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varied and wide, and while few can hope to excel in all, any one of them will give ample scope and ample reward to him who pursues it with energy and devotion. To the youth thirsting for political fame, journalism offers a wider and freer field of action than the law. To the one longing for oratorical power, it shows in its ranks as bright examples as now exist in theologic or forensic fields of eloquence. To all 'who have literary ability, it has opened the gates of opportunity, and has dared to proclaim, and has proved, that talent is confined neither to age, condition, nor sex.

The origin, mission, and results of the American newspaper form a profitable theme for contemplation. One hundred and seventy-five years ago, the Boston News-Letter, the first periodical published in America, made its appearance. Sixty years rolled by, and the number of news and political papers had increased to ten. These were the germs whence sprang the best and most extensive system of journalism in the world-now numbering over eight thousand newspapers and periodicals, of which about ten per cent. are dailies. The mission of these early journals was mainly a political

one.

They strove to sow the seeds of independence in the minds of the colonists. How well and how nobly they accomplished their mission is evident to all. How marked the growth of journalism since the renowned Benjamin Franklin edited and published in Boston the little New England Courant! The mission of the newspaper of to-day is not solely what it was then. Instead of being, aside from their political nature, mere newsletters, containing dry and meager records of public occurrences, our daily and weekly journals are complete mirrors of all passing events. Their columns are also enriched with poetry, art, science, philosophy, and history, combining the fresh and varied literature of the present with the wisdom of the past.

The many departments of journalism give room for the exercise of almost every shade of literary taste. From the ponderous articles of the quarterly review to the crisp, racy items of the daily paper is a field boundless as varied. The magazine, while it is not, strictly speaking, a newspaper, still, from its close relation, demands passing notice. It is with us a fixed institution, furnishing room for deep thought and broad culture. Here the traveler, scientist, philosopher, and novelist, assisted by the skillful artist, portray in their most attractive forms the various things which serve to instruct and entertain the reading public.

The weekly journals form an important factor of the great system, especially the pictorials, where the pencil of a Nast, a Worth, or a Bellew stamps glory or shame upon the brow of many a man with the swiftness of lightning and the certainty of fate. The illustrations, combined with the comments on current topics and events, here form a system which leaves its lasting impress upon the mind of the most cursory reader.

The daily paper, in its columns, local, editorial, and corresponding, gives opportunity for the exercise of the bright, nervous, vigorous, reasoning, and descriptive powers, impromptu writing, and the development of sudden inspiration. And these writings are not unappreciated and laid away upon the bookseller's shelf, like the musty products of many authors' brains, but, in the form of news, and the discussion of passing events, are often read from one end of the land to the other, before the pen which inscribed those thoughts has long been dry. A pithy paragraph in the editorial column of a wide-awake newspaper thus often wields more influence

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than the most powerful plea from pulpit, bar, or stump. The daily appearance of the newspaper is now such an ordinary occurrence that its very commonness blinds us to the really wonderful nature of the event. In the newspaper all the momentous topics of the times are analyzed and discussed. The lightning is its fleet messenger, flashing through oceans, over mountains, rivers, and plains, news of the movements of commerce, the triumphs of invention, tidings of peace and war, joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity-thus binding the world together in one electric bond of sympathy. There is something almost feverish in the speed with which news is sown broadcast at the present day. In Washington, during a session of Congress, at ten o'clock at night, some noted member of that body-a Booth, a Bayard, or a Blaine-rises to speak. For two hours, perhaps, he holds his auditors enchained with his eloquence. By midnight an editor sits at his desk, a few blocks away, with a digest of that very speech before him, to probe it with a keen lance of satire, or to laud it to the skies, as it may happen to clash or chime with his opinions; and, before daylight, damp from the press, the journalistic weapons smite either upon the head of the speechmaker or his political foes. Meanwhile, in a neighboring block, the sharp clicks of the telegraphic sounders are heard, as news of Congress and of the events of the day go flashing over the wires to North and South, to East and West, to cities near and far. While the nation lies slumbering, and the mantle of night covers the face of nature, the wires, as though gathering inspiration from the darkness, are throbbing with their electric freight, records of new-born events whose occurrence may please or grieve, may edify or astound, a mighty people. Men arise and take their news with their breakfasts, feeding both mental and physical at once. They devour the speeches of the Washington congressmen, doings of legislatures, reports of foreign wars, and of local intelligence, with the same avidity that they consume beef and bread. As a dessert, they turn to the editorial comments. The thinking and elucidating have already been done, and the result appears before the eyes of the reader in black and white. These are the ready-made opinions which he assimilates and believes to be his own, and which do, in reality, become his own by adoption. It is in such cases that the press assumes the office of the great molder of public opinion.

