The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-05
THE MODERN NEWSPAPER,
AND Tine PHILOSOpHY or 7HB
MAKING AND READING THEREOF.

WV " ANNsNN
by This Truly Industrious InSttutiou.
Prom a Sermon Dciirercd in Washington On Sundhs.
Mdtrh gH, by the Rsr. Thomas De Hit Iuinage, Di.
TO publish n newspaper requires the skin,
the precision, tho boldncss. the vigilance, the
strategy of n coinmdndcr-in.chief. To edit q
newspaper requires that one I've II statesman.
an cssavist. n gcographcr, II statistician. and in
acquisition encyclopaedia. To man. to govern.
TO propcl. n newspaper until IL shall he II fixed
institution. II national fact. demand moro
qualities than any business on earth. T. yuu
feel Ike starting ahS newspaper. secular Of re-
ligiuus, understand that You are being threat
ened with softening Of the brain or lunacy,
and, throwing your pockctbook into your
wife's lap, start for some insane asylum before
you do something desperate. Meanwhile, US
the dead newspapers, week by week. are car.
ricd out to the burial. all the living news
papers give respectful obituary. telling when
they were born and when they died. The
best printers ink should give Mt least one stick
ful of epitauh. INT was n good paper, sag
Peace to The ashes" II II was a bad paper.
| suggest the cpitaph written for Francis Char
treuse: Here continueth to rot the body Of
Francis Chartreusc, VINO, with an intlcxibls
constancy and uniformity Of life. persisted in
the practice of every human wee. cNreptina
prodigaiity and hypocrisy. His Unsuitable Nv.
arice cxempted him from the FIRST. his match.
less imprudcnce from the second" ! say
this because | want you 10 know that a good,
healthy, long-iivcd. entertaining newspaper
Is not an easy blessing, hut one that comes
to us through the fire.
First of all, newspapers make knowledge
democratic and for the multitude. The pull.
lie library is n hnymow SO high up tlat few
can reach 1t. while the newspaper throws
down the forage to our feet. Public libraries
are the reservoirs where the great floods are
stored high up and awav off. The news
paper is the tunnel that brings them down TO
the pitchers Of all the people. The chief use
of great libraries is to make newspapers out
of. Great libraries make Il few men and wo-
men very wise. Newspapers lift whole ma
tons into the sunlight. Better have 50O,-
100000 people moderately Intelligent than
100, 900 Solons.
y false impression is abroad that newspaper
knowledge is cphemeral because periodicals are
thrown aside. and not one out of 10. 600 people
files them for future reference. Such knowl-
edge. so far from being ephcneral. goes into
the very structure of the worlds heart and
brain and decides the destiny of churches and
nations. knowledge on the shelf is Of little
worth. 1t is knowledge fOot, knowledge har-
messed. knowledge In revolution. knowledge
winged. knowledge projected, knowledge thun.
derbOlted. So far from being c~phemerals
nearly all the best minds and hearts have their
hands on the printing press to-day, and have
had since it got emancipatcd. Adams and
Hancock and Otis used to gu to the Boston
Gdzcttc and compose articles on the rights Of
the people. BENJAMIN franklin, lie Witt Clin-
ton, Hamilton. Jefferson, Quincy, were strong
in newspaperdom Many of the immortal
things that have been published In book form
first appeared in what you may call the ephem.
cral periodical. All Macaulay's essays first
appeared in IL review. All Cnrlyle's, all Rus
kin's. all NTclntosh's, all Sydney smiths. all
liaAlitts. all Thackeray's, all the elevated
works Of fiction in our day. are rclrints from
periodicals in which they appeared rs serials.
TennysOn's poems. Burns's poems. I.ongfel.
lows poems, Emcrson's poems. Lowell's poems,
Winters poems, were once fugitive pieces.
You cannot find ten literary men in Christen.
dom, with strong minds and great hearts, but
are or have been somehow connected with the
newspaper printing press. While the book
will always have its place, tho newspaper 10
more potent. Because the latter is multitude
nous do not conclude il Is ncce ssari.y superb.
cial. If a man should from childhood to old
age see only his Eible. Wehster's Dictionary,
and his newspaper. he could he prupared for
all the duties of this lie and all the happiness
of the next.
Again, I good newspaper IS a useful miro.
that newspapers report the evil when they
ought only to. report the good. They must
shall We know what is to be reformed. what
guarded against, what fought down. A news
tue OF society is u misrepresentation. That
family IS best pre- Jared for the duties of life
tho good. Kecr children under the impression
that all is fair and right in the world. and when
they 20 ont into II they viii be as poorly pre-.
thrown into the middle of TIL Atlanti" and
It'll IN, to 3 ieHrn l how Is to ms sTim n,,r our 10, only dya oo mn.
rality duh. when vice is printed with. great
headings and good deeds are put in obscure
righteousness in nonrareil. sin Is loath-
conc; make it loathsome, Virtue is beauti-
Another blessing Of the newspaper is the
foundation Il lays for accurate history Of the
blindiy guess about the ages ts.at antedate
the nGwspapcr and are dependent upon the
portgnity the Historian viii nave to teach the
got from the early newspapers OF, this country.
from t:le Boston AetrS Latsr, the New York
GG"a::""Et,;', @ '%s 1 .%,rI,d" n, E fnT!on "SR, TIE Tie M mSs@
chusctts SpI; and the philadelphia 4mr"rG, ac-
duel, and Washipstun's death, and the Boston
massacre, and The Oppressive foreign tax on
teapot, and Paul Rcvcrrs midnight ride. and
lth3de Island rebellion, and south Carolina
But what 4 field for the chrontclcr of the
great future when he opens the files OF n hum
dred stitnHnrd AmnrlGan newsnnpers. giving
social, political, ecclesiastical. international
he"dimEs; rye hundred years tom nov 4
for stirring, decisive history VIII prs, by the
misty C0rrldcTs of other centuries aud say to
he librarian; Find me the volumes that give
the century In which the American l'rc.idents
were a,shssinatrd. The civil war enacted. and
the cotton gin, the steam locomotive and tele-
graph and electric pen aud telephone and Cy lin
der presses were invented"
once more | reunrk that n good newspaper
Is "A blessing Hn nm cVnIGci.oiic Influence, You
know there /, u great c~i,nnSe in our daY tax.
Ing place. All tho secular newspapers OF tho
day I ri am not SnCahinE now ut the I~C,igiOus
newspapers all the secular newspapers of the
Hay discuss all the questions Of G'd, eternity,
and HE dead, and al tie questions Of the past,
present, and future. There /, not u single doe
Irinc Ot thcJlUg, Tut has been discussed in tho
ten wears by Ia" 81 'ulnr ncwspapers
n tEo country. lhey gather up all the news Of
all tho earth bearing ON religious subjects, and
hon they t'atlcr the news abroad again,
The christian new paper VIII Vc The right
wing nt the aUnuulyp;ic augr'. The ,ylinder
# the tlrtStiaulHuI printing Hr"~s VIII Ice tho
froJt wheel Ot the Lord, chariot, take the
music Of this day, and do not mark l. dumin-