led as thou art, for thou hast no shackles but those thou
thrustest thine own wrists into; and I prize thee more than a whole
sheaf of thy compeers, who always try to decide safely by deciding last.
Thou art prompt, brave, and straightforward. In nine cases out of ten,
when there are two cages open, thou dashest impetuously into the right
one. Verily, thou art a little more headstrong than strong-headed, and a
little less long-headed than headlong; but I say, rather let me be
occasionally wrong with thee than always mean with some of thy rivals.
But why be intemperate in thine advocacy of the nigger question, so
overbearing in thine efforts for freedom of speech, or why enslave
thyself in the cause of liberty? I could imagine a paper without even
thy faults--and for this, I know full well that if thou notice me at
all, it will be as a besotted and dangerous old fogy.

To be sure, the _Rostrum_ might be found guilty on other counts of the
general crime of word-murder. It has done for the word _height_ by
spelling it _hight_, at the same time giving a supererogatory kick to
the good old English participle (already deceased) of the latter
orthography. And then, it is not always quite certain whether its events
occurred or _transpired_! The misapplication of this last word is a
shocking abuse of our defenceless mother tongue, and one I have not
often seen publicly rebuked. It is not long since I saw the poor
dissyllable in question evidently misapplied in the dedication of a
book, and on Sunday, not long ago, I heard the pastor of one of the
first churches in the city preach of the power directing the events
which _transpire_ in this world!

There are two ways of getting public duties attended to; one of which is
to advertise for proposals,--a very expensive way; and the other is to
get up a public meeting or association, when all men think it an honor
to be elected officers for the sake of seeing their names in the papers.
Now this last way is the best, in so many respects that it shall be
adopted without hesitation for our purposes. Let there be a new Humane
Society established, principally for the prevention of cruelty to words,
and let the chief officer of the society be so named as to suggest its
chief office--that of 'moderator.' And let us hope that as words are the
things in question, deeds will abound, as we so well know the truth of
the reverse, that where deeds are to be looked for, words prevail
amazingly. Outs