Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1866-04-06
THE NEWSPAPER.

Take the most thorough man of the
world, of your acquaintance-the man
most perfectly versed 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
it builds its ships what it pays for gold
how it tills its fields, melts its metals
cooks its food, and writes its novels-and
ask you what he would be without his
newspapers By what possible machine
ry could he learn, as he sits at his break
feast, the last news from China, of the
last ballet at Paris, the state of the funds
at San Francisco, the winter at Newman
ket the pantomine at the Olympic, the
encyclical of the Pope!
1t is what the actual, passing, daily ar
Using incidents of life, man ought to be
thoroughly acquainted, bringing to their
consideration all the aid his residing and
reflection can supply; so that he neither
falls into lodged incredulity on one side,
nor a fatal fatality of belief on the other.
In an age SO widely speculative as to the
present, eager to acquire and not overgiv-
en- to scruple-such men as these are in
valuable to society; and whole corps of
college professors would be less effective
in dispelling error or asserting truth, than
these people trained in all the dialects of
the press.
Without my newspaper, life would mar
row itself to the small limits of my per-
sonal experience, and humanity be COM
pressed into the ten or fifteen people 1 mix
with. Now l refuse to accept this. l
have but sixpense in consols, but want
to know how they stand. l was never-I
am never likely to be-in Japan; but l
have an intense desire to know what our
troops did at Yokohama l deplore the
people who suffered by the railroad smash;
and l sympathize with the newly married
couple so beautifully depicted in the al
lustrated," as they drove off in chaise
and-four. like the letters to the cores
pondents, with their little grievances about
unpunctual trains or some unwarrantable
omissions in the Liturgy. even like the
people who chronicle the rainfall, and re-
cord little facts about the mildness of the
season.
As for the advertisements, | regard them
as the merror of the age. Show me but
one page of the wants" of any country,
and l engage myself to give sketch of
the current civilization of the period
What glimpse of rose interiors do we
gain by these brief paragraphs! How
full of suggestions and story they are
Think of the social circle at Chapman's,
that advertises for a lodger ''that has a
good voice, and would appreciate the do
mestic life of retired family devoted to
music and fine arts" Imagine the more
exalted propriety of those who want
'.footman in serious family, where there
are means of grace and kitchen maid
kept" Here a widow in aff1uent circum-
stances announces her intention to remar-
ry. Here a naturalist proposes his readi-
ness to exchange bugs and caterpillers with
another devotee. And here more prac-
tical physiologist wants from three to four
lively rats for his terrier. Are not those
life itchings? Do you want anything
more plain palpable to tell you where and
how to live? Now l want neither bee
ties, rats, nor widows, but 1 am not to be
cut off from my sympathies with the peo-
pie who do! In the very proportion that
all wise things do enter my requirements,
do 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. l am human to the very
tips of my fingers, and there is not mood |
in humanity without list interes for me-
1 may possibly be able to rub on without |
my legacy, but l couldn't exist without |
my newspaper.-CormeIi~s ODoag, IN
BLnck1p0Od