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fmgia Cdlfgnm,
ATHENS, GrA..
Saturday Evening, April 30 ? 1870.
Published by the Literary Societies of the University.
EDITORIAL CORPS.
J. B. B, SMITH,
Term Editor prom the two Societies.
Dei.iosthenian Society. Phi Kappa Society.
W. B. HILL, R. H. JOHNSTON, Jr
W. DESSAU, N. E. HARRIS.
Executive Committee.
D. B. Fitzgerald, I W. A. Broughton,
J. L. Hardeman, |P. K. Yonge.
TEEMS OF SUBSCRIPTION,
Single copies, one year.... $ 2.50
“ “ six months 1.50
u “ three months 1.00
Clubs of five, one year 11.00
“ “ ten, “ “ 20.00
“ u twenty, one year.. 40.00
And an extra copy to the one who gets up a
Club of 20. ,
Remittances should be made by regis
tered letters or P. O. order.
jfigS" Address all Letters to “Georgia Col
i.egian,” Athens, Ga.
INDUCEMENTS TO AGENTS.
Any, one who constitutes himself an agent,
and gets us 5, or more than 5 subscribers, can
have the advantace of our olub rates. Thus
one who gets 5 subscribers (at $2.50 each), need
remit us only $11.00; if 10 subscribers, he need
remit only $20.00.
Tpgt' Contributions solicited from the Alumni
of the College, the students at the institutions
of learning throughout this State and other
States; and from the friends of the University
generally.
■ , ■ .■ 4 -
The Art of Couching Themes
For composition, seems to be little
understood. Its great importance
must never have occurred to gram
marians and rhetoricians, els© they
would certainly have offered some
suggestions or advanced some princi
ples by which we (literateurs) could
be governed while determining on
the phraseology of our literary pro*
ductions.
This subject, as trifling as it may
appear to some, especially i<f those
who write and never read, or those
whp read and never write, to us,
seems one of great moment. Has
any one ever coiisidered the subject
long enough to inquire what was the
object of designating or naming lite
rary compositions ? We propose the
question. “To distinguish the many
articles from each other,” say half of
those whom we address. The re
maining half are silent; and we ven
ture to say there is not one in twenty
who could suggest a single otherobs
ject so be attained or another princi
ple to be consulted in wording these
subjects for composition; yet there
is one, and one which we consider of
paramount importance.
An author may write because he is
fond of it; but he never publishes
without a motive, without an ulte
rior object in view. He either wishes
to advance the happiness of his peo
pie or enhance his own reputation.—
To effect either of these ends his work
must have an extensive circulation ;
THE GEORGIA COLLEGIAN.
to be circulated it must be discussed;
to be discussed it must be read—and
to be read in this era and stage of
literature, it must be attractive. To
securing this almost indispensable
property, there is nothing that con
tributes more than the naming; and
there is nothing about the article
upon which we ought to bestow more
care, in which we should exercise
more ingenuity, than this seemingly
insignificant matter of adopting a
phraseology for our subjects of com
position. The name is the advertise
ment, and we all know there is a deep
principle underlying this art of ad
vertising.
Some authors study to compress
into the titles of their books or the
themes of their essays the gist and
substance of the whole discussion;
but this is evidently ill advised. Will
this secure a reading? Who, after
reading his lengthy proposition—for
such it amounts to—is going to plod
his weary way through what would
seem to him a legion of redundancies
and a perfect mass of monotony ?
Every article, whether scientific or
purely literary, should have a denoue
ment or catastrophe; and while the
subject of the essay, book or whatev
er, should be intimately connected
with this denouement, it should by
no means reveal it. Madame De
Steel would have displayed poor ar
tistic skill had she adopted as the
title of “ Corinne,” something to this
effect:—“How Oswald, an English
Nobleman, loved and broke the heart
of a beautiful Italian improvieatrice.”
The book would never have found its
way into the English language.
In determining on the phraseology
most proper for the title of a book,
the subject of an essay, or the head
ing of an article, never fail to consult
the mysterious , if the subject be in the
smallest degree characterized by this
quality. A prying, inquisitive pro
pensity is a common element of man
kind, whether they be philosophers
or children ; and just so soon as they
learn there is a mystery about any
thing, this propensity is raised to the
highest pitch of excitement.
Edgar A. Poe certainly apprecia
ted and observed this principle to
better advantage than any author of
the present century. In all proba
bility, his “Purloined Letter” has
been perused by two millions of souls;
but bad be designated this master
piece of his by “ The Paris Police,”
(which is really one of the most con
spicuous ideas in it), it would have
never met the eyes of more than one
million of individuals. Suppose he
had termed his “ Black Cat,” the
Horrors of a Superstitious Mind. In
the first place, we doubt seriously
whether we would have ever read it;
and, secondly, if we had, we would
not have had the moral courage the
next day to drawl out to a friend
such a train of abstract terms, in an
effort to acquaint him with what we
had read.
