Illinois newspaper directory. History of the Illinois press association

Illinois Newspaper Directory \nd History"The subtle and keen intuition which is woman's birthright; her powers of minuteand quick observation, and her impressionability, adaptability, and intensity give herspecial fitness for literary and journalistic work. Moreover, of all employments whichare possible to woman (and she has proven that most employments are possible to her)there is perhaps none against which the oft-repeated and much-brought-forward argumentof her natural and proper expectation of domesticity obtains less than againstjournalistic and literary work. For while the mistress of a home may not be able toengage in constant, active, every-day journalism, she may yet do a great deal of workin this line if she has been previously prepared for doing it and chooses to devote thetime to her pen which is generally given to meaningless society and gossip. I have inmind now two women whom I have known who were marked illustrations of this, beingat once home-keepers and regular journalistic workers. One of them, the mother of fivechildren, did uninterruptedly for years the art work for a leading daily paper, and indoing this in no way neglected her duties as a wife and mother. Indeed, hers was anexcellently-ordered house, and I scarcely know of a more pleasant family circle. Theother was a little woman, originally from New England, who did the art and other workfor a dailv paper, as well as occasional correspondence, and was a notably nice housekeeper,whose husband's special pride (he was also a journalist) was in his perfectly-kept,pretty home."1 have said that the journalistic profession was more accessible to women thanmost other professions. Editors are as anxious to get really excellent work for thedifferent departments of their journals as the most intensely anxious writer is to see hiswork favorably placed in the art preservative, and will, as a rule, accept such workwithout regard to the sex, color, race, or class distinctions of the writer, and a womanwho will do really good work with a little patience and perseverance can obtain a hearing.So true is it that editors are anxious for really good work that when a writer givespromise they are kindly, patient, and helpful employers. I do not at all agree withEliza Archard, who affirms that men want all the plums for themselves, and thereforetry to keep women out of journalism. I am perfectly certain that humanity, takenindividually, will each of them grasp the plum if possible, but there certainly is noconcerted action in the journalistic field against woman. The very fact that she hasnever been known to strike for higher wages would, when she is capable of doing thework required, gain for her favorable consideration with those in authority. I haveeven known the very busy managing editor of one of the largest dailies in the West,outside of Chicago, to have repeatedly given the benefit of his suggestion in regard tomanuscript not intended for his paper. This he did to assist a woman who was workingagainst some odds to gain a place as a journalist and literary worker."If, then, journalism is a fitting field for the effort of women and is accessibleto them, and as the first daily paper printed in the world was established in London, in1702, by Elizabeth Mallet, and the first newspaper ever published in America was editedfor some years by Margaret Draper, after the death of her husband, who established it(it was called The Massachusetts Gazette and News-Letter) , they certainly had a fairstart in the beginning, and the question arises why, of the thousands who are employedin this kind of work in America, only two hundred are women. This two hundrednumbers only the women who are employed in journalism. If those employed in literarywork were included the showing would be much larger, but would still be but a smallproportion of the whole. I have sought somewhat diligently for the reason of this, andI believe that the peculiar kind of ability which woman possesses is at once her strengthand her weakness. Her sensibility and impressionability make her hyper-sensitive tocriticism. Her intuitions are likely to make her impatient of direction, for she quickly