Bellevue gazette. [volume] (Bellevue City, N.T. [i.e. Neb.]) 1856-1858, 1858-02-18
MISCEL L ANE0US.
what is the Newsi

W sse~s - essS A. SNNos
Unique in the world of letters, the news.
paper is like no other thing--it bears no
resemblance 10 any other literary produc.
ton. 1t is the epheneral record of the
great and exciting NOW of the worlds
history, q collection Of the jottings of hu.
NOR.
II is the busy, industrious collector Of
the worlds highway, picking up every.
thing. from the revolution of an empire
to one Of natures freaks-a pig with two
heads, or a cat with two tails. 1t is an
omnivorous monster, greedily opening its
capacious jaws for anything and every
thing offered. 1t is sleepless caterer TO
the appetite of the million. The hetero.
geneous confusion of subjects in news.
paper is singular 10 contemplate. The
ludicrous and the pathetic-the sublime
and the ridiculous-a met with in
strange proximity; vice and philantrophy
jostle each other-strange cunning and
stranger simplicity, love and murder, poll.
tics and poetry, are huddled together. In
one corner we have births, marriages,
and deaths-ife and death, as it were,
hand in hand-,he cradle and the coffin
side by side. Here, George is earnestly
requested to communicate with his sor-
rowing friends, and no attempt shall be
made to interfere with his movements.
There, 'If that lady who gave her name
TAFT, and left the child she called Tommy
Brown with Mrs. Cork, does not come or
send, the child will be put into the work
house," Here long list Of "Want Pla.
ces" painfully remind as of the scarcity
of employment, and the superab 'ndance
of labor. There, the heartless votary of
fashion offers starving salary to the pos
SCISSOR of every imaginable prospective
qualification. There, false and fictitious
companies-their names are legion-com.
posed of n parcel of tricksters, spurious
insurance companies, bubble annuity soci.
cites, whose chief capital is unbounded
impudence, and, on the part of the public,
unbounded credulity-these having Joined
their purses 10 produce prospectus, and
having taken an Office, invite the COM
mun!ty to invest their spare cash in de.
posits to insure their precious lives, TO
purchase for themselves annuities. Here,
the honest finder of parse of money
honorably advertises il that it may be
owned-there, the professional shark an.
nounces vacancy for apprentice, cor
cluding his pompousiy arrayed advantages
with the very significant words, aHe will
be treated as one Of the God fearing fan :.
ily,' "a premium will be required."---
There, boated capitalist trumpets forth
his thousands to lend "on approved securi:
~" or Diamonds and plate purchased to
any amour, for cash." here, is an app al
by some broken-hearted man, who d /.
clares that loan of five dollars would
save him and his family from irretrievable
ruin. There, brutal husband half kills
his unofending wife--here, drunken,
unfeeling mother is prosecuted for i'll
treatment of her child. There, a benev-
olent stranger is commended for his dis.
interested adoption of some friendless or.
phans--here, full particulars of the cost.
" celebration of some high-life marriage
there, the melancholy destruction of
some hope-abandonded miserable. Tn.
told riches ana aoJect poverty-the vota-
ries of pleasure aud the victims Of des.
pair-theatres and criminal courts, are al
strangely mingled one with another, and
the newspaper must be considered a very
'great fact" .t,. '
Again; 1.-THE newspaper" is test of
the habits and tastes Of the people, No
feather thrown into the air more surely
indicates which way the wind blows. The
grave poll ician turns at once to "the lead
er, ,"and the foreign intelligence, TO note
the movements Of party. The fundhold-
er to the price of stock, and then scans
the political horizon TO see il there be any
cloud gathering, and threatening to affect
prices. The merchant bestows his atlen.
lion on the "price current" aud the ship
owner TO the shipping intelligence. The
literary man devours the reviews of books
and pores over the advertisements TO learn
what is in the press. The young officer
eagerly looks to the army intelligence ,o
behold, for the first time, his name in
print. The su'hor, sculptor, painter, &C