Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-08-17
HEAVY sENsATIONALIsM,

Sensa'ionalsm Is the tendency of the day.
1t finds expression everywhere pr So,
pulpit, stage, In literature, art, aud even
science. In the home, in the street, in the
mart. 1t is the atmosphere which brea thes
through, and surrounds onr modern life.
Nothing is too lofty for it, or too vcncrated
1t touches all alike, and makes all its me-
dunn. Like brazen colored haze in burn
ing Summer time, that wraps all the lands
cape in its smoky veil, and turns even the
skies and the hills aud the sun into "copper"
SO the atmosphere Of scnsatioualism perverts
the clear light and hides the noblcr features
of the worlds life to-day.
But nowhere is scusationalism so pronoun.
ccd as in the periodical literature of the day
Here the daily life of the people is mirrored
with an intensity, almost with an cxargcra-
ton, that is certain to bring out its promi-
nent features. as it were, in profile. And
the people are willing to be carricaturcd
they demand it. They want to gloat
over their own pccularitics they want
to sec the extremes of their own excuses ;
they are morbdly curious to know the
whole texture of intense modern lifc Sem
satonalism Of this sort may be found by
the column In our daily newspapers
and pictorial weeklies. 1t reeks in
the pages OF the modern school OF
periodical fiction, and even crects into our
purely literary journals and magazines. And
now it would seem as though it had invaded
the last possible stronghold of conservatism
and dignity and purity-thc modern review.
It's startling to take up copy of so old
and honorable and digniicd publication as
the North american Reriew, and find in its
list of contents discussions of the most sen.
satonal topics of the day-papcrs heavy in
form and setting, but flippant and rrcycrent
in tone and matter. Here the atheist and
the scoffer airs his rhetoric; the loose mod
ern liver sncers at the divine and time
honorcd institutions of morality, and the
pseudo-rcformer projects his shalowy panto-
mine on the white background of government
and society. How pl,iful to see the sword
Of Ajax dragged between the little legs of the
modern hummer, as he poses and prances
and trots around the ring with his hobby, 10
please the cheering multitude. And how
harmful, too, this heavy sensationalism must
be, with its stolen aspect of wisdom and cul-
ture. 1t will deceive minds too keen and too
sensible to be taken in by the shallow vapor-
ings OF the clown in cheaper print or the
knavc in knavc's dress Back of
the article stands the periodical in
which it is printed. 1t can no more
disclaim responsibility for its utterarces
than can On individual do away with the in
tluence Of his words and deeds. The thrust
may be offset with parry, the blow broken
by shield, but the fact remains that the
blow has been delivered by Il knight admit
ted with all the honors and sanction of chiv-
airy TO the lists, and his blade, though it
may not pierce and kill, may shock and
wound. 1t is terrible thing to give evil an
audience, especially if he who introduces it
is one whose influence is widc-reaching and
long-cstablished. The plaguc-spot of sensa-
:lonalism once contracted, will feed upon
the fair flesh as well as the foul. In the
name, then, of all that is revCred and hon.
ored and established in morals or literature,
let the culture and wisdom of the day bar
their gates against the beggars of sensation
alism.