IV
"THE MODERN PULPIT"
It is a bright July morning. As I sit in the garden I look out, over a tangle of wild roses, to a calm sea and a flock of white sails. Everything invites to happy thought and innocent reverie. Moreover, it is the day of rest, and every one is at leisure to turn his mind towards pleasant things. To what, in fact, are most people on this continent turning theirs? To this, which I hold in my hand, the Sunday newspaper.
Let us analyse this production, peculiar to the New World. It comprises eight sections and eighty-eight pages, and very likely does really, as it boasts, contain "more reading matter than the whole Bible."
Opening Section 1, I read the following headings:
"Baron Shot as Bank-teller—Ends Life with Bullet."
"Two fatally Hurt in Strike Riots at Pittsburg."
"Steals a Look at Busy Burglars."
"Drowned in Surf at Narragansett."
"Four of a Family fear a Dogs' bite" (sic).