The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1881-06-22

enough to believe With Pope, thai
worth made the man: we have
learned that the men make them
selves, and that Worlh-who by
strange irony offortune, is Paris
ian-makes the women About
century ago, during q session OF
the legislature of Connecticut, an
eclipse of the sun happened, and
it seemed to many that the Day OF
Judgment was at hand. Some
member moved the adjournment
Of the House; whereupon an old
Puritan legislator arose and said,
If the last day has come, l desire
to be found at my place doing my
duty; for which reason, move
that candles be brought so that
the House may proceed with Its
business. Near tho close of the
year 1880, the Legislature Of S. Z.
wasin sessioo. The State was dark
ened by an eclipse of the moral
sun, and petilsn was present
ed to the Legislatures petition
consecrated by the prayers and
tears of FIVE thousand daughters
of Carolina-a petition seeking re-
form, imploring protection against
tho greatest public evil of the
age; whereupou, a grave and rev
erend seignior who should be a
scorner of scorn and hater Of hate
who should be an enemy of pub
lie vice and conservator Of pub
Tic virtue, arose and said-'Tbe
aim is a noble one, but to grant
this petition 0ould break up the
Democratic party How comes
it that this evil which is an enemy
of peace. virture, happiness. .respec
liability and Heaven-this friend
of discord, vice, misery, infamy
and He'll, is also the friend Of the
Democratic party? Disrupt the
Democratic party! '1e Gods it
doth amaze me- that men in so
high places should stoop to advo-
cate so low principles Ours has
become a government Of speech
making, government in which
low wit and strong lungs too of:
ten bear off: the laurels from
modest merit. The sage of Cbel-
sea once said: England contains
twenty-seven millions of human
beings-mostly FOOLS Our own
great country contains fifty mil
lions of human beings-mostly
politicians! In the mind of the
great Scotchman, the difference
would not be worth the toss Of
copper. We must feel that ours
is peculiarly an age Of change;
not destitute Of merit in the way
of Reform. 70 find the great
leveling-equalizing power of our.
country, it is not necessary to
watch the signs of the zodiac or
consult Chaldean tables. There
is 8. power in the land that is
more than Argus-and more than
Briareus; q power with a thou
sand eyes and a thousand hands
and a thousand tongues, con-
trolled by. thousand earnest,
throbbiog brains a power more
changefut than Proteus AID
mightier than. the Titans wear
ing, withal, the ring Of Gyges. 1t
exposes to public scrutiny things
that seek to shun observation
writes things that GO one should
read, and tells things that no one
should hear. 1t calls license lib
erty. It often causes US seriously
to wonder whether the vestal
fires shoulder in the temple Of the
soul-and whether the trail left by
the serpent on the wicked human
heart, is darker and broader in our
own land than elsewhere. To the
beads of this vast power, Salma-
gundi gives the significant title
sSlang-whangers.' You may write
the songs as we'll as make the laws
of the nation, but l defy you sue
cessfully to invade the liberties of
the people, ifyou let pubic.spirited
men control the Newspaper Press.
Yes. the Press is the great eqGaii-
zing power-which attempts to
reform every thing but itself.
Like Iago, it is nothing If not
CRITICAL and it often reminds US
of the malignant deity in the Bat
tie of the Books: Criticism dwelt |
on the top of q snowy mountain |
in. Nova Zembla. At her right |
hand, sat Ignorance, her father |
and husband, blind with age ; at |
her left, Pride, her mother, dress
ing her up in the scraps of paper
herself had torn. There was
Opinion, her sister, light of foot,
hoodwinked and headstrong, yet
giddp and perpetuaI!y turning.
About her played her children-I
Noise and Impudence, Dullness
and Vanity ,Positiveness, Pedantry
and lll-manners' There is much
that is bad in the newspaper press,
for the history Of the press for the
last decade mirrors the human
heart for the same time. And yet
l know of no greater reformer or
moro powerful guardian Of popu-
lar ri0ht. The reformer needs re-