Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1888-02-25

N I'M ssss 81 tAs xi.Ss ea
ExaggerGtion 10 isteyally the heapikR
together "a ihdividuli hagmsnts q
easet Gill you got something out Of oil
proportion 70 the truth; and che three
influences which arc most frequently
At work In melting 70 true exaggsrs.
ton are humor, passion and morbid
seasstiunAlisA The sxakgsrationsof
true hnmor ara, Of course, not only
Usually harmless, bat often even some
thing better. They point out the dam
gers Of growing tendency to distor-
ton. as when Charles Lamb answered
Coleridge's question: Lamb. did you
ever hear me preachp'' by stammer-
ing out: MY dear fellow. never
heard you do any thing clse!" or
when Dickens made the Yankee apol-
ogist for the Western postman. who
had absconded with the money in the
Office. boast that the defaulters ,an-
swer TO the dcspot and the tyrsnt is
that his bright 'ome is in the settin'
SUM-" Exaggerations Of that sort in
stead OF misleading. tend by the gro
tesqueness and their point to bring
home truth which. without exaggera-
ton, might be missed. But the exag-
geration Of passion is totally differ
emit thing. and any thing but harmless
Az 1t proceeds from state Of mind
that has no relation to justice Of
thought, 90 Il tends to produce u
state OF mind that Is absolutely
unjust and to inAame all
the dangers Of critical
situation. Such exaggerations pro-
coed from the disposition 10 make the
worst Of those who are opposing Us.
and no disposition grows more rapid
", or is greater perverter Of the
truth. AS rule. of course we are
pretty certain TO estimate those who
are opposed to us, even when we make
the highest effort 70 estimate them
truly, beneath their true worth; but II
once We give up that effort aud yield
to the temptation to blacken them.
there Is no distortion Of the truth too
monstrous to excite in us sort Of
credulous confidence. And yet. at the
present day. the exaggerations Of
morbid sensationalism are almost,
il not quite as mischievous
as those of the bad passions
There is such diseased appetite in
the world for being horri fed, that q
journalist who only tells Lord Sails
bury that he has made serious error
in sending Lord L ytton to Paris. is
hardly list ned to; while one who calls
him a Caligula and declares that c ALI
gula was doing IN innoc emit thing in
making his horse consul, as compar-
ed with the choice of Lord LyttOn for
the Paris embassy, is at least talked
Of for day or two. il only to be
laughed at The worst of it is that the
appetite for high seasoning of the liter
airy food grows with what it feeds on,
till. like the appetite for
garlic, IL becomes so absorbing
that no food Is relished which
is not drenched in it tits not a habit
due to passion, and practically it does
not often excite passion. No one will
feel at all more disposed to conde mn
either Lord Lytton or Lord Salisbury
for the absurd language we have re-
ferred to; rather less so. The real crav-
ing such monstrous language gratifies
is for q stimulus. sensational al shock Of
some sort and SO the tendency grows
to make all literary writing {
series of electric thrills or shiv-
ers to the reader-thc result o.
} which must DO total distortion
Of all healthy and simple habits Of
} thinking and seeing, and of reporting
J what we think and see. We deliber-
ately believe that this sort OF exsggera.
, ton is even worse than the exaggera
, ton of passion. The exaggeration o.
!. passion leads. no doubt, to bad blood.
injustice. strife. even murder-and il
is hard 10 imagine any thing worse
But tits still worse for any nation Il
} get into the melodramatic mood, thu
B habit Of living Its moral life on mere
!, stimulants, instead Of living on th'
bread and meat Of wholesome every.
, dayotruth.--Lossdo~ Spectator
u O. e. q d.