Des Arc weekly citizen., 1867-04-20
Tho Printers At. I

In the "Artpreservativc of all arts
 there is something so ennobling and
 mystorious that Ne can never think oi
 it without assooiatiae 1t ih our rlind
 with massive cathcdrals, whose arched aisles echo to the footsteR and whose stained windows, in the setting sun, reflect in . tAousand ccccntric lines the colors of the rainbow. We knew not the why of our thus associating the printers art with the most pr0mi- nent architectural objects of the middle ages unless It is Ithst the dignity of Genius Is secn-perhaps it would be moro correct to say gELr--in both. The printer is the nost lfberal-mindesl and charitable of beings. A breadth is given to his thoughts which, perhaps no other profession imparts. School ed to no theory, but obscrvantl of all, he gradually in the college in which he daily and silently studies the thoughts of others, dissolves the crust of prejudice which forms over and cir cumscribes the mental action of per- sons less fortunately situated. Tolcr- ant to the last degree, he listens to the arguments of all, and then, like monk, rctircs to select that which he csteems of the most use to himself and others. It is rare thing to find . printer who is bigoted in religion or politics. He may be religious or political, bat his is the religion of good will to all ;" and his politics consist less of the success of party than of the up-building of equality. He would mako the world a paradise could he pursuadc others to think as he docs but as he cannot--as he finds that men ara welded to their ways-hc good-naturcdly labors to teach the world; as it never was taught before the days of Faust, that when human thought Is sufficiently develop ed, the good time so long prophcsicd will surely come. Bayard Taylor, n printer himself, and who graduated at the .casc,r pays noble tribute to the Printers Art" Hear him: sA
 "The printer is the Adjutant of Thought, and this explains the myste- ry ofthe wonderful word that can kim dle hope as no song can--that can warm heart as no hope can--that word we with hand-in-hand warmth in it, for the author and the printer arc engineers together. En-. gincers indeed? When the little Cor sican bombarded Cadiz at the distance of five miles, it was doomed the very triumph of engineering. But what is that paitry range to this, whereby they lombard the ages yet to be? There at the cast he stands and uIursials i.to line the forces armed for truth, clothed in immortality and English. And what can be noblcr than thc equipment of thought in sterling Saxon-Saxon, with the ring of spear and shield there in, and commissioning it when we are dead to move gradually on to the latest syllable Of recorded time ? This is to win victory from death, for this hath no dying in it. The printer is called a laborer, and the office he per forms is toll. Oh, it is NOT work, but a sublime rite he is performing; when he thus sights the engine that Is to fling a worded truth in grander curve than missiles ere before dcscribed-fiing it into the bosom of an age unborn. He throws off his coat indeed we but wonder, the rather, that he does not put his shoes from of his feet, for the place whcreon he stands is, holy ground. A little song was uttered somewhere long ago; it wandered through the twilight feebler than a star; 1t died upon the CT. But the printer takes 1t up where it was lying there in the silence, like wounded bird, and he cquips it anew with wings and sends it forth from the Ark that had preserved it, and it flies out into the future with the olive branch of peace, and around the world with mel ody, like the dawning of a Spring morning. e,a.,. s.t. ,.r.t. r...1