The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1891-10-18
RANDOM SHOTS.

| not disappointed. The reverend gentleman
who introduced the topic and was the prlnci-
pal speaker thereto, admitted the power OF
the press, recognized the influence which the
Fourth Estate has gained in the body polite,
and bewailed the fact that all this has been
accomplished without the assistance, IL not
In spite, OF the church and It's representatives.
lie ought not to be surprised at this. No ad-
vance OF the human race In any country at
any time, either in knowledge or achieve
ments, but has been made In the face of the in
dinerence or hostility of the church, whether
Confucian, Brahmin, Buddhist, Zoroastian,
Mohammedan or Christian The reason is not
Tar TO seek. Religion is conservatism, and
conservatism breads and opposes change.
The new is only accepted when it has become
the DID, because age gives the stamp OF re-
spectability. thus the newspaper, so long as
1t was an experiment was frowned upon by
authority, whether civil or ecclesiastical. But
now that 1t has made it's way and become one
OF the great forces OF civilization, it has COM
PEELED recognition, IL not welcome, at the
hands OF those who but yesterday looked down
upon it as something to be distrusted IL not
essentially disreputable. Hostility has given
way to q wholesome fear of the mighty force
which has grown up in the despite of secular
power and religious authority
Inc whole attack against the newspaper has
now dwtndled into the criticism that 1t gives
TOO much space to crime and the objection
that 1t prints OF Sunday. The one is short
sighted and the other narrow. II news NAV
be defined by phrase, it may be said to be
that which is unusual. The newspaper pro-
ceeds on the assumption that honesty is
usual, normal. Therefore, when John Doe,
cashier OF bank, conducts his Office honestly
day after day and year after year, he is doing
the usual tllnp-ho ia normal Rnf yvho
John Doe, cashier of a bank, steals, he is
doing the unusual the abnormal, and, when
found out, the fact is news. Again, Richard
Roe goes to his Office daily without accident.
That is the usual But when Richard Roe is
run over, or falls down and breaks his leg on
his way to his Office, that is unusual, and
hence news. So it is with the whole gamut of
human happenings. They divide themselves
into two classes-the usual or humdrum, and
the unusual and the interesting. The latter
Is news; the former is not. So with nani-
mate things. A house is built The news
paper chronicles the fact. 1t stands ten years
and is never mentioned. 1t takes fire or falls
down. The unusual has happened and the
fact is chronicled. That is the basic fact at
the foundation OF news. To go further into
detail would be wearisome. Yet, at that risk,
Will suggest to any notoriety seeking gen.
tleman of the cloth that SO long as he walks
In the straight and narrow path, and avoids
unseemly contention, he is little likely to be
the subject OF news paragraph, for that is
supposed to be the usual thing or normal
condition with gentlemen OF his profession
put II he wants to make news, let him in
dulge In "heresy'' or ''nest-hiding," as others
have done, and the newspaper will not be
miserly OF Its space.
AS to the Sunday paper, paper like THE
HERALD is as necessary to and as much
relished by healthy and intelligent man or
woman as fried chicken by Methodist circuit
rider The Sunday paper is an outgrowth of
modern conditions, and must be reckoned
with the same as any other permanent insti-
tuition.
Among the most amusing things l have
seen lately was line in the Globe Theatre ad-
vertising bill a week or so ago announcing
"the inimical dark-eyed soubrette," Miss So
snd-So.
The Atchison (Kansas) Daily Globe makes
this highly pertinent, or impertinent, obser-
vation: "a great many of the colored
women wear mems hats. We suppose,
though, that they have as much right to wear
mans hat as white woman has to wear
mans shirt" To be sho'. But the Globe
man has made very superficial examination
OF the subject If he has failed to learn that
the mans shirt worn by women is minus the
important appendage vulgarly called a tail
shirt without tail
Is like a ship without sail
There appears to be an impression In the
public mind, or some sections of it, that the
Naval authorities in ordering.a court of in
quiry to examine into the loss of the Despatch
are censunng Lieutenant Cowles, who was in
command OF that ship, without giving him a
hearing. Nothing could be further from the
fact. In the first place the court of inquiry is
called at the request of Lieutenant Gowles.
In the second place that is the only method
by which the Naval authorities can under the
law, ascertain where the fault lies, If fault
there be, for the loss of the Despatch The
facts with which the Department is confronted
are these The Despatch has been lost and
Lieutenant Cowles was in command The
questions to be decided are Is Lieutenant
Cowles to blame for that loss, and If he is not
who, If any one, is? AS the court will be
constituted of his felloW-officers and ma
lority, If not all, OF his superlors in rank,
Lieutenant CoWles has nothing to fear at the
hands OF the court. From the newspaner
reports Lieutenant Mulligan was in charge of
the Despatch at the time she struck and
mistake of his as to the lights was the cause
OF the disaster Now am only a land-lubber
ana know little OF the ways of them who 90
doWn TO the sea In ships, but it seems to me
that 1t would be difficult matter for the most
experienced sea dog to distinguish one light
from another on stormy night, such as that
was when the Despatch was accidentally run
ashore, and these two lights but few miles
apart. 1t is easy for us who sit In our easy
chairs In library or club to say, SHE ought to
know, that's what he's paid for -
but am disposed to let them criticise who
a mi cfnlrn DIT