The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-02-20
MISCELLANY.
Reported For THE RECORD.
NEWSPAPER LITERATURE
REV. c $. CONVERSE.

Some of the various philosophers Of our
day have been considering the marks by
which tho human species is distinguished
from the brute creation. They have not been
satisfied with noting the intellect. reason and
conscience of man, but have called attention
TO many minor facts founded on the peculi-
arities of his organization. Hence some apos-
ties of evolutionism have found the germ of
the difference between man and the monkey,
in the peculiar formation of the thumb and
finger in man, the arrangement of the bones
and muscles being such as to confer special
powers of grasping and handling. One has
noted the fact that man is the only animal
that can blush, and has written chapter to
show what portions of the person are most af-
fected, and how the crimson spreads from the
cheeks to the forehead and ears, while the
rest of the body experiences tingling sensa-
tion Amongst these minor ear-marks of the
genus homo may well be noted the fact that
man is an animal that loves to learn the news,
and as far as know the only one who pos
sesses this taste. It is doubtless true that
the other animals can communicate with each
fined to a narrow range of subjects immedi-
ately concerning their bodily welfare l can
easily conceive of one dog telling another
where he may find delicious bone, or an ant
applying to his fellows for aid in removing
dead beetle to their common pantry | can
with more difficulty imagine that bird de-
lights to be sung by his comrades as the sweet
II Al a., Al
joices that his main is more tawny and Zero
cious than that of his fellow or that the race
horse longs to equal the speed of some gifted
rival Such desires and longings may posi-
bly, be expressed in british signs and actions.
But man alone enjoys the gossip Of the neigh
borhood, ransacks the past for the noble deeds
of departed heroes, and leaves his own fame
a legacy to posterity.
HISTORY OF NEws-TELLING.
1t may be interesting briefly to note how
this peculiarly human appetite for conveying
and enjoying news has been gratiied in form
Ell ages. We must remember that the print.
ing press is comparatively an innovation that
the steam-engine and post-ofice are It's young
est brothers, and that the telegraph, phono-
graph and telephone have hardly escaped
from the shell. In looking down the vista of
antiquity then we must forget for season
all the triumphs of modern science, which
would have been thought little less than mi
raculous in the infancy of progress
First consider the means by which men
sought to tell future ages the news of their
achievements. First on the list must be nam
ed the massive monuments of prehistoric ag
es, some of which by their strength have de-
fed the suns and storms of scores of centur-
les, the pyramids, obelisks and temples of
Egypt, deeply craven with hieroglyphics
which have only been unravellcd, and that
imperfectly, in the last half century-the
| long deserted places and rock-tombs of Petra,
the Parthenon of Athens--the cromlechs and
stone-henge of the Druids--the mounds of
our own American aborigines-and other
structures erected in all parts of the world
too numerous to be named separately. An
other relic of the past of similar nature is
found in the ruins of Nineveh, where librar-
les have been unearthed written on little
earthen tablets, in characters as yet but par
TALLY mastered. A third mode by which our
ancestors sought an earthly Immortality was
the general distribution of coins and medals
stamped with representation of some great
event. It is surprising what a large portion
of history might be supplied from this source
If our other channels of information were to
fail The coronation of kings, capture of cities,
and other public events of general interest
have thus been handed down from age to age.
But we are at present more Immediately
concerned with the modes of spreading news
from man to man which prevailed in the early
dawn of history, and its later stages before
the era of to-day. In this investigation we
must confine our attention to the residents OF
cities, for of them alone have we any infor-
nation. 1t is much to be feared that in those
i old times the farmers did not enjoy the lux
ury of news gathering. The earliest substi-
tue for the daily paper seems to have been
the gates of the city we find frequent mem
ton of gatherings here in the records OF the an
1 Gent Hebrews. Lot was sitting In the gates
of Sodom when the angels of delyerance
found him. Eli sat at the gate of Shiloh
waiting for news Of the battle with the Phil
istines. Absolom stationed himself at the
gate as the best place for winning the hearts
of the Israelites from their allegiance to his
father, King David, and it was in the gate
that David heard of Absolom's death, and
the chamber over the gate was the scene o.
his bitter lamentation, Oh my son Absolom
my son, my son Absolom would God hae
died for thee, o Absolom, my son, my son =