So the body of contemporary literature, ephemeral and feeble
in itself, touches in the minds of men the springs of thought
and kindness, and supports them (for those who will go at all
are easily supported) on their way to what is true and right.
And if, in any degree, it does so now, how much more might it
do so if the writers chose! There is not a life in all the
records of the past but, properly studied, might lend a hint
and a help to some contemporary. There is not a juncture in
to-day's affairs but some useful word may yet be said of it.
Even the reporter has an office, and, with clear eyes and
honest language, may unveil injustices and point the way to
progress. And for a last word: in all narration there is
only one way to be clever, and that is to be exact. To be
vivid is a secondary quality which must presuppose the first;
for vividly to convey a wrong impression is only to make
failure conspicuous.
But a fact may be viewed on many sides; it may be chronicled
with rage, tears, laughter, indifference, or admiration, and
by each of these the story will be transformed to something
else. The newspapers that told of the return of our
representatives from Berlin, even if they had not differed as
to the facts, would have sufficiently differed by their
spirits; so that the one description would have been a second
ovation, and the other a prolonged insult. The subject makes
but a trifling part of any piece of literature, and the view
of the writer is itself a fact more important because less
disputable than the others.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50