The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1865-11-23
: The Newspaper.

Take the Icost thorough man of the
world, OF your acquaintance-the man
most perfectly verseG in what goes on in
all ranks and conditions of life-who
knows when and for what the world is
fighting, in this quarter and in that-how
1t builds It's ships-what 1t pays for gold
how it tills its fields, melts its metals,
cooks its food, and writes its novels-and
j ask you what he would be without his
newspaper +! BY what possible machinery
could he learn, as he sits at his break last,
the last news from China, of the last bal
let at Paris, the state OF the funds at San
Francisco, the winter at New Market, the
Pantomime at Olympic, the eneyclical of
the Poue
1t is with the actual, passing, daily
arising incidents Of life, a man ought to
be thoroughly acquainted, bringing to
their consideration all the aid his reading
and reflection can supply; SO that he
neither falls into dogged incredulity on
one side, nor fatal facility of belief on
the other. In an age so widely specuIa.
tive as TO the present, eager to inquire and
not overgiven to scruple-such men az
these are Invaluable to society and a
whole corps of college professors would be
less effective 10 dispelling error or assert
ing truth, than these people trained in all
the dialects Of the press.
Without my newspaper, life would mar
row itself to the small linito OF my per
sonal experiments, and humanity be COM
pressed into the ten or fifteen people | mix
with. Now | refuse to accept this. [
have but sixpence in consols, but [ want
TO know how they stand. [ was never
[ am never likely to be-in Japan; but [
have an Intense curiosity to know what
our troops did at Yokohama. l deplore
the people who suffered by the railroad
smash and [ sympathize with the newly
married couple so beautifully depicted in
the "Uitstrated," as they drove off in
chase anG four. | like the letters of the
correspondents, with their little grievan-
ces about uDpunctual trains, or some un-
warrantabe omissions In the Liturgy. /
even like the people who chronicle the
rainfall, and record little facts about the
mildness of the season.
As for the advertisements, [ regard
them as the mirror of the age. Show me
but one page of the events" of any coun-
try, and l engage myself to give "a sketch
of the current civilization of the period.
What glimpse of rose interiors do we gain
by these brief paragraphs How full OF
suggestion and story they are. Think of
the social circles at Chanmau's, that ad-
vertises for lodger ''that has a good voice
and would appreciate the life of re-
tired family devoted to music and the fue
arts" Imagine the more exalted propri-
ETY. of those who wan: "footman In a
serious family, where there are means of
grace and maid kept" Here a widow
in sff1uent circumstances announces her
Intention to remarry. Here naturalist
proposes his readiness to exchange bugs
and caterpillars with another devotee.
And here more practical physiolOgisL
wants from three to four lively rats for his
terrier Are not these life etchings p
Do you want anything more plain or pal
pable to tell you where and how to live
Now, l want neither beetles, rats, nor
widows, but I'm not to De cut off from my
sympathies with the people who do! In
the very proportion that wise things do
enter my requirements, do l desire to
know who and what are the people who
need them, why they need them, and
what they do with them when they get
them. | am humah to the very tips of
my fingers, and there is not mood In
humanity without its interest for me. l
may possibly be able to rub on without
my legacy, but | couldn't exist without
my newspaper Cormelius O'Docd.