and ventilated, we found two gentlemen
comfortably established at a table under a
lamp; another table containing a pleasant-
looking tea-service. One was writing a
notice of a concert—musical criticism being his
department. The other was busy compiling
and abridging law reports; and in the next
apartment was an editor surrounded by
provincial newspapers, from which he was
compiling country news. No great deal is
gathered in this way, as everything of
importance, or worthy of any particular notice
at all, is specially sent to the office from the
different towns whence the local journals
are sent.

Leaving these gentlemen to their quiet
labours, we mounted a long flight of stairs
leading to that very interesting apartment,
the reporters' room. It was quiet enough,
compared with what it is during the
parliamentary session. Then, there is a
perpetual rush during any important night of
debate. Cabs are dashing backward and
forward between the House and the office,
the whole night. The first reporter, who has
plenty of time before him, sits for three-
quarters of an hour taking notes. These
notes occupy three or four hours to write
out; the next in succession sit half an hour;
and the later ones twenty minutes—they
having less time for writing out the speeches.
Each must be punctually on the spot to
relieve his predecessor, and must afford precise
notice to him who is to follow. Arrived in the
room, they sit at the desks which extend round
three sides of the apartment, and begin to
copy from their shorthand on slips of paper,
each of which is headed by the writer's name,
and numbered, thus, for instance:—" Smith
follows Jones. 1." The next slip is headed
"Smith, 2;" the next, " Smith, 8," and so
on. At the foot of the last is written the
name of the reporter who is to follow: as,
for instance, "Brown;" and he heads his
first slip with "Brown follows Smith. 1."
The wonder is what is done with the speeches
which are delivered last in a long debate. If
the paper has to be printed to be dispatched
by the morning trains before five o'clock,
what can be done with the speeches that are
not concluded at three or four?—a thing
which happens pretty often. They are, to
say the truth, most marvellously condensed
—those latest speeches. For a master in
the art of condensation, commend me to a
newspaper reporter at four in the morning.
What a scene that room must be at such
an hour, with its hot atmosphere where the
gas has been burning all night, and the
haggard faces, and the scrawled papers! As
we saw it, it was pleasant enough—airy and
spacious, with only two reporters at work—
one returned from a great dinner and now
copying out the speeches; the other from a
public meeting he had been attending in the
country, whence he had just arrived by the
express train.

In another room were persons employed in
matters of various detail; one putting the
numbers to the share list of the day, another
arranging the law notices for the next day,
and a third dealing with " flimsy." Flimsy is
the thin paper used in the manifold writer,
and employed by penny-a-liners, who
communicate their facts to various papers, and
save labour and time by writing all their
copies at once.

By this time we began to be rather awestruck
with the sense of the quantity of wit,
energy, and toil on the part of many, to supply
the matter of one day's newspaper. We had
seen many gentlemen, and heard of many
more, diligently busy in intellectual labour,
which we knew to be continued for six nights
per week throughout the year, with the
exception of the short autumn holiday allowed
to each. We knew that every night, except
Saturday, they were to be found here thus
employed till very late into the night, and
the editors until from three to four in the
morning: and we were deeply impressed.

To us the aspect of the composing-room
was even more striking; for we could trace
the progress of Mr. Wiseman's leader. Here
we met it, cut up into no less than thirteen
pieces, and distributed among as many
compositors. Bringing their little contributions
of type to the " galley," or long tray in which
it was collected, they joined their respective
morsels together, numbering each with chalk
on the margin as it was deposited. Mr. Wiseman
was evidently congratulating them in his
mind on the honour of having a hand in
publishing his great "view." There were
above half-a-hundred compositors; and the
only cause of concern was that so few could
share that honour. One was composing the
list of births, marriages, and deaths; another
a report of a trial, and so on: but our attention
was engrossed by the larger type in
which leaders are printed. When the whole
of Mr. Wiseman's precious document was
set, two or three slips were " pulled off;" one
for the " reader," of course, and one, at my
respectful request, for Mr. Wiseman, who
buckled it into his pocket-book with a
countenance expressive of intense satisfaction.
He had now seen his leader in print, and
was happy. He was at liberty to admire
the ingenuity of one of the compositors, to
whom belongs the honour and glory of
having achieved the perfect ventilation of
the composing-room, when many doctors in
the art had failed. With fifty or sixty men
in it, and gaslights in profusion, the air was
fresh and cool as need be; and the healthful
and cheerful appearance of the compositors
was very striking. Nearly all of them have
been employed many years at this office; and
there was nothing in their aspect to occasion
a doubt of their remaining for as many years
longer.

Next, we visited the "readers"—three
pairs in as many rooms: one of each pair