Americans are a news-reading people. One of the most encouraging signs of the times is the universal demand for newspapers among the laboring classes. The mass of news and information thus disseminated among the throngs acts like the wind blowing over the great lakes-ruffling and swaying the surface, thus bringing the water in better contact with the oxygen of the air, and keeping the entire body pure and wholesome. The results of the newspaper are that it educates the masses, fashions and elevates public opinion, and enlightens all. It is as indispensable to our institutions as oxygen to the lungs, or as sunlight to the eyes. In politics it is almost omnipotent; sometimes erroneous, sometimes spiteful, it might work serious mischief in some quarters were it not counteracted by truth from other quarters. But the spite and error in the few cases are largely overbalanced by the justice and reason in the many.

In full view of all the benefits of the press, people are occasionally seen who rarely miss an opportunity to carp at journals and journalists; people who have not

brains enough to be properly termed cynics, but to whom the term "grumblers" will better apply. To these, we would say that the profession does not pretend to be made up of embodied perfections, and we will admit that there is much to be deprecated amidst the floating literature of to-day. But the counterfeit only proves the existence of something worth counterfeiting. The same is true in the other professions. For every shallow, useless, or vicious editor that can be pointed out, we can show you a corresponding legal pettifogger, a medical charlatan, a theological stick, or a superficial pedagogue. But the bright array of intellect in the journalistic galaxy is, in itself, proof that the attainments of the profession are high, and the rewards great. The road to political honors is as clear

through journalism as through law, as is proved by the many journalists who have occupied, and do now occupy, seats in our American Congress and offices of foreign diplomacy. The only reason why there have not even more occupied high political office is because they rightly consider that to be a good journalist is, in itself, a greater honor and power than the possession of almost any office at the hands of the people.

Whatever opinions may be held at large concerning the character of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., of the New York Herald, there are few who will not concede the great benefits conferred on the world by that spirit of enterprise which sends a Stanley into the wilds of Africa, or a De Long to the ice-bound regions of the North, to explore and assist in the development of hitherto unknown regions. Carl Schurz, of the St. Louis Post; Bayard Taylor, of the New York Tribune; James Brooks, of the Portland Advertiser and New York Express; Henry J. Raymond, of the New York Times, and others, while journalists, probably wielded more influence, and did greater good than as recipients of some of the highest offices in the nation's gift. The names of Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune; William Cullen Bryant, of the New York Post; William Lloyd Garrison, of the Boston Liberator; George W. Childs, of the Philadelphia Ledger; George D. Prentice, of the Louisville Journal, and many others of widely known ability and loyalty, will go down to posterity as illustrious examples of men who have left the world wiser and better for having lived and worked in it. The newspaper is the nervous system of our body politic. It is our pride and boast that it is untrammeled. Let us in all cases uphold its liberty-understanding, however, that liberty is not to be construed into license or irresponsibility. When the press is fettered, public spirit must cease, for the great means of modifying individual opinions by each other would then be lost. As long as our press remains free from the restrictions imposed upon the press of France and Germany, so long will it be a check upon abuse of power and corruption in office; so long will rascality in high places quake for fear of exposure. Proportionately, there probably is no more corruption in politics to-day than there was generations ago. The means for ferreting it out and exposing it are only multiplied by this giant detective.

Our forefathers would doubtless have exhibited great incredulity had there been foretold to them the proportions the press of the present century would assume. We to-day might be just as incredulous were some seer to point out to us the growth for the next century of this mighty preserver of liberty. Whatever may be our doubts and fears for the future, it is a fact patent to all observing minds that there is little danger that

this country will ever lose the first rank among the nations so long as the press continues to work in consonance with the best elements of civilization.

W. B. TURner.

ODDS AND ENDS.

Our lives are full of odds and ends,
First one and then another;
And, though we know not how or when,
They're deftly wove together.

The Weaver has a master's skill,

And proves it by this token:

No loop is dropped, no strand is missed, And not a thread is broken;

And not a shred is thrown aside,

So careful is the Weaver, Who, joining them with wondrous skill, Weaves odds and ends together.

DEBORAH PIDSLEY.

SENTENCES FROM RUSKIN.

Between youth and age there will be found differences of seeking, which are not wrong, nor of false choice in either, but of different temperament; the youth sympathizing more with the gladness, fullness, and magnificence of things, and the gray hairs with their completion, sufficiency, and repose.

