The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1874-07-08
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esEssssllalIs u Hamlet.
This is one of those happy toTes'Sesgssss.a al
Shakespeare that seem slis ht and acct
dental. while furnishing fruitful text
10 all after-time. Self-observant per-
sops are aware of the ease with which
eyaggeration and other varieties of false
hood slip from the tongue, and the ex-
treme difficulty of giving an exact ac
count of the simplest matter. And this
difficulty is greatest to ardent and i'm
aginative persons, who naturally take TO
writing. The very qualities of mind
which give them their power to interest
other minds are, in many instances, the
qualities that incline them to pictures
que and effective exaggeration. Telling
the simple truth is the hardest thing
done either by tongue or pen. How
easy it was to represent Napoleon Bora
parte galloping over the Alps on ro-
bugt charger, gorgeousIy caparisoned,
bis cloak flying in e breeze, and COM
pact legions pressing up the steep accli-
yity This lie was imagined in a mo-
ment but it cost NJ. Thiers much pain
full toll and long travel to ascertain that
his conqueror crossed the Al ps on a
mule, muffied to the eyes in his cloak,
and attended by one guide on foot. ..
In the press, as in literature, false
hood has the additional advantage over
truth OF being much the less expensive.
Your raw hand will bring you in an ac
count Of finance meeting which shall
be of necessity a mere tissue of miscon-
oartions and miE ssateinents TO get an
approximately true narrative Of what
occurred, without verbatim repOl Is, you
must send three persons of Il aimed in
telligence but full and exPct report,
with the requisite descriptive matt or,
demands the intense labor Of Twelve
train men. Now the account stands
thus tisape 0f green falsehood, two
dollars; vivid narrative strongly resem-
bling the truth, thirty dollars verbatim
report, eighty dollars. In every de-
partment Of d newspaper, from the most
commonplace reporting to the most i'm.
portant criticism, we find that lies are
very cheap andtruth is very dear. ...tt
We must also bear in mind THAI if lY-
ing is easy, it may also be for the mo-
ment highly effective. That tawdry
ialsehood of Bonaparte bounding over
the mountains adorns Mt this hour hun
dreds Of barber-shops i'll all countries,
as the tale, equally grOundless, of Lin
coin and the Scotch cap figures in many
histories of the late war. Some men of
very ordinary abilities do succeed, after
long practice, in purging their conver-
Sation of the usual eXaggerations and
and credulities but even this negative
part OF difficult virtue is apt to be
purchased by the loss of vivacity. Their
conversation is as dull as it is correct.
Bat the journalist lies under an mex
orable necessity OF not being dull. In
correct he may be, to certain extenty
and live; but If he is dull, he dies.
And, unhappily, there are three ways
open to the journalist of avoiding dull
ness two wrong and one right. The
right way is vigilance, tact, and hard
labor in the gathering and Iftterance OF
truth proper to be told. The two wrong
ways demand vastly inferior powers.
One is the invention or repetition of
ialsehood, and the other the revelation
Of matters not proper to be told. A
fertile and sympathetic mind, capable
Of public spirit, finds the material for
stirring and delightful journalism in q
village; but there are dull dogs that,
even when posted in Washington, the
most interesting capital in the world,
are compelled to exc out their daily
dole of routine by calumuious inven-
hon, james Parton, in Harper'S Mag
agiRe.