While there are a few who seem to
understand the art, there are others
who have never given the matter a
moment’s consideration; and if their
works succeed it is because of their su
perior merit, or because of some cir
cumstance that lead them to adopt a
becoming title for them. Who, with
one particle of curiosity could resist
reading “ What Will He Do With
It,” after having read such a stri
king title? Who will not say there
is not enough of the sad and myste*.
rious about “Until Death Us Do
Part,” to invite an anxious reading
from any one ?
In Poetry, this principle is far more
important and potent than in prose.
Here, Poe, who seems to be the only
being who ever studied the subject,
stands pre-eminent. The titles of
every one of his poems stamp them
as the production of a genius. Mark
these, “ The Yalley of Unrest,” “The
City in the Sea,” “ The Haunted Pa
lace,” &c. Tom Moore, if he did not
appreciate the principle, was wonder
fully fortunate in this respect.—
“ Lallah Eookh,” as two isolated
words, are a poem in themselves.—
Tennyson knows but little of this se
cret power; Byron cared less. Long
fellow is.strangely fortunate, since it
is unreasonable to suppose he ever
gavo the art any study. A hundred
others could be mentioned and criti
cised, but want of space forbids; and
these adduced are quite sufficient to
illustrate the new-born theory.
We havo not the glimmering of a
doubt that half of the effect and suc
cess of our literary works depend
upon the phraseology of the titles.—
Let the wording of the theme be sug
gestive, for it will then excite our
imagination; let it proceed from
some conspicuous circumstance, for
then it will awaken suspense; let it
be mysterious, for then it will arouse
curiosity; and if these fail to secure
an audience, so will everything else.
call the attention of the
students to the advertisements of
Macon merchants. The establish
ment of J. W. Burke & Cos., deserves
our patronage in every way that we
can give it. The clothing store of
J. H. Hertz & Cos., we know to be in
every respect reliable. Students de
desiring to obtain a summer outfit,
cannot make better bargains than
with Mr. Hertz.
We again refer to the Collegian as
an advertising medium. Our paper
goes to nearly every town, and cer
tainly to every county in the State.
The students who are here from so
many sections, all send it to their
homes. Besides this, the Collegian
goes to the leading hotels of the
cities.
It will Come.
The primary effect of almost every
powerful remedy is to aggravate the
disease, just as the late war has bad
a tendency to expose, without the
least palliation, the undercurrent of
the Southern People’s real desires.—
As regards government, we have had
no voice in the general council; our
agricultural and manufacturing inte
rests have been somewhat advanced ;
but of literature, have we unmistaka
ble evidence that a radical change
will ensue for the better.
. It would be tedious to the writer,
as well as to the reader, and quite
unprofitable to both, to minutely dis
cuss the primary and secondary ef
fects of a revolution. But certainly
the fact has not escaped notice, that
a large, an enormous amount of ener
vating literature has made its appear
ance amongst us—not that which is
the true exponent of any deep feeling
or original idea, but a surplus of
abortive enthusiasm, the residuary of
violent action. We have always en
deavored to be as liberal as is consist
tent in our views—we did not hope
that all the blessings of a change
would immediately prosper our con
dition—we did not expect that the
body would be at once freed from
disease and be left compact with liv
ing energy—nor do we think that
enough time has yet elapsed for these
occurrences, for
“ The mill of the gods grinds slowly.”
All these considerations however,
should not prevent us from stigmati
zing, with but few exceptions, the
productions, which day after day,
emanate from the American Press.
Are they scientific ? They only debase
the laws of nature to the most absurd
theories, distracting the minds of the
people, and causing public opinion to
hurl its shafts of indignation at them,
from the armories of forum, press
ahd pulpit. Are they political ? They
are only the effete, the cast-off and
.long-ago annihilated whims of some
quondam statesman, now buried in
the solitude of a misspent life; these
haveour far-seeing politicians caught
up in their frantic inspiration, and
illuminating them with the dull rays
of their own duller imaginations,
have presented them to cur people,
to be admired as gigantic works of
stupendous intellects, and to be re
ceived without a murmur. Are they
literary ? ‘ Shades’ of Cicero, of Me
lancthon, of Addison and of Swift,
oh ! shades of all ye mighty and
illustrious dead, surround and defend
us from these Herculean giants, clad
in‘bristling logic,’ and armed with
souherushing rodomontades and elo
quence !
It is time for our people and espe
cially for our students, to discard
from their attention and notice, all
these flimsy books. We can well ad
vance in equal pace with the spirit