The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1891-05-29
ESSAY ON ESSAYS.
BY g. W. DUDLEY, OF THE WALTHALL
WARDEN.

| SreSS ana especially the Ladies and
| Gentlemen of the beautiful City OF
! Yazoo
When | received the honor al
your hands of being appointed
Essayisf, the trust was moi accept
ed without many grave doubts as
to my ability TO satisfactorily dis
charge The duty imp sed. These
doubts have not been dissipated by
the march Of events. On the con-
lrary they deepened and intensi-
fed. It's big undertaking for
one who never wrote an essay to
essay the job.
Writing essays is moi my forte
1t is not among my numerous
accomplishments. Yet it would
seem that of all men the editor
ought TO he posted as TO essays,
when we consider the number
that come into his hands in the
way of business. All there's the
rub-that accounts for my not be-
ing particularly enamored of tie
essay business. AS write there
rise up memories of piles upon piles
OF manuscript thai have found
their way into my Office with hope
of beng The means of immortaliz
ing the authors through the in
s'rumeni aliiy Of cold type. Essays
of all kinds, on all KINDS of paper
in all kinds Of penmanship, but
there was one feature in which
they were di-tinsuishably uniform
they were all long.
There is The essay of the rose
Tipped school girl fragrant with
thoughts of flowers, birds and the
balmy breezes of spring-topics in
consonance with her own sweet,
bright, hopeful and joyously pure
young life, tied with the bluesl of
blue ribbons in The neatest of neat
bows. These are usually brought
in by some doling father or moth.
er or some ambitious teacher who
desires a little graluitous advertis.
ing.
Then there is a crude effort of
some young man, whose mind at
lempts TO grasp the sublimest of
subjects and pe1e,ratss the mos,
abstruse and mysterious of prob
lens, whose punctuation and spell
ing set the printers teeth on edge,
ciuses baleful light TO gl in
his eye and anathemas TO well his
quivering lips.
The theological essay is usually
written by some aspiring young
divine, who has a mistaken idea
that notnrlety constitutes fame,
with a patience and perseverance
that are wonderful, he picks the
dryesi of dry theological bones un-
til the rasping sound drives The
reader almost wild with agony.
No more dreaded document ever
enters the editorial sanctum than
The theological essay.
Next comes The financial crank
with huge bundle of glarng ab.
absurdilIes, showing or attempting
to show a plain way out of hard
times by governmental aid. Such
essays have one redeeming feature,
and one only, and that is that
everybody reads them because
everyone wishes 10 be rich. This
is common ground upon which |
all the descendants of Adam can
meet and shake hands; and while
their common sense teaches them
hat such ideas are but the off
spring of a fevered and distemper.
cred fancy, still they love 10 gaze
upon the imaginary Utopia with
.he lingering stare of The Saharan
traveller upon The delusive water
mirage.
What an exasperaiing sameness
marks the multitudinous essays on
he hackneyed theme of educa-
ion. Cold tremors course through
he editorial system and his heart
wells with sympathy for his help
ess readers as he unfolds bundle
If foolscap with "educalion" for
.aption. Not thai he expects them
o read it, oh no; but it fills the
,lace of something they would like
o read and robs them of insiruc-
ion aud pleasure that is theirs BY
light.
These lines are written with the
aint hope that they may meet the
we of some educational essayist
md restrain his murderous hand
rom The inflic;ion of further hor.
ors upon his suffering fellow Great
Tres.
Is IT putting il foo strong to say
hat The essay is one OF the most
lresded Of The country editors
oesg 1t reception places him in
IN unenviable position. To refuse
o publish il offends an influential
riend, and sometimes more than
me, while 10 publish, he infiicts an
outrage upon a majority Of his
eaders. This floating between
and Scylla is by no
means pleasant, but the unforiu-
laIc readers are usually sacrificed.
Often have l kept away from
,ublic entertainments in which an
'ssay was 10 figure. and whyg be-
'ause of the knowledge that a res
'luiion, inspired by my presence,
would he offered asking that the
'sssy be published in my paper.
And when present at such public
'yercises, the dread of such a ca