Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/44

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of the daily Press. The majority of the public are appallingly ignorant of astronomy for instance. Would it not be as interesting to instruct them in a simple and easy style as to the actual wonders of the heavens about us, as to fill their minds with the details of a murder? I hardly like to touch on the subject of geography, for out of fifteen "educated" persons I asked the question of recently, not one knew the actual situation on the map, of Tibet. Now it seems to me that the Press could work wonders in the way of education,—much more than the "Bill" will ever do. Books on science and learning are often sadly dull and generally expensive, and the public cannot afford to buy them largely, nor do they ask for them much at the libraries. If the daily journals made it a rule to give bright picturesque articles on some grand old truths or great new discoveries of science, such a course of procedure would be far more productive of good than any amount of "Short Sermons" such as we have lately heard discussed in various quarters. For the Press is a greater educational force than the Pulpit. In its hands it has the social moulding of a people, and the dignity of a nation as represented to other nations. There could hardly be a nobler task,—there can certainly never be a higher responsibility.