local paper must
publish a list of the salt cellars, and butter dishes, and soup ladles and photograph
albums, bestowed by the loving friends, and if he does the thing up in good
style, and remarks feelingly on the beauty of the bride, he will be rewarded
with a slice of spiced brick-bat, frosted with hardtack, yclept wedding cake,
and if he eats it, he will need to take a box of pills, and two or three
bottles of sarsaparilla, before he is well over it.
The local editor must never indulge in personalities.
He must pass lightly over the fact that young Jenkins, the son of rich Squire
Jenkins, was arrested for drunkenness and he must not allude to the fact that
Deacon Grimes, who gives so much for the cause of religion, made his money by
light weights and measures.
He must always be ready to give copies of
his paper to his friends to send to their friends. He must not think of asking
anything, if anybody he is acquainted with invents a newfangled nutmeg grater
and wants it noticed
He mustn't charge more than one dollar a
year for his paper. He must wait patiently till they get ready to settle their
accounts. To send bills looks just as if he was afraid he might not get his pay.
Every issue of his paper must suit everybody.
It must contain all the news. It must omit nothing fresh. There must be at
least two murders, three divorces and one suicide in each number, or the paper will
be thrown down as flat and stale. No life in it. So stupid!
It must not contain typographical errors. It
must print all the poetry sent in by all the aspiring young poetesses in that
section and if the kisses should be printed hisses, and the shouts should be
printed snouts—which will sometimes happen when the manuscript is
illegible—then that editor's fate is sealed, and the success of the paper is
ruined, for she will never, never send him another effusion so long as she
lives. No, indeed!
The local editor has a hard row to hoe, and
if he is neutral in politics and religion it is still harder. But let him brace
up and do his best, for everybody knows that if fame does not come to him as
soon as he expects, fortune is on the way to him if he waits long enough for it
to reach him. For there is no surer way to become a millionaire than to publish
a local paper.—"Clara Augusta" in Saturday Night.
A Libel
Suit.
The Cortland Standard Printing Co. has been
served with papers in a libel suit. The
plaintiff is Howard Meacham of this place who was arrested some weeks ago on
the charge of cruelly beating his horse. It will be remembered that on the
trial of the case before Justice Bull the jury acquitted Meacham. The latter
claims damages for articles published in the daily Standard, both before
and after the result of the trial. He demands damages to the sum of $6,000. N.
L. Miller, Esq., is the plaintiff's attorney.
Easter comes April 14th. It's about time to
start your new hat.
Messrs. Kellogg & Curtis have a
new advertisement in this issue of the DEMOCRAT.
Farmers say it is to be a great fruit year
because the snow clings to the branches of the trees.
A bill has been introduced in the assembly to
make justice court jurors' fees $1 instead of 25 cents.
The last car of the Traction Co. will hereafter
leave Homer and Cortland at 10 o'clock Sunday nights.
Mr. D. E. Kinney has been appointed special
agent for Cortland of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The W. C. T. U. of Cortland County will hold
its tenth anniversary in the First M. E. church in this village. March 5, 1895.
To-day is the last day to file a statement of
election expenses. Candidates should bear this fact in mind and attend to it
sure.
Mr. Cornelius Van Alstine has sold his stock
of groceries recently purchased at the Forrest & Tenney sale to Mr.
G. M. Hopkins who has taken possession.
Mr. T. J. Button, tonsorial artist, has moved
his place of business to the rooms over the store of A. H. Watkins, where his
many friends will hereafter find him.
On account of the inclemency of the weather
the Washington birthday party advertised to be held at the Owego Valley house
in Harford Mills last Friday evening, was postponed to Friday evening. March
1st.
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Mrs. A. D. T.
Whitney, Rev. Robert Collyer and Walter Besant are
all going to tell in The Ladies' Home Journal of either the man or woman
who most influenced their lives.
On Monday last Jas. S. Squires sold the
building, No. 103 Main-st., occupied by him as a grocery store, to Mr. H. P.
Goodrich. Consideration $8,000. Mr. Squires has rented the store for the
ensuing year.
A man may guy, a man may lie, and a man may
puff and blow, but he can't get trade by sitting in the shade, waiting for
business to grow. The U. S. mint is the only business that can make money
without advertising.
Last Saturday night Mr. Holland Alexander,
employed in Thompson's market, slipped and caught his right hand on one of the
large meat hooks. The hand was badly lacerated and he will be unable to use it
for some time.
