The herald., 1896-02-09
EDITED BY ENOCH KNIGHT

fine as it is as a literary creation, the
deep and inspiring religious truth it
brings out 80 wildly is far above all
literary excellence. One feels, at read
ing lines like these, as be felt who,
standing before the statue of Phidian
Jove, declared that it humanized the
deity and deified humanity. How
blessed it would be if men and women
could walk the earth ith the memory
hearts:
This is the earth he walked on not alone
That Asian country Keeps the sacred stain;
Ills not alone the far JudHan plain,
Mountain and river! Lo, the sun that shone
On him shines now on us; when day is gone
The moon OF Ga lice CO cs forth again
And lights our path as his; an endle chain
OF years and sorrows makes the round world
The air we breathe, he breathed-the very air
That took the mold and music OF his high
And godlike speech Since then shall mortal
With base thought front the ever sacred sky
Soil with ioul deed the ground wherein he
In holy death his pale, immortal head!
WRITING FOR PRIZES
An eastern reviewer, who has taken
note Of the business of writing for
prizes, has a poor opinion of the re-
suits. Referring to Julian Hawthorne's
A Fool of Nature, he says the story
is disappointing, not having kept the
promise Of the opening portions.
"Olearly it is not masterpiece, nor
even to be ranked amongst the authors
bsst works, though it is doubtless
above the average Of prize novels" AT
any rate, according to the estimate, it
is not so dismal failure as Miss Will
kin's The Long Arm, which appears to
be ono of the things Miss Wilkins has
done which the public will not forgive.
x *
This is w. s. Gilberts way of saying
lin The Ohieftain) that there is nothing
new in the kingdom of jokes:
Quixo ic in his enterprise and hopeless his adj
who seeks for jocularities that have Mt yet
The world has joked lncassantly for over fifty
And every joke that's possible has long ago
been made,
An article on newspaper work and
newspaper workers has baen attracting
much attention in the east. After re-
counting the great enterprises Of GER
tain newspapers and noting the changes
of policy and method these later years,
the author closes as follows--a rather
sad picture:
81 cannot imagine a man looking
back over lifetime spent in the work
of newspaper offices with any senti-
ment more cheerful than that of a hui
morous sadness Whatever may have
been the measure of his success, he
must recall the ideals with which he
began his career with sense Of WON
der as to whether it was really he who
cherished them. Perhaps the same may
be said of most other kinds Of human
careers, but | know of none in which
there IL 60 violent a contrast between
the professed nobility of aim and the
unblushing neanness of method. There
is no more eXacting and exhausting
work than that which constitutes the
daily routine of newspaper office. 1t
grinds the youth out of man with
great rapidly, aud in stealing his ply
steal elasticity robs him also Of certain
finer impulses that are harder to re-
cover. And yet it has charm of its
own to which the most wearied Of its
bOndsmen never become quite insensi-
BILE.
Work, untiring and ceaseless, is the
badge of all professions. but the work
of newspaper man at 10 is not nee
e5sarily better paid work than that of
the same man at rs. Twenty years of
what is called successful devotion to
his calling has probably brought him
sense Of security in his ability to earn
his living, and consequent indiffer-
ence to the incessant changes of the
little world which bounds his sphere of
activity, but beyond that sense of per-
sonal independence he has gained but
little. For failing mental vigor there
is no place in a newspaper office; for
long services no retiring pension. The
law Of the survival of the fittest reigns
here in all it's brutal vigor; but what
may be the enduring type OF work or
worker, to which all the stress and
struggle of the men who make the
daily press are cOnverging, is beyond
the reach of my conjecture.
Apropos of this subject we cannot
forbear making allusion to a genial
Britain's view OF our newspapers. Dean
Hole, who spent few months with us
SO delightfully."-, has written out some of
his impressions about America. After
Swimming along over the matter of our
theaters, clubs, hotels, railways,
churches and many other subjects and
phases of life, he has harsh words to
cay Of our newspapers. "All who love
America he says, ''must protest
against these degradations. &.
There is no excuse for the piling up of
the agony, for the proclamations in
huge and hideous type OF the most
abominable crimes, for procession Of
bad men and bad women on the front
of the stage, as though these actors
we're of all the most important, and as
though this 'rogues' march down the
hill to perdition we're much more inter-
esting to the public than the march of
intellect, the progress of industry, the
advaucements of science, the accents
of religion and of truth" This may be
bit harsh, but it should set US to
thinking.
The Woman's Bible is being laughed
to scorn everywhere. Nothing ever
done by her has brought such hurt to
her cause. 1t was all so out of place
and absolutely impairment, that il
seems incredible that it ever could
have been allowed to be done. What
becomes of the higher criticism which
has done 30 much for mankind, if
the women of nation are to make the
Bible over to suit themselves? We
doubt if anything else in the world of
literature can be found at once SO silly
and so impudent at this.