The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1859-02-10
A NUISANCE.


hoy"nce, 10 the newspaper publisher and
readers OF the day, than that class of wri.
ters known as newspaper poets." A con.
tinued suice Of ,urbij nonsense and muddy
vag'arsrn is continually pouring from the
press, 4" rhyme We have poics." ad
na"sae"'-if Smith gets married, jing.
ling epithalamlum is done up in loggrel-
IT Grahb's baby dies, the dcfunct is poeti.
cally metamorploscd into an angcl-Has
young Jenkins had that part of lis corpo.
ros''y, where enatomists suppose the heart
to lie, touched hy Cupiis missiles, lie forth
with pours out his doorous Winnings. in q
series Of lines. in which love rhymes with
dove and heart with datt-I1as Iaur.
matilda become s,nittcn with the inc;nien.
goatce of young Stebbins, the fact is deli.
cateIy insinua,ed in verse, done on embossed
note paper. These poetic hedglngs are
never at II loss for suhject-thcir art can
dignity anytIing-a house, tree, tom
Cat or NANCY rurpy-n fact, ideas, with
them, are lritlcs as well rs mcter-all TINT !,
necessary is that the {" doc" "rhymcs-breeze
must Jingle with trees, sky Will, I, true with
You and sea with me.
These moon Struck rLynlets are usually
forlorn spinsters, dolorous benedicts. soft.
headed young men or love.sick school girls:
generally, incapable Of penning dozen
lines, without numbering the Kings Eng
lIsh frequently, unable to make them
selves in'eIigiblc in prose sometimes a.
innocent Of giving birth to au original
idea as an oyster-tl.cy madly essay the
most difficult Of all kinds of composition
and sometimes, in order to cke out a wretcl,
ed vefse, In hope of winning little local
praise from the ignorant, they stoop to the
meanness of laying surrep,itious hands on
the property Of others. There are more
plasiarisms committed by this class of
writer's; than bt all Others, perhaps.
Occasionally, we find persons of a high.
er order OF mind damning themselves by
perpttratlng miserable stuff, Which j. would
be a libel 10 call poetry, when they might
am'ise and instruct and win tuputatlon,
were they Content to clo,he their ideas in
plain prose. They have no proper con-
cepton Of meter or rhyme-eyerybodv
sees this but themselves. Point out their
errors. and they will talk about " poetical
license" and mentally set you down among
those who have not the taste. the sense and
soul to appreciate the divine art.
In the matter of this nuisance, Editors
are not blanieIess. They cultivate, most
slccessfullythis crop ofla:kadaiscsl of thyme,
Laura Matlds's daddy is powerful and he
wins the old FOOLS heart, if lie may be said
to possess that iytlcal Article, by digni-
fying his daughters t*addlo with place
in the paper, prefaced Jy such abs a. gor.
geous," " ethereal" "sublime" DC. Young
Muggins is particular friend of the Edi.
tor-he dimes him and lends him occasional
"Fs." Of course the verses of this l." Gift
ed correspondent" are published, and Mug
gins IS putfed until the noodle believes him
self second Byron. Rather than offend
friend by telling him plainly that lie
never did and never could write a verse
WORTH publishing, lie regularly dissuests
his thousands Of readers by inserting silly
rhymes to the exclusion Of more solid mat
ter.
The conductors of the press might rid
Themselves and their readers of this har
vest Of scfibblers, by putting their manu-
script III the stove, or, more effectualy
still, by publishing with just and honest
criticism: Draw the veil that rhyme
throws over tleit nonsense, by printing it
as prose in Laura Matilda's case-analyzs
and disscct Muggin's poem, until you Law
bare even to his distorted perception, the
fact that lie is a ninny. The management
OF one or two cases in this way, would
drive back the army of rhymers, and give
AN open field TO true genius. 1t should be
done. We scarcely know of "A greater ser
vice which the press could confer upon the
friends of literature and the reading world
at large. If it has not the courage to do
this, it may at least, by suppression, save
from many sore trials, the feelings and
taste of intelligent readers. 49, aberdeen
(Miss,) ConscrraGst.
Gen. Seoo rictimized:-The picayuue
@s''S ."e following.-As the procession had