, 1873-03-23

= de Ia creme, the wheat thrice winuoved -, tho
ablest works OF the day on art. 1tetature theo1-
ogy, finance and science in all its forms. and m.
, profoundest thinkers aud the ripest echo1nrs
: often make the dai1y and the weok}y press the
, vehicle Of instruction to tho world Mauv of thu
best books low published ere reprints Of articles
contributed By Tho Dckenses, Thackerava.
Mills, Macaalays, sponcera, Martiueaus.
Agassizes, HorscheIs, Hu7loya, Hawthornes.
and hundreds OF other writer's eoually
brilliant, learned, or profound, to tia nowspa.
pera, magazines, and quarterlies OF tie
day. Tho newspaper is, in fact tho people,.
book.-the only book which thousands feel abh
or willing to buy, or think they have time tc
read; and il by buying it they eau bo cheated
nto deTouf7ng entire books in slices, or oven tho
JUICY and most nutritious portions only, shall va
not rojolce? Is it necessary, In order that q
man may ba nourisicd .nd strengthened by
roast-bcef, tia: 10 should hayo before him a
whole joint2
Shall We be told for tho thousandth time that
"A little learning is a dangerous t1inE,"-that
the smatteflng OF knowledge one geis Of difficult
and complex subjects from newspapers il worse
than ignorance? Pray tell us, A1r. Wise Man,
how many there arc in the community, even
among the educated who havo rcauy,-not
relatively, profound knowledge of any sub1ect7
How many philosophers, who have exhausted al
that is to be learned in any department OF
knowledge? And, if a little knowledge is to DO
shunned as dangerous, how is one ever to acquire
| great dcal7 It seems to us that il little
Eno"ledge is dangerous, no knowledge is more
dangerous still. 4 littlo chemistry will teach q
farmer wL7ther his BOIL oeeds animal or mineral
dressing. little geology will keep nan from
digging hundreds Of feet for coal, in formations
where it cannot bo found. 4 little nineralogy
WILL prevent him from miataking mica for gold
little knowledge Of poieons and their antilotes
may saTe his life It is well enough to know the
multiplication-table, though you should never
ecalo tho dizzy heights Of mathematics, where
La Hlaco and Newton dwell Like stars apnrt
Wendell Phillips orce said tina. there are two
kinds Of education; that there is the education
Of Harvard aod Yale, and there is tho education
of the New York Tribune and the New York
Post; aud the latter kind is quite as valuable as
the former. The rudimenta1 discipline OF school
is, OF courEe, Indispensable, and the broader cul-
tu1e anl severer training of the college are Of
high advantage to the young; but wLo eau doubt
that the stimulus furnished to their minds BY
the newepAper,-ita pungent, suggestive para
grarhs,-lts fiery or thoughtful leaders,-the
libraries Of information it contains, ,-tH faithful
pictures Of tho great world. "its fluctuations
and its vast concerns, its prompt SYM
pathy With the ideas aud sentiments OF
tO-day,-au combine to render it as an
educator more effective and more enduring
in its effects, for good or i'll, than any other
human agency? To live in village was once to
be shut up and contracted; but now man may
be hermit, and yet cosmopolite. For the
newspaper is a epy-glasa, by which he brings
near tho most distant things; microscope, by
which lie 1eisurcly examines the most remote;
an ear-tu1mpet, by which he collects and brings
within his hearing all that is done and said all
over the earth museuul, full OF curiosities; q
full OF living scenes from real
life, drawn not on canvas, but On pauer with
printers ink"
As to tho regret that scholars and scientists
" waste their time " in contributing to periodi-
Gals, vo do not see s' tho waste.'' When por5oas
cry out against such men frittering away their
brains in the production Of literature which to-
lay is, and tomorrow is cast into the waste
paper basket, they forget the facts We have
Just stated, and, above nll that, as periodical
iterature is that which reaches the greatest NUM-
Der Of minds, its worth il exactly proportioned
o the number Of ablo and wou-instructed mon
sho contribute to produce it. Journalism,
Il literary production that should bo abandoned
o faoble, shallow thinkers md vulgar writer's
tho lack capacity for more enduring work It
hou1d be tho work of minds Of tho largest size
nd Of "tha divinest mcttlc." Who can esti-
aata tho good to tho community when the lead
,g thinkers, inste4d OF 1ecturing dozen times
year to audiences OF 500, or publish
lg books to =" -eel by few thousands, pour
at their trea .Ies through the daily or weekly
ress to hundred thousand readers? Why
aould the feeblest men control the tremendous
over Of the press? Why should the elephant
0 1atneseed to tho go-cart and the mouse to
1e load Of hay7
Those persons who complain when sayant or
:holar, instead Of concentrating his energies
pom como single task, md deyoting lifetime
} it, writes upon various topics for the press,
'sume that the former courae would be better
II himself and the world They forget that,
|stead Of having one pot notion which he would
ko to Tentiate, he may have dozen, ora
andrad perhaps new one daily OF weekly.
erhaps not ono OF these notions is worth e1-
anding into book, Jet they may all be ad-
irable themes for q newspaper article. Jour
:lism enables a writer to say just what the
Inject e1acts and no more, to say it when tho
spiration moves him, and to say it to just
lose persons to whom he wants to say it.
gain, tho persons who would have man w1ito
'oks instead Of newspaper articles, take for
anted that writer's largest work,-that
aich has cost him the longest and se-
1est tol,-is necessarily the best. Literary
story teens With instances to the contrary.
sisure and years Of devotion to task haya
ten resulted in tediousnoss. Tho Fairy Queen
d Hudibras would have far more readers it
ey we're each squeezed into single book.
ho reads Wordsworth's Excursion. or Landora
.bir2 OF Voltaira's hundred volumes, how
my are known to-day even By their titlcs7
luminous, long~windad authors seldom float
'n1ely down the stream OF timo- PosteEi.y
amines unwicldly luggage with sovere AID
slous eye, and seems glad OF m excuse to toss
into tho waves Of LetLo. There may be moro
alth II alady's jewcl-bo1 than in merchants
rehouse and Gray's Elcgy Coleridge's An
nt Marinor, and Millions LAllegro and Il
H.