The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1872-04-11
Communicate |
LITERARY THIETING.
Flora - aad the Deacon.

!
something into which labor has entered
A savage wandering in tie forest, sees
stick OF wood, takes it, and by tearing of
projections and burning it in the fire,
| adapts it to some purpose: perhaps he
makes weapon of it. By these acts the
whole character of the inert piece of tim
Der is changed. Men respect it. They do
not teel at liberty to take it as they Ji,!
when 1t lay in its original condition in the
forest. Human labor has entered into it,
ana exalted it to high aud exclusive DO
sltion. The idea that property is the rep
reSentatiye Of accumulated labor, is all that
%ivrs capital the respect Of men. Man
kind IN all conditions of life, whether civil
lied or barbarous, are instinctlvely im-
pressed with the idea. Yet there are mis-
cradle abortions of humanity who are too
lazy to toll on to create something for
themselves, bat will steal the toll of others
\ thief is instinctively deSpised. Let
some poor wretch pilfer from clothes-llne,
or steal a pair of boots, and the whole COM
munity are indignant and demand his
punishment. This is just; it is necessary
for the protection of society.
In proportion to the severity of the toll
required to produce given amount of val
ue, is the henousness Of the crime of ap-
propriating it. We feel much more indig-
nant at the villain who robs poor laborer
of dollar, the scanty reward of hard
day toll, than at him who pliers five dol
lars from millionaire 1t has always
seemed to Us that the hardest worked and
the poorest paid class in our country are the
magazine and newspaper writers, and we
have always regarded with the utmost ab-
horence, the plagiarist who would take
from them the product of their brain-sweat,
and palm it off rs his own; yet, this sort of
thieving is very common. Let poem or
a story be published anonymously,
and let it rise in popular fame, it
viii not be long before we find two
or three persons before the public claiming
the laurels of its authorship. This was the
case with that grand poem The Burial of
Sir John Moore" with The Beautiful
Snow" and many others.
Another class Of literary thieves are they
Who take poem, story, or, perhaps,
scientific or philosophical article and work
t over. They steal the sentiments and
thoughts Of the author, aud endeayor to
pass them off as their own by gtrbiing and
..istorting his language. This class is gen
orally composed Of lazy editors or foolish
Young writers who are la a hurry to
principle and risk the shame Of being de-
lected in their thcfts for the sake of being
called a literary character.
We have been provoked to write this ar
t.cle by a long series Of literary thefts in
tie Munitowoc Tribune. Nearly every
dining Of a truly literary character which has
appeared in the columns Of that paper has
b Ell tilched from some quarter. Something
over year ago the TriJuae published
-Neo Years iddresS which was generally
prais Cd for it, smooth versication and truly
remarkable poetic ideas. The venerable
editor Of that sheet will not attempt to
deny that the said address was stolen boil
Iy from a prominent Southern journal; if
he does, we shall have something further to
say. We shall say nothing in this connec-
ton of the manner in which he fills the cdi-
torial page Of his paper. Lett suffice that
he does not wriue ruvu., 49,. .l--~ -~- 80.
written Tor his paper, that he does not
credit them to the paper for which they were
written.
| And now into the Tribune flock comes
another bird Of the same feather. For some
time past there have appeared a series of
articles in that paper under the nom de
| plume Of Flora" Public curiosity has
| been somew hat excited on her account, not
! because she wrote so well, bat because she
wrote so much. Further, the Deacon in
his local slobberinss alluded to the fair
writer in his amorous style as &" his dear
sweet-sixteen Flora; consequently all the
youngsters about town wanted to worship
the new divinity, and besought the Deacon
to enlishten them as to her where
abouts; but the old chap kept it
secret. He had a good thing anl wansed
to keep it. But it seems that " his dear,
sweet-sxteen Flora - is no more provid.
cd with literary honesty than the Deacon
himself In the Tribune, for March 2Sth
will be found a story written for the
Tribune" by Flora. The whole, from be
ginning to end, is steal. We will Warrant
there are not twenty lines of original mat
ter IN the three columns Of tho Tribune
which it occupies. With the exception 0
: the change of some names of the leadin;
characters, the whole may found in tn
September number of Godey's Lazy
, Book for the year 1867.
t We would advise the Deacon, Flora
and the other plagarists Of the Tribune t
"repent in sackcloth and ashes" and tax
!. "n new departure" The reading publ
], is not 70 be deceived by such shallow al
. tifices, and condemnation is sure to follo'
exposure Now, Deacon, do let Us have
little common honesty and editorial courte
/ sy in the Tribune, and credit other paper
as they deserve with the articles which yo
. have attempted TO palm off as your owr
Our advice TO Flora, is to so on wrltln
d her little compositions about Spring, Al
tumn, Riches, etc. 1t is a very tarmles
{ apusement: and is yon can get tie fathe
: ly Deacon to print then for you, all righ
t. but don't let him teach you to steal. r.
t. memhSr what the poet says:
i is sin
/ To steal pin.o