And
running thence due northerly
On
Brannigan street 200 feet,
Thence
at right angles westerly,
North-west-by-west-and-west-half-west,
West-and-by-north,
north-west-by-west,
About—
I kind of dodged, and the boot-jack broke the looking-glass.
I could have waited to see what became of the other
missiles if I had wanted to, but I took no interest
in such things.
In taking upon myself the burden of editing a department
in the galaxy magazine, I have been actuated
by a conviction that I was needed, almost imperatively,
in this particular field of literature. I have
long felt that while the magazine literature of the
day had much to recommend it, it yet lacked stability,
solidity, weight. It seemed plain to me that
too much space was given to poetry and romance, and
not enough to statistics and agriculture. This
defect it shall be my earnest endeavour to remedy.
If I succeed, the simple consciousness that I have
done a good deed will be a sufficient reward.**—[**Together
with salary.]
In this department of mine the public may always rely
upon finding exhaustive statistical tables concerning
the finances of the country, the ratio of births and
deaths; the percentage of increase of population,
etc., etc.—in a word, everything
in the realm of statistics that can make existence
bright and beautiful.
Also, in my department will always be found elaborate
condensations of the Patent Office Reports, wherein
a faithful endeavour will at all times be made to
strip the nutritious facts bare of that effulgence
of imagination and sublimity of diction which too
often mar the excellence of those great works.**—[**
N. B.—No other magazine in the country
makes a specialty of the Patent Office Reports.]
In my department will always be found ample excerpts
from those able dissertations upon Political Economy
which I have for a long time been contributing to
a great metropolitan journal, and which, for reasons
utterly incomprehensible to me, another party has chosen
to usurp the credit of composing.
And, finally, I call attention with pride to the fact
that in my department of the magazine the farmer will
always find full market reports, and also complete
instructions about farming, even from the grafting
of the seed to the harrowing of the matured crop.
I shall throw a pathos into the subject of Agriculture
that will surprise and delight the world.
Such is my programme; and I am persuaded that by adhering
to it with fidelity I shall succeed in materially
changing the character of this magazine. Therefore
I am emboldened to ask the assistance and encouragement
of all whose sympathies are with Progress and Reform.
