Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-10-01

! The types are taken out and borne
away-corpses of dead thought.
"Look now again at the mass of dead
! type-dead, inert as the earth you tread
on. But see. The white sheet has
fallen on their upturned faces; the life
that was in them has passed upon paper,
/ and the new creation is pregnant with
/ thOught-a thing with soul. for 1t can
| stir the souls OF men,
THAT sheet so blank before is living
power now. A change has passed over
| it as marvellous as if in an instant the
unwritten face OF the boy should put on
| the burrows OF age, the lines OF care, the
/ impress OF manhoOd's experience,
thought and toll.
Thus the paper is born and goes out
| into the world. No messenger can over
take it. It's utterance is unalterable
now. Ii may be explained, but not
erased. The printed word can no more
he recalled than the departed spirit can
be wooed back to the cold body which II
has left
"Here now. we have 1.-THE newspa-
per- Wonderful production OF brain
and toll, One would think il should be
dearly bought and highly priced, and
yet is the cheapest thing in the world.
Two or three cents will buy it. One or
two dollars will bring it to your home
every week in the year. And yet there
are men too poor to take a newspaper!
They pay twenty-five cents for a few
cigars, they can pay fifty cents for cir
Gus ticket, or seventy-fve cents for the
theatre, yet they are too poor to buy
newspaper newspaper, which Is
ticket OF admission into the great Globe
Theatre, whose dramas are written by
God himself"
This is the newspaper; but what OF
him who is the maker of the newspaper?
The white sheet is laid upon the press
and comes forth stamped with ideas and
with soul. The communication of these
is a sublime mystery. But We can lind
the workers from whose brains the
thoughts that these printed pages
indicate are poured forth.
Past the creaking press room
we 90; away from the toiling COM
positors; beyond the sound of machin-
cry. Here in quiet and solitude, at his
task from day to day, toiling TO the
midnight hour, is the man who is doing
more to mould public sentiment, TO ed
ucate the people, than any other class.
Patiently he labors on, unrecognlzed III
merit, unknown to fame, yet surely ac-
cOmplishing his purpose. We hear
much OF newspapers, but little OF the
men from whom they emanate. How
little the great multitude who peruse the
papers think OF him who produces, or
stop to consider that behind it is
the power of brains, or that oneiscoining
his very soul, devoting his best energies
to their edificatiOn.
We chronicle in history and sing in
verse the deeds OF warriors. Heroes,
whose fame is undying, have thrilled us
by the glory and the power OF their
undertakings and performances. Yet
who ever remembers the names OF the
modest heroes, who steadiastly, patient
lv, courageOusly 90 on and on, ready to
die at the post of duty, if necessary. |
am believer in the capability of man
for the performance OF heroic acts. But
few classes, when given proper oppor-
tunity, fail to prove that they have
heroic stuff in them. And in tact it is
true herOism to follow faithfully the
line OF duty, let that line be what itmay.
Surely amid the blare OF trumpets and
the shouts of victory, it is not hard to
die when he who pours out his blood is
fred by courage and conscious that wait
ing nations are applauding the nobility
of his deed. With his veins heated
with excitement, with music urging him
on, the hero can feel satisfied in offering
his life upon the altar OF his country.
But let us not forget the quiet devotion
TO duty that urges us 20 the offering OF
all that is best in life. Such is the hero
ism of tens of thousands of men who
are giving their best years and their
highest efforts to the benefit Of the pub
lie, and vet are unknown, unhOnOred
and unsung. Do you think that If 1t
becomes necessary these men willshrink
from dying at their posts. During the
yellow fever epidemic in Memphis last
year three papers in that city lost thirty
Of their force from the dreadful scOurge.
The positions they occupied were from
carriers TO editors. The newspaper item
that states this fact does not mention a
single name, and yet was there ever a
more devoted heroism recorded. We
read of the icats of war. How glorious,
for instance, was that charge made by
the Light Brigade at the battle of Bala
kava:
uUaif a LEAGUE hnlfa lcapuc