THE NEWSPAPER MAN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 33, 19 August 1893, Page 101

THE NEWSPAPER MAN.

(The Hon. 11. Scotland. M.L.C., and one or two others will doubtless gain instruction from this poem, written by a very popular Ixrndon journalist. All who know newspaper men will be struck with its modest veracity.—El>. Gkai-iiii .]

* My son, I don’t know if your youthful conception Has breadth in the scope of its nebulous plan, To weird comprehension of that one exception To workaday mortals, the newspaper man. But if you’ll agree to a feeble description From one of their number, I’ll do what I can. To blend in the way of a little prescription, The mixture that’s known as a newspaper man.

‘ Take a brain that is steeped in solution ot knowledge, Most varied and picturesque under the sun ; Then add just a pinch of the salt of the college, A flavour of wit and a soupyon of fun. For a relish, Bohemian sauce is the caper, And a mind that will stretch from Beersheba to 1 lan In fancy or fact, when it comes to “ the paper.” Or touches the heart of the newspaper man.

‘ To a memory that clutches the veriest trifle, And a hand that is tireless when work’s to be done ; Add an eye that is quick as the flash of a rille, And keen as the eagle that flies to the sun. Take strength, and endurance, and loyal devotion, And add all the grit and the courage you can To the heart that’s as big and as deep as the ocean ; A hundred to one on the newspaper man.

* With a brew of ideas that, seething and boiling, Run out into moulds that are models for men ; Add a ceaseless encounter with planning and toiling ; For the world of to-day that is ruled by the pen. Add the honey of friendship, the dew of affection, And the esprit de corps that gets down to hard pan ; And paste in your hat the whole mortal collection, As the regular stock of the newspaper man.’