—A Hard Life.—

Otago Witness, Issue 2744, 17 October 1906, Page 79

— A Hard Life. —

It was very pleasant to sit and watch the gentle, considerate playing of the big literary lion with the poor little feminine journalistic mouse ; and more than one such mouse, I'm sure, 'felt how glad she •would be wore she able to give up tho hunt for bread and cheese in newspaper lDrders ard retire into the bright serenity of a boi'doir to spend her days in weaving plots and in hunting for words to clothe her thoughts in icdividua'i expression. Who lovi-.s the treadmill of journalistic routine? For man or woman its consolatinfc and compensations are few when compared with its. disadvantages ; the romantic halo of the journalist's career is generally confined to the dazzled ,tjaze of the outsider. To be a little-considered and commonplace cog in the machinery of turning out a piper is to lead anything but an existence of joy ; lmutual and irregular hours, work done at tension, exacting employers, and gi eater uncertainty of tenure than in any other piofession — the description, I venture to say, is not in the least exaggerated when applied to the condition of the avo-agp journalist. Little wonder that th-i^e who know- the life cry out in sympathet < warning to women not to try to enter it. But some leader with ambitious yearnings m.iy exclaim. "fJiantci that tho eaily hunt for the earning of bic •'! and chotvo be hard, still there aie days of cakes and ale in the jouriialLstic life." It cannot be dtnipd : one may even go further and say that when tlios»' days are reachr-d the cakes and 1 aie <tr° sweater than any to be found phew lure. But the people who Il'kl'i the .ile aid rake-; jtatus in any piofisMon ca iroi bi> t;ikin as the standard. Tne st.ir.daid joum«t!i<-t may be said to be the man or woman who en write icd'lable arid f-nily grammatical ]''ngh<-h. and who La^ enough of intelligence to be able to follow with interfi t the co -u pi uatcd sooi, 1 woikintrs of this many-jointed 'M woild Thanks to incut m odiii tiionri! methods ard> the pie Milence of romj/'rcliiinio conta ujiig jn fomiation on e\e:\ bii'iject iiitder the sun, lr' r» any of i.s. I'lii nfiad, ha"c rei'fluil t'iic-e u-.ei-i^e cu;a' fLut.o a.