The University Courier.
Vol. II. ---MARCH 26, 1884---No. 14.
THE FORTNIGHT.
It is something to be desired that the students of this University would exercise themselves more in the practice of writing. For some reason, not a great amount is required by our courses of study, but all good work that can be produced will find ready use in our college papers. From some personal experience and what we have heard from others we know that the "Lit" is often hard run for "copy."
Certainly it is a good thing to be able to write well and fluently, to express your thoughts in a convincing and pleasing manner. Among all the requirements of good yes, of "practical" education, there are none more important than these two, to be ready and pointed in speech, to be forcible and clear in writing.
The position of Literary editor on a college paper is not an enviable one. The contributor generally feels that he is conferring an immense favor by writing for the paper, and thinks the editor ought to be very grateful for his distinguished assistance in satisfying the demands of the fiend that yells for "copy." Of course the editor is always glad to get articles that are written
in a reasonably attractive style, the sentences grammatically constructed, the figures correct, the subject not "stale, dry, flat and unprofitable." But too often the article of our contributor has its sentences ill constructed and worse punctuated, is written in miserable style, and the thought is the merest balderdash; yet will he be blind to all its defects, and expect it to appear unchanged as it came from the master's hand.
The editor may do one of four things. He may endeavor tenderly to point out the defects and suggest their correction. By this means he will usually gain the writer's dislike, "because he thinks he's so awful smart." Or he may directly reject it, with about the same result. Or he may accept the article and endeavor to cure its limping sentences and make its figures correct, and receive for his pains anathemas for not printing what was written. Or he may summon up a face of brass and say the space is full, knowing all the time that three pages are wanted.
It just occurs to us that when our readers wade through what is said above concerning balderdash, they may think that a