Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1858-03-06
From the Charleston News.

L6@oom Times, jan 26.
F From the Charleston News. a
The Printer and the Press.
Osquisitons have beon rendered upon
various occasions, relative to thehabits, &c
centricities, stature, etc, of the "compos-
itorj" that he is a strange and isolated be-
ing, we shall not questionable cause is
easily adduced and we shall humbly en-
| deavor, in a subsequent essay, to portray
his loneliness. We shall briefly attempt
an essay upon the result of an experience
within the precincts ola "Printing Oficc.o
This profound science, known as the
@Black Art has engaged the toiling mind
OF many antiquarians, eager to discover the
immortal sage, whose brilliantly philosoph-
ic soul first conceived the embryo form of
this mighty engine Of a nations veal or
woo.
We perceive that the earliest record Of
the use of metal type-the same with the
exception Of the beauty of finish aud ad-
mixture) as now used, is as remote as 1852.
John Guttcmburg, Jr., John Faust. and
Peter Schoefer, the two former citizens of
| Mentz-the latter resident of Gcrnsheim,
are the heroes to whose memory all renown
is ascrbed. Guttemburg invented, while
Faust promoted, and Schoeficr improved
the intricacies of the art Germany has
immortalizcd herself a
Printing was first introduced into Eng
land in 1474, by one Caxton, who acquired
his proficiency in Germany. A press was
established at Lima, Peru, in 1921. The
| first press in North America was at Cam
bridge, Mass, in 1850. The first newspa-
per published in the British Provinces was
at Boston, whose name was the Boston
Nc'cs Letter, l704. How stands the mat.
ter now? Scarcely hamlet within our
wide domain, which cannot boast it's week
y sheet; aye, and sometimes its daily also
There is no limit to the size and variety of
type. Diamond the smallest letter in use,
is 80 fine as to be hardly discernible. The
Bible is said to have been. the first book
printed with metal type, and simultaneous
with its appearance, light cleaned into the
darkencd soul of man-the scales fell from
his eye, while the clarion note of life, light
and liberty, awakened the sleeping nations,
as the '9egate of. the sky" arose, in Luther,
learning dixie Gagged bird, burst the
shacliles Of dominion, and poured its efful-
gent melody upon bcnighted people.
The printing Press, without doubt, if
not DETAINED, shall ward off, Gas did the
touch of lthumcl's spear, the arch ficnd J
the usurpation Of Intolerance and despotism.
England does not favor her press as does
the United States of America. Subseouent
to the Censorship of Parliament, when en-
!ighte1cd Ann rendered degree of tolera-
ton, and its shavcn locks were permitted to
grow, what did Swift and Bolinbroke for
the pressY Learning disseminated its bril-
lance, rs the meteor trails its silvcry course,
until, forSooth, its virtuous structures were
thrust home to an offensive Parliament !;
then came the embargo-and taxation, like
wcighty incubus, rested upon its bosom ::
presses were discontinued, while uufortu-
pate Journalists were dealt with in the most
summary manner. Mlrs
What can be said of the Republican
Press, the press of the United States, which
numbers nearly three thousand? Is it le-
githn0tc, yirtuous, honest and independent?
What a void would there be without the
press-that portion which is schaste-which
protects Truth, upholds Chivalry, develops
Patriotism, and renders merit where it is
due, regardless of the sycophant's smile, or
the frown OF blSotry which opens its bat
tcrics upon the evasion, subterfuge and
threat of the vena demagoguo.
The press is assuming spirit of licen-
tiousness in too many sections-there issa
press which should be crushed by the arm
of law-which issues to a morbid taste its
poisoned garbage -thrusting it's viperous
breath into the nostril of innocence and
virtue--eXhaling the effluvia arising from
its besotted carcass to the life-blood Of a
growing progeny. Where is the virtue of
law--that it does not crush, as the iron hod
the viper such pestial images of corruption.
Again.-the legitimate prcssis sometimes
negligent of its trusts; inasmuch as it per-
mits its valuable space to be occupied by so
many "Saharas of sand )" matters, "mawk-
ish" in the extreme; inclegant in style !;
slckly In logic; pregnant with the anmiti-
gated twqddle" of lager beer and boots,
emanating from the fertile cramia of era.
cious paragraphists, the pathology of whose
vapid balderdash is past finding out.
| "TYPo.n 5
| A GENTLEMAN was recently regretting
the loss of his first wife in the presence Of
his second "My dear" said the lady,
1 "no one nIourns her deeease moro than I