The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-30
CITY INTELLIGEN OE.

THE FIRST REPoRTER-wAs He HOMER or HERO,
DOTUs JOSHUA OR SAMUEL ?--The cottd1orGteur Ol
news Items sIc9 as are m tS leaders Of THE EVENING
TRIEGRAPH is supposed to have been an lnugenous
SI Iank OF editorial capacity or leisure
and then not unfrequenty kicked back into mis- Orlg-
mai obscuritv the aforesaid ED" meekly wearing
the lanrels won for him by his unambitious 'ad.n
indeed we have more than once beheld the COM
positor upon morning neWspaper onlciatng IN a
book or the composing prove himself
much at home in the composition" OF an item" as
days are past, and the nimble fingers and steady
brain OF our typos refuse to do aught else in repor-
toral line, I'M these fast times, than the almost un
conscious correction Of such grammatical Jdup pas
as are always likely to occur under the pressure of
that ineXorabe public demand for news beneath
which the live reporter OF to-day exists. Both are
now distinct but necessary adjuncts OF such paper
class can ''never forget its cunning" in all that -
tains to the department OF the other they car pvSr
again coalesCe into one as I'm former times ~NVN0i
The reader of to-day's TELEGRAP" Z, az, 70 ri,c
the denizen of former ages beca se ibeir mst1tnal
repasts were not seasoneu @ IN such mental des-
and the electric telo ,, h Soe rncb r arVS oI
friend and patr q, SIS let us see whether his pre-
Ihses are ,rree ald whether o- no the genuine re-
PV1Sei ton I'D act save local habtaton and name
,Ere Plato taught, or Sappho sung"
Whence learned AenOphon ing WondIous Won , @ ar Una.
'Retreat' which has descended to us undlmmed and
unoqualled through the lapse OF ages VINO taught
tones which modern researches only serve 10 elucl-
date and, i'm the main, confirm? what eager knight
OF the styius accompanied Meneaus ana his friends
10 the sack OF Troy, and gave to the world the first
(and doubtless rude) account OF thaJ memorable
siege which the genius Of "the blind bard OF SctO s
rocky isle" has transmitted down to us IN impertsh-
able verse? can modern Journalism produce a
nobler cenotaph than that which Greece gave TO MN
who first announced the victory of Thermophyle,
and died amidst the paudits OF his rans0med coun-
tTymen? , -,
10 the curious student Of ancient sacred and
profape history there is vein of clear, crCumStan-
tial minuteness Of detail which only the accom-
plished pensman of to-day can initiate; ana we are
led to inquire whence came the skill which enabled
these early brethren of the craft to portray those
moving incidents of civil and political life which
peruse in the graphic words that have descended to
distant posterty. Did Moses, in a few leisure
moments snatched from the hours of an intensely
''busy life" write that sublime memoir which re-
cords the trials, the sulerings, and the triumphant
faith of the 'man who lived in Ur OF the Chaldees?'
What Hebrew was II who, guided by "the cloud by
ay and the pillar of fire by night tracked the hosts
of Israel from the Red Sea to Horeb, beneath the
rule of the great Jewish Lawgiver, and there be-
queathed mis- memoranda" to successor who en-
tered the "prOmsed land with, and recorded the
triumphs Of the sen OF Nun? Years afterwards
Samuel took up and continued the report; but upon
whom did his mantle fall? What scribe narrated the
fearful political squabbes Of the "chosen peOple;'
the escapades of one, the spendor oi anoer or the
avarice and tyranny which marked the TegnS Of still
other Hebrew monarchs? Truly the reporter of those
days was just and honest and did nothing eN-
tenuate, nor set down aught 'n malice
In that fearful struggle OF foreign aud lnernecne
life of the unfortunate Benjamte, and "all Israel
was scattered abroad like sheep without shepherd"
the soul of the unhappy Saul was convulsed with
mortal terror at thought and he bitterly cried
"Tell it not at Gath-pubtsh not IN the streets of
AscalOn!" thus implicitly recognizing the existence
not only of reporters but OF HeCSbOs in those Phis-
tine cities We think we have sufficiently proved
the antiquity of a profession which is now cour-
teOusly styled ''the Fourth Estate" but which is
destined to prove that ''beneath the rule OF men
tirely great, the pen is mighter than" all other
weapons; and we recommend our brothers oF "Che
press" to examine THE Book for themselves foI
further proof