Three clever women, Margaret Deland, Sarah
Orne Jewett and Mrs. Burton Harrison will try and settle in the next
number of The Ladies' Home Journal when it is proper to use the word
"woman" and when the term "lady" should be employed.
A bill has been introduced in the Assembly
authorizing the trustees of incorporated rural cemeteries to impose a tax upon
owners in said cemeteries. The tax shall not exceed five dollars a lot per
year, to be paid to the treasurer of said cemeteries.
Mr. A. H. Watkins, for several years a member
of the well known dry goods house of Watkins Bros., has opened a dry goods
store at No. 24 Main-st., where he is showing a very handsome line of goods. Everything
in the line of dry goods and carpets will be found in stock. The goods are all new
and have been selected especially to suit the wants and tastes of purchasers who
do their trading in this village.
Mr. W. T. Smith sold two fine omnibuses to
parties in Albany last Friday. He has also sold within a few days some fine jobs
to parties in New York city, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. The spring trade
is booming in his line.
The following gentlemen passed the civil
service examination held in the Democrat building, Feb. 12, 1895: E. R. Holmes,
James H. Turner, P. E. McSweeney, Charles F. McEvoy, Albertus D. Hakes, William
H. Silcox, Luke J. McEvoy and Augustus O. Tennant.
Mr. James H. Turner has been appointed money
order clerk at the post office to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of
Mr. E. A. Cole. Mr. J. P. Gray, who has been temporarily filling the place
while the result of the civil service examination recently held was determined,
will resume his place in the Water Company's office.
Last Saturday a telegram was received by
Delos Bauder, proprietor of the Cortland House, announcing the death of the wife
of Col. Ross in Washington that morning. Mrs. Ross will be remembered as Mrs.
William F. Burdick of this village and a daughter of the late D. J. Sperry. No
further particulars have been learned.
Last Saturday afternoon, while Ted McCarthy and
his sister, Mary, were driving on Port Watson-st., the cutter went into a pitch
hole just beyond the river bridge and the occupants were thrown out. Miss
McCarthy's left leg was broken just above the knee. Mr. Charles Durkee was
coming towards Cortland and caught the horse and took Miss McCarthy to her home
on Railway-ave., where the fracture was reduced by Drs. Reese and Higgins. Miss
McCarthy was carrying a child in her arms and in trying to prevent it being
injured she was unable to care for herself. She was the only one in the party
that was injured.
FROM
EVERYWHERE.
Waverly has a dog with a wooden leg.
Candor wishes a $30,000 appropriation for a
Normal school.
The Empire State express [New York Central
R. R.] recently made a run of fifteen miles in ten minutes.
There are now 57 elk in the famous Nehasane
park, owned by Dr. Webb.
W. W. Ansell of Whitney a Point has departed
to the financial sorrow of many.
A white buck was killed in Dr. Webb's park
recently. It was entirely white with the exception of the ears and a spot on
the forehead, and the antlers were four pronged.
Charles A. Merriam, aged 18 years, killed a
large black bear with a shot gun in the woods in the town of Highmarket, Lewis
county, a few days ago. The pelt weighed sixty pounds.
Princess Paulina, the smallest of women,
known as the "living doll," died in New York yesterday of pneumonia
She weighed eight and a half pounds and was seventeen inches tall.
The Standard Oil Company has secured control
of the Chicago Gaslight & Coke
company, the first step toward securing control of the combined gas properties.
Robert T. Lincoln will be made president of the new board of directors.
John H. Gordon, the original inventor of the
self-binding reaper, died at Rochester, Feb. 12, aged 55 years. He established his
right to the invention after a legal contest with the McCormick company and
received $225,000 from the company.
Dr. Webb is arranging to extend the inclosed
portion of his magnificent park in the Adirondacks by 1,000 acres, and will
construct for that purpose 63 miles of fence additional to that already built.
When extended the park will include Lake Lila and his cottage.
The $3,500,000 estate of the late D. Edgar Crouse
of Syracuse has been settled up, his reputed daughter receiving $1,500,000 and
twenty-seven first cousins $50,000 each under the compromise settlement. About
$400,000 was paid out in special bequests. The compromise was made to save the
estate from being eaten up in litigation.
