The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1873-04-03
INFLUENCE OF THE PRESS.

There are some things from which
the freshness never fades away-out
of which the wonder never dies
Day by day we stand beside a tele
graph operator, but the mystery of
his performances never becomes
clear, and the sensation of surprise
is always fresh and keen.
Just SO the Newspaper is a con-
stantly recurring miracle, whose
wonders never wear away. Wheth-
er lying carefully folded in the Office,
or invitingly open upon the table ;
whether wrapping cheese or Goldfish,
or thrown discarded into the street
to scare horses and be trampled on,
it is always invested with strange
kind of awe.
The Newspaper! Look at it. 1t
seems empty and vacant. Perhaps
-"Nothing in the paper" you say !;
yet read, and you will find it an open
letter from very many people whom
you have never known.
One offers you this commodity,
and another that; one happy man
sends you a notice of his wedding,
another sorrowfully informs you of a
death. Look over Its contents close
ly, its news items, its list of acci.
dents, of fires, of crimes; see how
sudden wealth has surprised some,
and sudden poverty saddened others |;
is it war time? look at the list of
killed and wounded; see who has
been promoted and others disgraced /;
take into your mind the purport of
thrse things, and you will find that
you bold in your hand "the ends
of myriad invisible electric conduc-
tors, aloug which tremble the joys,
sorrows, wrongs, triEmphs, hopes,
and despairs of as many men and
women," all as sensitive to pain and
pleasure as yourself.
Here you have the lore of the
scholar, and the wisdom OF the sage.
Here the divine breaches, the poet
sings, and the partisan lies. Here
the statesman proclaims his princi-
plies, and the auctioneer offers his
wares. Here the Cardiff Giant and
Minnie Warren are put side by side,
and one is AS long as the other
Here is the result Of the antiqaari
ans research, and through the very
next column throbs truthful tale of
present love, passion and romance.
Here the Old and New are brought
into contact. Here
Tradition, snowy bearded, leans,
On Romance, ever young"
This is but feeble portrayal of
what newspaper is. Let us see
how it is made.
Come with me to the office. We
will pass that pile of paper. Yet
stop; pick up a sheet of it. We
can not wait to explain the curious
process of its manufacture, yet that
clean and spotless sheet is the purl-
fed product of rags and filth. The
fibre which forms its texture may
have been stripped from Egyptian
mummies; it may have come from
city streets, or from great garrsts in
country homes; it may have wrapt
the luxurious form of beauty, or
been the scanty covering of want !;
but whether from the robes of a
queen or the rags of harlot, it gives
no clue to its former condition. Like
sanctified soul it is ready for new
life.
we will pass the editorial ROOM
Its occupants are busy. There are
papers from far and near; letters
from widely scattered correspon-
dents telegraph dispatches-intel-
ligeuse in every form and from this
mass is to be selected what is of
most interest and Importance to make
paper to day. Let the editors
work.
Come into the composing ROOM
We have the foreman's permission.
Do you hear it? Click! click I
click! What is that? Why that is
the music Progress marches to-
Come here to this Cease" Look at
this multitude of little pieces of met
al. What are they? They are the
oivilizers-they are The TYPES
Look at them. They are not dead,
but sleeping. There is a soul in ev-
cry one of them. Collectively, they
are dictionary reduced to its lowest
denomination. There is a magic in
these types. They look dull enough,
but all the glorious possibilities that
the human heart can hope for are in
their possession-you have but to
learn the secret they SO closely keep.
II you but knew how to pick out and
properly arrange a handful of those
type, immortal fame would be yours.
There are finer strains there than ev-
er Homer sang; there is eloquence
unspoken yet; there is keener wit,
more fearful pathos, more persuasive
prayer than tongue has uttered or
ear has heard. Get it out if you can.
The types are here and impatient OF
delay.
But the paper is being made The
types, one by one, have been picked
up by nimble fingers, aud placed in
proper position. Every error has