Our Newspaper.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 9, 9 December 1884, Page 4

Our Newspaper.

(Exchange.) " Well, whats m the paper to-day? " " Oh, nothing, same us usual I" is the invariable reply as dm paper is thrown down on one si<le with dissapointinent. " There never is anything m that papei !" Even so ; and yet the compilation of that same record of events is the result of hours of hard labour and study. And yet, notwithstanding the fact. that " nothing " is m the paper, its next issue m oagerly looked for, and the wet sheet is opened, the same dissapointnient expressed — day after day, and week through life. Foolish Header : know thyself, that it is thy own lack of knowing what thou requirest; that thou hast a strong spice of the old Adam — despising the present, resolving m the future. Know that it is thine own emptiness, always hungry, yet continually gorging, without masticating, aud crying "More ?" yet grinding no meal. Still, T must admit, our newspaper is not up to the standard - not what it ought to be. But think, is their not plenty of room for improvement m all our ariairs without any exception ? Has there been any portion of your existence Uiat you havo felt satisfied wii,h since you stepped on earth 1 1s there any likelihood that you will be satisfied while yoit remain here 1 Nay, would not life become monotonous if we had nothing to wish for, nothing to grumble at ? How should we fill up those two wants — are they not the Alpha and Omega of our existence — are they not both meat and drink to us ? What would bo the use of a tongue if we had nothing to grnmble at ? W bat is the apparent aim of marriage after the first/ year, and why do we fit up an extra room and entice our mother-in-law to live with us % Discontent, discontent. The two before mentioned great wants seem to be equally as important to life as is blood. But supposing our newspaper ware to atop its issue. Should we not be virtually dead — without a stone to mark our whereabouts ? Is it not probable thai we should be blotted otf the map of the world, and written off " disappeared about, the year ? " What would become of our local affair* 1 who wquld take the trouble to rise and propose, "that — etc." and how at election times we should arrive at the knowledge that the country was m danger, that a groud crisis was approaching, aud it behoved the electors to look well to il ? It is not written m history that although publicly and to all appearances a man named George 111 ruled the British nation, yet privately and m reality, it was Samuel Johnson, meml>er of the Fourth Estate — Ragged Samuel, who used to have his dinner handed to him behind a screen, he had not sufficient clothes to appear at table. That it was his reviews, articles, political philippics, and Parliamentary debates that first called to Hie the powerful Fourth Estate, whose girdle now surrounds the globe. I rule it, king of kings. Truly it has grown a grand tree, under whose branches birds ot variotis degi'se and feather find shelter — from the stately Miltonian bird of paridise, down to the most common barD-door sensational penny a-liner, that cannot lay a clean egg without cackling* There is one objection I hold to be good against a newspaper, that is the paying for it. It should be given away gratuitously — it would then l»«ve many more suppoiters. Any editor that can see his way clear to start a newspaer on the gratuitous system there is for him world-wide fame, and an immense future before him. To appreciate ones- newspaper properly we should be as Dh Chailue describes it— in the heart of Africa, without having seen one for the term of eighteen months, when lo and 'behold through some unaccountable means an adventurous New York Hirald turned up, and be the Hole white man — hundreds of miles from civilization — read it and re-read its advertisements and all. It made him pathetic, home-sick, and lead him to pack up and depart.