A storm petrel measuring seven feet and one
inch from tip to tip of wings was shot by Oliver Ashton of Locke, Monday. It is
a bird rarely seen inland, being confined principally to the sea. This bird is
described as being black with a white breast. They are a subdivision of the
Linnaen genus Procellaria. The bird was taken to Moravia where it will be
mounted.
The city taxes of Syracuse the ensuing year
will be about $1,000,000, exceeding the limit allowed by its present charter, which
is to be amended so as to allow the increased taxation. No wonder the
conservative tax payers of Syracuse are wondering "where they are
at." The city schools cost $240,000, fire department $110,000, police
$90,000, street lighting $85,000, interest on bonded debt $93,000.
John Kline, the son of Damon Kline, who
lives about one mile east of Phoenix, was found frozen to death in the Peter Scott
swamp, a short distance from his home, last week Wednesday. Young Kline went
hunting the previous week and is supposed to have lost his way. When he was
found he sat by a tree with his boots off and a coon, which he had shot, was
lying by his side. The lad was about 17 years old.
An Adirondack train, when between Beaver
River and Neha-sa-ne Thursday night, struck and killed three deer. The engineer
in charge of the train was Henry Laurant of Little Falls. As the engine neared
Neha-sa-ne, Mr. Laurant saw three deer on the track. The headlight fascinated the
animals and they walked directly into the engine. The three deer were struck
and were tossed in the snow to the left of the train. Mr. Laurant did not slow
up his train. The following day Engineer Charles Ives, who has an engine which
hauls ice from Neha-sa-ne, when nearing the spot where the deer were struck saw
the ground covered with blood. The carcasses of the animals were not in sight. It
is supposed that the morning after the deer were killed some of the woodsmen
ran across the bodies and hauled them away. Railroad men say they never before heard
of a train killing three deer at once.
NEIGHBORING
COUNTIES.
CHENANGO.—The Telegraph of Norwich is soon to publish
an industrial edition.
The Lally & Brooks sled works at Norwich
have received an order for 20,000 sleds. They will doubtless remove to Oxford.
The Times says that the New York Condensed
Milk Company of Oxford completed their ice harvest last week, storing 4,800
tons.
It is stated that Daniel E. Teal, formerly
of Norwich, who died at Oneida Castle, January 31st, received royalties on the tilting
office chair, now in general use, of which he was the inventor, amounting to
over $ 50,000.
Benjamin P. Rexford of New York recently
presented to the Norwich High School, the private library, numbering about
1,100 volumes of valuable miscellaneous reading matter, which belonged to his
father, the late Benjamin F. Rexford, of Norwich. It will be kept in a separate
case and known as the "Rexford Library."
MADISON.—The next meeting of the Pomona
Grange will be held in Cazenovia on March 12.
The Oneida Post has been sued for libel by Mrs. Mary D. Case and her daughter,
Mrs. Carrie Bertram of that village, who ask for $5,000 for defamation of
character.
TOMPKINS.—Groton expects to
have electric lights soon.
It is proposed to bond Ithaca
for $150,000 for sewers and pavements.
Most of the towns in the county
gave a majority for license at the town elections.
The alumni of Cornell
University have voted to establish a $200 scholarship for women students
Conger Hose Co. of Groton will
give the last ball of the season, Friday evening, March 8th.
There is quite a little so
called winter cholera about Ithaca, just now. In most cases it is attributed to
drinking impure water.
The Gregg manufactory at
Trumansburg has started business with twenty men. They have an order for
seventy-five reapers, from Sweden.
The deed conveying property of
the United Glass Company in Ithaca, to M. F. Calkins and others, for a salt plant,
was recorded in the county clerk's office Monday. The salt men have also bought
a strip lying between the D. L. & W. track and the Inlet, at the
point where the old Glass Company's dock is located. Consideration $50. The
price paid for the Glass Company's land was $3,500.
A Fly in the Beer.
If a fly drops into a beer
glass, says Fliegende Blaetter, one who has made a study of national
characteristics can easily tell the drinker's nationality by his action.
A Spaniard pays for the beer,
leaves it on the table and goes away without saying a word.
A Frenchman will do the same,
except that he swears while he goes.
An Englishman spills the beer
and orders another glass.
A German carefully fishes out
the fly and finishes drinking his beer as if nothing had happened.
A Russian drinks the beer with the fly.
A Chinaman fishes out the fly,
swallows it, and then throws away the beer.
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