Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1868-03-19

Communications of personal character, will DO charg
al for at advertisement rates.
All communications must be accompanied by the names OF
tho authors rejected communications cannotbe returne
IrEM1zING. Who thatregulary reads the news
naners has not been struck with those many
named columns into which the news of all the
world is compressed? Variously styled in va
rious newspapers, they aim to grasp and focal
ze the news of everything and everybody,
everywhere, and to present it in as small and
telling space as possible. They carry the
reader in a breath from Indus to the Pole, and
hurry him along from sentence to sentence, to
conduct him in trlce to anttlpodes OF thought.
The reader never thinks, as his eyes take their
rapid Journey down the columns, Of the care,
the Mains the taste, the skill, the patience ne
cessarv to reduce those items to attractive
shape. ;,
The scissors and the paste do a good deal OF
the work, it is true, but the brain helps more
than it is given credit for. Fancy aud imagi-
nation and judgment have to play their part;
The scissors dart instlnctlyely at a good"
item, and the brains step in and decide wheth-
er its publication would be judicious. Is the
item old Has it ever appeared before? Is
it nice and fresh and crisp and sparkling ?
What position shall it hold with regard to the
other items? Has another one on the same
subject been already clipped out? Might not
the .phraseology be changed, so as to bestow
point and pith? Could a piquant joke be
tagged on? Again, when the selection is done,
and the items-persona, miscellaneous, relig.
GUS, theatrical and what not-are all arranged
in order, will they make a glittering and sym
metric whole, over which the eye will delight
IL
ali these things have to be considered in at
paper. The tastes of every possible reader
must must be anticipated. Since it takes all sorts
of people to make a world-a truism of pro-
founder meaning than is generally appreciated
it takes all sorts of items to make news
paper.
Cesar ATrHE DINNER TABLE. Association
with the mighty confers dignity on triaes
When, therefore, we ridicule contemporary
gossip about the peculiarities Of distinguished
characters, we are ridiculing by anticipation
matters that ere long will be Invaluable for
biography What an amount ofinterest there
is in that short letter of Cicero's S, in which he
describes how Caesar dined with him how "he
ate and drank without reserve sumptuously
indeed, and with due preparation" and not
only that, 'but with good conversation, we'll
digested and seasoned, and it you ask, cheer
fally;" how the guest was not one to whom you
manner when you return how "once was
enough - how "there was nothing of impor-
tance in the conversation but great deal of
liberal learning" how, in short, "he!was high
ly pleased and enjoyed himself!" Thus we
find that the man who kept "the world in ave.
ate and drink, and talked as any other culti-
yated gentleman would and the community
of nature between him and us, which the ma
jesty of his genius seemed to destroy, the din
ner table thoroughly restores. Nor is the in
terest lessencd by the recollection that even
then the dagger was nearly ready for Caesars
imperial heart. From "Hosnaan Life"
A LEG LOST FOR LovE.--A French paper
gives the following account of branch of the
'leg business" which seems to have escaped
Miss Olive Logan's attention. An English
lord fell madly in love with young lady who
had lost leg by amputation. He fell on his
foot his titles and his fortune. She declined.
"Why, oh why? asked the enamored peer
Because such q marriage would be unequal,
and unequal marriages are always unhappy"
The peer protested that there was no inequality.
His wealth and station were as naught compar-
ed with her love. "Still we are unequal, I"
calmly said the maiden. 'HoW, dearest, how"
trantically asked the peer. ''Our standing is
not the same" To which the enamored peer
said, nonsense The maiden persisted and
proved her correctness by the fact that he had
two legs while she had but one. He madly
edaway-not to suicide, but to amputatlon
He returned, hobbling, but happy man. For
the maiden accepted him, and they will limp
through life, cripples, but companions. ~. r.
Commercial.
The France tells some anecdotes OF the prin-
clpal orators in the French Chamber, which,
il not true, are at least amusing One day, 1t
says, while Nj. Jules Favre was speaking, NJ.
Rouher fell asleep When the eloquent Radi-
cal leader ended his speech, M. Vuitry walked
his colleague, telling him he must reply
What did he talk about?" rejoined M. Rou-
her. NJ. Vuitry having described IN few
words the subject of debate, NJ. Rouher as
cended the tribune, and in speech of three
quarters of an hour triumphantly demolished
the arguments Of bis opponent. When he re re-
turned to his seat he laughiugIy reproached M.
sultry for having walked him from the pleas
ATTEST nap he had enjoyed for long time:
The speeches of NJ. Berger are also conceived
on the spur of the moment, and he attaches so
little value to them after they have been deliv-
cred that he never corrects the reports, as most
OF the members do. Once, on being urgently
requested by the head Of the reporters to re-