Impressions of awe and sorrow being at the root of the sensation of sublimity, and the beauty of separate flowers not being of the kind which connects itself with such sensation, there is a wide distinction, in general, between flowering minds and minds of the highest order.

No merchant deserving the name ought to be more liable to a "panic" than a soldier should; for his name should never be on more paper than he could at any instant meet the call of, happen what will.

Childhood often holds a truth with its feeble fingers, which the grasp of manhood cannot retain-which it is the pride of utmost age to recover.

Wherever there is war, there must be injustice on one side or the other, or on both.

By far the greater part of the suffering and crime which exist at this moment in civilized Europe arises simply from people not understanding this truism-not knowing that produce or wealth is eternally connected by the laws of heaven with resolute labor; but hoping in some way to cheat or abrogate this everlasting law of life, and to feed where they have not furrowed, and be warm where they have not woven.

We have no right at once to pronounce ourselves the wisest people because we like to do all things in the best way; there are many little things which to do admirably is to waste both time and cost; and the real question is not so much whether we have done a given thing as well as possible, as whether we have turned a given quantity of labor to the best account.

In literary and scientific teaching, the great point of economy is to give the discipline of it through knowledge which will immediately bear on practical life.

PRESS OPINIONS OF OUR LAST NUMBER.

"This much, at least, is certain-no patriotic Californian can afford to be without his literary namesake." -Argonaut.

"THE CALIFORNIAN (a serial which more and more proves its claim to be no unworthy successor of The Overland) for August is, on the whole, an excellent number."-San Francisco Bulletin.

"It contains much that is good and promising."— San Francisco Alta.

"This home periodical is constantly improving and rapidly approaching the highest standard of American magazines."-San Francisco Examiner.

"It is a capital magazine, creditable to its editor and contributors, and a proud monument to the originality and culture of the Pacific Coast."-Oakland Trib

une.

"We have received the August number of THE CALIFORNIAN, which is one of our most welcome visitors. The magazine contains something for every taste, and ought to be found in every household in the State."Oakland Times.

"The stories, sketchy articles, and poetry, are varied and attractive, the usual departments are edited with ability, and altogether it is the best magazine published."-Marin County Journal.

"The August number of THE Californian has been placed upon our table, and it fully sustains the reputation of this very excellent monthly. THE CALIFORNIAN has become an institution on this coast, and is a publication we take great pleasure in recommending to our reading patrons."-Weekly Sutter Banner.

"The August issue of THE CALIFORNIAN is a particularly strong one."-Santa Rosa Republican.

"It is a credit to the Pacific coast, and any family without it is behind the times."-Lake Democrat.

"The August issue of THE CALIFORNIAN, published at San Francisco, is particularly attractive."—Santa Ana Herald.

"It is a good number, and shows a steady advancement toward the goal of literary perfection....... It is distinctively Californian, and as such has our warmest sympathies."-Colton Semi-Tropie.

THE CALIFORNIAN is growing among us. Its one hundred pages of choice reading should commend it to every reading household in the land."-San José Mercury.

"The August number of THE CALIFORNIAN is at hand, brim-full of good reading as usual. It ranks with the best magazines of the day. For sale at all book stores and news stands."-Hollister Enterprise.

"The bound volume which contains the first six issues of the new magazine, THE CALIFORNIAN, brings indisputable evidence of the quality and style of the publication. It is worthy of the Pacific coast, and should be liberally supported. The fact that the coming volume will appear in new dress is, in itself, an indiTHE cation that popular interest is being secured. CALIFORNIAN is credited with being edited with ability, and the group of contributors is a capable one. The magazine is characteristic of this coast. It has local ideas and glimpses at local scenes, both in nature and the associations of our people. Thus the publication has the freshness of the Pacific Coast country upon its pages, and cannot but be agreeable to those who love the scenes and conditions in which they live and act. This freshness of its environment is reflected from the fabric of true culture and polite literature which occupy its pages. THE CALIFORNIAN has lived long enough

"A credit to the Pacific Coast, and every family already to show that it is worthy to be loved at home

should have it."— Winnemucca Silver State.

fore us.

"THE CALIFORNIAN.-This most interesting of all monthlies-especially to Californians--for August is beWe always regret that we have not room in our columns to give a lengthy and deserving notice of this home book, made up mostly from home talent. Every family should have a bound volume of this literary gem in their library on New Year's day, 1881. Persons wishing to see a copy of the magazine can do so by calling at our office."-San Joaquin Valley Argus.

