Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/442

 202 THE CRATER; not the fact, even in America, forty years since. The theory of an unrestrained press has fully developed itself within the last quarter of a century, so that even the elderly ladies, who once said with marvellous unction, &quot;It must be true, for it s in print,&quot; are now very apt to say, &quot;Oh! it s only a newspaper account!&quot; The foulest pool has been furnished by a beneficent Providence with the means of cleansing its own waters. But the &quot;Crater&quot; Truth- Teller&quot; could utter its lies, as a privileged publication, at the period of this narrative. Types still had a sanctity ; and it is surprising how much they deceived, and how many were their dupes. The jour nal did not even take the ordinary pains to mystify its readers, and to conceal its own cupidity, as are practised in communities more advanced in civilization. We dare say that journals are to be found in London and Paris, that take just as great liberties with the fact as the Crater Truth- Teller; but they treat their readers with a little more out ward respect, however much they may mislead them with falsehoods. Your London and Paris publics are not to be dealt with as if composed of credulous old women, but re quire something like a plausible mystification to throw dust in their eyes. They have a remarkable proneness to believe that which they wish, it is true ; but, beyond that weakness, some limits are placed to their faith, and appearances must be a good deal consulted. But at the crater no such precaution seemed to be ne cessary. It is true that, the editor did use the pronoun &quot; we,&quot; in speaking of himself; but he took all other occa sions to assert his individuality, and to use his journal dili gently in its behalf. Thus, whenever he got into the law, his columns were devoted to publicly maintaining his own side of the question, although such a course was not only opposed to every man s sense of propriety, but was directly flying into the teeth of the laws of the land ; but little did he care for that. He was a public servant, and of course all he did was right. To be sure, other public servants were in the same category, all they did being wrong; but he had the means of telling his own story, and a large number of gaping dunces were ever ready to believe him. His manner of filling his larder is particularly worthy of