You never know

You never know

EVERY OCCUPATION has its own “in” jokes — experiences that are peculiar and unexpected and best appreciated from an insider’s vantage point — and newspapering is no exception.

A 4etter-to-the editor on this page this week is an example. Who in the world would have thought that a “filler” article about deers and the problems they have with modern automotive traffic would have inspired a reader to write a letter denouncing those gentle creatures?

“Gentle creatures!” Why, they’re really “vermin,” and deserving of all the Mack trucks that come their way, we were startled to discover. By exercising only the mildest imagination, we can see why orchardists and grain farmers would be resentful of wild creatures which graze on their produce, but “vermin”?

As noted at the outset, newspapermen are often startled by this sort of thing. An editor will sit himself down at the typewriter, twist his face into a scowl, tear up the keys, and bring forth an editorial calculated to raise the blood pressure of every office holder for miles around. And what happens? Nothing. No letters, no phone calls, no chit chat at the corner drugstore. Nothing.

THEN HE PICKS UP a news release from the game warden or the county agent, about bunny rabbits or starlings, or a short piece on needlepoint — just to fill a pesky “hote” in the typographic pattern of the page before him — and what happens? Bedlam! Ringing telephones in the middle of the night. Bitter letters, some so acrid the writers deigned from signing their names. Denunciations at otherwise sociable gatherings. Family disputes have even been known to have erupted from such innocent beginnings.

For all we know, the editor might be burned in effigy for running an article about how colorful the leaves are at this time of the year. □