"THE CALIFORNIAN for August is received, and as usual it is filled with choice selections and interesting original articles. THE CALIFORNIAN is a Pacific coast magazine, and as such should receive a hearty support." -Cloverdale Reveille.

"Its contents are more than usually varied and interesting."-Ventura Signal.

and admired abroad, and this reception, we believe, awaits its coming issues."-Home Life.

"THE CALIFORNIAN for August comes in freighted, like a Spanish galleon of the days of good old Padre Junipero Sera, with plenty of good things for Pacific Coasters, and everybody else......Capital stories and interesting literary articles are also included among the contents, and everybody should place himself on the subscription list forthwith."-Gold Hill News, Nevada. "A capital magazine."-Solano Republican.

"THE CALIFORNIAN needs only to be read to be appreciated. The August number, just received, is especially interesting, containing instructive and entertaining articles from the pens of well known local writers. .If you wish to subscribe for a magazine for your wives and daughters, you will find The CaliforNIAN will just suit you." -Adin Hawkeye, Modoc County, California.

"The August number of THE CALIFORNIAN is an improvement upon its predecessors, and is about as excellent a publication as one often has an opportunity to read. Some of the leading subjects treated of in this number are of great and absorbing interest, especially to Pacific Coast readers.. THE CALIFORNIAN deserves a hearty support."-Elko Post.

"A SPLENDID MAGAZINE.-THE CALIFORNIAN for August is a superb number, though it seems to have breathed the political aroma of the atmosphere which surrounds us all, and it contains articles on affairs of state to which we readers of THE CALIFORNIAN have been unaccustomed. But they are quiet, dignified, impartial papers, and worthy of the magazine in which they appear. But the literary treat offered its readers is rare, and will delight all lovers of fresh magazine literature. We have not space to particularize, but suffice it to say that no preceding number excels it...... The usual departments are continued, and made as interesting as ever. For sale at all book stores and news stands."-People's Cause, Red Bluff.

"We have just received the August number of the popular magazine, THE CALIFORNIAN. Its articles, covering such a broad scope of subjects, are particularly varied and interesting."-Tehama Tocsin.

"THE CALIFORNIAN magazine for August will give satisfaction to its increasing number of readers....... There is no magazine published more attractive to the people of this coast."-Gilroy Advocate.

"THE CALIFORNIAN, the only regular first-class monthly magazine on the coast, for August, has been received. It is, as usual, well filled with rich and racy articles from the pens of our best authors. Its contributors are mostly on this side of the Rockies, and are all good. This magazine should be in the house of every well regulated family in California. Send to THE CALIFORNIAN, 202 Sansome Street, San Francisco, and get it for a whole year. You will never regret the investment."-Dutch Flat Weekly Forum.

"It is an excellent number."-Phenix (Arizona) Herald.

The August number of THE CALIFORNIAN is on our table, and is even more than usually entertaining. Exceedingly varied and interesting are its contents, contributed by some of the ablest writers on the coast.' Lassen Advocate.

THE CALIFORNIAN for August is the second number of the second volume, and in its new cover is much more attractive. Throughout the one hundred pages of reading matter, we have not noticed a single typographical error; and in its makeup, as well as literary ability, it continues to hold its own with the best. There are sixteen leading articles, any one of which is more than worth the price of the magazine."-Medico-Literary Journal, San Francisco.

"THE CALIFORNIAN for August is at hand, and a most welcome visitor it is. This number is replete with good things for the literary world...... It should find a place on the center-table of every household on the coast."-State Line Herald, Oregon.

THE CALIFORNIAN.-This magazine for August has been read with great satisfaction. People who fail to take the periodical miss a fine literary treat every month; and those people who subscribe for Eastern magazines in preference to this make a great mistake. Send for a specimen copy at least, to THE CALIFORNIAN, 202 Sansome Street, San Francisco, Cal."-Independent Calistogian.

"A credit to the Pacific Coast."-Calaveras Advertiser.

AUGUST CALIFORNIAN.-Each succeeding issue of THE CALIFORNIAN is looked for with marked interest, being always filled with a high order of literature. The August number before us is especially interesting. Each department of the magazine is evidently under the direction of the ablest talent in the Pacific Coast, and its whole make-up is the best evidence of its worth, is a credit alike to the proprietors as to our people, and well worthy of a liberal patronage."-Bodie News.

"Exceedingly varied and interesting."-Susanville Advocate.

