be those modest and disinterested
encomiums upon the virtues of certain nostrums and specifics, which
cannot but carry conviction to his mind that there is a certain cure for
'all the ills that flesh is heir to!' And lastly, not to enlarge the
list any further, what a glow of heartfelt pleasure and gratitude must
the really good and benevolent man experience when he peruses the
reports of charitable societies, with their statistics of poverty,
misery, and privation, which afford him a channel for the dispensation
in works of mercy of the superfluous wealth with which a bountiful
Providence has blessed him!

Such being the manifold uses and advantages of the newspaper, we are
tempted for a moment to pause and reflect upon what would be the
condition of the world without it. What a dreary waste it would be! Man
is an inquisitive animal, and at the present day is just like the
Athenians of old, going about seeking for some new thing. What would
become of him if the provender supplied him by his newspaper were
suddenly cut off? The consequences to society and to individuals would
be frightful to contemplate, and the mind especially recoils with horror
from the fate which would assuredly overtake those elderly
club-loungers, whose sole aim and object in life appears to be the daily
perusal of their favorite journal. How disastrous would be the effects
of such a stoppage to those persons who are compelled to pass the
greater portion of their lives together! They could not possibly
contrive to get through the day, and before long life itself would
become burdensome to them. Vast numbers of people have no ideas of their
own, and are therefore compelled to borrow them elsewhere. How important
is the part which the newspaper plays in that elsewhere! Paterfamilias
comes down to breakfast--his newspaper fresh, clean, and tidily folded,
lies invitingly on the table--he eagerly seizes it, and is forthwith
furnished with topics of conversation with his family. When he is
thoroughly posted up in the news of the day, he sallies forth, and is
ready to interchange ideas at secondhand with any acquaintance he may
meet. What would become of Paterfamilias, his family, and his friends,
if they were deprived of this resource? The whole framework of society
would be unhinged, business and pleasure would alike come to a
standstill, and the world would again relapse into barbarism and chaos.

But let us turn from these fanciful speculations to