Column 1: Below the masthead, a poem generally appeared. Sometimes this selection of verse was commissioned for or submitted to the Valley Spirit in particular. Often, however, the poetry was acquired from another paper via the newspaper "exchange." The February 1 poem, for example, was "written for the Morning Pennsylvanian."
Columns 2-6: Most of page 1 was filled with items of national or
international news. Almost always, these items were taken from other
papers in the Valley Spirit's circuit of exchange. Frequently, these
items were not related to politics, but rather described unusual
events and human interest stories, not unlike columns 4-7 of page 1 of
the Spectator. This did not mean, however, that the editors of the
Spectator and the Valley Spirit found the same pieces of
news of interest or value. On February 1, 1860, for example, the Valley
Spirit did not carry a single item of news on page 1 that the
Spectator had carried just a day earlier. The Spectator
and the
Valley Spirit received their extralocal news from different
newspapers,
and they had different priorities in determining what might be of
interest to their readers. The Valley Spirit was Democratic while the
Spectator was Whig, and thus each received other newspapers of its
particular political bent. Moreover, geography played a role in the
selection of news.
On February 1, for
example, the Valley Spirit
carried two items dealing particularly with Pennsylvania, while a
third item originated in the Easton (Pa.) Argus. A Virginia
newspaper
of any political strain would be unlikely to publish these articles, choosing instead to spread its state's news.
One result of nineteenth century news selection, then, is that in
looking at sections of two different newspapers of the same week that
ostensibly were devoted to the same type of news coverage
(international news, for example), without actually viewing the
publication date one might be hard-pressed to ascertain if the papers
were published around the same time.
The bottom of page 1 was often occupied by aphorisms and jokes, not unlike those that often appeared toward the bottom of page 1 of the Staunton Spectator.