Archdeacon Freeman has been abusing newspapers, from which revilings, naturally
enough, the Daily Telegraph recoils as from a sort of blasphemy. What seems to shock the Telegraph is that the Archdeacon should be vexed with the daily newspapers for being ephemeral, and with weekly news- papers for being of the week, weeky. Well, no doubt, as the Telegraph observes, you might as well be angry with man for being human, and woman for being feminine ; but still, though it is not good cause of complaint against the newspapers that they are what they must be, it may be very good cause of dislike, and that is all the Archdeacon means. To any man with a great and absorbing interest in his mind, the newspapers are unprofit- able reading, and worthy of all aversion. We submit that our clergy might very well dislike newspapers for a good cause as well as a bad one,—because they were busy with much bigger things than anything they find there. We don't say,—far from it, we don't, we fear, believe,—that this is the case with Archdeacon Freeman. He would betray the bigger secret of his soul, if he had one,—whereas he keeps it admirably,—but it might be a good cause for keeping newspapers at a distance, even if it isn't.
