CHAPTER XIII. THE SUB-EDITOR. By .wind or stream, on horseback or dromedary back, in the pouch of the Indian runner, or clicking over the magnetic wires, troop (to him) all the famous performers from the four quarters of the globe. — J. R. Lowell. UTSIDE the newspaper staff there is but little knowledge of the office and duties of the Sub-Editor. The name fails to convey an idea of the functions of the " Sub " — as he is familiarly known in newspaper circles. It would tend possibly to give the public a more adequate idea of the duties appertaining to the office if he were to be called, as in America, " the News-Editor." People are fully alive to the fact that the editor exercises full control over the opinions and policy of the newspaper, but they do not so well understand that all the news passes through the hands of an accomplished corps of sub-editors before it meets the public eye, and that were this not the case, the ap- pearance of the news columns of the paper would be a cause for considerable amazement — not to say amusement — to the intelligent newspaper reader. Perhaps the most entertaining way in which an idea of the sub-editorial functions can be conveyed, is to furnish a sketch of the sub-editor at work. His duties vary very littie, whether he is engaged on a London or Provincial morning newspaper, except that the provincial sub-editor has, as a rule, a great deal more work than the London sub-editor. In the London office the chief sub-editor has a staff about him. To each member of this staff, he allots the contributions which reach him, the assistants taking individually distinct departments of news, and there is
