Nearly all the novelists have dabbled
with journalism; and, since all of us cannot be novelists, the young
man might reflect that there are editor, sub-editors, assistant
editors, news-editors, leader writers, descriptive writers, reviewers,
dramatic critics, art and music critics, wanted for every paper. He
could become a journalist and he could rise to the achievement of
these ambitions.
At first he rose a very little way, despite his ambition, because in
every branch of letters imperfect education is an insuperable
obstacle. Still he could become news-editor, descriptive reporter,
paragraph writer, and even, in the case of country papers, editor.
Sometimes he passed from the office of the journal to that of one of
the many societies, where he became secretary and succeeded in getting
his name associated with some cause, which gave him some position and
consideration. Whether he succeeded greatly or not, his whole object
was to pass from the class which has no possible future to the class
for which everything is open. His sons would be gentlemen, and if he
could only find the necessary funds, they should make what he had been
unable to make, an attempt upon the prizes of the State.
This was the situation at the beginning of the last decade of the
nineteenth century.
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