San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1879-02-15
Libraries.

Everything considered' the newspa'
Il the best and most available OF IL
Pies The one fact of cheapness is
y s,rougly in its favor as to overbal-
s.,s the majority of arguments that
s.n he advanced upon the opposite side.
Is within the reach of every one, no
natter how poor, and finds IN entrance
there books (as rule) never can; it
comes weekly, and is read and loaned
until actually worn out; can be caught
IN u one has but a moment Of time,
.ams knowledge can be gained, and
laid down again without detriment to
,he sense. A single brief item frequent
" gives what pages Of bloodhound
matter would have to be waded through
TO learn; for the newspaper is the epit-
ome of the entire world. In the brief
sst possible space all that is necessary
N the correct understanding Of the SUBJ
;ect is given-to such perfection has the
art of condensation been brought.
Tho newspaper, with the present ia
eilities for almost instantly learning
what is transporting in every portion of
the globe, is the reflection of the hour
soually as much as of past ages. By it
the North and the South, the East and
the West are brought together. We
know of the crashing of the ice and the
curling heat of the sun; we are with the
daring explorist seeking for the North
Pole; travel through the jungles of A.
RIGA; have birds eye view of great
battles; sail over every SEQ, dive with
the whale to its fabulous depths; are
present in the parliament of nations
listen to the last words of an expiring
pope, and take by the hand his successor.
A wonderful, concise, most skillfully
PAINTED panorama Of the affairs of the
world is the newspaper; map of its
busy life; faithful reproduction of all
its lights and shadows, and at the most
nominal cost; at the merest bagatelle
to books, even in these days of excep-
tonal cheapness. Week after week the
paper comes filled with all that is rare,
new, interesting and instructive. It is
history Of nations in fifty-two vol
umes; an ever continued encyclopedias
Of trade, science, biography, agriculture
and the arts; is the " boiling down Of
all books into so minute form that the
mind can grasp at single glance, and
be saved the wading through of ponder
GUS volumes of uninteresting detail-to
the great saving of time. 1t is, in fact
the grandest of all circulating libraries,
at only penny fee; the throwing open
to the public Of all the costly and ex,
elusive archives of the world.
The newspaper of to-day is perfect
omq,iatm gatherum. Nothing escapes
its notice. Every event of importance
is instantly photographed upon its pa
ges. The whispers breathed in every
cline are caught and fixed. 1t is q
marvel of intelligence; is the sterec'
type of every mind. We look back in
wonder at the days when it was not
and human intelligence shudders tc
think of the barbarism and ignorance
and superstition that would follow the
blotting out of this-the sun of the So
lar system.
Not word would we say against
books. Multiply them as much as pos
sible; there can neverbe too many; the
world can never have too much Of
light; but as the grandest, and cheap
est, and widest circulating medium Of
intelligence-as libraries for mankind
they never can compare with newspa
pers.