Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 5, May 1849Various
General
Graham's Magazine, Vol. XXXIV, No. 5, May 1849
Various
Literature -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals
THE INQUIRER.—The model of a daily family paper, marked by continued
and unwearied industry, and beaming with the kindly nature of its
editor. Its ample pages are crowded with well-chosen selections and
active scissoring of news paragraphs; not, however, always carefully
pruned and clipped down. It is only once in a while that Mr. Morris
shows us that he can write, and his Saturday Readings are full of the
warm impulses and genuine kindness of the man, but are written more for
purposes of good than to display his powers. Occasionally he warms up in
his general articles, and lets out a spark or two, shows us a glimpse of
the wealth he hoards, and causes us to wish for continued examples of
the ability he possesses. In his political leaders he sometimes is
forced by unfair opponents into a little causticity at the opening of
his article, but he relents before he gets through, and will most likely
give his “friend” a chance to back out of his blunder. He has not the
heart, though he possesses the strength, to press his antagonist to the
wall, and to pin him there. Mr. Morris has an agreeable, ready and
devoted coadjutor in Mr. Crump, a man of various learning and diligent
application. This journal is shockingly “made up,” to our taste, and is
all over disfigured with staring black head-lines, which look to our eye
like the sable of a hearse—its “_postscript_” is our particular horror.
THE DAILY NEWS.—The absence of Judge Conrad from the daily press seems
to have reinvigorated his powers, and has given additional force to his
pen, and fire to his thoughts; like an unprisoned eagle, with a spring
he darts to the skies and gazes in the sun. Some of the finest articles
he ever wrote have appeared in the News. Every subject that Judge Conrad
touches, seems to have been fused, as in a furnace, and the metal flies
off in lumps from his gigantic mind. His intellect illumes and pervades
every part of his subject, and when he drops it, there is nothing more
to be said. His compact, all-grasping sentences, may furnish subjects
for whole leaders to others, but the vitality has been extracted, and
any treatment of the topic is tame and impotent in contrast. He does
not, however, always seem to know the power of the words he uses, and
will give a whack with his sledge-hammer with a will at a fly, which
would effectually knock down an ox. Hence he should never write short
paragraphs upon unimportant topics—his style is too ponderous. The
News, as a political sheet, is well managed, barring some desire,
occasionally manifested, to pull, for personal ends, the strings of its
influence; but it is sadly deficient in mercantile news and facts. At
this writing, too, it is shamefully brought out, and is made up as if
the matter had been sifted over the form, and then locked-up and
printed, and very badly printed at that. Mr. Sanderson should look to
this, for the general editing of his News is too good to come before the
public under so great a disadvantage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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