The independent. (Harrisonburg, La.) 1853-18??, 1857-10-07

Nv grandfather met them-a patriarch, drest,
As simply cs any old Roman
And they whispered in triumph, "Here IS food for
our jest,
Let us puzzle thisignorsnt yeoman:
20, Abraham!" '1saat!" and "Jacob !" cried they
In Latin, and French, and in German,
"Whence cometh my Lord for his hair is all gray,
Ana moist With the dewso of Mount Herman"
''Fro,n the hills Of Judea,r he answered in Greek,
'But surely thyservant to Saul;
Nv father sKish, and he sent me to seek
For his asses; 10! here ~; they I'll r
~. Y Evening Post
~ The following interesting article in
relation to the rst preservativc of arts we
clip from the New Orleans Bulletin, of the
25th ultimo:
ONE HUNDRED AND Srxrr-SEvESrH AMI
|vERsAKt or THE FIRST AaER1cAz NEwsrA-
PER.-One hundred and sixty-seven years
ago to-day, the FIRST newspaper ever issued
in the forests of America was printed in
Boston, "by r. Pierce, for Benjamin Harris,
at the Loudon Coffee-house 1t was en-
titled "publick Occurrences both Foreign
and Domestick," and was printed on the
first three pages of folded sheet, with two
columns to the page, and each page only
about seven inches by eleven. The publish
er announced that it would be printed
monthly or oftener "if any Glut Occurrences
happened" and was to contain IAN Account
of such considerable things as arrived unto
the editors Notice." One of the principal
objects of the Occurrences" was an attempt
"towards Curing, OF, at least, Charming, Of
that Spirit of Lying" which it seems pre-
vailed among the Bostoniaus Of that day,
and which, we are sorry to say, has not yet
been wholly "Charmed" away. 1t was i'm
mediately noticed by the Legislative author
tiles. They spoke Of it as pamphlet, sta
ted it came out contrary to law, and
contained reflections of a very high nature" !"
and strictly forbade anything in print
without license first obtained from those ap-
pointed by the government to grant the
same;" and SO the Occurrences fell
through.
What change do we witness to-day !!
We will venture the assertion that an equal
change in the history of tho worlds affairs as
has been wrought within one hundred and
sixty-seven years was never before effected
in the same number Of years since the
morning stars sang together" 1t has been
one vast, continued and surprising triumph
Of the printing press. Its effects no human
intellect is able fully to comprehend. They
ARE co-extensive with the earth on which we
dwell. They have penetrated deep down
into its bowels and ascended up to the stars.
There is nothing so minute and nothing 80
gigantic as not to have felt the power of this
great moral lever Of the world. Like the
circumambient air, its presence is every
where. 1t reaches the most abject slave that
crawls upon the dirt-hill, while the Gar and
the Emperor dread its power as the approach
of tornado or the rocking of an earthquake
Our age may emphatically be called the
newspaper era, and America par excellence
the newspaper country. In no other do
newspapers circulate upon a scale to be
compared in magnitude with that which is
exhibited in the United States, and no other
people are such nation Of inveterate news
paper readers. Some one has said that we
live under government Of "morning pa
pers.' They have become necessities, and
men are now obliged in self-defense to have
them whether they wish them or not. The
man who does not read the papers would, in
few years, be out Of the world, a laughing
stock and an igucramus. The increase of
American newspapers is not the least aston
shing thing appertaining to them and not
withstanding the many that has been started
and failed, they are Increasing to-day more
rapidly than they have done at any former
period. In 1910, the entire number in the
United States was sixteen hundred and
tbirty-one, only one hundred and thirty
eight of which were dailies. Most of the
others were weeklies. In-ten years Or up to
the last census the whole number had increa-
sed to two thousand five hundred and twen-
lty-six. OF this number two hundred and
ifty-four were dailies; one thousand nine
hundred and two weeklies one hundred
monthlies; ninety-6ve semi-rnonthlies one
hundred forty-six semi and tri-weeklies, and
nineteen quarterlies. The total number of
copies issued was in round numbers nearly
426, 100000: or about twenty one copies to
every white man, woman and child in the
United States! At the same rate ofincrease,
the number Of papers now published in the
United States would be about three thou
sand and two hundred +; and this is probably
rather under thafi over tho truth
Can any intellect conceive the vast
amount Of fact, fiction, information on every
possible subject, that is thus scattered, like
the leaves Of the forest upon every mountain
top, hillside and valley from the Atlantic
to the Pacific, ahd from the British posses
sions to those Of Mexico, BY these daily,
weekly, monthly and other issues! Moth
ing is too recondte, too important, too ri
fng, too good or too bad for them to discuss;
nothing absolutely on earth which they do
not attack, examine; recommend or use up !
Nav. they do not confine themselves to mum