Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1838-02-21

shall escape the general anarchy and car,
image, can better tell Us what have been
the sad consequences Of thenovel reading
lof the present day. 1~7@@ sss'@ ~. e@-',.-@
We have some facts. however, daiIye
hibited. which have bearingson this sub
tject You see the seducer-you see the,
ruin in which he involves society. You
behold instances. quite. too numerous, of
matrimonial unhappiness and discord.
4 You See, not unfrequently, the husband
or the wife, and especiallythe newly mar
|ried, rush into eternity through the aid of
1.-THE knife and the halter Nay, you see,
or you may have seen, not long ago, two
persons of intelligence and comparative
probability, inthe city Of Boston, whose
hearts had been recently united, rush mad
ly into the grave together Inquire what
was the character Of thesepersons7 Will
you not lind they were novel readers?
Will you not find they were accustomed,
from infancy, to dreams ef happiness
which it was not possible they could ever
realize, and to principles of action as re-
mote from the best-from the principles
of the Bible-as heaven is remote from
hello Is there no meaning in all this !
One of the late numbers of Parleys
Magazine contains story which seems
not inapplicable to our present purpose.
We will venture to insert it and we do it
with the more cheerfulness, because we
know it to be strictly true. 1t is in the
form of letter to the editor.
MIR. EDIToR,-'I lately heard the fol-
lowing singular anecdote of some boys in
Dorchester: near this city. There were
four of them, all living in the same neigh
borhood, and two Of them were brothers.
They had been reading the story of
Robinson Crusoe, and were very much
delighted with his way Of living. So they
put their heads together, and formed the
gerry tcise plan Of living in the same man
ner.
Having accordingly provided them
selves with guns, powder, and some mon
ey and provisions, they started off pri-
vateiy, intending to 60 to the island of
Nantucket; and there, separated from all
the world, live as independently and as
happy as they supposed Crusoe did.
They left home on Friday, and it was
not known, for some time, what had be-
come of them, Their parents and friends
sought with much anxiety to find them;
but all in vain; and they were almost
ready to despair of ever hearing any news
from their lost sons. 1t was not till Sun
day afternoon that they were found.
= AT the close of the first day of their
absence, one of them seemed TO feel the
reproaches of conscience. and said that
his mother would cry if she could not find
him. Another said, if hismother did cry,
he did not care. Two of them were de-
termined to 60 on. and said they meant to
turn robbers. The others were sick OF
the expedition, and had set their faces to-
wards home before they were found.
They had slept in the woods, as the
, weather was fine, and lived on the provis-
: ions they took from home. They had not
been more than half way TO their favorite
island Of Nantucket. When found BY
r their friends. they all appeared very
much ashamed of their enterprise; and
have not yet manifested any great desire
to repeat it,
r The moral of this story seems to be the
7 following. If book as unexceptionable
as Robinson Crusoe has usually been
b. considered, produces suchunhappy results
: on the young mind. what may not be the
consequences of reading the thousand &
s one volumes, yearly issued from the press
whose character and tendency are, to say
e the least, far more questionable
e The truth is, that this whole subject de
}, mands consideration-the consideration O
r those whom it most nearly and deeply
!, concerns. We mean the consideration o
J. Christian parents and teachers. Letthen
d watch, with the utmost care and fidelity
d the character of the mental food which j
daily forming, as it were, the life blood O
d their children's souls Let them not say
n we have not time for this. They. hav
t. time to earn the means of furnishing then
l. with every luxury for the body, and ever
d qualification of the mind. They hav
5, time to pamper them, and render then
It delicate, ane fit them to be the slaves c
lr appetite and the votaries of indulgence
ot A. least, they too often find time for this
a in one way. or another. They find Tim
r to fit the body for lodging mind that car
moi Sc satisfied with plain food; but ca
S. they not find time to apply the ,needfu
ID corrective II were surely enough I
" prepare the soil for poisonous growth
lie and to sow the seeds will they not |
r least try to eradicatethe noxious plants, 9
ir they begin to show themselVes2 Or wi
" they let all 60 at haphazard, and risk th
ID consequences ..sr.>9t ~.:..-* 4rssl 81
OF 1t does seem to US that parents in gene
n al-Christian parents -especially-al
lg most criminally negligent on this who