Writing shows passion in a new direction.

Forty-nine years ago the reference was to Europe; today it is to home towns.

In an era when the world struggled through the birthing of political renewal in the painful and challenging aftermath of World War II, the editorial page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on May 1, 1947, spoke with fervent passion, in some passages even elegantly, of the need for humankind to restore itself, abroad and at home.

In an era when the world struggled through the birthing of political renewal in the painful and challenging aftermath of the Cold War, the Persian Gulf War, the war in Bosnia, the war on crime, the war on drugs, the war on the war on poverty, and the war on the Contract with America, the Star-Telegram on May 1, 1996, spoke with fervent passion, in some passages even elegantly, in unspecified defense of Fort Worth resident and world-renowned pianist Van Cliburn, who had been sued for breach of contract and affection by a former male companion.

The Cliburn editorial accounted for three-fourths of the editorial space, with the balance devoted to a light, lively, and earnest appeal for readers to attend the 24th annual Mayfest, an eclectic festival held on the banks of the Trinity River and beleaguered almost every year by rain and hail.

Forty-nine years before, the editorial page invoked the vision of George Washington and Victor Hugo and the words of Winston Churchill to endorse formation of a United States of Europe as the most effective means of stabilizing a continent re-emerging from the destruction of war.

Another editorial that day demanded full-scale reform by the Texas Legislature of the state's eleemosynary institutions, with special emphasis on what is now called the juvenile justice system. Without reform, the editorial said, the "training schools for boys" would continue to be nothing more than training schools for adult criminals.

Decades later, the same editorial message is received with the same legislative deaf ear, as Texas now boasts the largest penal system in the free world. Some things never change.

U.S./Mexico relations were nothing new to the Star-Telegram in 1947. A third editorial that day called upon both governments, on the occasion of a state visit with President Truman in Washington by the Mexican president, to strive toward "the desire to live together in mutual respect, earned by each nation for itself, and under law."

Selecting an arbitrary date, one in 1947 and in 1996, is not exactly a fair comparison of the evolution of a newspaper's editorial voice and perspective. But the contrast evident in the Star-Telegram in that span of 49 years is not entirely without merit and is somewhat instructive.

Much greater emphasis has been placed on local events - and some old hands would say to a fault and at the expense of graver matters of public importance. Yet, as the Cliburn and Mayfest editorials showed, the treatment and tenor have become more personal and "homey," in many ways more entertaining to read. And occasionally more poignant.

The appropriateness of editorially defending a celebrity, who happens to be a generous civic benefactor, from allegations in a civil lawsuit - "rife with titillating accusations" that the editorial does not specify - is open to debate, but the writing clearly suggests a turn in the craft that the Star-Telegram of 49 years ago almost certainly would not have entertained:

"Van Cliburn has been a good friend to our community, and we all, in one way or another, have bathed richly in the afterglow of his generous light. We do not pretend, or wish, to judge things we know little about, be they certain aspects of legal maneuvers or lifestyle. What we would say now, in this awkward and difficult time, is that the best we can do is just be a friend, as he has been to so many of us.

"Yes, the rich - and the richly talented - are different from you and me. They are more vulnerable."

We've come a long way, baby.

NCEW member and former president Tommy Denton is the senior editorial writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.