The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-07-15
N PRAISE OF THE NEWSPAPERS.
A Word in Favor of the Secular Press
and its Work.

A
and its Work.
There are newspapers and ne"spa-
pers, but 1t has Eecomc quite fashion
Of our day to deride the secular press
in toto as a school Of wicketness,
whose express purpose is TO record
revolving crimes and pander u the
worst kind Of sct!s1tIoniiIsnl. In face
OF this sweeping aud urjns. condem-
nation, thr opinion Of the world re-
nowned essayest and critic, Herman
Gremm, is of interest and value.
He says in substance that despite
the afectation Of Contempt and differ
ence with which many people take up
and throw down tie II. wSpapers, nc
b ,dy can get along W: nout them. Ihey
enter into the universal life, and satisfy
that lpnging for irfor nation which they
alone can give. They are mans nat
ural, indispensable fo'd, which few are
too poor 10 enj y. Man Is always
reading newspapers al his meals, on The
street cars, on the railway journey.
They are no lncumbrance, and can be
taken about everywhere. They take
the place Of mos; o,her lnllmacles.
One can even read the advertisements,
FIR the while Imagining himself IN the
place OF the buyers, the sellers, the
seekers for places, and those who have
them to bestow, thus finding himself
in social intercourse with that vast,
unknown thrOng, whose needs,
wants and aspirations are kindred TO
his own.
Newspapers record the daily history
of the present age. NJ passing event
escapes them. They annihllate dis
lance, and unite widely severed lands
and peoples. Through them the hands
Of human brotherhood clasp beneath
| pathes, seas and over inaccessible
| mountains. Cd Athens, always seek
ing after new things, would have rev.
elled in the daily press. The news
papers lead the van of every move
ment-they make and mar regulations;
they spread abroad the fame OF Illus
trious deeds; they are the terror Of
wrong doors. The same sheet which
We accuse of tal5thO)d 10 day, moves
US to assent and gratitude tomorrow.
They embody the spirit OF the present;
their modest lesson is that the pres
cit is TO be priced more highly than
the past.
This great German scholar and au-
thor, who has done So much to reha-
biitate The past with lis great deeds
ard heroic characters, and whose re-
searches have been mostly confined TO
bygone days, admits tha, the past has
begun 10 fade from hun. He sees IN
the present glory, before which these
oIden splendors pail. He no longer
asks: ''What was the value OF its heroes,
poets and philosophers to their own
time, but OF what value are they to the
present tlmt9' He finds in the dis
like Of the social democrats Of our day
for history, Of the writers Of lbsen' S
school for the older literature, of the
" dS ltiiiS sl'Jl oltIol ~
finds in all these tendencies, only new
proofs of the fact lha, the past Is los
ing It's hold on the modern world. On
the forefront of the palace of the pres
ent, he sees as an inscription this line
of Buyer S.
"Al, leave the dead to rest.'
Only those poets and artists of the
past whose works are full Of the spiri,
of the present, live in the peoples
hearts to-day. First among these, are
Homer, Shakespeare, Goethe and Ra.
phael. Professor Gremm goes on tc
ex,ol the newspapers as being the very
embod lment OF this modern spirit He
credits them with carrying the revivi
flying breath of new movements into
the remotest solitude; with being teach
ers and leaders OF the people; with in
spring a hunger and thirst for knowl
edge in those deprived Of educationa
advantages; with teaching to high anc
low the intellectual equality of man.
Press and Printer.