Where Does the Laugh Come in In ?

Observer, Volume XIV, Issue 781, 23 December 1893, Page 3

Where Does the Laugh Come in In ?

The local daily papers have been making merry lately at the expense of a wellknown lady resident and her recent matrimonial disappointment. First, the Herald indulged in a long paragraph, written in that delightfully jocular style affected by the daily paper reporter when he thinks he has got the materials for something smart, cutting and • snappy,' and may safely indulge bis turn for sarcasm without fear of the ' turning of the worm.' But how came the sedate Herald to perpetrate such frivolity ? The Herald, professedly models itself on the London Tvnies, and certainly resembles the Thunderer in one reßpect at least— itß ghastly and appalling dulness.

Not to be outdone by 'our morning contemporary,' the Star immediately fol. lowed suit, and, copying the Herald's style of treatment, served up the story of the lady and her faithless lover atresh. Somebody has defined a journalist as a man who would sacrifice his best friend for the sake of a three-line par. That is a rather exaggerated way of putting it. But I certainly do think the Herald and Star might have refrained from sacrificing the unfortunate lady as they did, for the sake of selling, possibly, a few extra copies. The appearance of these flippant paragraphs in two ' leading ' dailieß must have caused the person principally concerned considerable pain.

Her recent experience has certainly been no laughing matter for her. She has been cruelly deceived, and in deserving of sympathy rather than ridicule. One thing iB quite certain : The London Times, the Herald's model, would certainly not have compromised its dignity by making capital out of the misfortune of a lady whose eccentricities of character have

won for her a rather undesirable prominence, but who surely does not, merely on that account, deserve to be held up to the ridicule and contempt of the city ?