The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1825-10-05
For the Massachusetts, Spy.1
NEWSPAPERS.

S'Gt ~ 11lDs
Is This folio of four pages, happy work!
Which not cen critics criticize
What is it, but map of busy life,
Its fluctuations and its vast concerns ?''
During one Of those gloomy days of autumn.
when the atmosphere was filed with lurid
clouds, agitated by an easterly wind, found
myself, as usual 10 such weather, little de-
jected, and contemplating the miseries of hu-
man life. was reused from my reverie by
the entrance of the printers depil, who threw
down before me copy of well conducted
Journal. Willing to fly from my unpleasant
thoughts, began to peruse its columns, which
afforded me no small degree of satisfaction and
pleasure. The tone Of my feelings was re-
stored, and exclaimed,
6 Sweet beguiler ola wretched hour,
know thy worth, feel thy soothing power. 8
In these publications, we are presented
with an epitome of the history of the present.
They contain accounts of incidents. not onl,
domestic. but foreign, not only of small, but
of great moment. In these are noticed tn.
most important discoveries and improvements
in the fine and mechanic arts, in agriculture.
commerce and manufactures, IN literature
and science, in dome site and political econo-
my, and, sometimes, the alterations in Ell
quette and fashion. They are a kind of min
iature cyclopedia, conducted by almost innu-
merable editors. Their columns are eyer
open to the light and fantastic essays OF youth.
the able and judlcious productions of man.
hood, and the pertinent and sage remarks OF
age. Here young genius can test its merits
by the impartial standard of public opinion.
which reach its ear unaccompanied by the
Establishments of fiattery, the palliatives o,
delicaCy, or the injustice and censures of per.
sonal dislike. They are the records of pros
perity and adversely, of happiness and misery,
of escapes and accidents, of marriages and
deaths. They are petty purveyors to he wit
and the sage, the poet and philosopher, the
moralist and divine, the lawyer and the states
man. To some they are the heralds of ioy. TO
others they are the messengers Of grief. They
afford amusement to one, and instruction ia
another. In short, like well-stored cook
shop, they furnish something suited to every
taste.
Their political importance is truly great
They contain a summary of the aff,irs of orr
own and other nations. They are kind Of
court of inquest on public characters. where
honor and applause are awarded TO the faithful
and deserving, and disgrace and censure TO the
treacherous and unmeritorious. They are, to
aiarge portion OF the community, almost The
only source Of political information. being tho
common intelligencers, both of the people and
their governors, by which the interests and sen.
timents of the one, and the laws and regula-
lions of the others, are made known. In these
legislative proceedings and plans are (reely
canvassed. the rights of the people asserted,
and the dongs Of the executive and judicial
departments are reviewed before the high tri-
bunal of the people. Thus they appear to
constitute one Of the safeguards of our freedom.
not only from the above considerations. but
also from their being means by which know
ledge is greatly diffused. From their album
dance, and their consequent cheapness and
the facilities Of their distribution, they have
an extensive circulation, fading their way
even to the rude cabin of the western forester.
Indeed, there can hardly BE- found in the
United States a person so poor that he cannot
buy, so illierate that he cannot read, so void
81 curiosity that he will not have access to, or