"THE CALIFORNIAN.-The August number of THE CALIFORNIAN is at hand. It is like its predecessors, brim-full of choice matter......THE CALIFORNIAN is fast taking rank as the leading magazine, and is, today, the pride of all Pacific Coasters."-Calandaria True Fissure, Nevada.

"It is a good issue, and shows steady advancement." -Alameda Encinal.

"This western magazine has for its contributors some excellent writers, and the articles it contains are fully equal to those in the Eastern periodicals. It is a credit to the Pacific Coast, and we earnestly recommend this work to our readers in this section of the country."— Burlington Daily Hawkeye.

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An interesting number."-Cleveland Herald.

"THE CALIFORNIAN covers nearly a hundred pages of reading. The articles are mostly short and crisp, a great merit in a magazine as in a newspaper. Many of the contributors are women, some of whom write with much grace and force. There is the odor of the Pacific about the whole publication, which deserves to win its way to many Eastern homes."-Philadelphia Chronicle.

"Any family without it is behind the times."-Plumas National.

The following papers also contained long and appre-
ciative reviews, from which we have not space to copy:
Democratic Standard, Eureka, California.
Woodland Democrat, California.
Ashland Tidings, Oregon.
Castroville Argus, California.
Salt Lake Herald, Utah.
Tuolumne Independent, California.
Nevada State Journal, Nevada.
Calaveras Advertiser, California.
Daily Junction, Ogden.

Watsonville Pajaronian, California.
Albany Register, Oregon.

Pacific Christian Messenger, Oregon.

Read the first item in the Editor's "Note Book" (page 276), and send in your subscription. before the price is advanced.

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THE

CALIFORNIAN.

A WESTERN MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

VOL. II.-OCTOBER, 1880.-No. 10.

A WINTER IN BERLIN.-I.

I had a few months to spare for a vacation in Europe, but could not go over until late in October. At that season the current of tourists turns south from Paris, and distributes itself along the main lines of travel, through the south of France into Italy, where it eddies about Florence, Rome, and Naples, until the spring warmth turns it again northward. The more enterprising push on to Egypt and Palestine, though a few turn aside into Spain. It occurred to me that, instead of going over the Italian ground again, I would go this time in the opposite direction, and get a glimpse of another part of Europe; so, instead of following the crowd to the lands south of the Alps, I started for Berlin.

It was a chilly morning in the early part of November, 1879, when I left Paris. Occasionally during the day the fog lifted, and there were brief glimpses through the humid carwindows of the brown fields of northern France stretching away from each side of the road in long, narrow strips, and then of the villages and more variegated surface of Belgium. It was certainly a comfortless ride. As the early darkness came on we changed cars at the frontiers, and the stiff uniforms of the railroad attachés and their harsh speech told us unmistakably that we were on Prussian territory. Cologne was soon reached, and a warm supper in the comfortable hotel in a great degree balanced the long account of the day's discomforts. A day in this quaint city, to look once more at the magnificent cathedral, and then I pushed on to my destination by the way of Hanover and Magdeburg. In a few days after

Vol. II.-19.

my arrival in Berlin, through the assistance of
a member of our embassy, I was enabled to
find a home in a small German family. My
hostess was the widow of a public official, who,
in the course of a long and honorable career,
had been enabled to give his family a social
position, which after his death it was very hard
for the widow to maintain upon the meager pit-
tance which the Government doled out to her
as a pension. The worthy Frau Geheimräthin,
therefore, was glad to admit me as a member
of her family. It may be as well to mention
here that a "Geheimrath" is a privy-councilor,
but at this day in Germany the title has become
an honorary one, conferred by the sovereign
upon meritorious subjects, and, according to
the custom of the country, the wife is always
addressed by her husband's title.
I took pos-
session of her two vacant rooms, and remained
until the following May. For the time I was
in every sense a member of the family, and I
had thus a very favorable opportunity to see
the interior of the life of middle-class Germans,
and certainly the simple, unaffected hospitality,
the culture and heart, which I met in the circle
to which I was introduced, disposed me from
the outset to be uncritical toward the features
of the life about me which appeared strange.

My life during the winter was one of quiet observation, and as it may possibly be of interest to those who have not been in Germany to know something of its capital, I shall endeavor to summarize my observations and experiences.

By looking at the map it will be seen that the latitude of Berlin is a little north of that of London, and relatively to our own continent it

[Copyright by THE CALIFORNIA PUBLISHING COMPANY. All rights reserved in trust for contributors.]

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