The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-07-21
Reading Newspapers.

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Life" addresses an interesting letter TO
highly cultivated gentleman who con,
graduated himself on having abandoned
the habit of reading the newspapers.
There arc iAstidious people, affecting
culture and refinement they do not pos
sess, who toss the newspaper aside with
impatlence, and speak Off with contempt
as coarse and plGbian thing made for
tue vulgar multitude. They want a lit
eraturc of old or noble authors, and have
nothing but disdain for the nobodies who
write for the press and the nothiDgs they
perpetrats. This class Is small, and grow
ing smaller But great many people
have come 10 look on the newspaper as
cheap, and Of little account except In some
period Of intense excitement, when the
whole community waits with breathless
anxiety for the newest information. The
great number Of papers printed and their
Cheapness, create surleit which blinds
the eyes Of most people 10 their real merit
and their immense value as q form OF lit
erary life and meaus OF education. 1t
does not follow because a paper can be
bought for little that it Is worth but little.
Some Of the ablest minds and most of the
brightest, strongest, sharpest, and most
entertaining writers Of the age are con.
nected with journalism and the wisest
and best things in the works that aspire
TO permanency, the cream of the richest
contemporary literature, are given to the
public in the papers Of the day. In read
ing q good newspaper, one takes q birds.
eye view OF the whole world, and, If bis
attention Is sometimes called 10 objects be
prefers not to see, there are a plenty Of
views full OF interest and facination.
Mr.. HammertOn congratulates his fas-
tidlous friend on saving some five hundred
hours year from newspaper reading Tor
intellectual pursuits, and ironically sug-
gesls some Of tho fine things he may
do. But it does not occur to him 10 In
quire what he pays for these fifty working
days. It Is worth the while to think what
one who never reads the newspaper loses
by his small economy. He loses tho living
record Of the time he lives in-the history
his generation is making. He loses all the
fresh information, the important knowl.
edge, tho accounts Of persons and events,
the story OF discovery and adventure, Of
calamity and crime, Of generosity and
heroism, with which It's columns teen,
He loses the wit with which tits weighted,
and the electric thoughts with whichitis
charged. He loses, what 10 more than
any or all Of these, the sympathetic lie OF
the age Of which he is a part, and without
which he is q leaf broken from the stem
and dying, even though apparently alive.
For really the modern newspaper Is
the organ OF communication between tho
world and the individual, and only the
newspaper reader getsits message, teelsitS
pulse, and receives its inspiration. Emer-
son suggests that the newspaper should
be dropped for standard authors. But
as well say abandon all talk with your
children and neighbors for Johnson's
plays and Plato's dialogues. The litera-
iure OF the Elizabethan age may be fine
and grand In its way, and richly worth
the study, but to drop the newspaper Tor
the old authors, which cannot be read
without explanation, is like going from a
clovertleld or conservatory 10 herbarium,
Mr.. Emerson himself is one Of the closest
readers Of the newspaper, his quick eye
detecting at a glance the things of special
interest and service to him. Hc goes
to the daily journal as the bee 10 the
meadows, sure TO find honey somewhere,
il not everywhere. 1t Is suggestive fact
that some Of the best works Of contempt
rary literature were first published In the
journals Of the day. The essays Of Hay
ward and Hutton in England, and the Ice.
lures Of Agassiz, BeechCr, and other cmi-
nent mon in this country, were first given
to the public In the newspaper. The
most characteristic and vigorous writing
Of our time Is found in the newspaper
And, by reading the newspaper wisely
and well, one learns what Is most worth
knowing, and gets the taste for
reading and the power Of sppre-
ciating standard works. II does not
follow that everybody should read
everything that happens to get printed
In a newspaper, any more than that
he should cat everything that Is set on the
breakfast table. II he has no taste for
murders, let him take to the marriages,
II he docs not care Tor the editorials, be
may find something Of interest in tho
news, and some very serious and weighty
Jokes. Even the advertisements arc en-
PERTAINING and suggestive, and oftentimcs
a whole argument Of history is given in an
illustration. The modern newspaper is a
miniature library, and whoever reads Il
with intelligence and discrimination will
find it a source oil knowledge, entertain
ment, and culture, and man may as well
try to keep in working condition by feed
ihg on FOSSILS, as 10 keep abreast OF tho
time without reading good newspaper.